Lipstick on a Pig
by Neil MacDonnell
The presentation
On Friday evening August 4th and again the next morning, there was a public presentation on a plan to build a luxury RV resort in the Shangri-la valley. This is being proposed on the land that is currently Lichfield Pond and the surrounding property.
Jake Peart, the realtor that is representing Bob Lichfield, made the presentation along with Andy Peterie, who claimed to be the CEO of United (Unite, correction made based on comment below) Development, LLC. According to Peterie, the project is being backed by a consortium of investors that he was not willing to name at this time.
He claims that the overall investment in this project will be $178,000,000.
The pig posing as a beauty queen
Bob Lichfield has been trying, through his agent and nephew, Jake Peart, to get his land rezoned to commercial for the better part of the last year. At Planning Commission and City Council meetings, Peart has repeatedly said that he has a prospective buyer for the property, but that he has no idea what the buyer wanted to do with the land.
But rumors about an RV park have been talked about the entire time. Peart has been asked repeatedly if the plan was to put in an RV park and denied it.
Over time it became obvious that an RV park was indeed the goal because whether or not RVs would be allowed under the current zoning codes was pinpointed in City meetings. The City even decided to rewrite the code to clarify the issue.
At that point, Peart and Lichfield had no other options left than to show their hand and admit that, yes, what the prospective buyer wants to build is indeed, an RV park.
So Peart and Peterie put some lipstick on their pig and tried to present it as a beauty queen.
What could possibly go wrong?
The size and scope of this proposed park is huge. Pads for 700 RVs, along with 90 cabins and 30 yurts. The park would also include a two-story market with an arcade upstairs, a 5 star restaurant (if you’re looking forward to this restaurant or any other of the amenities you’ll first need to pay the $90 entrance fee), a zip line, mini golf course, an indoor go-kart track, a mountain coaster, hot tubs, a food court, a lazy river and an amphitheater.
That is enough capacity to fit more people into the Shangri-la valley than the entire population of the rest of Toquerville. What could possibly go wrong?!?
It Has gone wrong elsewhere
But is that really what they are trying to do? A couple of years ago, a developer proposed a Disney-themed commercial development in Hurricane. The project promised to create large amounts of tax revenue for the City of Hurricane, so the City approved the land owner’s request of rezoning the land so the development could move forward.
But soon after the zoning change was implemented, the developer announced that the project was not going to happen. The Hurricane City Council had to admit that they had been duped. The entire proposed project was just a ruse to get the land rezoned to commercial simply to increase its value.
I think that this Shangrila proposal is the same trick.
When I researched who Andy Peterie is and what he does, it appears that he is primarily a real estate broker and not a developer. Furthermore, when I asked him about the trick that was played on the Hurricane City Council, he couldn’t keep a subtle smirk off of his face. This is known as duper’s delight. The duper's delight is an emotional boost, or thrill, that some people get when they successfully cheat or deceive another person that manifests as an inappropriate grin or smirk.
beware of the carrot
Peterie’s proposal claims to provide the City of Toquerville with anywhere between $800,000 and $2,000,000 annually in tax revenue. That’s a very juicy carrot being hung out for the City to approve the rezoning request so the project can move ahead. We must be diligent in holding the City accountable and make sure that they stay focused on whether or not this massive project is appropriate for this small, beautiful valley and NOT let them rezone the land before they do so!