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Show 0 R E M TIMES Thursday, August 28, 2008 Page 2 NEWS AND NOTES TO KEEP YOU Home building a Reva Bowen NORTH COUNTY STAFF New home construction in Utah County pays for itself. That's the conclusion of a National Association of Home Builders report given to the Orem City Council on Tuesday. Rod Rydman, community relations director with the Utah Valley Home Builders Association, Asso-ciation, gave council members copies of the report and summarized sum-marized some of its findings. The report was done hy Elliot Eisenbcrg, a NAHB senior economist in Washington, D.C. "Kisenhcrg found that the economic impact of homebuild-ing homebuild-ing in Utah County is not only very large, but that single-family and multi-family construction construc-tion pay for themselves within the first year of construction because the ongoing economic benefits accumulate faster than the ongoing costs." said Rydman Ryd-man in a letter enclosed in the report to the council. " The NAHB model produces pro-duces impacts on income and employment in Hi industries and local government, as well as detailed information about taxes and other types of local government revenue." wrote Rydman. Construction impacts are divided into three phases: the construction phase; the ripple, or feedback phase; and the occupancy oc-cupancy phase. The construction phase is when goods and services are brought together and the construction is done, Rydman said. The ripple phase sees subcontractor money recycling through the economy. The occupancy phase is when homeowners hom-eowners move in, bring their income, in-come, pay taxes, and buy goods and services. Cities without a strong commercial com-mercial base do not receive as much benefit from the ripple effect, and have a harder time than cities like Orem and Provo. Traffic Continued from Page I everything it can to be a good neighbor. "For the most part, our neighbors have been very cooperative co-operative knowing that the end result will be fantastic school and something that adds value to the community," he said. Orem transportation officials of-ficials said they haven't been contacted by residents about construction-related traffic concerns since the work com NorthCounty NEWSPAPERS 399 F State St Pleasant Grove Marc Haddock 443 3268 North County Editor mhaddock heraldextra com Cathy Allred 443 3262 Lehi, Saratoga Springs, PI. Grove callred heraldextra .com Barbara Christiansen 443 3264 American Fork, Alpine, Cedar Hills bchnstiansen heraldextra.com Mike Rigert 443 3265 Orem, Vineyard mrigert heraldextra com Beky Beaton 443 3267 Sports bbeatonheraldextra.com Josh Walker 443 3260 Advertising Account Executive jwalkerheraldextra.com Volume 135 Oem Times Da.ly HeraW Edition USPS 411-700 a weekly newspaper published at 399 E Slate St Pleasant Grove Utah 84063 Pe-wtcats postage paid at Pleasant Grove Utah 84062 and at addtonal mamndWices Pottmnnr: Serx) address changes to Oem Times PO Box 65. Onem Utah 84059 0065 Pjbtehed Thursdays by Lee Publications winch is a Owso" of Lee Enterprises, tnc Wembi: Audit Bureau ot Circulations SOAKING UP t . . . . r - ., CELIA TOBINDaily Herald Gabby Waugh left, 1 2, and her sister Lizzy, 9, play in the refreshing mist of water fountains of Scera Park Pool Monday in Orem. The girls said I icy c ame to ( he park to cool off with their family after everyone returned home from school and work. The high temperuture Monday in Provo reached 98 degrees according to BYU's official weather station. Rydman said. In the current market, Utah Valley home builders are "struggling," but "holding on," said Rydman. Some are building build-ing or doing remodelings here and there, some are working out of the county, and some contractors and builders are joining forces, he said. Asked about home values, Rydman said they are decreasing, decreas-ing, as are the prices of homes, "Because those homes have to menced in May. Surprisingly, though the large south parking lot foot print is currently the project's bull's-eye. Orem High has only had a net loss of 30 parking stalls from its previous contingent contin-gent of 400 slots, Perkins said. New parking lots have been built and a premium high occupancy oc-cupancy vehicle lot for junior and senior students with two or more passengers is located right outside the school's front doors. "It's been fantastic," Perkins said. "Sometimes there are Phone: 756-7669 Fax: 756-5274 DAILY HERALD PUBLISHING CO. Jennette Esplin 756 7669 Office Manager Megan Carleton 344 2558 Project Coordinator, DesignerCopy Editor Allison Davies 344 2570 DesignerCopy Editor Ashley Franscell 344 2585 Photographer Issue 36 INFORMED AND boost to THE SUN move. Rydman said he is often asked what will happen next in the housing market. "I think people are waiting to see what happens with the election, elec-tion, and with gasoline prices, then after the first of the year, it will come back. The housing industry like others is cyclical. cy-clical. It will come back. People need houses to live in, and the market will be ready to go," he said. cars with five kids in them coming out of the lot." Though parking access to the athletics fields is trickier without the south lot, there is parking off Campus Drive and on the north side of campus. Those attending athletic events should allow themselves extra travel time to familiarize themselves them-selves with the new parking layout, Perkins said. Keith Larsen, Orem's traffic operations engineer, said street-side street-side permit parking is available to residents on the west side of 400 East. The city is also evalu Family ties keep us Ooes one ever stop being the little brother? That's what I asked myself Monday as 1 sat at an outdoor restaurant in Park City watching my two older brothers argue over who would pick up the check for lunch. Our wives had excused themselves them-selves to visit the Ladies Room, and the three of us were left to wrangle over the bill. I had instructions to pay my share, but the issue never came up as Jim, the oldest, and Kerry, the second child wrangled for the precious piece of paper. I wouldn't have minded paying, although I thought the place was pricey. My $13 fish tacos were the cheapest item on the lunch menu. But it would have been little to pay for the chance to spend a day with my only siblings. It was probably the most time the three of us have spent together since before Jim left to go to college in the early 1960s. I've visited both separately, but this is one group that never considered con-sidered a formal family reunion. My wife, who is much closer to her three brothers, thinks our relationship is a bit odd. And she may be correct. Jim, who is 7 years older than I am, has very different memories of our home life than I do. He remembers when my father struggled as an employee at Walton Feed, and even has memories memo-ries of Dad getting up early in the morning to fill in for the milk man. As long as I can remember, my father was his own boss, the owner of a small IGA grocery gro-cery story who worked hard to make his business busi-ness prosper. And while he wasn't wildly successful, he always provided well for his family and had the respect of his community. Sometimes it's hard to believe we are talking about the same man. Kerry, who is 5 years older, shared a lot of those same memories, and it is always interesting interest-ing to get a small peek into the lives of my parents par-ents that I hadn't seen before. Throughout the day it also became how different dif-ferent our lives have been since each of us INVOLVED Oram's economy CITY BRIEFS Orem renews Utah County Major Crimes Task Force participation partici-pation An interlocal agreement agree-ment for Orem's participation in the Utah County Major Crimes Task Force expired, so a new contract was approved by the Orem City Council as a consent item Aug. 26. Fence modification issue continued con-tinued The Orem City Council's Coun-cil's consideration of a fence ating vehicle speeds particularly particu-larly from construction vehicle traffic on Campus Boulevard to determine if any changes need to be made. "It's going to be awfully congested con-gested for the next couple of years," he said. Yet Paul Goodrich, the city's transportation engineer and an Orem Tiger alumnus, said occassional oc-cassional heavy traffic is nothing noth-ing new to 400 East in front of the school. "Being a student in the 70s, there were problems even way back then," he said. Marc Haddock THE EDITOR'S COLUMN : i modification issue was continued contin-ued from the Aug. 26 meeting to the second council meeting in September, to allow two parties to work out a possible purchase agreement. An existing fence is located three feet south of the property prop-erty line. The IDS Church has requested that the new Aspen Meadows Skilled Nursing Facility Facil-ity purchase property involved in order to prevent a maintenance mainte-nance problem. "What I've witnessed, it's no worse or better than previous conditions." Contractors have already completed Orem High's new football field and track including includ-ing a new sprinkling system, and a new driving range, athletic facilities, and tennis courts, Perkins said. The new school is anticipated to be opened for school in August of 2010. Residents with traffic- and parking -related concerns about the area can contact Paul Goodrich at 229-7000. together left home. Jim joined the Navy in the 1960s and went away to see the world. He's lived in Italy and England, New York and New Orleans, before he retired re-tired as a captain and settled in Bath, Maine. Now he takes his motorboat out onto the Kennebec River where he is teaching himself to fish, volunteers volun-teers part-time in the Maine Maritime Museum and hangs out with his grandkids. Kerry got a master's degree in business busi-ness in Washington, but returned to live in our hometown of Montpelier, Idaho, when my father needed him to help with the grocery store. After the store was sold, Kerry went to work as a purchasing agent for a Soda Spring phosphate company. He is now the Bear Lake County Clerk. I was the least practical, and I've spent most of my adult life editing this newspaper and others oth-ers like it. I continue to practice the religion of my parents par-ents and their parents before them. My brothers are both irreligious for the most part. They aren't antagonistic as much as agnostic. ag-nostic. Jim has one daughter, Kerry has two daughters daugh-ters and six step-daughters. They each have one grandson. I have mixed family of a dozen kids and almost al-most two dozen grandkids. My wife says she can see strong similarities in temperament and attitude, not to mention an overtone of the eccentric in our outlook, but I cant see it. I can count on one hand the number of times we've been together since our mother died in 1980, and yet it took us all of five minutes to catch up when we got together on Monday. The rest of the time was spend finding stuff to do and being together. And that was pretty much enough for me. At the end of the day, we agreed we should do it more oftea But knowing the three of us, we probably wont. Still, while these encounters are rare, it is clear the family ties run deep, and I love these strangers like brothers. Beetle Continued from Page 1 turf spraying over the 100 acres near the Orem Community Commu-nity Hospital and two schools located within the infestation's infesta-tion's epicenter. A single adult male Japanese Japa-nese beetle was trapped outside out-side of the Orem treatment zone this summer near Utah Valley University, but Burfitt said so-called stray males don't present a threat for the beetle population to migrate out of the treatment area. The Utah program initiated in May of 2007 is based off of successful Japanese beetle eradication efforts in Las Vegas, San Diego, and three areas in Oregon. The critical time to lay down the foliar and turf insecticides in-secticides was in the week or two in early July when the adult beetles emerge and lay eggs that hatch larvae that live on top of the first two inches of soil. "They're very sensitive to insecticides," Burfitt said. "It's the first month that we have to get them." Richard Manning, Orem's assistant city manager whose assignments include the Japanese beetle eradication eradica-tion program, said though he didn't put specific expectations expecta-tions on where the city would stand in the beetle battle two years into the program, eradication erad-ication efforts are surpassing his expectations. "I expected numbers more in terms of last year's numbers, num-bers, so this is real surprise," he said. Burfitt credits a large portion por-tion of the program's success to Orem residents' cooperation coopera-tion and spirit of coming together to-gether as a community. "If we don't get 99 to 100 percent participation) it leaves a safe haven," he said. Next year's treatment zone boundaries will likely be the same as this year's perimeters, pe-rimeters, Burfitt said, with a fourth and possibly fifth year to mop up beetle populations on as little as a handful of properties. Manning reminds residents resi-dents within the treatment area to continue bagging green waste into the fall to avert further contaminatioa Arts Continued from Page 1 vocates support for the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival and the Orem Library Li-brary in the dream of establishing estab-lishing a storytelling district including the proposed Timpanogos Center for Story and Art on the City Center block. Another goal is collaboration collabo-ration with the Recreation Advisory Commission to establish es-tablish festivals or city gatherings gath-erings throughout the year events that would utilize the theater and storytelling districts, and a promenade or public walkway, envisioned for 720 South near the SCERA. Construction of the promenade prom-enade would include building a roundabout and sidewalks, and developing landscaping and public works of art. The Arts Council sees the possibility possibil-ity of eventually closing off the street completely when feasible, and having the city continue to buy up homes for sale along the street. The homes could be converted to a home base for the Arts Council; a community information infor-mation desk; office space for artists; meeting rooms and classrooms; art studios where the public could watch artists at work; practice space; galleries; gift shops; and restaurants. "We envision this promenade prom-enade to be a gathering place for the public, to serve as an artsentertainment hub, as well as a community center within the heart of Orem," the report stated. "We realize this is a huge dream," said Adam Robertson, Robert-son, president and CEO of SCERA and a member of the Arts Council, "We realize that a tot would need to be done before this was possible." pos-sible." Longer-term priorities in the report included designating designat-ing a defined, multi-block area as Orem's Arts District with banners on State Street to identify it; developing a shuttle route through the district; and creating a children's chil-dren's museum. "As I read through this report, re-port, I'm just excited," said Councihvoman Margaret Black. "Something great is on the horizon in Orem." 1 r Y9k |