Council rejects Buckwalter industrial land-use change, bars office-warehouses and car washes from GC-2
March 26, 2024, 7:00 p.m. · American Fork City Hall, 31 N. Church St.
With Mayor Frost absent and Clark Taylor presiding, the council unanimously refused to redesignate 25.33 acres at about 7058 North 5750 West from low-density residential to industrial, holding to its line that industrial uses stay south of 1100 South and east of 100 West. It removed office/warehouse buildings and car washes from planned commercial (GC-2) zones against a Planning Commission recommendation to keep car washes, tightened the definition of retail and service commercial structures, and ratified two water reuse contracts with Timpanogos Special Service District. A resident south of the FrontRunner station complained of lost street parking.
From the approved minutes.
Decisions at a glance
Agenda, item by item
Item Consent 5 · Development
Release of durability retainer, The Meadows at American Fork Phase 2, 751 West 200 South
Approved · 5-0
Released $44,799.78.
- Payment$44,800
Item Consent 6-7 · Contract
Ratification of two reuse authorization contracts with Timpanogos Special Service District (one with local municipalities) for reuse of treated sewage effluent
Approved · 5-0
Ratified. Ties to the city's plan to bring TSSD reuse water into the pressurized irrigation system. No amounts in the minutes.
- ContractAmount not given to Timpanogos Special Service District
Item Consent 1-4,8 · Budget
Minutes of Feb. 22/23 budget workshops (corrected), Feb. 27, March 5 and March 12; ratification of payments March 6-19, 2024, and purchases over $50,000
Approved · 5-0
Routine consent ratification.
Item 1 · Development
Vacation of part of a public utility easement, 499 W. 1040 North (Lakeview Farms Plat C, lot 37)
Approved · 5-0
Ordinance 2024-03-11 reducing the easement from 10 feet to 5 feet. No public comment at the hearing.
Item 2 · General plan
Buckwalter Industrial land use map amendment, about 7058 N. 5750 West, 25.33 acres, residential low-density to design industrial
Denied · 5-0
The property is outside city limits and would annex under the new designation. Staff opposed industrial that far north of 1100 South near a future park. Dustin Kuttler, for Mr. Buckwalter, cited a planned four-lane road, rail line, the Vineyard Connector and church-owned land to the east planned industrial. Carroll, Hunter, John and Taylor said the council has held industrial south of 1100 South and east of 100 West.
- Acres: 25.33
- Applicant representative: Dustin Kuttler
Item 3 · City code
Landscaping design standards moved to a separate handbook (Section 17.5.121)
Approved · 5-0
Ordinance 2024-03-12.
Item 4 · City code
"R" definitions: retail and service commercial structures (Section 17.12.218)
Approved · 5-0
Ordinance 2024-03-13 to stop office/warehouse projects from qualifying as retail and service commercial.
Item 5 · City code
Allowed uses in planned commercial developments (Section 17.7.601(B))
Approved · 5-0
Ordinance 2024-03-14 removing office/warehouse structures and car washes from GC-2. The Planning Commission recommended keeping car washes; staff asked for both to be removed and the council agreed.
What residents said
Parking shortage in the TOD area near FrontRunner
Taylor Garent, who lives south of the FrontRunner station, said residents of new developments have nowhere to park now that street parking in bike lanes is enforced, and asked to use vacant lots; Bunker said the city is looking for more parking.