LDS Church, shut the Thanksgiving Point Development project DOWN until you come into compliance with the Lehi City Development Code!

  The Caption above should read…….Follow the Profit; the LDS Church knows the way!

The LDS Church needs to shut down their development project at Thanksgiving Point until they come into compliance with the Lehi City Code. Following are pictures of an LDS Stake Center and the Commercial office building proposed by the LDS Church on the Thanksgiving Point Driving Range. Do they look similar to you?
Below the pictures are the Lehi City Development Code and my comments.  See what you think?  Is the LDS Church by proposing building these two buildings side by side in compliance with the Lehi City Development code, Chapter 37, section 37.010? I say, absolutely not. They need to shut this project DOWN NOW! To do otherwise would signal to every single LDS member and everyone in the world that you don't obey the laws of the land, don't follow the rules and in fact blatantly ignore them and in doing so encourage ALL member of the LDS Church to do likewise and follow your lead. (Violating the laws of the land is perfectly acceptable, watch us and do as we do).
I put these two pictures out to the internet and to multiple Facebook groups and tweeted out the two pictures and asked if these two buildings looked compatible.  Surprise, surprise, not a one in the hundreds of responses I received said they looked compatible.  Are you shocked by that? Well the city of Lehi, thinks they do, well one person at the city of Lehi does and he is the head of the Development Review Committee and Planning.  Check out what he says about the compatibility of the two buildings in his statement below.

Section 37.010. Commercial Design Standards 
These standards are intended to foster and maintain the integrity of the community, to help create a sense of place for residents, and to ensure the character of the City will not be diminished as Lehi experiences growth and development. To meet the intent of this section, the following provisions shall be applied to all new commercial developments and exterior re-models within the C, CR, BP, MU, NC, HC, LI, I and C-1 Zones of Lehi City, unless otherwise modified by an approved Area Plan or the Planning Commission For exterior remodels, these standards shall be applied on a case-by-case basis as reasonably applicable.
A. Architectural Standards. The following architectural standards shall apply to new development and exterior remodels of commercial properties with-in Lehi City:
1. General Design Concepts.

New development shall be designed for its specific context with a design unique to Lehi City. Developments containing two (2) or more buildings shall possess a similar design theme, and the site shall be designed such that the overall development is cohesive. Building architecture, exterior materials and colors shall coordinate. Parking and landscaping areas shall be arranged for convenient pedestrian access.

2. Compatibility. All commercial developments should be appropriate in scale, mass and proportion, and be in character with the architectural theme and color palate of significant adjacent buildings.
3. Entrances. Major street front entrances shall be developed on all new buildings.

4. Street Facades. The façade that faces the street is the most prominent in any commercial buildings. It shall be designed with large panes of clear glass on the main level oriented to the sidewalk.

11. Building Architectural Orientation. Buildings shall have their architectural orientation towards the front of the property, which includes having at least one functioning entry door oriented to the street. The front of the property shall be defined as the street frontage from which the building is accessed. Buildings on corner lot sites shall have an architectural orientation towards each right-of-way frontage with entrances or the appearance of entrances along each façade.  
Taking a look at the two buildings posted above, let me ask you the following questions.
Do the two buildings look alike?   NO
Do they appear compatible?   NO
Do they possess a similar design theme?   NO
Do they look cohesive, harmonious? If you would put these two buildings side by side in a development, would it appear as though they are cohesive?   NO
Does the building architecture match?   NO
Do there exteriors match and coordinate?   NO
Do the materials match?   NO
Do the colors of the buildings match?   NO
Are they similar in scale?   NO
Are they similar in massing?   NO
Are they similar proportion?   NO
Are they similar in architecture?   NO
Are they in character with the architectural theme and color palate of significant adjacent buildings?   NO
The architecture and color palate of the significant adjacent buildings are the Thanksgiving Point Club House and the Thanksgiving Village single family residences (homes).  Does the architecture of these buildings match what you know of as a row of single family homes?

On the LDS Stake Center, does the main entrance to the Stake Center face Garden Drive? What would be considered the entrance of the Stake Center building? Are they on the side of the building, one facing Desert Forest Lane, a private road and the other facing North to the Commercial office building? There is no main entrance to the building facing Garden Drive. So NO, the Stake Center's main entrance is in violation of the code.
Are there large panes of clear glass on the front of the LDS Stake Center?  The answer would again be no, another violation of the development code.
Seems like the LDS Commercial Office building and the LDS Stake Center which will sit right next to it sharing a parking lot are in TOTAL, COMPLETE AND ABSOLUTE VIOLATION OF THE LEHI DEVELOPMENT CODE, SECTION 37.010, SUBSECTIONS 1, 2, 3, 4, 11.
In a recent planning commission meeting to approve the LDS Stake center, Kim Struthers had this to say about the two buildings.
"staff we feel like, the buildings are compatible, it is subjective, there is not really a good way to not a hard and fast, this is harmonious, this is not, and that is where we have encouraged them to use the same color brick and similar materials that sort of thing"
That is it, it is a subjective thing, not really a good way uhhhhhh, not a hard and fast, uhhhhhhh, this is harmonious, this is not and that is where we encouraged them to use the same color brick and similar materials.
Encouraged? I did not see the word encouraged in the development code.  I did see the words shall (must, absolute) and should, but not encouraged.
No Kim, they shall be compatible, not encouraged to be compatible.  
For the city to allow the development of these two buildings side by side is a clear violation of the Lehi Development Code and this project should be shut down until the applicants (LDS Church) comes into compliance with the Lehi City Development code.
One last question, do the two pictures below look similar?

One is a Catholic Church, one is a commercial office building. If they sat side by side would you say they are similar? At least the church has a front entrance facing the street.

How about these?

Do these look similar? If they sat side by side, would they look similar?
Please feel free to comment on this post, I would love to hear your opinion of how these two buildings look similar if in deed you think they look similar.

By the way, it is my opinion the LDS Church is in violation of Chapters 2, 9-B, 11, 12, 28 and multiple other chapters of the Lehi City Development code and I have filed an appeal of the approval of these two development projects by the LDS Church,. Well they are really one development project that the LDS Church split up for nefarious reasons.