A rezone request came before the City Council at the January 18th meeting from Trent Mehlhoff and Chris Olsen, with their developers John Dester and Brandon Mills.
This request came to the Council with a recommendation to reject it from the Planning Commission. Despite this recommendation, the Council gave the request a fair hearing.
The hearing began with Chelsea Rowley again standing to oppose the rezone. She repeated many of the same points that she made at the Planning Commission meeting.
She added that the theater in Payson doesn’t have commercial frontage near it—it stands in the middle of nowhere—yet it’s a busy commercial enterprise.
The Council then heard a presentation by Chris, followed by John and Brandon. They too repeated much of what they said in the Planning Commission meeting as well. (See the article from The Santaquin Review’s last edition on the topic for details.)
The developers accented several new points to rebuff Chelsea’s concerns, such as: rezoning fewer acres to leave room for more commercial space, and add more 55+ housing. They emphasized that the project would plant a seed that would and attract large commercial enterprises to the area.
Both sides made their arguments eloquently and professionally. Despite this, the Council had to make a decision.
Council Member Montoya made a motion to table the request for further negotiation. No one seconded the motion.
After further discussion, finally, Councilman Adcock motioned to reject the request. Councilman Hathaway seconded, and the request for a rezone was rejected with 4 yeas to 1 nay.