Lehi caps agency sales tax shares at $7.9 million and $3.1 million in two deals

Lehi's redevelopment agency created two community reinvestment project areas in 2025 that are funded by sales tax from new businesses rather than property tax: Morning Vista in March and Skye View in August. ^[1][3][4][6]

Both budgets say the agency will request no real or personal property tax from any taxing entity. ^[1][4]

Morning Vista

The Morning Vista project area budget, dated March 18, 2025, describes higher-end restaurants, a retail center and multifamily housing on land that is vacant and lacks internal infrastructure. ^[1]

It gives the agency 100% of the city's 0.5% point-of-sale sales tax collected in the area for eight years, 80% for the next four and 60% for the last three, for 15 years or until the agency has received $7,927,672, whichever comes first. ^[1]

The city's notice of the matching interlocal agreement lists the same percentages and says the agreement is "not to exceed a budget amount of $7,927,672.00." ^[2]

The budget sets aside 3% for administration, $237,830, and 10% for low- to moderate-income housing, $792,767, and says both are part of the cap. ^[1]

It projects $110 million in development costs and expects the collection period to be triggered on or before Dec. 31, 2028. ^[1]

The March 2025 votes

On March 18, 2025, the agency board adopted the Morning Vista plan, budget and interlocal agreement and a development agreement with Traverse Retail Owner LLC, each by a 3-1 vote, according to the minutes. ^[3]

Paige Albrecht, Chris Condie and Heather Newall voted yes, Michelle Stallings voted no and Paul Hancock was excused. ^[3]

The motion on the development agreement directed staff to confirm that 11 low- to moderate-income units is the state minimum and amend the agreement if needed, and let the mayor sign an amended agreement with more than 11 units without returning to the board. ^[3]

The developer's representative said "the incentive is performance-based" and that the high-end grocery and dining components depend on it, the minutes say. ^[3]

Stallings "questioned why the city should forego future sales tax revenue to benefit a private developer," and a resident at the public hearing referred to an "$8 million tax subsidy" and said affordable housing may be "undercounted," according to the minutes. ^[3]

Skye View

The Skye View budget, dated Aug. 26, 2025, gives the agency 55% of Lehi's 0.5% point-of-sale sales tax from the area for 15 years or until it has collected $3,143,686, whichever comes first. ^[4]

The interlocal agreement in that night's packet says "the Agency shall be paid 55% for 15 years," and its notice sets the same $3,143,686 limit. ^[5]

The budget sets aside 10% for housing, $314,368, to be used within the Lehi Housing Authority, and lists $2.5 million for grading and $3 million for infrastructure as planned uses. ^[4][5]

The project area plan says payments "will first be made to Lehi City to reimburse the City's cost for any waived impact fees." ^[5]

The minutes describe retail and fitness facilities on 28.84 acres west of Center Street. ^[6]

The August 2025 votes

On Aug. 26, 2025, the board adopted the Skye View plan, budget and interlocal agreement and a development agreement with Gardner-Plumb and Equestrian Partners, each 4-1. ^[6]

Albrecht, Condie, Hancock and Newall voted yes and Stallings voted no; Stallings asked how the developer would use the tax incentive funds, the minutes say. ^[6]

The same night, the board approved an amendment to the Morning Vista development agreement, also 4-1 with Stallings opposed. The minutes record only the motion and vote. ^[6]

The packet includes Resolution R2025-14 and an amended and restated development agreement with Traverse Retail Owner LLC. The resolution says the developer asked for changes after the March approval but before signing, and its adoption date and signature lines are blank. The agreement's date, acreage and signature lines are also blank, so the Ledger treats it as the form presented to the board, not an executed instrument. ^[7]

The form describes a grocery-anchored retail center with about six out parcels. The agency would reimburse the developer for eligible public infrastructure and structured parking costs once the project is substantially complete, including a certificate of occupancy for everything but the out parcels. Each payment is limited to the sales tax the agency actually receives and the eligible costs the developer actually incurs, and total payments may not exceed $7,927,672 or 87% of the funds the agency receives under the interlocal agreement. ^[7]

The form defines the sales tax available for payments as the local option point-of-sale tax actually received from the site each operating year, less a 3% administrative fee kept by the agency and a 10% housing allocation. Payment is conditioned on a lease with a premium grocery store of at least 15 years and two or more leases of at least 6,000 square feet each with sit-down, full-service restaurants. The agreement says it does not require the developer to build, and that it becomes void if vertical construction has not begun within five years of signing. ^[7]

These are limits on what could be reimbursed to the developer, not the agency's gross cap or money paid, and the Ledger has not worked out an actual payout from them. The housing allocation in the text is not a count of affordable units, and the form does not answer the question the March motion left open about the number of units. ^[7]

Differing figures in the budgets

The Morning Vista budget lists $5,227,200 for property acquisition among its uses of funds, while another section says the agency does not own and does not plan to purchase property. ^[1]

The Skye View budget gives the area's base taxable value as $15,232,531 in one section and $15,252,531 in another, and projects $91 million in investment in one section and $109 million in development costs in another. ^[4]