The fight was essentially over whether to relocate about 200 feet of dirt road, how it would be paved and where a building would be located.
Yet, in many ways, the battle was one of the most bitterly divisive controversies faced by the City Council in recent months.Before the council decided Tuesday to allow the Family Living Center to build a second building in its successful retirement center west of Geneva Road, lawsuits were threatened and allegations flew.
The Family Living Center, owned and operated by brothers Frederic and Randy Jackman, is a care facility for senior citizens who do not need to live in rest homes.
The 2-year-old center has received good reviews from industry officials and relatives of patients there.
But neighbors accused one of the Jackmans of swearing at one neighborhood girl and of blocking neighborhood access to Geneva Road with a fence. The Jackmans deny the accusations.
"This has become a spiteful, vindictive situation, and I'm tired of it," said Sherrie Nofrey, a nearby resident.
At the heart of the issue is 950 South. The partially unpaved road is one of two access roads from the Springwater Park subdivision onto Geneva Road, which has Orem's highest speed limits.
The street is partially unpaved because the developer who originally owned the area went bankrupt and never completed all of the permits to make 950 South an official street.
Therein lies much of the rub. If the street isn't official, the Jackmans would need no legal authority to eliminate the road where it crosses their property - unless the street had been used by citizens regularly for at least 10 years. City officials are unsure about that fact: The first building permit in the subdivision was issued in May 1979. Because the courts would have to decide, there was the potential of lawsuits.
The Jackmans wanted to add a second building to their property and turn 950 South into a private cul-de-sac from Geneva Road. They planned to extend 1555 West, which connects onto 950 South, to Orem's Wastewater Treatment Plant access road (about 1000 South) and pay for most of the improvements, but not all.
In normal street vacation proceedings, the city would require the Jackmans to pay the entire fee to pave 1555 West, widen the access road and add curb and gutter near their development - more than $15,000. The Jackmans don't think they need to widen the access road.
Because of earlier promises made to residents to devote city funds to 1555 South, and, to a lesser degree, because of possible litigation over the 10-year issue - the Jackmans threatened to put up a fence soon to protect their chances of winning a potential case at one point - the council voted to spend $3,800 to widen the access road. Only Councilman Kelvin Clayton voted against the proposal. The council asked the Jackmans to move the site of their new building farther away from nearby homes, which they agreed to in principle.
Dean Bailey, an unsuccessful City Council candidate who lives behind the proposed addition, apologized for any mistakes made in the long battle in an effort to change the atmosphere in the neighborhood as the three-hour City Council debate ended.