Dave Spencer seeks another Orem council term, stresses parks, fiscal restraint and limits on State Street density

Councilman Dave Spencer said he is seeking another term on the Orem City Council to "keep Orem moving in the right direction," emphasizing parks, fiscal restraint and limiting high-density development.

Spencer, who said he first ran to "save the baseball fields," told the forum he wants to protect remaining open space and neighborhood schools and to prevent State Street from becoming dominated by large apartment projects. "We have great parks, but it brings families together," he said.

Why it matters: local land-use and budget choices affect where the city can build parks and how tax dollars are spent. Spencer argued the city's involvement in the Utopia broadband effort left the city with long-term debt and reduced flexibility for other investments.

Spencer criticized the Utopia-related debt load, saying the city has about $116,000,000 in Utopia/UIA obligations through 2040 (about $3.5 million annually) and said that money could instead be used for police pay, homebuyer assistance or park improvements. "What could we have done with that over that time period?" he asked.

On development, Spencer said he placed a moratorium on State Street projects he said would have allowed as many as 10,000 apartments on the corridor. He said the State Street master plan's mixed-use requirements discouraged businesses and that a moratorium was intended to protect sales-tax-producing businesses. "If you put that [high density] on State Street, you're gonna have more traffic," he said.

Spencer credited recent fiscal work with avoiding tax increases. He described a $37 million city center paid with carryover funds and no new taxes or bonding and said departmental efficiencies and a $2 million annual personnel saving after a city manager resignation helped the city avoid tax increases. He also cited grant-writing that he said brought $13'0 million to $15 million in outside funds.

He singled out parks projects the council supported, including Hillcrest Park and an all-access playground, and a 10-million-gallon water tank as examples of capital spending aimed at supporting families.

On social issues, Spencer said bathrooms and youth sports should be divided by biological sex and that library displays for adult-oriented material should remain in adult sections. "We need to get back to basics," he said.

Spencer concluded by repeating his campaign pitch that he is a "doer" who answers constituent calls and fixes problems.

(Ending) Spencer gave his campaign contact information during the forum and repeated his focus on safety, constituent service and protecting neighborhood character.