Politics & Government
Thanksgiving Point Area Plan update released; developers propose adding 5,000+ housing units
The long-awaited update to the Thanksgiving Point Area Plan has been released. The Lehi City Planning Commission plans to review and offer recommendations to the City Council during its meeting on Thursday, November 18.
The area has had a development pause over the last few years because City Council directed City staff to reject building applications until Thanksgiving Point developers brought an updated Area Plan for City Council approval. The pause was attributed to traffic failures and over-development of office space according to the current Area Plan.
Developers, including STACK Real Estate, Greer Company and Thanksgiving Point, have been at odds with the City over current and future infrastructure. Both parties have continually disagreed about which entity would finance specific road and utility needs. The City and developers will grapple with those issues in upcoming discussions.
Early last year, the developers presented an early concept plan including an additional 5,837 residential units and more office and commercial space. The Council pushed back, citing utility infrastructure concerns, primarily around sewer capacity.
STACK approached the City in April of this year requesting an exception to the building pause asking for Council approval of an indoor climbing gym. The Council denied the request.
“We’ve been waiting for this [Area Plan update] for a long time, and we don’t have many mechanisms to put any kind of pressure on this not taking forever. I wonder how many times we have to say ‘please’ to bringing us an updated area plan. I don’t want to exacerbate the problem while we wait,” said Councilwoman Paige Albrecht during the climbing gym discussion.
The Area Plan released this week proposes new housing units of slightly less than 5,300, including a range of units from studios to three-bedrooms. The housing would bring an estimated 12,190 additional residents. Developers propose areas including the Cornbelly’s site, soccer fields across from the FrontRunnerstation and remaining vacant parcels throughout the 780-acre community.
The plan also includes a request for a neighborhood grocery store, 10 acres of open space, biking trails and a Main Street area concept. In the presentation, developers noted they are focused on creating a “SMART” Transit-Oriented Development (Sustainable, Mixed Use, Attractive, Realistic & Transit-Oriented).
Traffic mitigation plans proposed in the new plan include:
• Extension of Clubhouse Drive to 3600 W
• Extension of 3600 W north toward Bluffdale
• Widening Triumph Boulevard to five lanes south of 2100 N
• Widening between Clubhouse Drive and Thanksgiving Way to five lanes
• Adding a third southbound lane between Ashton Boulevard and 2100 N.
The proposal will be presented to the Planning Commission on November 18 at 7 p.m. in Council chambers. The City Council will hear the plan in a future meeting.
