PLEASANT GROVE — Plans for building Liahona Academy, a private religious school, have come to a grinding halt as the Planning Commission debates whether the area should instead be made available to adult entertainment businesses.

"There are currently two conflicting land use codes for the area," said Mayor Michael Daniels. "We're trying to work out this inconsistency. But it's not good timing to do that, given that we have an application on the table for a school."

The parcel of land in question is currently zoned for education and legal services. Zoning on the land also allows a conditional use permit for "adult entertainment," according to a staff report issued to Liahona Academy regarding one of the reasons why the plans have been put on hold.

According to state law, each city must have a designated area that allows sexually oriented businesses. However, such businesses may not be built in close proximity to a school. Though there are currently no applications or proposals to build a sexually oriented business in the area, building the school on the land would preclude that option.

"If this (area) ends up not being able to be a place for the SOB, we'd have to come up with another place for an SOB, and you can imagine how difficult that would be given the kind of growth in the area," Daniels said.

The owners of Liahona Academy, Kolleen and Brent DeGraff, said they were shocked to find out about the problem a week ago. The property in question was purchased for the sole purpose of donating it to the academy, because it was in an area that was zoned for educational purposes, the DeGraffs said. Liahona Academy is a private school for junior and high school students that teaches curriculum in an LDS Church-themed atmosphere

"At this point, the damage is done," Brent DeGraff said. "From an economic standpoint, you can't start a school after all of the other schools are already in session."

Plans for constructing the school have been on hold for three weeks, Brent DeGraff said. Unless a resolution is reached in the meantime, the topic will be delayed another two weeks until April 27, when the Planning Commission will discuss the matter.

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