Alpine School District Board members to vote Nov. 25 on CDA. Cathy Allred. Herald Extra.com. November 11, 2014.

AMERICAN FORK -- The redevelopment of University Mall has been a hot topic in Orem, but Tuesday night the heat moved to American Fork.

On the agenda for the Alpine School District Board of Education was one discussion item -- the University Place Commercial Development Area project.

Woodbury Corporation and Orem city leaders were in attendance, hoping for a positive outcome for the CDA they say will bring in thousands of jobs and millions of dollars of revenue in property tax.

“We are wholeheartedly for this CDA,” said Rona Rahlf, president and chief operating officer for the Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce. “This project could potentially bring 2,500 jobs to our area. That’s a huge economic boom.”

Alpine School District staff and board members have studied the CDA issue for several months and will vote on the issue Nov. 25 as a school board action item.

The CDA is a project that includes 133 acres around the University Mall in Orem, Woodbury Corporation’s flagship mall. The project will soon be renamed University Place.

Woodbury Corporation has partnered with Ivory Homes to help build out University Place, a development some people are calling City Creek South, in reference to the redeveloped mall in downtown Salt Lake City.

In September, the Orem City Council approved the CDA. The city is one of five taxing entities that need to approve the project. The others are the Alpine School District, Utah County, Utah Water Conservancy District and the Orem Metropolitan Water District.

Proponents for the project said it is fail safe -- that if the project would fail, it wouldn’t impact local communities at all.

“This is no freebie; they have got to step up and do what they say they are going to do,” said Rahlf to the board.

While the numbers made sense and the project appeared to have no risk to the district, board members still cited issues.  “It’s unethical; it’s unfair,” said board member Brian Halladay.

“The problem that I see here is ... economically the investment makes sense,” said board member Wendy Hart. “[But] what is the role of the district and what is the role of government?

"At the end of the day I have to agree with what Brian said. If we start favoring one community over another, I just think that is wrong. I don’t think that is our role.”

Board member John Burton requested to put the issue on the Nov. 25 district board meeting agenda as an action item, and Superintendent Vern Henshaw concurred with that recommendation.

“Because I think that we have vetted it and vetted it and vetted it,” Burton said.

Utah Valley University President Matthew Holland, Orem Mayor Richard Brunst and Utah Governor's Office of Economic Development Executive Director Val Hale also stood before the board in favor of the CDA.

“I think this absolutely is a vital project for the community and for education,” Holland said. “If you think you have problems maintaining buses, you wait until Orem loses its economic vitality.”  The argument that the project has no upfront risk was reiterated repeatedly by CDA supporters.

“In other words, we are saying we will take all of the risk in this operation,” said Randy Woodbury of Woodbury Corporation. “The school district will receive more than two times the amount of property tax revenue over a 40-year period with the CDA than without it.”   Cathy Allred. Herald Extra.com November 11, 2014.

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