Near the mouth of Provo Canyon and facing the towering Mount Timpanogos, there are two brown gravel pits. Today they sit idle. Soon, they could become a 20,000-seat concert venue called Vesper Amphitheater. Members of the Osmond family back it, and they hope it will attract world-class talent.
So far, it has attracted community pushback.
A petition against it has more than 5,000 signatures from people with a wide array of concerns. Community members worry about how the canyon could handle traffic from a large venue with only one main road. Others have raised concerns about losing canyon open space and what kind of precedent could be set. There are supporters, too, who think a venue would be an improvement to the gravel pits.
To make the project work, the developer needs to buy about 74.5 acres from Provo. The development covers 100.7 acres, with 26.2 coming from a private mining company. On top of the purchase, the city council must also grant a general map plan amendment and a rezone. The Provo Planning Commission has already given the project a negative recommendation.
Even if the Provo City Council ignores that recommendation and votes in favor, it’s not a done deal. That green light is just the first step, said Mayor Marsha Judkins.
“I don't have a vote on approving this development or not. So where I have a say is kind of now, in this development agreement and the real estate contract,” she said. “Citizens have brought up really great issues, right? And they're the same questions and concerns that I have, and my team has.”
After a rezone, the amphitheater group would have to meet the terms of a development agreement, currently proposed with requirements such as:
- Putting undeveloped property in a conservation easement
- Allowing public use and improving trails in the easement
- Getting Utah Department of Transportation approval on a traffic management plan
- Designing dark sky-compliant lighting “to the extent reasonably possible”
- Using noise-mitigating technologies to cut down on off-site sound
- Incorporating natural materials and design elements
At least half of the land would be put in the easement, Judkins said, and the development would be kept to the gravel pit area.
Retired urban planner Wilf Sommerkorn said this isn’t an unusual development agreement and deals like this are becoming more common.
“You do see projects that get the rezones that they're looking for, and then the projects don't happen,” he said. “And that's one of the reasons why many cities are now doing development agreements.”
Sommerkorn has extensive expertise in this area. He’s now with the nonprofit Utah Land Use Institute, but before that, he worked in planning for Salt Lake and Davis counties, as well as Salt Lake City. A development agreement is essentially a contract, he said. So if the project doesn’t live up to it, even years down the road, the city could shut it down.
What’s in the deal for the city is money from selling the land and tax revenue from venue sales. That’s what the mayor hopes for.
“We are always looking for creative solutions for our revenue, so that we don't ever feel like we have to raise taxes on our residents,” Judkins said. “And to me, this is an amazing, creative possible solution that we should explore.”
She added that Provo struggles with point-of-sale tax revenue and that there would also be a hospitality tax from a hotel on the site. The development agreement would limit that to no more than 75 rooms.
As for how much the city would make from selling the land, Provo City denied KUER’s public records request for documents and communications related to the sale of the parcel. Mayor Judkins, however, said she had seen one appraisal and thinks it was about $1.3 million.
The draft transaction agreement also includes some requirements for the buyer, she said. They must get all project approvals from the city, such as a rezone, general plan amendment, development agreement and concept plan. The developer must also confirm state highway access and related UDOT approvals.
Most of the city land Vesper is eyeing has already been disturbed, the mayor said. A bird’s-eye Google Maps view seems to confirm that — a gravel pit sits on the city’s land, next to a shooting range and the gravel pit owned by Provo Canyon Mining Company.
The city land is used for parking, the mayor said, so it has “a lot of shrapnel and different things that have come from the shooting range, and so the majority of that land is disturbed land already.”
There have been public calls for more information or studies before the city council votes on a rezone. Judkins said developers usually don’t want to invest in traffic or environmental studies before getting some assurance the project is going forward.
Sommerkorn, with the Utah Land Use Institute, said that’s “pretty much” been his experience as well, and that this project is following the normal order of operations. He’s seen developers risk putting money into a project, like buying land, without getting a rezone first.
“They'll buy it and then, you know, hope that they'll get the rezoning. And when it doesn't go through, they will oftentimes say, ‘Well, we just lost a lot of money on this,’” he said. “But the answer is, ‘Well, you know, you didn't have the zoning in place, so it's not guaranteed.’”
Vesper didn’t respond to KUER’s multiple requests for comment.
As part of rezoning, the city council will consider the development agreement. If they grant the rezone, the final plan goes back to the planning commission. If it’s up to code and follows the agreement, then the commission must give it a stamp of approval. Provo is also putting in the agreement that if Vesper doesn’t meet all the requirements, then the city council can vote to rescind the rezone and shut down the project.
Essentially, the city council doesn’t get final approval, but they do get final disapproval.
The city council had planned to vote on the general map plan amendment and rezone in July, but they have pushed the date to August.
