Orem developer allowed to build disputed car lot

OREM — Orem developers hoping for a second opinion about the possibility of building a car lot on 800 North just got it.

Orem's Board of Adjustment ruled last week that current wording for the PD-22 zone — the area along 800 North from 1200 West to 900 West — allows for car dealerships without restrictions along 800 North.

Developer Paul Washburn has been developing that area for years and already has an Italian-inspired residential community, a bank, gas station and a financed hotel.

What he didn't have — until zoning was cleared up — was a right to proceed with a car dealership.

"The Board of Adjustment ... felt like that language in the ordinance was very clear, and we had a right to do what we wanted to do," Washburn said.

The land was under contract for a Murdock Hyundai dealership, but Washburn said he released them after the City Council initially declined to address the zoning wording. Washburn said they're still considering all their options.

"What this allows (developers) to do, is proceed with their plans without getting the zone changed," said Orem City Attorney Paul Johnson. "What the Board of Adjustment (essentially said) is, 'Current law allows what you want to do."'

But for Emmeline Watts, who owns a town home in Tuscan Villas, developers' goals seem incongruous with the feel she was promised.

"It seems (800 North) is the last opportunity to have a grand entrance into the city of Orem," Watts said. "What I was told is they were building residences to support the shops. They need to give us something that we can actually support."

Board of Adjustment member David Shorten said the board based its decision on a July 2005 City Council decision, where the council adjusted the PD-22 zone to allow car dealerships, but added a caveat that dealerships had to face 1200 West. The City Council never said anything about 800 North, Shorten said.

"They made the legislation," Shorten said, referring to the City Council. "We merely found that the interpretation by the ... developer was permitted."

Johnson isn't offended by the board's decision.

"The question is, are they correct?" he asked. "I don't think so."

Johnson stands by his interpretation of the zoning ordinance that the phrase, "only along and facing 1200 West" means just that — car dealerships are only allowed in that area, not trickling out along 800 North.