Micron Area Plan Concept

I am a resident of the area and am concerned about the triangular area west of “N 500 West” Street near Belmont Elementary school and the new junior high that is currently designated as School/Park but is now proposed as a Mixed Use (MU) per current plan. In addition, the larger park area north east of Belmont Elementary has also been replaced by the active adult community housing proposal. Currently, there is a severe lack of recreational park/ play area for kids/families living in the existing subdivisions. Additional demand for areas that can be used for sport practice fields and family gatherings will only increase with the proposed developments. Access to the local schools will also likely have limited public access to allow for school activities and events. In addition, vehicular traffic will increase due to the proposed developments which can also jeopardize children's safety when there is limited recreation areas for children to play. It is my opinion that the community will be better served if there are more parks and community recreational areas, where children and families can come together. I oppose the current plan to change the land usage from Park to Mixed Use (MU) / additional housing development. The original plans for parks in this area should be maintained as (Park/ Play areas) instead of the new plan designations. Consideration of the impacts of the proposed plan should be taken to ensure the resident's and Lehi City’s long-term well-being by maintaining the proposed land usage for public recreation areas when considering future development needs.

SR92 stretch in Lehi desperately needs large park and soccer fields. It is unfair to kids and adults alike, if we designate small patches of land as parks. Please pay more attention to planting more trees to build green cover as well as building larger parks. In the above plan parks seem to be an after thought made from left over unusable land.

I am a resident that lives near the land recently purchased by DR Horton. After reviewing their proposed plan for the land adjacent to my neighborhood I have some concerns that I would like to share. The first is the lack of park space and specifically programable park space for things like soccer, football, tennis etc. I live in Canyon hills and we have our own private soccer field and one tennis court and one basket ball court. I can't tell you how often we have tried to go play tennis to find that our courts are in use and not by members of our community. There is a lack of public tennis courts in Northern Lehi that can be utilized so people use ours. We have also tried taking our dog over to our soccer field to throw a ball and let him run to find out its being used by various local soccer and football teams. The field is getting run down and beaten up because of the heavy use. In Microns original plan for the land next to us they had a large park just east of our neighborhood planned that had space for soccer fields, tennis courts and a playground and we were really looking forward to having a nearby place for more of these local teams to play instead of using our private spaces. I would also love to see Lehi get a dog park in our area. The only dog park I know of is in Draper which isn't close enough for us to make use of it. I know I have several other dog owning neighbors that would also agree that they would love to not only see a park on the land next to us but if that park was city own and had a dog park included so it could be widely used and enjoyed!
My second concern is the amount of high density housing in DR Horton's current plans. When we purchased our home we did so thinking that if the land next to us was built out it would have a similar feel as the current local housing which does include some high density but many more single family homes than they have in their plans currently.
Along with my previous concern I an worried about the effect this high density housing is going to have on our schools. I don't know if Alpine school district has done any analysis on this but from what I understand the empty classrooms we have in our elementary school will be filled within 2 to 3 years just with French immersion classes as those expand into the higher grades. With 2000+ units going in I'm not sure how many of those will have children entering Belmont but it seems to me that there not only wont be room but our school is going to be completely overwhelmed by the number of new students. It also seems odd for DR Horton to put their active adult housing right next to a noisy elementary school. There used to be an older couple that lived in the Canyon Hills model home just above the school that complained to the school on a regular basis about the noise and eventually moved.
Lastly I am concerned about drainage. We have already had some drainage problems from water draining from upper homes down into our yard. If they build and don't plan well enough for drainage even more water could potentially be routed down through our yards.
Thank you for giving local residents a format for sharing their views and opinions. I look forward to seeing how this project might evolve in a way that might make both parties content. Thank you

Thank you for allowing neighboring residents the ability to opine on the DR Horton proposal. I’ve appreciated the interaction I’ve had with city employees and their willingness to answer my many questions however I didn’t have much time to perform due diligence on the proposal and so I would have appreciated more advance warning and/or the ability to delay this proposal until the next planning commission meeting.

I strongly encourage the planning commission to recommend to the city council to make some adjustments to DR Horton’s plans. In particular, I encourage the commission to focus on adjusting the plan to allow for a large park on the strip to the north of Belmont elementary (the space previously approved for park/green space under Micron’s plan). I believe the city lacks large programable park space and facilities and considering the massive growth in the north east portion of Lehi, that problem will only become more strained as the area gets filled within the next few years with largely high and medium density housing.

Small mini ‘tot lots’ parks are great but have limited usefulness as they are only allowed for smaller children and can’t be utilized for large gatherings or utilized by the city to schedule soccer games, flag football and sports camps among other uses. Further, the Canyon Hills park and facilities is the only park in the area and are heavily utilized by many neighboring communities and are showing their ware through increased repair and maintenance. I’m all for sharing however one look at the grass will quickly illustrate that the park is well loved and in need of some TLC.

Within DR Horton’s plans the drainage retention ponds near Timp highway, mountain side on the north west and the two ravines on the north east of the property appear to only be good for a single path trail network or limited useful park space that can be utilized for kid’s activities.
Further, I hope the planning commission and city council don’t give full credit to the schools in the area as city park space as those have limited usefulness as well. Residents can’t use them Mon-Fri during school hours and then after school they are very frequently booked by the school or other organizations. Further, they are fenced in which makes access somewhat difficult. Lastly, the commission should encourage DR Horton to focus their efforts of green space to the existing community and allow the Traverse Trails Associations to raise funds to build the trail network above their property. I’d love to have those trails be completed but not at the expense of a more frequently used regional parks conveniently located adjacent to the schools.

DR Horton can move the active adults community to the top portion of the mix use area or even possibly reduce the number of units they plan to build as they appear to be approaching the 40% bonus max capacity for the area with the number of existing units planned anyway.
Separately, the area labeled civic on the plan is overly vague to me as the elementary, jr. high and high schools are already near and a future church does not require this much land.

Lastly, while I acknowledge the huge need for affordable housing in this booming market, I would like to see the DR Horton community match the general density and feel of the surrounding communities which include some high-density housing but not as much as it appears DR Horton is planning. I would love to see if the planning commission can provide a comparison of the surrounding communities and DR Horton’s plans on how high the bonus density came up to.

Sorry for the length of this feedback however as you can see, I feel strongly about this issue and believe the commission and city council should adjust the submitted plans.

Best,
Abe Ford

As a resident of the area, I am excited to learn about the new developments proposed. Even though I am excited about the developments, there are areas that I think are not well thought out for the use that has been proposed as per the new plan.
In particular, I am concerned about the triangular area (West of “N 500 West” Street, and South West of “Canyon Hills Rd”), and East of “Perry Homes (Subdivision: Crossings at Traverse)” that was earlier designated as School/Park but is now a Mixed Use (MU) as per current plan. Currently, there is a severe lack of park/ play area for kids/families living in Perry Homes (subdivision: Crossings at Traverse), and have to go very far away to access the community park/ play areas such as eagle park or access “Traverse Mountain Master Association (TMMA) ” facilities. According to the new plan, this triangular area is now designated as Mixed Use, which means no park in plans for the residents of the Perry Homes community. There are two schools (northeast and east of that area), and vehicular traffic will increase if more areas are marked for mixed-use, which can also jeopardize children's security. The community at large is served if there are more parks and community play areas, where children and families can come together to play and recreate. I oppose the current plan to change the land usage from Park to Mixed Use (MU). Triangular area is more suitable for play areas such as slides, park, basketball court, etc, and should be redesignated as such (Park/ Play area).
Thanks for your consideration, and I believe the right decision will be taken to ensure the resident's long-term well-being by changing the proposed land use.

As a resident of the area, I am excited to learn about the new developments proposed. Even though I am excited about the developments, there are areas that I think are not well thought out for the use that has been proposed as per new plan.

In particular, I am concerned about the triangular area (West of "N 500 West"  Street, and South West of "Canyon Hills Rd"), and East of "Perry Homes (Subdivision: Crossings at Traverse)" that was earlier designated as School/Park but is now a Mixed Use (MU) as per current plan. Currently there is a severe lack of park/ play area for kids/families living in Perry Homes (subdivision: Crossings at Traverse), and have to go very far away to access the community park/ play areas such as eagle park or access "Traverse Mountain Master Association (TMMA) " facilities. According to the new plan, this triangular area is now designated as Mixed Use, which means no park in future plans for the residents of the Perry Homes community. There are two schools (north east and east of that area), and vehicular traffic will increase if more areas are marked for mixed use, which can also jeopardize the security of children attending the school. Community at large is served if there are more parks and community play areas, where children and families can come together to play and recreate. I oppose the current plan to change the land usage from Park to Mixed Use (MU). Triangular area is more suitable for play areas such as slides, park, basketball court etc,, and should be redesigned as such (Park/ Play area).

Thanks in advance for your consideration, and I am sure that the right decision will be taken to modify the land use to consider the overall well being of the residents.

As a resident of the Canyon Hills community, I'm excited to see new neighbors join us in the area through the D.R. Horton development. This area of Lehi has so many great things to offer families and I'm sure those who move into the new development will love it!

My concern with the current proposal is that it lacks a large park that can be used for soccer and other large gatherings. Youth soccer is obviously popular in this area and the thousands of new residents in the D.R. Horton development will need a place to practice, play, and hold other gatherings. And they will inevitably come to our privately funded park in Canyon Hills, which will stretch it beyond its capacity.

Please amend the current proposal to ensure that there is a sizable park included in this new development. It will make life MUCH better for the new residents, as well as protect our park from overuse. I think the earlier version of the Micron Plan called for park facilities on the northwestern side of the development, which seemed like a logical placement to me.

Thanks for taking the time to consider these factors. I know there are lots of different opinions on the new development, but nearly everyone will agree that more park facilities will be beneficial. If the future residents of the D.R. Horton development could weigh in right now, I'm sure they'd say the same thing. Please respect the wishes of the people.

I believe having an Adult Housing area just north of two different schools is a very unwise decision. There will be school traffic, noise and children going thru the area. Adult communities are usually for adults that don’t want children activities and noise around. The City will end up constantly be trying to settle disputes between the residence of that area and the schools/activities. This area needs to be moved to an area not by the schools

I feel strongly that the area in the northwest section of DR Horton’s proposal, which was previously designated as a large park, should not be replaced with Active Adult housing. Currently, the only park on the hillside is the Canyon Hills privately funded park. Residents throughout northeast Lehi already use this park because there isn’t a city park nearby. The area desperately needs more basketball courts, tennis/pickle ball courts and soccer fields for the health and general well being of residents in the area. The DR Horton plans do not include enough large park space relative to the incredibly high density of housing that they propose. The Canyon Hills private park will continue to absorb even more traffic & community usage if the originally planned park is replaced with more housing.

Please have DR Horton submit a revised proposal that keeps the plan as originally designed with a large park in the northwest corner and moves the Active Adult area elsewhere. Thank you for listening to our concerns.

Developing within an Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) is prohibited by Lehi City ordinance. The Lehi City General Plan Land Use Map designates the strip of land behind 400 W as an ESA. Because the proposed amendment includes development within an ESA, it must be rejected.

Sam Thomas