Lehigh City Council Meeting - July 14, 2026: Zone Changes, Parking, Water Conservation, and HTRZ Agreements
Lehigh City Council Meeting - July 14, 2026
The Lehigh City Council held a pre-council work session at 5:00 PM and a regular council meeting at 7:00 PM on July 14, 2026. The pre-council included presentations on the Children's Center Utah, a water conservation update, and discussions on public safety impact fees, the certified tax rate, and a parking issue in the Fox Hollow neighborhood. The regular council meeting featured a water-wise yard award, citizen input, consent agenda approval, and action on several zone changes, subdivision approvals, and development code amendments. The Council also addressed multiple items related to the Thanksgiving Point Housing and Transit Reinvestment Zone (HTRZ), including approval of participation agreements with conditions and a tabled interlocal agreement.
Consent Calendar
- Approved the consent agenda, which included the resolution to adopt the certified tax rate of 0.001242 for the 2026-2027 fiscal year.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Walker Zone Change (5.2): Multiple residents spoke in opposition to rezoning 2.58 acres at 915 West State Street from R18 to heavy commercial (CH). Concerns included traffic, noise, property values, and the encroachment of commercial use on their neighborhood. Supporters, including the property owner and a prospective buyer, argued the change aligns with the general plan and would allow for office/warehouse development that is less intensive than heavy commercial.
- Cortesi Subdivision (5.3): Adjacent property owners and irrigation users expressed concerns about access to irrigation ditches and headgates, potential property disputes, and the practicality of maintaining access through new residential lots. The developer proposed a 20-foot no-build easement and piping of the ditch to preserve access.
- RDA Items (2.2, 2.3): A resident noted potential discrepancies in the interlocal agreement regarding roadways and requested clearer tax allocation schedules, but generally thanked the council for their work.
Discussion Items
- Children's Center Utah Presentation: Rebecca Dutson, President and CEO, presented the new center on the Intermountain Primary Children's Hospital campus in Lehi. The center provides mental health services for young children (ages 0-5) and their families, including outpatient therapy, a therapeutic preschool, and provider training. The center is named for the Collart Foundation and opened recently with a $6.4 million state appropriation and private matching funds. Ribbon cutting is October 1.
- Water Conservation Update: Matt Seal reported 430 million gallons saved (18% reduction) compared to the same period last year. Stored water allotment increased to 82%, and two wells (Cedar Hollow and the original Traverse Mountain well) are now online, providing additional supply. The city is in historic drought but conservation efforts are successful; residents are urged to stay the course.
- Public Safety Impact Fee Study (Pre-council): Dean presented proposed increases: fire impact fee for single-family homes from $198 to $292.98, police from $98.35 to $246.87. The fees are based on a 10-year study and would help cover debt on police and fire stations. A public hearing is set for July 28.
- Certified Tax Rate Discussion (Pre-council): The certified tax rate increased to 0.001242 due to a slight decline in total assessed property values (especially commercial office buildings). The rate is lower than many neighboring cities.
- Bellevue Parking Issue (Pre-council): Matt Seal and Kim Struthers discussed parking problems in the Fox Hollow neighborhood related to the Fabian House business (a special needs preschool). The business currently has 16 required parking spaces (4 onsite + 12 leased from Bellevue), but overflow parking spills into the neighborhood. Solutions discussed include permit parking (with time restrictions) and updating the parking code to better match unique uses. The business owner, Corey Fabian, stated she will move most of the program to a new location in mid-November, which will reduce parking demand. The council agreed to hold a separate work session on the broader parking code issues.
- Walker Zone Change (5.2): After extensive debate and public comment, the council tabled the item 7-0 (with direction to explore a development agreement) to narrow the scope of allowed uses and mitigate impacts on the adjacent residential neighborhood.
- Cortesi Subdivision (5.3): The council tabled the preliminary plat approval to July 28, requesting updated plans reflecting agreements made during the meeting: a 20-foot irrigation easement on the west side (fences set back 20 feet from the ditch), piping of the ditch, and a non-flammable fence on the north side. The developer must also ensure access to the headgate and address utility placements.
- RDA Items (2.2 & 2.1): The council approved the participation agreements for Thanksgiving Point Station Development and Stack Soccer Field LLC, both 4-1 (Councilmember Lockhart dissenting due to lack of public review time). The agreements include an 80% tax increment cap, a 45-year collection period, affordable housing requirements, and a retail milestone. The council also directed staff to explore including an updated traffic impact study and a transportation alternative to Clubhouse Drive in the future.
- RDA Interlocal Agreement (2.3 & 5.10): The council voted to table the interlocal agreement to August 11, with direction to remove Section 4 (roadways) and one instance of the phrase "time is of the essence." The agreement will be brought back once the participation agreements are finalized.
Key Outcomes
- Consent Agenda: Approved, including the certified tax rate resolution.
- Walker Zone Change (5.2): Tabled to a future date (direction to staff to work on a development agreement).
- Cortesi Subdivision (5.3): Tabled to July 28, 2026, with conditions for updated plat.
- Press Twitch Zone Change (5.4): Approved (unanimous) – RA1 to R2 zoning on 1.09 acres.
- Development Code Amendments (5.5-5.8): All approved (unanimous) with minor modifications:
- 5.5: Neighborhood exchange structures (added definition specifying "installed").
- 5.6: Community forestry (added migratory bird protection language from legal counsel).
- 5.7: Detached ADUs (updated to meet 2026 state law, including reduced lot size requirement to 11,000 sq ft).
- 5.8: Automobile sales businesses (updated regulations; struck "and posted" from parking designation requirement).
- RDA Participation Agreements (2.2 & 2.1): Approved (4-1) with amendments to clarify allocation schedule and explore transportation studies.
- RDA Interlocal Agreement (2.3 & 5.10): Tabled to August 11, 2026, with direction to remove Section 4 and one "time is of the essence" clause.
- Parking Issues: A separate work session will be scheduled to review parking code issues related to the Fox Hollow neighborhood and broader commercial parking challenges.
Meeting Transcript
Pre-council meeting. Today on July 14th, 2026, 5 p.m. here in the Lehigh City Council Chambers. We have a full council, Councilmember Newell, Councilmember Harrison, Councilmember Stallings, Councilmember Freeman, and Councilmember Lockhart, and we welcome you to our meeting today. Reminder that this is a pre-council meeting, so there is no public comment during this meeting. But we are grateful that you're here to participate with us. So with that, we'll go ahead and get started with item number one. We've asked Councilmember Freeman to offer our opening prayer. Our dear Father in Heaven, and we're thankful to be gathered here today to discuss the needs and wants of our city, and we're thankful for all of those of you put in the hard work every day to make our city a better place. We're thinking for the residents and for all the city staff and officers and we ask the to have for blessings upon them and their families and upon this council this day and the staff that are here supporting us. We love the U.S. East's name of Jesus Christ Human. Thank you, Councilmember Freeman. Okay, item number two. We'll start with presentations and report. We'll start with 2.1 with the Children's Center presentation. Welcome. If you will state your name when you get there, we'll thank you very much. Good afternoon. I'm Rebecca Dutson. I have the pleasure of serving as the President and CEO of the Children's Center Utah. And the honor of being with you today to tell you a little bit about what we're up to in Lehigh. Just get connected here. All right. And I've I want to just do a time check. We've got about 10 minutes, is my understanding. Okay. Well, thank you again for your time, Mayor and Council members. It's our pleasure to be here today and tell you a little bit about the Children's Center Utah and our new center located here in Lehigh on the Intermountain Primary Children's Hospital campus, the Larry H. and Gell Miller family campus. And it's our pleasure to bring some really critical services to the families and specifically children and their caregivers in Utah County. The Children's Center Utah has been around for 63 years now and serving mainly the Salt Lake County area. However, we do have a lot of families who travel to us from adjacent counties and even further away. And so together with our board, we have been working to provide more services statewide, specifically our outpatient clinical services and our day treatment services for really young children. And our mission is to enhance the emotional well-being of infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and their families. And so I'll tell you a little bit about how we go about doing that. Please, if you have questions, I'm happy to take them as we go along. So the Children's Center Utah, as I mentioned, is a licensed outpatient mental health treatment center and day treatment center. And we serve in our Salt Lake County location, which is located in West Valley, about 1,000 children and their families every year through family therapy and then intensive outpatient treatment and group therapy for children ages two through five who need more intensive treatment. I want to talk just a little bit about that before I go on to explain some other aspects of our organization. One of the questions that I'm most frequently asked is do children that young have mental health concerns and challenges? And yes, they do. And yes, there are evidence-based and trauma-informed treatments that can help that child and their family so that we can give them the tools that they need to overcome the challenges that they're facing so that they can enter school ready to learn and experience life's joys and also face the everyday challenges that that we all will experience throughout our life. So you can see that we have a full complement of outpatient mental health treatment services that we provide for kids and families, including mental health assessment, psychological evaluations, psychological testing, of course, all of those supporting the outpatient family therapy. And then for children who need more intensive treatment, we do refer them into our therapeutic preschool program. Now, it's not academic, but it looks a lot like a preschool, and it is designed to help children function well in traditional settings like child care, preschool, and of course, entering kindergarten ready to learn. The Children's Center does many things beyond our outpatient treatment services, and many of those are geared toward supporting providers of all backgrounds who are working with young children. These services are free to providers, and we provide these services statewide. We offer 100 hours of training per month to providers of any background who are working with young children. So not only can they get on to our website and participate in webinars and training by our clinical professionals, but we also offer consultation services where they can speak directly with a trained clinician about a specific child to get help and direction.
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