By Suzette Grebe
Some Provo residents were not happy with an approved zoning change made Wednesday, March 14.
The Provo City Planning Commission unanimously approved the controversial zoning change.
If the Provo City Council approves this decision, the recommended change calls for the 59 acres near 300 North Seven Peaks Blvd. to be rezoned from public facilities status to single family residential.
“I”m surprised … I didn”t think it would be unanimous,” said David Gardner, developer for the project.
Some residents expressed concern about problems dealing with increases in traffic and pollution, a rise of student population in residential areas and a decrease in access to the foothills.
“I”m going to sell my house now,” said Richard Collette, a resident in the surrounding area.
Collette said his brother would be likely to purchase a home in this area with the intent to allow his college-aged children to live there.
With students living in these residential areas, the additional cars tend to crowd the streets and cause added traffic congestion, he said.
Gardner said that restrictive covenants will be enforced, including an agreement that only single families can live in the houses, but there can be no guarantee that students will not move in.
“Nobody is building housing for students,” he said.
When the city ignores the market for student housing, these residential neighborhoods are destroyed, Gardner said.
The development will contain 157 houses, a number that has been reduced from 222, according to the Provo City Planning Commission staff report.
Despite the resistance, other residents are welcoming the change.
“It would bring in several good quality families,” said Casey Hermansen, a Provo resident.
“I”ve wanted to live here in this area for quite some time,” he said.
