Spring Lake bid to incorporate fails

PROVO — Utah County commissioners denied Spring Lake's petition to incorporate after the original five petitioners backed away from it.

A straw vote was taken among residents recently, with most of them in opposition, said Utah County deputy attorney Robert Moore.

The five petitioners still favor incorporation into a town, Moore said, but they chose to bow to the will of the majority.

Commissioner Steve White expressed concern that either denying or approving the resolution at that point could lead to a lawsuit from either side because Utah law is silent on that kind of situation. But Moore recommended that commissioners deny the resolution based on the original sponsors' latest request to reject it.

Santaquin's petition to annex part of the town of 500 spurred the annexation effort, county clerk/auditor Bryan Thompson said. Spring Lake lies between Santaquin and Payson.

County commissions typically give rubber-stamp approval to incorporation requests after a feasibility study shows that a community can support itself. The study by students at Utah State University's Jon M. Huntsman School of Business showed that revenues exceeded expenditures by 8.7 percent over a three-year period, Moore said.

A contingent of residents showed up at Tuesday's County Commission meeting, but none spoke when the panel honored the original five petitioners' request and denied incorporation.

Some residents said earlier they were misled when they signed a petition to incorporate as backers of the proposal worked through the steps, thinking the document they signed was to just allow a feasibility study. Instead, it pledged their property to the incorporation, giving the effort the needed 51 percent of the land.

— Rodger Hardy