Trent Mehlhoff and Chris Olson own 56 acres of land to the southwest of the Rowley’s Red Barn. Their developer, John Dester, laid out a vision to the Planning Commission of building 173 homes on 35 of the acres.
There would be four kinds of homes built on the lot, as well as massive, open, grassy spaces. They proposed a clubhouse and a pool, nearly a dozen parks, and 4 playgrounds. There could be over seven hundred parking spaces for the residents.
The community of homes would have a stone wall built around it to shut out the noise of the nearby gravel pit and the bustle of the orchards.
There was just one issue with these plans— the 56 acres of land is zoned as commercial.
Trent and John petitioned the Planning Commission to suggest to the City Council to allow that the lot’s zoning be changed to residential.
The Commission heard John Dester present the vision and proposal, then opened the mic to a Public Hearing.
Chelsea Rowley stepped up to the podium. She praised the beauty of the plan and thanked Trent, John, and Chris for choosing Santaquin as the potential home of their vision, but declared the location was a “bummer.” …
… Chelsea continued to oppose the idea of the zoning change by claiming that she spoke with nearly a hundred citizens and business owners that week asking about this zone change—not one of those she spoke with was in favor of it.
She also said that many of the home business owners insisted that they wanted storefronts in Santaquin, but that the property and building costs were barriers to entry. She thought that if the 35 acre property was developed into a commercial park, then Trent Mehlhoff could lease to those residents’ businesses.
She insisted that Exit 242 has a bright commercial future; if we fill commercial land with homes, then the residents will be forced to spend their money somewhere else. “Our growth cannot only come from people.”
Phil Rowley then stepped up and admitted that it was a beautiful vision and design, but that Trent knew that the property was commercially zoned when he bought it.
Phil admitted that the proposed vision was tempting to allow, but that it just wasn’t the right place for it, and perhaps there was a better location in Santaquin for the concept.
Following the close of the Public Hearing, a whirlwind of discussion commenced between the Commission members.
The discussion centered mostly around avoiding high density housing, encouraging 55+ housing in the area, and the City’s General Plan that is currently in the final stages of development.
The Commission didn’t like how close the proposed houses were to the gravel pits and orchards, or how the community of homes would be potentially surrounded by commercial lots.
Trent Mehlhoff stood to address the Commission. In apparent frustration at the direction and tone of the discussion, he asked the Commission and the Rowleys what they would approve of on that land.
After a moment of silence, the Commission Chair dismissed Trent, insisting that the meeting wasn’t the place for those discussions.
Afterward, the developer, John Dester, stood and addressed the concerns of the room: He said, first, in a normal residential plan the houses are four homes per acre, but in their proposal, they would have five per acre, it could be more, but it wouldn’t be.
He insisted that the parks and grass in the community would be privately owned, and that the city wouldn’t have to care for the greenery.
After further discussion between the Commission, in the end, the Commission rejected the proposal to rezone, split 5 to reject and 2 to accept.