WOODS CROSS -- When Shane Walster and his family moved into a brand new $185,000 home in the Farm Meadows subdivision in Woods Cross in November, they expected the homes that would follow would be like theirs.

That's what one of the original developers told everyone, said Walster.So when he found out the subdivision's new owner planned to build significantly less expensive homes in future phases of the development, Walster and some other owners of the pricier homes didn't keep quiet.

Fearing their property values could drop, the homeowners appealed to developer Kaufman & Broad three weeks ago but did not initially get any concessions, said Walster. Then the homeowners took their case to the Woods Cross City Council.

After meeting with the council and some of the complaining homeowners Thursday, Kaufman & Broad said it was making changes in its plan for phases two and three that will satisfy the original phase-one residents of the subdivision at 1500 South 900 West.

Councilman Darin Hicks said he thought Kaufman & Broad had made "significant concessions."

Although the company had no legal obligation to make the changes, it "didn't do them any good to have unhappy neighbors in phase one," said Hicks.

Kaufman & Broad had initially planned for none of the phase two or three homes to exceed 1,900 square feet, have basements or have exterior brick or stone wainscoting as a standard feature. That would have made their value significantly less than that of the phase one homes, which are larger on average, have basements and the standard brick or stone work.

Walster said he and his neighbors were concerned the "less desirable homes" would turnover more frequently and that some of them would possibly end up being rented to undesirables.

Now, the developer has decided to make exterior brick or stone work standard for all phase two and three homes, make basements available and offer some floor plans with up to 2,152 square feet of space, said Pete Petersen, president of Utah Kaufman and Broad. Buyers will now have 35 floor plans to choose from.

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Whether more of the larger or smaller homes are eventually built will depend on the market, said Petersen. The company expects to break ground on the first group of new homes in two weeks.

"It's our goal to be a long-time player in the Utah market, and we believe it's our obligation to be a good corporate citizen," said Petersen. "If through very little change in our business plan we can make our neighbors and political leaders more comfortable, that is good business, and it's the right thing to do."

Walster pronounced himself "very satisfied" with the changes announced by Kaufman & Broad.

"Now I'm a lot more excited," said Walster. "One of the big things for me was the brick or the rock on the outside. That's going to make the outside look a lot better. I also think offering basements is a smart move. They might be able to make more money."

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