Special warranty deed between Thanksgiving Point Development Corp and the Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Special warranty deed between Thanksgiving Point Development Corp and the Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (end of post)

If the Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are honest, trustworthy, transparent, fair-minded men who obey the law and live the tenants of the church, they will come to the decision to LIVE TO THE EXACT WORDING AS IT IS WRITTEN in the Special Warranty Deed. To do otherwise would mean they would violate the terms of the Special Warranty Deed and be subject of a lawsuit by the Grantor to bring them into compliance.

If you or I signed a Special Warranty Deed stating our intention to build a 6000 square feet Family Search and Discovery Center on the Southern border of a property we bought, then we would be expected to do so. I assure you that if I bought a piece of property (or it was donated to me) from a land owner and I assured him I would build according to the Special Warranty Deed I signed and decided to build something entirely different than what we had discussed and I SIGNED CONTRACTUALLY OBLIGATING MYSELF TO DO, I could expect to be brought into compliance by the Grantor.

The LDS Church is counting on (expecting) the Grantor not bringing them into compliance because he is a member of the church and he most certainly would not want to get sideways with the church. You know they ex-communicate people who get sideways with them. Then your salvation and the salvation of your family and your place in the Celestial Kingdom is in jeopardy and who wants that?

So what is David Harkness and Beesmark Investments LLC (199 N 299 W, Lindon UT 84042, phone number 801 226 1266) going to do? 

It is his RIGHT and OBLIGATION to enforce the contract (Special Warranty Deed) exactly as it is written. 

The citizens surrounding Thanksgiving Point golf course are counting on Beesmark to enforce the contract.  If he is a member of the LDS Church, this should in no way distract him from his fiduciary duties as the signer on the document.  If he is aware that the LDS Church has plans to build anything other than a 6000 square foot Family Search and Discovery Center and I am making him aware, then he as a duty and obligation under the terms of the contract to contact the LDS Church and remind them of the contract they signed and strongly suggest to them to live by the terms of the contract.  The LDS Church and Beesmark entered into an agreement, the terms of which allowed the LDS Church to build a Family Search and Discovery Center, ANYTHING other than that IS a violation of the contract. 

As citizens of the city of Lehi, we EXPECT those property owners who sell their land using a Special Warranty Deed to protect us by REQUIRING the developer they sold the land to comply with the terms and conditions of the contract.  To do otherwise allows disingenuous, dishonest, unscrupulous developers to sign a contract and do with whatever they want with the property.  That is just not right, just, fair or honest.

Beesmark, the ball is in your court, what are you going to do?
Thanksgiving Point Development Corp, what are you going to do?
City of Lehi, what are you going to do?
LDS Church, what are you going to do?

Are you all going to ignore the terms and conditions of the Special Warranty Deed? The LDS Church has proposed building a Stake Center and a 120,000 square foot commercial office building, neither of which are outlined in the Special Warranty Deed. Are all of you going to sit back and let the LDS Church break the law by violating the terms and conditions they agreed to?

Are all of you going to sit by and let this happen?  The Safety, health and Welfare of the Citizens of Lehi are at risk!!!

But does it matter that the LDS Church is building something entirely different than what they agreed to build in the Special Warranty Deed?

 Absolutely! It goes to the very heart of their character. 

Beesmark, do the right thing and bring the LDS Church into compliance.  Failing to do so, tells us a lot about your character as well.

Honesty, integrity, honor, it matters and the whole world is watching.

Are they (LDS Church representatives) honest men who live to the words of a contract they signed?  Are they transparent men who define specifically what they are going to build and lay it out contractually in a Special Warranty Deed? Are they men of their word? Or, are they bullies who threaten and intimidate others to get what they want? Are they men who abide by the law of the land or do they try anyway they can to circumvent the law, navigate around it, alter or change it, ignore it all together? Are they men who use their members as willing pawns to get what they want? (Well this is Utah County, plenty of LDS Members there, we should have no problem circumventing the law there). I believe the answers to these questions are quite obvious.

If the Presiding Bishop and his counselors were honest men, transparent, law abiding, who lived the tenants of their faith and religion, they would then follow the wording EXACTLY AS IT IS WRITTEN IN THE SPECIAL WARRANTY DEED, to do otherwise, well, it just wouldn't be right and contractually not allowed.

Here is the 12th and 13th article of faith that these men and all those involved in this process, from the city, to the church to the people at Thanksgiving Point who are members of the LDS Church profess. The question remains, will they live to the tenants they profess and abide by the language as it is written in the contract, or will they ignore the language in the contract and do whatever they want or say contract, what contract?

12 We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.

 13 We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

Joseph Smith.

Can we hear them (LDS Church representatives) saying...Honor a contract we obligated ourselves to, are you kidding? This is Utah County and we are the LDS Church and we want a 120,000 commercial office building and a Stake Center, forget the contract, it means nothing to us. We do what we want and we will get what we want, by hook or crook. We own those people down in the City of Lehi.  They are members of the Church and they will do what we say even if we have to bend and ignore a few rules. We want this development, so therefore, they want this development, got it!

DEFINITION of a 'Special Warranty Deed'

A special warranty deed is a deed in which the seller warrants or guarantees the title only against defects arising during the period of his or her tenure or ownership of the property. The grantor makes no warranty against defects existing before the time of his or her ownership.

Here is some VERY SPECIFIC LANGUAGE SIGNED BY THE LDS CHURCH AND THANKSGIVING POINT IN THE DEED WORTH NOTING.

Special conditions, specific language.

“Grantee (the LDS Church) will maintain a family search and discovery center in the building located closest to the southern border of the property consisting of at least 6,000 square feet and that is open to the general public.  The purpose and intent of the foregoing covenant is to ENSURE that grantee (the LDS Church) will operate the property in a manner mutually beneficial to grantor (Thanksgiving Point) and grantee. “

Nothing in the special warranty deed indicates the Grantor giving the Grantee permission to build a LDS Stake Center on the Southern border and a 120,000 commercial office building next to the Thanksgiving Point Club House.

Spelling out the terms of a warranty deed is critical and instrumental in DEFINING what the grantee can and cannot do on the property they are purchasing.  This deed was very specific, the grantee will maintain a family search and discovery center in the building located closest to the southern border....." Words have meaning and if you look at the deed ONLY, the LDS Church IS NOT allowed to build a Stake Center or 120,000 commercial office building.  They are to build a Family Search and Discovery center of at least 6,000 square feet closed to the southern border.

From day 1 and probably even before that, the Church never intended to build a 6,000 Family Search and Discovery center and they probably NEVER discussed their secret plans to build commercial office space on the driving range.  Had they discussed their secret plans with Thanksgiving Point, wouldn't those plans and their description be in the special warranty deed.  I imagine that the Ashton's and Thanksgiving Point at this point and in hind site and not wanting to look foolish would say, oh sure, we knew of the Church's plans to build commercial office buildings on the Thanksgiving Point driving range.  Weeeeeeeelllllllllll, if that was the case, why didn't you define that in the special warranty deed????????????  What were they attempting to hide?  A lot it turns out!

The reason they did not define it is because they did not discuss the development of commercial office space on the driving range. Plain and simple, pure fact.  You can say you did now, but that would not be truthful and I am sure that the LDS Church and those at Thanksgiving Point are very truthful people. What was discussed was the building of a Family Search Discovery Center and NOT commercial office space and most certainly NOT the building of a LDS Stake Center on the Southern border. The fact is you discussed plans to build a 6000 square foot Family Search and Discovery Center and not a Stake Center and most certainly NOT a 120,0000 square foot office building to house a commercial enterprise. Again, if you had, why wasn't that language in the Special Warranty Deed? What were you attempting to hide? They knew there would be problems with their plans to build a commercial office building in a residential neighborhood, so I believe they shrouded their plans and secretly tried to push them through the Lehi City planning commission, until they were caught!

The special warranty deed PROHIBITS the church from building anything other than a Family Search and Discovery Center on the driving range. A LDS Stake center per the warranty deed CANNOT be build, nor can a 120,000 square foot office buildings for a variety of reasons, most of which could be and will be defined in a court of law.

If you start to connect the dots, the LDS Church and the City of Lehi are trying to push and I mean push through a development (completely ignoring the language in the Special Warranty Deed) that should not at it's core be allowed to be a consideration for development.  The City MUST ignore the special warranty deed, the faulty recording of the Family Search plat at Utah County, the numerous code violations as put forth by the church in their proposed architectual drawings and basically close their eyes and minds and just say YES to the LDS Church.

What the LDS Church wants, the LDS Church gets, regardless of the law, the code or anything else. The LDS Church position in my opinion is, This is our State and our County and dammed if we are going to be stopped by ANYONE.  In fact at one meeting a LDS Church representative (Nathan Hale or Brent Roberts) stood at a podium in front of hundreds of people and told the crowd they would do everything they could including seeking numerous exceptions to the Lehi City code in order to push forth their development. This development IS NOT following the law and the Lehi City code and must be put on hold until it does.

Cut and paste on the link below to see the special warranty deed.  You may need windows explorer to view the deed.

http://161.119.38.203/Recorder/document.aspx?Entry_No=61212&YR=2015

(this blog post is my opinion and in no way represents a legal conclusion)