Planning commission recommends approval of major Jordan Promenade/Wander amendments after months of revisions

The Saratoga Springs Planning Commission voted unanimously May 29 to forward to the City Council a package of amendments to the Jordan Promenade (Wander) community and village plans that reconfigure commercial areas, add building types and tighten architectural standards after months of revisions prompted by Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) design changes.

Staff and the applicant said the changes were driven largely by UDOT’s plan to raise and widen Pioneer Crossing, which affects the north end of Village 3. Senior planner Grama Prix told commissioners the transportation work required reconfiguring commercial and church/meeting-house sites and adjusting lotting and utility layouts to avoid future right-of-way conflicts and to preserve important view sheds to the river.

Why it matters: the amendments reclassify land uses, add more prescriptive architectural language to ensure design consistency across the planned community, increase the size of the planned riverfront park and revise utility and parking plans. Those changes will affect future site plans, architecture review, and where commercial and community-serving uses locate in the development.

What commissioners and staff presented - Grama Prix (senior planner) summarized the three linked amendments: a community plan amendment and village plan amendments for Village 2 and Village 3. She said the packet includes updated ERU allocations, clearer architectural prescriptions so city staff and the applicant’s architecture-review committee review the same standards, and revised monument and streetscape plans where Pioneer Crossing forces reconfiguration. - Applicant representative Greg Pelley (Oakwood Homes) said UDOT’s proposed Pioneer Crossing alignment will raise the road substantially and “decreases the viability of that northern commercial site,” and requested flexibility for a permanent monument placement because UDOT’s timeline and funding for the road remain uncertain. Pelley corrected an earlier staff reference to the grade change: “it’s actually 30, it’s 30 feet,” he said. - Ken Poncherelli (LAI Design Group) presented the revised park plan and parking, stating the design now shows “a total of 320 possible stalls” including on-street parking and an off-street total of 207 spaces; he said estimated required parking for programmed park uses was about 130 stalls. - Commissioners pressed staff and the applicant on viewshed protection along Riverside Drive, the architectural consistency between Villages 1–3, sewer routing and Posey/Lehi station connections, and timing for trail connections across or along the river.

Key changes in the amendments (as described in staff report and by the applicant) - Land-use reclassification: some parcels were changed from neighborhood commercial to community commercial in Village 2 to allow a broader set of uses where commercial was shifted after Pioneer Crossing design changes. - Meeting-house and commercial swaps: the applicant moved a proposed commercial area from Village 3 into Village 2 and expanded the meeting-house (stake center) footprint in Village 3 to address access and developability after the UDOT changes. - Park acreage and design: the planned riverfront park grew from 25 to 28 acres by incorporating open drainage corridors and additional paseo connections; the applicant added multiple parking areas (north, middle, south) and increased paseo widths to improve sightlines and circulation. - Architectural standards: the amendments add prescriptive language for product types (including coach/coach-house and motor-court/cluster homes) and require enhanced facades facing public right-of-way so rear or secondary elevations are more consistent where they adjoin major roads such as Redwood Road. - Utilities and geotech: the applicant reworked lotting to accommodate sewer alignments (Posey/Lehi Station) and agreed to geotechnical borings and site-specific foundation design during subsequent building permit and plat stages. - Monument flexibility: the applicant requested flexibility to place a primary monument either at the current neighborhood entrance or at a future, lower-elevation location, acknowledging UDOT may acquire land and the sign may require relocation or replacement in the future.

Concerns and follow-up - Commissioners and staff flagged a staff drafting note in the Village 3 open-space section that would have prevented future village-plan amendments if open-space acreage changed; staff and the commission agreed to remove that note from the plan language. - Several commissioners sought reassurance that rear elevations facing major corridors would meet the enhanced-facade requirements; staff pointed to the revised design guidelines that require multi-material elevation treatments on facades facing rights-of-way. - Commissioners asked about trail connectivity across the river; staff said a formal pedestrian bridge is not currently funded and any cross-river linkage would require separate funding discussions with UDOT, developers or future city capital planning.

Formal action The commission voted to forward a positive recommendation to City Council for the Jordan Promenade/Wander Community Plan Amendment 4, Village Plan 2 Amendment 2, and Village Plan 3 Amendment 2 with the findings and conditions in the staff report and with staff direction to remove the Village 3 open-space note (page referenced in staff report). The motion passed unanimously.

What’s next The amendments will go to the City Council for final legislative action. Staff and the applicant said further, site-level design, utility coordination and permitting steps remain before construction; UDOT’s schedule and funding for Pioneer Crossing remain independent of the city approvals and will affect the timing and final layout in the northern portion of the project.