Commissioners back Lehi development

LEHI — There's nothing wrong with Lehi's City Hall, but frankly, it's just not Brandt Andersen's style.

Still, City Hall is the place where planning commissioners met Thursday night and decided to recommend amending the city's master plan to allow for Andersen's development in a brand new zone crafted just for the project.

In a unanimous decision, planning commissioners voiced support of Andersen's project, which includes a 2,499-unit mixed commercial and residential project, arena and five-star hotel located near the Point of the Mountain. Because Lehi doesn't have any zoning classifications that would be appropriate for such a project, planning commissioners recommended adding a "sports entertainment" zone to the city's master plan to accommodate Andersen's proposal.

Perhaps it was the late hour — 11 p.m. — that found few people on hand to express opinions on the project.

"I think you've done a really good job with this," Planning Commissioner Ronald Smith told the Andersen representative who presented the project to the commission.

Although the planning commission voted to make a positive recommendation, the final decision will be made by the City Council in another public meeting that has not yet been scheduled.

The setting of Thursday's meeting was a little different than the day before, when Andersen hosted a public City Council work session in Thanksgiving Point's Velvet Room. There, visitors ate gourmet food, listened to a presentation given personally by architect Frank Gehry and received individual coffee-table-style books of Andersen's project that some people asked Gehry to autograph.

In response to the unusual setting, City Council members Johnny Barnes and Stephen Holbrook, who attended the meeting said that, although Andersen's project may be different, the approval process will be the same for him as for anyone else.

"The project is different, but the process is the same," Holbrook said, after pointing out that the swanky meeting was open to the public, and anyone could have come.

Andersen's approach may have been an extravagant preparation for Thursday's decision-making meeting, but to the 29-year-old developer, even the silk orchids and polyester tablecloths on top of each table weren't up to his standards of making a good impression.

"It's just kind of the way I've done things for forever," Andersen said. "My parents are very formal people, and I grew up in a very formal environment. ... I don't want a reflection on me to be something that's mediocre."