|
March 24th, 2016
To: Lehi Planning
Commission
From: Bill Conley
Subject: Additional concerns
over the Thanksgiving Point Office approval
In the analysis of the plan, the
church has requested approval for a 135,000 square foot office building
(paragraph 1). In paragraph 3, they indicate
they are going to build a 98,400 square foot building, which is it? At 135,000 square feet they will need 559
stalls, at 98,400 square feet they will need 443 stalls, and they say they are
going to have 494 stalls, less than they will need if the building is 135,000
square feet. I highly doubt this
building is only going to be 98,400 since their initial proposal to the city
was a 120,000 square foot office building.
How many stalls will be required by
the city for the Family Search and Discovery Center? That has not been defined in this
application. I can’t imagine it is the
same ratio as 4.5 stalls to every 1000 feet.
How many people do they believe will be visiting the Family Search and
Discovery Center on a daily basis? How
many workers? How large is the center?
None of this is mentioned, only that they are building a commercial building of
135,000 square feet or 98,400 square feet.
I don’t think they have enough
parking stalls for the commercial office building and a future LDS Stake
Center. As a standalone Stake Center,
how much parking would be required? As a standalone commercial office building,
they do not have enough parking slots.
Are they including parking stalls
from what will eventually be the LDS Stake Center? If so, are you sure they can do this? Someone needs to check if this is
allowed. Has this ever been done
before? Can you mix a for profit
commercial enterprise and a religious institution and share parking? I highly doubt it. I don’t think the IRS will take kindly to
this situation.
Where else in Lehi is there a LDS
Stake Center combined with a LDS Commercial office development? Where else in the country? Highly unusual and I don’t believe should be
allowed.
There is NO WAY that 50% of the
property (6+ acres) is landscaped. Look
at the drawings. Are they including in this application the future proposed LDS
Stake Center as landscaping?
I was told by Christie that the
church intends to propose the construction of the LDS Stake center a few weeks
from now. If so, including it as
landscaping in this application seems a bit disingenuous.
I would like to know the exact
square footage of the landscaping. In
order for this project to be at 50% they would need to landscape over 261,360
square feet. Really, don’t quite see 6+
acres of landscaping on the drawings they provided. Don’t buy it! Have them prove it; the
drawings clearly DO NOT show 6+ acres of landscaping.
Parking is an issue.
Landscaping is an issue.
Most importantly, the building
itself is an issue! Not to code, not even close to code! I gave you an account of how this is not up
to code yesterday.
Proposed building shows the use of
brick, metal accents and glass with pop-outs, awnings, decorative lighting,
roof cantilevers and recessed entry. The
drawing included with this application are wholly inadequate and do not
completely represent the building as it will look once it is complete.
I most adamantly believe this
project is adjacent to the home owners at Thanksgiving Village. I believe that Ryan needs to research this a
bit more.
They indicate a traffic study has
been submitted and is currently being reviewed.
Why would you even consider approving this application when the traffic
study review has not been completed? The
traffic study submitted by the church received an F grade. Nothing has changed since they have done that
study. Well actually, somethings have changed; traffic has increased
significantly since that study was done.
The proposed traffic signal at 2150
N and 2300 W would be a huge mistake. That
would make 3 traffic signals within a few hundred feet. One on 2150 as they
suggest and two on 2100. This is ludicrous and would create a huge traffic
snarl. Traffic is already a major
problem at that intersection, adding an additional light would be a
nightmare. This also suggest that they
expect vehicles to travel from the proposed office development through residential
neighborhoods where dozens of children play in their front yards. Can you honestly say you are protecting the
health, safety and welfare of these children by increasing the amount of
traffic each day by hundreds if not thousands of vehicles? Absolutely NOT!
Secondly, this traffic signal may
never be installed, then what? The
project needs to be put on hold until all traffic studies have been reviewed and
completed. This rush to approve is most definitely wrong.
Listen to this nonsensical
sentence. The Planning Division Staff recommends
that the Planning Commission grant approval to the proposed site plan as the
proposed use is a permitted use within the Thanksgiving Point Resort Community
(Is it?) Does the proposed development adhere to the language in the Special
Warranty Deed as signed by the church and Beesmark? Do you even care that the church is violating
the signed Special Warranty Deed?
Here is the fun part:
WITH THE CONDITION THAT THE CITY,
THE DEVELOPER AND UDOT come to an agreement regarding
ROADWAY – What? That has never been mentioned before. What
roadway improvements are they talking about?
Shouldn’t you be made aware of the potential roadway improvements? How
could you possibly approve an application where the roadway improvements have
not been made public.
SIGNAL IMPROVEMENTS – no guarantee
here. No proof this will help or solve
anything. The traffic study has not even
been completed. I would love to see the
proof of how this is going to help traffic flow and congestion, not
speculation, but actual proof.
MAYBE REQUIRED TO MITIGATE POTENTIAL
TRAFFIC ISSUES CAUSED BY THIS DEVELOPMENT - The mayor, multiple city officials and the
church have all come out and publically stated that this WILL IN FACT create
more traffic congestion. Why would they
need two traffic studies if they didn’t think traffic would be a major
issue? One stop light isn’t going to
solve anything and will only hurt traffic flow and increase congestion.
Lastly
This project most certainly IS
detrimental to the public health, safety and welfare of Lehi City. Just ask those residents who children play in
their front yard where thousands and thousands of cars will be speeding by
going to and from work.
The proposed site plans DOES NOT
meet the requirements of the Lehi City Development code, not even close, unless
you close your eyes.
Are you aware the last DRC meeting
lasted 20 minutes?
In the last DRC meeting the
applicant wasn’t even present.
Did you read that under current
conditions the circuits feeding the proposed area have no available capacity? What is being done with this? When will capacity be available? Why would
you even consider approving an application where there are NO circuits
available to the proposed development?
Have you done this before, if so, when and for whom? This is a big red flag.
Read further
Until further review and system
improvements are DESIGNED (not yet designed) and or in place (when will that
be?) we (the city) are unable to serve this project. What?
This project as of today CAN NOT be developed. All cost associated with
the design, construction and implementation have not been calculated. The date
of the design, construction and implementation have not been made known. Who will pay for the design, construction and
implementation? How much will it cost?
You cannot even think of approving
this project without full knowledge of what this will cost and when it will be
completed and by whom.
Read further
A line extension, conduit and
equipment WILL BE REQUIRED (don’t know how much that will cost or who will pay
for it) for a master circuit in order to provide adequate service to this
project. Lehi Power provided sketch with
points of attachment and power infrastructure to be constructed (designed and
constructed, who knows when?)
I did quite a bit of research today
regarding the acreage of other Stake Centers in and around the Lehi area. The 1.41 acres as proposed would be the
smallest footprint of any Stake Center anywhere that I could find. The next smallest footprint I could find was
2.75 acres and most were much larger, some as large as nearly 10 acres. Once again it appears to me that the Stake
Center when it is built will use the commercial office building parking lot and
the commercial office building will use the Stake Center parking lot. Show me one other Stake Center in Lehi or one
other church building that is doing this.
I think someone should contact the IRS and let them know what is going
on in this project.
It should be noted that the church
is in violation of the special warranty deed they signed with Beesmark. In that deed, the church indicated it would
build a 6000 square foot family search and discovery center on the southern
border of the property. In that deed and
on the drawings at Utah County of the Family Search Plat, there is no mention
of a 135,000 square foot office building housing a 6000 square foot Family Search
and Discovery Center. According to the
Deed a LDS Stake Center cannot be constructed on the southern border of the
property, a Family Search and Discovery Center cannot be built on the northern
border of the property.
Morally and ethically, the church is
bound by their agreement. I believe the
city has a responsibility to not participate and help one party to a contract
violate the contract by approving a development. Those that have signed this agreement
if they are men of integrity should live up to the agreement. If they don’t, then they are certainly not
men of integrity and do we really want organizations like that in our city?
Here is a blogpost of an email I
sent to various HOA’s, the news media, the Mayor, Jason Walker and Ryan Woods.
Email
to Thanksgiving, Vsunset, Hollow HOA's, New Media and Lehi City, March 23
alerting them to a Lehi City Planning Commission Meeting Scheduled for March 24
From: thanksgiving-vsunset-hollow-community@googlegroups.com
<thanksgiving-vsunset-hollow-community@googlegroups.com> on behalf of
William Conley <billhytek@hotmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2016 9:04 AM To: thanksgiving-vsunset-hollow-community@googlegroups.com Subject: Thursday March 24th, Planning Commission meeting
To all homeowners, news
media and Lehi City
Tomorrow night, Thursday March 24th, 2016, 7pm at the Lehi City Hall. The planning commission will entertain and probably approve the Thanksgiving Point Office site plan (play close attention to the title). I have attached the site plan for your review. You will notice in the site plan that the proposed development of the LDS Stake Center has been removed from consideration and will ONE DAY be brought forward for consideration. In other words, the church ONLY intends to build the office building and NOT the Stake Center at this time. There is no time table given for phase 2 (Stake Center). They do mention stubbing in utilities for a future Stake Center but fail to mention when phase 2 will be constructed. As you can see, the only thing of interest to the church at this time is a commercial office development. For those of you excited to have a Stake Center in the neighborhood, you will just have to wait, probably several years. Construction of the commercial office building will a considerable amount of time. During that time, we can expect loud noise, thousands upon thousands of trucks coming to and from the site, increased traffic, dirt and dust, lights, congestion etc. What we will NOT be getting at the same time this massive office building is being built is an LDS Stake Center. That will come some day in the future, more than likely 3-5 to 10+ years from now. The church may not in fact build a Stake Center on the southern border of the property. The Special Warranty Deed they signed with Beesmark, LLC does not allow them the right to build a Stake Center on the southern border. In fact the Special Warranty Deed allows them to build a Family Search and Discovery Center of 6000+ feet on the southern border of the property, not on the northern border of the property as proposed. As you read through the notes for the planning commission meeting tomorrow night, you will see there is still a lot of work that needs to be done before I believe they should allow this development to take place, including, when is the Stake Center going to be built (give us an exact date!) I hope you will join me tomorrow evening and I hope the planning commission will allow us to voice our (my, maybe not yours) concerns over this project. We are getting a office building rammed down our throats with the future promise of a Stake Center which they may not, according to the Special Warranty Deed be allowed to build. This project MUST not be allowed to go forward as it is currently proposed!!!!! So many of us have been bought off on the office building concept by virtue of a promise to build a Stake Center which may NEVER be built. Do you really believe the church cares about giving us an LDS Stake Center or are they more interested in building a commercial office building for the Family Search and Discovery Corporate Headquarters? I know we all want to believe the church is above reproach, men of their word, men of integrity and that the anything the church does is worthy of praise. I am here to remind you that the church has violated the language in the special warranty deed they have signed with Beesmark LLC. Read it and you will see. I believe we are being played as fools and the Stake Center may be a rouse. The City of Lehi is complicit with allowing the church to violate the special warranty deed and in my opinion should not be trusted to protect us. They cannot say in an open meeting that the city has done everything it can to protect the safety, health and long term welfare of its citizens. Increased traffic, noise, pollution, congestion in my opinion is NOT protecting our long term welfare. If they say this in the meeting tomorrow night, they will be in my opinion being disingenuous. Lets have them not only say the words (words have meaning) but prove to us that our safety, health and welfare is not ONLY impacted but protected and that we are in no way, shape or form harmed in any way by this project, PROVE IT! Don't just recite some words that have no meaning and that are NOT TRUE! By the way, construction of the new driving range over by the curiosity center is already underway, drive by and you will see. The church keeps changing their plans, first two office buildings, then one office building and a Stake Center and now just one office building (which according to the special warranty deed CANNOT be located on the northern border of the property). Bill Conley 801 867 7227 https://legistarweb-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/pdf/6661/TP_Office.1.pdf Thanksgiving Point Office Development Special warranty deed blog post
|
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Letter given to the Lehi Planning Commission on March 24th with questions regarding the Thanksgiving Point Office Development
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment