Residents petition Orem after rezoning for 140-foot building

Residents petition Orem after rezoning for 140-foot building

(Jive Communications)


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OREM — A high rise building planned for land in north Orem and approved by the city council has drawn some controversy and residents are petitioning for the matter to go to a vote.

Jive Communications, a company that was started in an Orem basement by Brigham Young University students in 2006 is looking to expand and has selected a piece of land where the old Miller Ski building stands, on the corner of 1200 North and 1200 West. The land, nestled between 1200 West and I-15, was originally zoned for a 60-foot-tall building. Jive requested a rezoning to accommodate a 180-foot-tall building but neighbors asked for negotiations and on Sept. 8, the city council approved the rezoning for 140 feet, according to Orem city manager Steven Downs.

Jive's CEO, John Pope, said the final building would likely be closer to 130 feet and built on ground by the freeway, which is lower than the residential lots up the inclined road. The building would be owned by 12x12 Northwest and Jive would enter into a 10-year lease.

Some Orem residents, including Brian Kelly, have started petitions, asking the city not to rezone for such tall buildings. Though he doesn't live directly in the area, he said he felt moved to action after attending a meeting where the development was discussed. He feels the city hasn't listened to or represented the residents in their decision.

"I was at the meeting and I was really appalled at how the neighbors directly involved with it — were going to be affected — were treated by the city," he said. "I came out of that meeting (thinking), 'This is not Orem. This is not who the people are.'"

Currently, the lot that Jive hopes to call home is unkept. (Photo: Jive Communications)
Currently, the lot that Jive hopes to call home is unkept. (Photo: Jive Communications)

If the required number of signatures are collected and turned in by Oct. 23, the issue would be put on the 2017 municipal election ballot, Downs said.

"While all it actually does is make it so the vote is 2017, practically, the company isn't going to wait two years to decide what to do," Downs said. "It will kill the project, there's no doubt about that. Why the city council made this decision is because of so many residents saying we need to find a way to keep the high paying jobs here in town and to do it in a responsible way. We felt right along I-15 was a responsible place to put an office building like this."

Petitioners have been collecting signatures online and in-person, hosting events in Orem to garner signatures — about 6,400 are needed. The petitioners held an event Tuesday evening to collect signatures, but are also traveling around the city.

The city feels it is in a tight spot with growing businesses and its economy within its physical parameters.

"With Orem being built out, the challenge is property values continue to climb. As you're redeveloping properties, the only way to make it pencil (out) by the time you buy the land, demolish whatever is there, do whatever type of cleanup that's required to start a project, the only way to make a pencil is to go higher," Downs said. "But on top of that, companies are looking for those types of buildings so they're more iconic. It kind of sends a message of what type of business they are and what they want to be. …I don't know if we'll continue to have 140-foot buildings everywhere. Right along I-15 seemed like an ideal place for something like that to go."

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But petitioners disagree.

"I've researched and tried to figure out where in Utah they put high-rise buildings this tall right next to low density residential and I never found it," Kelly said. "…I've talked to real estate agents, I've talked to other contractors, I've talked to people in education, in engineering and they say it's a good building but a terrible location."

Downs and Pope feel it will improve the overall aesthetic of the area. Currently, a warehouse sits on the lot in disrepair. Kelly said it will block views.

"It's important to understand where people are coming from," Pope said. "Most often, people come up to me and express embarrassment about how horrible the street currently looks with its deteriorating warehouses and gang writing, as well as excitement that the area will improve with an upscale structure like this."

In addition to height, one of the main concerns of citizens opposing the rezoning is traffic. Downs said 1200 West was designed 15 years ago as a minor arterial, meaning it could eventually accommodate five lanes with some additional construction. Currently, it only has two lanes but the city would restripe the current pavement to add a lane. Kelly is concerned it won't expand quickly enough to accommodate what he considers an already backed up area.

Downs said, however, that the development's location between two I-15 interchanges — 1600 North and 800 North — would allow north and south commuters to access it from two interchanges instead of plugging up one.

"We're well aware of the traffic, we've looked at it, and we feel that this project isn't going to drastically impact the traffic," Downs said.

Kelly also pointed to shadows falling on I-15, saying it could become a hazard in the winter when ice forms on the roadway.

Downs was quick to point out that major benefit to residents is the economic impact. According to Jive, the building would house 1,000 employees — doubling its current workforce — working in software engineering, network engineering, sales, marketing, customer and tech support, and management roles. The company estimates the average salary of these employees would be 125 percent of the median income of Utah County, and it would pay out more than $200 million of wages in the next five years.

Downs said he hopes the new build would help foster a culture of keeping homegrown businesses in Orem after they outgrow smaller spaces. He points out that other companies like Omniture (later bought by Adobe), AtTask and Exactware all left for Lehi after these companies outgrew Orem office space.

"As you're trying to diversify your local economy and your city economy, that type of loss isn't sustainable," said Downs. "You can't continue to have that happen and hope to keep the tax rates low on residents. Obviously, these types of commercial buildings bring in a significant amount of revenue in property tax, which ultimately allows residents to enjoy lower property taxes."

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Kelly is concerned it will affect property value, however, to build a monolithic structure near low-density residential homes.

"The area is going to lose thousands of dollars in property values. Nobody's going to live next to a 140-foot skyscraper," he said.

Those interested in looking at the referendum can visit the Facebook page, Orem is Awesome and Deserves Better or email Kelly at briankelly428@gmail.com.

The petitioners held an event Tuesday evening to collect signatures, but are also traveling around the city asking for signatures.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misattributed Downs as saying he was concerned about property value dropping in the area. That has been corrected to Kelly.

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