Mormon Thanksgiving Point Commercial Office Building and LDS Stake Center CANNOT be developed as proposed by VCBO and TRIO, April 26, 2016

I attended a Lehi Council Meeting this evening (April 26, 2016) and was given 3 minutes to talk.  I outlined my talk with several key points I wanted to make.  Three minutes didn't give me much time and so I am putting my comments on the internet for the thousands of you who read them.   

Key Points

The proposed commercial office building and LDS Stake Center at Thanksgiving Point CANNOT be developed as proposed for numerous reasons, a few of which are as Follow:

Chapter 28, section 28.060 (d) states:

“Developers and builders MUST comply with the Lehi City general plan, the Lehi City Development code and ALL other codes and ordinances of the city.” 

Ombudsman

I have contacted the Office of the Property Rights Ombudsman and requested an advisory opinion as to whether or not the City of Lehi, the applicants, Thanksgiving Point and Beesmark LLC are in compliance with All the codes and ordinances as required by the City of Lehi and Thanksgiving Point Architectural guidelines and if the applicant is contractually obligated to perform as written on a Special Warranty Deed they signed (this is a legal issue).

I have presented the Ombudsman with a 51 page brief which scrutinizes Lehi City Code and Thanksgiving Pt code and which clearly shows that the applicant have violated countless provisions in the code and is not following the spirit of the code and is not in compliance with either Lehi City or Thanksgiving Point.

The city, along with the applicant and Thanksgiving Pt will be sent a letter from the Ombudsman requesting a response to my inquiry.  Each of these entities will have a chance to respond to my stance that the applicant is not in compliance with numerous provisions of either the Lehi City Code or Thanksgiving Pt code.

Code violations (sample)

Here are just a few examples of the violations where the applicant is not in compliance (there are literally dozens).

Most of Chapter 28

Violation:  The proposed developments.  ALL of Lehi’s City codes as described in Chapter 28, governing Resort Communities, specifically……

Lehi Section 28.070

Which defines the following, Building Design, Parking, Access and Traffic, Roof Design, Materials, Signage and Lighting. 

A few quick examples:

Violation:  Building Design:

The proposed development according to an 84 page document submitted to the city and accessible on the cities website titled, “Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions and Reservation of Easement for Thanksgiving Village – A Planned Unit Development”, clearly identifies the single family residents in Thanksgiving Village to be ADJACENT to the proposed development which would limit the buildings on the development to be 2 stories or 35’ in height. 

Violation:  Access and Traffic.

Lehi City code states: Direct access from an arterial or collector street to the office and professional services uses MUST be provide.  The access from the proposed development is Garden Drive which in ALL city maps, websites and masterplan is defined as a road and not a collector street or arterial. 

A violation of either of these provisions of the code would put the proposed development on hold until they come into compliance with Lehi City code exactly as it is written, word for word.

Roof design:

Kim Struthers in a DRC meeting said the following: “The resort community development standards state that flat roofs shall be avoided. Recommend considering additional architectural features to break up the roofline.”

To date, the roofline on the proposed commercial office development is FLAT. This is a violation of Lehi City Code.

Section 37.010 of the Lehi City Code Commercial Design Standards, Architectural Standards.

Code states: (1) General Design Concepts. “New developments shall be designed for its specific context with a design unique to Lehi City.   DEVELOPMENTS CONTAINING TWO (2) (COMMERICAL OFFICE BUILDING AND LDS STAKE CENTER) SHALL POSSESS A SIMILAR DESIGN THEME AND THE SITE SHALL BE DESIGNED SUCH THAT THE OVERALL DEVELOPMENT IS COHESIVE. BUILDING ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING MATERIALS AND COLORS SHALL COORDINATE.

Violation: Currently, the Lehi Stake Center and Commercial office complex are not cohesive in building architecture, building materials, colors and do not coordinate as required by this section of the code. Merely looking at the proposed pictures of each building, one can see they in NO WAY coordinate with one another, neither are they harmonious and blend in with the surrounding architecture (single family residents and Thanksgiving Point club house) – another violation of Lehi City Code.

Traffic Study and Parking:

A major flaw was revealed in the traffic study and parking analysis commissioned by the applicant; namely, they did not provide a single parking stall or account for a single car coming to and from the Family Search and Discovery Center, an 8000+ square foot proposed use within the commercial office building.  In an earlier meeting the applicant touted how wonderful the NEW Family Search and Discovery Center would be.  They mentioned that between 500 and 1500 hundred people would be visiting the center each and every day. Problem with this as we look at Lehi City Code and Thanksgiving Pt code is that fact that they do not take into account a single car coming or going or parking at this beacon on the hill discovery center. We were told people from throughout the Mountain States would make a pilgrimage to this center, that busloads of people would make their way to this center and spends days doing genealogy research. 

Big Problem, the applicant failed to account for a single car going or going to this center, they failed to account for a single parking stall for this center, they failed to provide any bus or RV parking which certainly would be a requirement for those traveling long distances and spending days at the center. 

Violation: Bottom line on traffic and parking

Parking does not meet either Thanksgiving Pt or Lehi City code even if you take the shared parking code into account. Secondly, traffic which is already at an F level as revealed by the study will only get worse.

In conclusion:

This project is not in compliance with either Lehi City Code or Thanksgiving Pt code.  Neither applicant has received approval by the TPARC.  In fact there are so many violations to the code that it took me 51 pages to briefly identify them and I am certain I have missed many others.  

One last point…….Ethics

Utah League of Cities and Towns handbook which is regarded as similar to the bible on how cities and towns conduct business states the following in their ethics section:

Page 43, The Municipal Officers and employee’s ethics act sets up a disclosure system for conflicts of interest.

Two types of disclosures may be required, written and oral.  Oral conflicts of interest must be made in an open meeting to the members of the body which he is a member immediately before the discussion about the topic involved in the conflict of interest. 

It goes on to say, the following must be disclosed.

(5) The nature of the PERSONAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST.

I have requested and received personal conflict of interest forms in which there is not a single individual has indicated they have a personal conflict of interest with the applicant’s organization even though they are a member of that organization.

Violation:  City employees (DRC), those appointed by the city (planning commission) and those elected to the city (city council, mayor) have a responsibility to disclose in writing and in an open air meeting their membership status on any project presented to the city involving the organization in which they are a member. To date, these individuals see fit to violate the Employee’s ethics act as they are required to disclose ALL personal conflicts of interest including their membership in an organization where they are reviewing and approving applications and building permits.  

I have requested 50 GRAMMA request and am waiting for answers to each and every one of them. I am certain the information I have requested will show multiple other violations of the code.

Summary

This project needs to be put on hold and the conditional use planning commission meeting (by Trio Design) scheduled for Thursday needs to canceled until the applicants come into compliance with the code, the applicant has received written approval by TPARC (which they have not) and the city and Thanksgiving Pt need to hold the applicant accountable for each and every word exactly as it is written within the code, without exception.  The responsibility of those who work for the city and who are elected or appointed to city government MUST put the residents of the city of Lehi first and protect our safety, health and welfare before the desires of an outside applicant who only has their best interest in mind.

Thank you