Lehi's power woes stifle development

DEBRA JANDREAU The Daily Herald on Friday, February 16 LEHI -- Power problems continue to dominate the City Council's debate on annexation and zoning procedures.

For the past few months Lehi has been wrestling with the issue of power and Mayor Ken Greenwood told City Council members Tuesday night that if they continue to approve new annexation and development plans that problem will continue to grow.

"As I see these items beginning the process of coming through the groups and becoming reality, and the people who live under the community's power, I would ask the council to be cautious on how they allocate this resource, because we're not really sure where we are going with this for the next 16 months," Greenwood said.

The city began to notice problems with its power supplier early last year.

"We began to notice our power problems back in July when we received a bill of $700,000, when it is usually $300,000," Greenwood said. "Then we received August's bill and it was almost a million dollars. We knew we were looking at some hard times."

The city's power problem could be resolved with an additional seven megawatts of power coming from contracts with Intermountain Power Project in Delta.

When the IPP plant was first activated, power was not a problem for Lehi.

Ensign Engineering's request to have approval of a concept plan review is one area of concern for the council. Council members questioned whether Lehi Power could withstand the development of 200 new homes.

However, Councilman Carl Mellor explained that when the council approves new development it is looking to the future when power won't be a problem.

"We will have definite trouble within the next year, there is no question," Mellor said. "Right now Los Angeles is using Lehi Power that we lent them 18 months ago, but we are pulling it back and by next year we should have seven megawatts more power than we have now."

The City Council went ahead with the plan approval, but Greenwood said that he will not be signing the agreement.

"I can't in good conscience sign any agreements that approves concept and preliminaries development plans before this problem is straightened out," Greenwood said.

A suggestion was made during the council meeting that the city could place a moratorium on new development if power is an issue.

"A moratorium would have to range across the entire developmental board," Greenwood said. "I think that we owe it to developers who are in the final stages to go ahead and develop the land.

"I just think we need to use discretion in allowing any new preliminary plans."

Debra Jandreau can be reached at 344-2553 or at djandreau@heraldextra.com.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A9.

http://www.harktheherald.com/article.php?sid=4141

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), February 16, 2001