Orem planning commission maps land-use refinements, approves Lakeridge Farms plat with sidewalk waiver

The Orem City Planning Commission met on May 21, 2025, for a work session and regular meeting in City Council Chambers to continue review of the city’s general plan land‑use maps and to consider several consent‑agenda items. Commissioners spent most of the work session marking up the existing land‑use map, discussing new classification types and buffer areas along State Street and other corridors, and debating whether and how to preserve older, smaller housing that can provide affordable units. In the regular meeting the commission approved several consent items, continued the May 7 meeting minutes to the next meeting, and approved a preliminary plat for Lakeridge Farms (840 West 600 South) that included a waiver to place the cul‑de‑sac sidewalk curb‑adjacent instead of behind a park strip.

Commissioners and staff said the work session aimed to identify a short list of land‑use classifications and future studies the commission should address as the general‑plan update continues. “We went through the goals and objectives…we thought it would be interesting for the purpose of updating the land use map…to come down and draw actually on the existing land use map, mark it up,” a staff member said as the group began the mapping exercise. Staff presented a list of potential new classifications and buffer types and invited commissioners to identify additional areas for study, including segments of Geneva Road, the State Street corridor, the mouth of Provo Canyon and several neighborhood nodes.

Why this matters: Commissioners framed the mapping work as the first step in a multi‑stage update to the general plan. They said clarifying where the city wants…