Email Sent to Mayor Bert Wilson and others after the planning commission meeting, April 28, 2016 chastising the planning commission, DRC, engineering and planning

Mayor Bert Wilson
Ryan Wood
Kim Struthers
Jason Walker
and others at the City of Lehi

Here is a email I sent April 29, 2016 to those listed above(below my comments) .

Prior to the planning commission meeting on April 28,. 2016 where the commission approved a conditional use permit submitted by Trio on behalf of the LDS Church, I submitted to 2 memorandums which highlighted numerous Lehi City Code violations along with numerous other problems with the actual application.

It became very evident very quickly that the planning commissions more than likely (99.99999% sure) had not read a single word of the application put forth by Trio, had not read a single word of the two memorandums I submitted to them prior to the meeting and most disturbing, don't have a clue what chapter 9 governing conditional use permits actually says exactly as it is written, word for word.  

The planning commission is TOTALLY dependent upon members of DRC, Planning and Engineering to tell them what to do and how to think.  They trust that the information given to them by these departments is 100% accurate and correct (so they are not required to think or question).  This could not be farther from the truth.  These departments have their own personal agenda's (conflict of interest) are in many (most) cases not correct.  

These departments when reviewing applications put forth by applicants DO NOT require the applicant to be in 100% compliance to Lehi City Code. They do let things slide, don't require the applicants to submit EVERYTHING required by code, approve applications prior to ALL documents being submitted (required!) and will mince words, play games with some words and not others when reviewing applications.  Bottom line, the system is not perfect, nor are the people reviewing the applications.  Lehi City code enforcement and adherance to the code by the applicants falls through gigantic cracks ALL THE TIME. 

Bottom line, the systems and the process of approving building applications at the City of Lehi is BIG TIME FLAWED.  

Here is the email I sent........

  
I plan to file an appeal on last night’s decision by the planning commission to approve the Thanksgiving Village Stake Center at Thanksgiving Point.

I have read the application for appeals and wanted to make sure I had 30 days from April 28th, 2016 to file my appeal.  

Is that correct, could one of you get back to me and let me know if I have 30 days in which to file my appeal of last night’s decision.

A couple of notes from last night.

I think it is appalling and a dereliction of duty that the DRC, the Planning Commissioners and the Applicant all failed to miss a very obvious mistake in the application.  

Under the heading, Applicable Development Code Regulations

The person responsible for putting forth the application referenced the wrong section.  They referenced section 09-050 (B) but used language from section 09-060 (A).  This is not a small miss.  In fact, in the conditional use hearing heard directly before this, they made the exact same mistake.  When I suggested to the chairman of the planning commission that I would like to point out this gross error, I was shut down, saying they are not taking public comment. I simply wanted to point out the error in the application.

This is shocking and alarming and tells me that the planning commissioners DID NOT read the application and don't know the code in Chapter 9 governing conditional use permits.

This also goes to show the gross negligence on the part of the person who put the application together.  Two conditional use permits reviewed last night had the exact same error and not a single person caught it, besides me.

For this reason and this reason alone, this application should have been thrown out because it was fraudulent and misleading.  

How did your staff let this happen?

I would also like to point out that nobody and I mean nobody wants to talk about parking for the 500 -1500 visitors per day to the Family Search and Discovery Center.  Isn't this the whole reason this project was undertaken?  

There is no off street parking, no bus parking, no RV parking in fact no identifiable parking for the vehicles of 500 - 1500 people per day coming to visit the Family Search and Discovery Center.  

It is as though it doesn't exist. 

What is the city going to do when 150 -400 additional cars, buses and RV's descend upon the Family Search and Discovery Center, shuttle them from the new driving range parking? 

This is a gross error not only in the parking analysis, but the traffic analysis as well.  Playing games with Lehi City code should not be tolerated and forbidden and if you find anyone who works for the city is found manipulating, distorting, not enforcing, playing games or adhering to Lehi City code EXACTLY as it written, they should be terminated immediately.   

The city can ill afford incompetency on any level. 

In the application under the applicable development code regulations section 28.070 referenced. 

Section C. Access and Traffic.  In that section it states, “Direct access from an arterial or collector street to the office and professional uses MUST be provided. “

In the analysis section, it states, “The Engineering Department considers Garden Drive as a collector.”

At last night’s meeting, Kim Struthers said that is portion of the code is not relevant for the conditional use permit, it is only relevant for the commercial office development and should have been addressed at that time.”

If that is the case and it is not relevant, why include it in this application?  Why did the engineer feel compelled to make a comment in the analysis?

It is most certainly relevant in the conditional use permit and Garden Drive anyway you look at it is NOT a collector street.

For this reason, the two proposed uses on the Family Search Plat MUST be stopped immediately until the applicant (s) comes into compliance.  

Lastly the applicant is required as defined in Section 09.030 to “The applicant has provided ALL reports, comments, and recommendations to the commission.”  It is the burden of proof of the applicant to provide ALL necessary documents, reports and all other materials to the planning review board necessary to make a final decision” 

They have not done that, in fact in a letter dated April 27^th, 2016 and sent to me by Marilyn Banasky, she specifically states,”In some cases, the record you have requested doesn’t exist or has not yet been provided to the city.”

I hope the city is not in the business of approving applications put forth by developers where ALL the documents necessary to make a decision are not available to the reviewing departments and commissions and councils.   

If applicant’s applications are approved before they have provided the city with ALL documents necessary to make a decision, they have violated Lehi City code and those reviewing the documents are derelict in their duties to make sure the safety, health and welfare of the citizens of Lehi are protected.   

The city can’t just go ahead and approve land use proposals without first having EVERY document required by city code in the possession of the city.  It appears in the case of the Family Search commercial office building and Thanksgiving Village Stake Center that ALL documents necessary to meet code are have not been turned in, thus violating Lehi City Code.

There applications should have been declined until they came into compliance with ALL Lehi City codes.   

The reviewing departments don’t get to pick and choose which documents an applicant provides them and which documents they don’t provide, the documents MUST all be provided prior to an application receiving approval.

I fear this is not happening in the City of Lehi. This MUST happen in the City of Lehi and someone needs to make sure ALL documents are turned in according to code before an application gets approved.

Please get back to me with the deadline on filing an appeal.

Thank you

Bill Conley