LEHI, Utah -- Earlier this year a Lehi community fought back against the Utah Military Academy building a new campus in their neighborhood. Last month the neighborhood, the city and the academy all came to a compromise. The academy has decided to move to another part of town.
The original plan was for the academy's new campus to be built on a five-acre lot on the corner of Pioneer Crossing and Center Street.
Neighbors were concerned about hundreds of additional cars driving through their residential streets every day.
"It was very bleak, it was not very positive," said Neighbor Matt Vierig. "As far as quality of life for our residents and our neighborhood this is a huge deal."
Kim Struthers, Community Development Director with Lehi City, agreed, saying the community was "sympathetic" to the academy.
"We were very sympathetic especially with the traffic issue and we wanted to try and help them," said Struthers.
So the city, the military academy and the landowner worked together to come up with a solution.
"The land owner, which is Boyer, had some different property in Lehi, and so they ended up moving from the location on Pioneer Crossing out to 2100 North 3600 West," said Struthers. "And it's in an area that is just newly developing so there are no neighbors who may have these same concerns."
The Utah Military Academy says it's a win-win situation. They said being good partners with the city and its residents is crucial.
"It was important to listen to the people of the community, you know, it's something that is going to be around for a long time and we don't want the wrong thing in the wrong place and now we've got the right thing in the right place," said Major James Peterson, with the Utah Military Academy.
Vierig said he hopes this serves as an inspiration to all communities that if you stand up for what you believe in good things can happen.
"We live in a great country, a great state, and a great city and I appreciate the process that we have in place that we can voice our concerns and we can be heard and we actually came to a great resolution that works for all parties," said Vierig.
The Utah Military Academy's Lehi campus is scheduled to open up for the 2018 school year.
