Growth peaked here in 1995, largely because the city is running out of buildable lots, City Planner Greg Comstock told the City Council recently.
Yet Spanish Fork remains one of the more popular cities in Utah County to build or buy a home.In 1995 the city issued 520 building permits. That dropped to 479 in 1996. But out of those totals, single-family homes accounted for 335 permits in 1995 and 300 last year. Duplexes or twin homes totaled 58 both years and other multiple-unit housing structures totaled 46 in 1995 and 24 in 1996. All told, permits for 439 residential building were issued in 1995 and 382 in 1996.
The numbers are in stark contrast to 1990 when only 88 building permits were issued. That year just 31 new homes were built along with four duplexes or twin homes.
Population figures show a 20 percent growth between 1990 and 1994, the latest figures available, said Shawn Eliot, a planner at the Mountainland Association of Governments. Population grew from 11,272 in 1990 to 13,522 by 1994, according to U.S. Census figures. City officials say Spanish Fork now has more than 17,000 residents.
Other Utah County communities have a higher percentage growth than Spanish Fork, census figures reveal. They are Alpine (30.2 percent), Cedar Hills (90.5 percent), Elk Ridge (34.4 percent), Genola (33.1 percent), Lehi (30.6 percent), Lindon (30.7 percent), Salem (35.3 percent), and Woodland Hills (148.2 percent). Eliot said the Woodland Hills growth jump may have just been a correction in the count.
Utah County as a whole grew 14.8 percent from 1990 to 1994 - from 263,590 residents to 302,519. Preliminary figures for 1996 put the county's population at 317,879, said Eliot. But he calls that figure conservative. Mountainland Association of Governments estimates the present population at 337,586.
Spanish Fork is now the fifth largest city in Utah County, after Provo (98,244), Orem (74,402), American Fork (18,194) and Pleasant Grove (15,792). The population of the unincorporated area as of 1994 was 13,882.
"It's the lifestyle," said Rod Fife, real estate broker for the Spanish Fork office of Wardley Better Homes & Gardens. "We're close to the population centers but we have excellent schools, sports programs, and clean air. Oh, we get a breeze now and then."
He said that's generally the attitude throughout south Utah County. "We're not so overgrown and still affordable." The average home price is Spanish Fork is $125,000, compared with a county-wide average price of $145,000, he said.
"We have room to grow, too," he said. "And we have done well in establishing a hub for shopping. We have a lot of services without the distracting elements. This is still a town where you can leave your bike out on the street overnight."