Bill Conley, Investigator of the City of Lehi Utah: LDS Church violating Lehi City Development Code 28.070, Section (c) Access and Traffic. Garden Drive is not defined as a Collector Street. LDS Church MUST stop construction IMMEDIATELY!

May 4, 2016

2:50 pm

I just had a 30 minute conversation with Lorin Powell, the Lehi City engineer.

Here are the notes from that conversation that I wrote while we were talking.

Lorin indicated he defined Garden Drive as a collector in 2004. At least in his head, he defined Garden Drive as a collector, he didn’t tell anybody about it until it showed up in the conditional use application put forth by Trio Design. Prior to that, nobody knew Garden Drive was a collector. Garden Drive is not a collector!!!!!!!!!

He indicated that there are NO documents, no maps, nothing that would reveal that Garden Drive is a collector.

He said the city took over the road from Thanksgiving Point in 2004 when a few developments (subdivisions) were going to be built.

He said Garden Drive has very limited parking. One of the conditions for TPARC to approve the Family Search plat is the requirement that Garden Drive curb be painted red, no parking.

He mentioned that the city has not taken an inventory of streets since sometime in the 90,s. So there is nothing that would show that Garden Drive was every labeled a collector.

The first time Garden Drive was labeled a collector is in the application from Trio Design when it said, “engineering believes Garden Drive to be a collector.”

The master plan does not inventory roads. It shows how roads should look going forward.

When I mentioned that I had several maps showing the collector street layout in Lehi and that Garden Drive was not labeled a collector, he could not respond to that.

I told him I had a Master Transportation Map from May 2015 that did not show Garden Drive as a collector. Also the Master Transportation Map in 2010 does not show Garden Drive as a collector.

He indicated the collector and arterial on the master plan were for roads to be built in the future.

There is no inventory of roads that show or differentiate collectors, arterial and roads.

I commented that Garden Drive could not even meet the classification of a road in today’s terms, that it is only 33’ wide and a street is defined as 34’ wide.

He indicated that 2350 W was classified as a collector in May of 2004.

He indicated the whole area was built out in a 4 year period.

He thought the bridge was built by Thanksgiving Pt and did not know if it was deeded to the city at the time Garden Drive was deeded to the city. The bridge was also deeded over to the city.

It was a private bridge at one time.

I indicated that Club House Drive, Executive Parkway and Ashton Blvd are labeled as collectors and asked him why Garden Drive was not labeled as a collector. He did not know.

The Master Transportation plan defines what roads will look like in the future. He indicated that since they have not taken an inventory of roads, that the roads that are already built are not labeled or inventoried.

I asked him if that was the case, why was Club House Drive and Executive Parkway labeled as a collector and not Garden Drive, he could not respond.

He said there is a deed transferring Garden Drive to the City and that I could see it and the abstract of the deed on a plat map at Utah County.

The plat map entry number is 91925. The deed transfer was on August 10, 2004. The deed was transferred by Thanksgiving Point Development Company, LC and signed by Ralph Rasmussen, Beesmark Investment Manager. No signature needed for the city.

I know I mentioned this, he said the maps produced by the city are not an inventory of the streets in Lehi.

Bottom line, there is nothing that shows Garden Drive labeled as a collector. There are maps that show Garden Drive is NOT a collector.

Just because Lorin Powell says it is a collector, does not make it a collector. Garden Drive has never been labeled a collector except in the mind of Loren Powell. That does not make it a collector. It does not even qualify to be a road, less lone a collector.

Club House Drive was taken over by the city at the same time as Garden Drive it is labeled as a collector, so is Executive Parkway.

Garden Drive when it was deeded over to the city, included the narrow bridge and ended there, at the end of the bridge.

Lorin Powell had 11 years to update Lehi City maps to indicate that Garden Drive was a collector. He did not do so, because he never thought Garden Drive was a collector. About the same time, the city took over Club House Drive and Executive Parkway and he labeled them collector streets on the Lehi City maps and Master plan. He did not label Garden Drive a collector because it never was a collector.

Lorin when asked if there was any plans in the next 5+ years for additional or roads in the Thanksgiving Point area and he indicated, there were NO plans for additional streets or roads.

There will be thousands of new employees working in the Thanksgiving Point area in the next years and several thousand more in the coming years with NO new infrastructure.

I asked him if he has met with UDOT and he indicated he has not met with UDOT or spoken with UDOT. I asked him if he knew if Ross has met with UDOT or spoken with UDOT and he indicated he did not know. So if Ross has met with UDOT regarding this development and stoplights at 2150 and 2300, wouldn’t you think he may have had a conversation with his boss? The answer is NO. So has Ross met with UDOT or spoken with UDOT? I sent Ross and email and placed a phone call with him on May 4^th, I am awaiting his response. If I don’t hear back from him, I will call UDOT and ask them if they have heard of Ross Dinsdale, have they met with him or spoken with him regarding a traffic light at 2150 W and 2300 W in Lehi? (Ross has not spoken with UDOT and was not at the singular meeting with UDOT on March 21).

I have sent numerous emails to the city and have posted several different articles relating to how the Family Search Project MUST be stopped due to the FACT that Garden Drive is not a collector street.

Below are portions of those emails and/or blog post articles.

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 master plan is defined as a road and not a collector street or arterial.

In the application, engineering considers Garden Drive to be a collector street. Engineering may consider it for the purpose of this development to be a collector street that does not make it a collector street. Just saying it is a collector street does not make it a collector street, it needs to be defined as a collector street by Lehi City Code and shown as a collector street on ALL city maps and Master Transportation Plan.

A collector street as defined in Chapter 2 of the Lehi City Code section 2.02 states the following:

A. ALL streets in an adjacent to the subdivision MUST CONFORM to the major street master plan of the city.

Lehi City Master Transportation Plan, adopted by the Lehi City Council on May 12, 2015 (less than a year ago) shows Garden Drive as a street (road).

Lehi City Street map, produced by Lehi City GIS, Jason Dewill, GIS Coordinator, August 26, 2016 shows Garden Drive as a Road.

D. Street width is to be measure from lot line to lot lines. The minimum width of streets according to the Lehi City Master Transportation Plan, unless otherwise expressly permitted by the CITY COUNCIL (not the city engineer), shall be measured as follows:

Street Type Asphalt Width

Local Streets 34’

Minor collector streets 38-44’

Major collector streets 48’

Utah Handbook on the Powers and Duties of Appeal Authorities defines a collector street as follows:
A street which collects traffic from local street and connects with minor and major traffic arteries.

Kelly Ash in the planning commission meeting that decided whether or not the city should approve the commercial office site, said the following (note: he voted NO when asking whether or not to approve the commercial office site)

Kelly Ash has a problem with the traffic, “not convinced, one that this will work at least the things that have been suggested, signal on 2150, that road goes through a neighborhood, not shown as a major transportation corridor on our master plan” (bingo)

I spoke with Ryan Hale of Hale engineering on May 10, 2016. Mr. Hale indicted in our conversation that Garden Drive was a street not a collector. Lehi has commissioned Mr. Hale and his company to advise them of traffic related solutions in the Thanksgiving Point area.

I asked Lorin Powell if had ever met with UDOT and he indicated he has not met with UDOT or spoken with UDOT. I asked him if he knew if Ross Dinsdale has met with UDOT or spoken with UDOT and he indicated he did not know.

Lorin Powell does not know who met with UDOT and doesn’t know the content of any conversations with UDOT.

In the application submitted to the Lehi Planning Commission by VCBO for Site Plan Approval of the Thanksgiving Point Family Search project, nowhere did it mention that Garden Drive was a collector street. Only in the Application for Conditional Use permit approval presented to the Planning Commission by TRIO did it mention that engineering believed that Garden Drive was a collector street. Believing that Garden Drive is a collector street and Garden Drive actually being a collector street as defined by Lehi Code are two completely different issues. One is a belief, the other actual. You may believe Garden Drive is a collector street when actually it is not. Not by any definition, not by any map, not by any Lehi city code. Plainly put, Garden Drive is not a collector street.

In this case even if Garden Drive was divinely defined by Lorin Powell as a collector, (1) he has not defined it as a minor or major collector anywhere (2) a collector as defined above connects with minor or major arteries. Garden Drive on the one end connects with Club House drive which by city maps is defined as a collector (not minor or major), not an arterial street. Garden Drive as you move south changes to 2350 W which is defined as a road on all Lehi City maps and which itself is less than 33’ making it unacceptable to even be defined as a city street (34’). Even so, if you continue on it intersects with 2150 N, a city street and not an arterial street. Even 2300 W is defined on City maps as a collector street, not an arterial. Any way you look at from a number of different perspectives, Garden Drive is and always has been nothing more than a private road and then a city street, never a collector.

Garden drive at its maximum point is 33’, 5’ short of the minimum requirement. It does not even qualify as a street by code definition. To be a street it MUST be a minimum of 34’, Garden Drive at its maximum point is 33’. It certainly is disqualified from being a collector street for several different reasons.

The Lehi Master Transportation plan shows pictures of proposed typical street sections which it adopted on May 12, 2015. A Lehi Master Transportation plan in 2010 showed Garden Drive as a street and not a collector.

Garden Drive does not resemble any of the proposed typical streets.

Other problems with attempting to consider Garden Drive a collector street.

Garden drive has a single dividing line, 1’ in width.

Garden drive has no parking (red) for a large portion of the street.

Garden drive beyond Crooked Stick (Thanksgiving Village) speed limit is reduced from 35 to 25 until it hits 2150 N.

Garden drive at Crooked Stick begins entering a residential neighborhood.

The curb on Garden Drive must be painted Red as it will be designated a no parking zone. Thanksgiving Point made this a requirement. Note: They said Garden Drive, not a portion of Garden Drive, but the entire length of Garden Drive.

There is NO white line delineation for parking or a bike lane as show in the Lehi Master Transportation Plan. White line delineation for parking or for a bike path or both MUST show on a collector street.

Garden Drive does not appear on any city map as a collector street. In the application put forth by VCBO for the commercial office building, Garden Drive was not defined as a collector street.

Mr. Powell for the purposes of this development can’t redefine Garden Drive as a collector. Garden Drive could never be a collector, it does not meet Lehi Master Transportation standards, it is not identified as a collector street anywhere on a Lehi City map or city code or city website.

Kim Struthers said the following in the planning commission meeting,

“big difference between the words should and shall, I am sure you are all familiar with code language, should is a discretionary, it is a recommendation, shall means you have to”

In this case the code uses the word MUST which is even more definitive than the word shall which Kim Struthers defines as meaning you have to.

Kim also stated the following in a planning commission meeting,

“As far as garden drive being a collector road that issue only pertains to the commercial office bldg.”

If that is true, why mention it at the Conditional Use planning commission meeting? Why would the engineering staff make a reference to Garden Drive being a collector street in the Conditional Use application by Trio if it was not an issue? Why wouldn’t the staff address that issue in the Family Search Commercial Office Building application submitted by VCBO?

Violation: Access and Traffic.

A collector street as defined in Chapter 2 of the Lehi City Code section 2.02 states the following:

A. ALL streets in an adjacent to the subdivision MUST CONFORM to the major street master plan of the city.

Lehi City Master Transportation Plan, adopted by the Lehi City Council on May 12, 2015 (less than a year ago) shows Garden Drive as a street (road).

Lehi City Street map, produced by Lehi City GIS, Jason Dewill, GIS Coordinator, August 26, 2016 shows Garden Drive as a Road.

D. Street width is to be measured from lot line to lot lines. The minimum width of streets according to the Lehi City Master Transportation Plan, unless otherwise expressly permitted by the CITY COUNCIL (not the city engineer), shall be measured as follows:

Street Type Asphalt Width

Local Streets 34’

Minor collector streets 38-44’

Major collector streets 48’

The Lehi Master Transportation plan shows pictures of proposed typical street sections which it adopted on May 12, 2015.

Garden Drive does not resemble any of the proposed typical streets.

Other problems with attempting to consider Garden Drive a collector street.

Garden drive has a single dividing line, 1’ in width.

Garden drive has no parking (red) for a large portion of the street.

Garden drive beyond Crooked Stick (Thanksgiving Village) speed limit is reduced from 35 to 25 until it hits 2150 N.

Garden drive at Crooked Stick begins entering a residential neighborhood.

Garden Drive does not appear on any city map as a collector street. In the application put forth by VCBO for the commercial office building, Garden Drive was not defined as a collector street.

Mr. Powell for the purposes of this development can’t redefine Garden Drive as a collector. Garden Drive could never be a collector, it does not meet Lehi Master Transportation standards, it is not identified as a collector streets anywhere on a Lehi City map or city code or city website.

Violation #5

Violation: C. Access and Traffic

Code states: Adequate vehicular and pedestrian access MUST be provided. DIRECT access from an arterial or collector street to the office and professional service uses MUST be provided.

Violation: Concept design of the proposed commercial office building and LDS Stake Center shows the access points (3) exiting and entering off Garden Drive which is a local street and NOT an arterial or collector street. There is NO DIRECT ACCESS to the commercial office building or LDS Stake Center. There is NO WAY this project could have direct access to a collector or arterial connection.

Violation: Lehi Master Transportation Plan adopted May 12^th, 2015 showing and defining collector streets and arterial streets. According to the Master Transportation plan, Garden Drive is not defined as either an arterial or collector street. Club house drive is defined as a collector street but does not meet the code specification. (E.g. there is a small bridge at the beginning of Club house drive which is only 24 feet wide. This does not qualify as even a local street, yet the city has it erroneously defined Club House Drive as a collector street. Executive Parkway is also designated as a collector street; however, according to the diagrams of what defines a collector street, it does not meet any of the criteria as set forth in the Lehi Master Transportation plan.

Continued:

Code States: A traffic impact study shall be required as part of the AREA PLAN, to project auto and truck traffic generated by the uses proposed.

Violation: A traffic impact study has not been provided as part of the AREA PLAN (a clear violation of the code). An incomplete traffic study was commissioned by the LDS Church which does not even take into account traffic going to or coming from the proposed Family Search and Discovery Center. The proposed traffic study (traffic count on a single day in August for 4 hours) does not accurately represent current and future traffic flow and conditions and WAS NOT provided as part of the AREA PLAN. There is no account for RV, Bus or large vehicle parking which MUST be addressed as part of the Family Search and Discovery Center. Final traffic study was presented to the City on April 13^th, 2016, after my GRAMMA request. The traffic study I received DOES NOT include any of the appendixes.

Bottom line of the traffic study. Traffic is horrible, it will remain horrible and they suggest building two new stop lights which will only exacerbate the traffic problem.

What the traffic study fails to mention or review:

Intersection of I15 north/south with Club House Drive, major bottleneck and the cause of much of the traffic congestion.

School hours and traffic from a local elementary school.

4000 new employees will start employment in this upcoming year.

Traffic study was conducted on a bright, sunny, Wednesday afternoon in late August (26^th) for 4 hours. No other times were looked at, E.g. impact of snow, rain, snow storms, traffic on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Holidays, Concerts, Tulip Festival or any other Thanksgiving Point events which happen throughout the year.

No mention of over 450,000 additional square footage of building construction that will be completed in the next year.

No mention of over 1 million additional square feet of building East of I15 on SR92.

No mention of Family Search and Discovery traffic, RV, Bus, Large Vehicle traffic from the Family Search Center.

Traffic from all the businesses East of I15 which significantly impacts those getting onto I15 north and southbound. The Harmon’s complex due to open this summer will have an additional 2000 employees.

Traffic from events held west of the RR tracks. E.g. Concerts, tulip festival, curiosity center, etc.

Growth rate calculation grossly in error. Growth rate of vehicle trips has increased over 100% in the past few years.

Collector streets labeled as collector DO NOT meet the criteria as put forth by the Lehi Master Transportation Plan.

Stop sign at Club House Drive and Garden Drive is a huge problem. Three way stop; hundreds of cars will descend upon the intersection causing major traffic jams.

Residential neighborhoods, 25MPH.

The study reveals the Church indicating nearly 25% of their employees will be using TRAX. Problem is, many of these employees have not

Read 28.070 (c) Access and Traffic: Adequate vehicular and pedestrian access must be provided. Direct access from an arterial or collector street to the office and professional service uses MUST be provided. A traffic study shall be REQUIRED as part of the AREA PLAN, to project auto and truck traffic generated by the uses proposed.

They CANNOT build this project UNLESS they designate Garden Drive as a collector street. Currently Garden Drive is a road. Garden Drive is ONLY 33’ in width. Garden drive is 17’ wide heading north and 15’ wide heading south with a 1’ center strip. Garden Drive heads south from Club House Drive and turns into 2350 (a pure residential street with town homes and single family residences). It would be IMPOSSIBLE to label Garden Drive a collector. Garden Drive does not any of the cities criteria for a collector street and currently it is not defined as a collector street.

Truth is, this project CANNOT go forward without classifying Garden Drive as a collector street. Problem is, IT IS NOT!

This entire project needs to be put on hold until the applicant(s) apply with Lehi City Code, section 28.070 (c) which clearly states, DIRECT ACCESS FROM AN ARTERIAL OR COLLECTOR STREET TO THE OFFICE AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICE MUST BE PROVIDED.

Violation: Access and Traffic.

A collector street as defined in Chapter 2 of the Lehi City Code section 2.02 states the following:

B. ALL streets in an adjacent to the subdivision MUST CONFORM to the major street master plan of the city.

Lehi City Master Transportation Plan, adopted by the Lehi City Council on May 12, 2015 (less than a year ago) shows Garden Drive as a street (road).

Lehi City Street map, produced by Lehi City GIS, Jason Dewill, GIS Coordinator, August 26, 2016 shows Garden Drive as a Road.

Street Type Asphalt Width

Local Streets 34’

Minor collector streets 38-44’

Major collector streets 48’

The Lehi Master Transportation plan shows pictures of proposed typical street sections which it adopted on May 12, 2015.

Garden Drive does not resemble any of the proposed typical streets.

Other problems with attempting to consider Garden Drive a collector street.

Garden drive has a single dividing line, 1’ in width.

Garden drive has no parking (red) for a large portion of the street.

Garden drive beyond Crooked Stick (Thanksgiving Village) speed limit is reduced from 35 to 25 until it hits 2150 N.

Garden drive at Crooked Stick begins entering a residential neighborhood.

Garden Drive does not appear on any city map as a collector street. In the application put forth by VCBO for the commercial office building, Garden Drive was not defined as a collector street.

Read 28.070 (c) Access and Traffic: Adequate vehicular and pedestrian access must be provided. Direct access from an arterial or collector street to the office and professional service uses MUST be provided. A traffic study shall be REQUIRED as part of the AREA PLAN, to project auto and truck traffic generated by the uses proposed.

They CANNOT build this project UNLESS they designate Garden Drive as a collector street. Currently Garden Drive is a road. Garden Drive is ONLY 33’ in width. Garden drive is 17’ wide heading north and 15’ wide heading south with a 1’ center strip. Garden Drive heads south from Club House Drive and turns into 2350 (a pure residential street with townhomes and single family residences). It would be IMPOSSIBLE to label Garden Drive a collector. Garden Drive does not any of the cities criterial for a collector street and currently it is not defined as a collector street.

Truth is, this project CANNOT go forward without classifying Garden Drive as a collector street. Problem is, IT IS NOT!

This entire project needs to be put on hold until the applicant(s) apply with Lehi City Code, section 28.070 (c) which clearly states, DIRECT ACCESS FROM AN ARTERIAL OR COLLECTOR STREET TO THE OFFICE AND PROFESSIONAL SERVICE MUST BE PROVIDED.

This project needs to be re-evaluated. The city and the LDS Church have been trying to push forth a development that CANNOT meet city code unless you ignore the code.

Violation: C. Access and Traffic

Code states: Adequate vehicular and pedestrian access MUST be provided. DIRECT access from an arterial or collector street to the office and professional service uses MUST be provided.

Violation: Concept design of the proposed commercial office building and LDS Stake Center shows the access points (3) exiting and entering off Garden Drive which is a local street and NOT an arterial or collector street. There is NO DIRECT ACCESS to the commercial office building or LDS Stake Center. There is NO WAY this project could have direct access to a collector or arterial connection.

Violation: Lehi Master Transportation Plan adopted May 12^th, 2015 showing and defining collector streets and arterial streets. According to the Master Transportation plan, Garden Drive is not defined as either an arterial or collector street. Club house drive is defined as a collector street but does not meet the code specification. (E.g. there is a small bridge at the beginning of Club house drive which is only 24 feet wide. This does not qualify as even a local street, yet the city has it erroneously defined Club House Drive as a collector street. Executive Parkway is also designated as a collector street; however, according to the diagrams of what defines a collector street, it does not meet any of the criteria as set forth in the Lehi Master Transportation plan.

Continued:

Code States: A traffic impact study shall be required as part of the AREA PLAN, to project auto and truck traffic generated by the uses proposed.

Violation: A traffic impact study has not been provided as part of the AREA PLAN. An incomplete traffic study was commissioned by the LDS Church which does not even take into account traffic going to or coming from the proposed Family Search and Discovery Center. The proposed traffic study (traffic count on a single day in August for 4 hours) does not accurately represent current and future traffic flow and conditions and WAS NOT provided as part of the AREA PLAN. There is no account for RV, Bus or large vehicle parking which MUST be addressed as part of the Family Search and Discovery Center. Final traffic study was presented to the City on April 13^th, 2016, after my GRAMMA request. The traffic study I received DOES NOT include any of the appendixes.

Bottom line of the traffic study. Traffic is horrible, it will remain horrible and they suggest building two new stop lights which will only exacerbate the traffic problem.