Planning commissioners decided Wednesday to hand a hot potato up to the City Council without any advice on how to handle it.
The joint request from University Mall/Utah Transit Authority asking for community shopping instead of low-density residential and a subsequent rezone failed to get an endorsement of any kind. With two members missing and two others against the controversial request, not enough votes were left to make up a quorum of approval.Commissioners Lisa Deason and Russ Verhoef said they could not vote for something the residents in the area did not all want. Louann March, commission chairwoman, said she regrets sending something so important to the council with no clear indication of what the commission thinks.
The action involves property that needs to be rezoned to allow UTA to build a transit center between 750 and 800 East. UTA was kicked off University Mall property months ago. Since that time, officials for the bus line have tried to secure property nearby that they could afford and that would still be central for bus riders.
Woodbury Corp., which owns the mall, included some homes they own along 750 East with the UTA request because the mall needs the property for expansion.
The coming expansion and the expected widening of 800 East prompted staff members for Orem city to suggest including a block of homes north of 1100 South and east of 750 East that will eventually become an island of residential development in a commercial area.
Bob Moore, representing development services, said the homeowners in that area came in asking for a rezone to commercial status "about a year ago." At that time, Moore said the residents were warned about the potential for spot commercial development and the group withdrew their request.
City engineer Ed Gifford pointed out that the price a property could fetch would be higher if it were zoned commercial rather than residential.
Wednesday, the same group had an attorney protecting their interests. F. Richard Smith III said the 12 neighbors who retained him feel it's too soon to include their homes in the rezone. "It seems untimely and potentially harmful," he said.
March said that while she hates to see the domino effect ruin a once beautiful and close-knit neighborhood, it's an inevitability.
Three homeowners in that area said they want commercial zoning so they can sell and get on with their lives.
Commissioner ReNae Brereton tried to cut down the size of the request in order to gain approval for just the UTA four-home parcel and those homes south of 1100 South on the west side of 750 East.
However, since three properties in that block are not optioned or sold to either Woodbury or UTA, that still worried Deason and Verhoef.
UTA official John Inglish said the bus line owns two of the four parcels it needs and has an option on the third. The fourth owner is asking twice the value of his land, said Inglish. University Mall Manager Rob Kallas said he doesn't know why two homeowners still refuse to sell to Woodbury.