Lehi is weighing a change to where homes would be built within the Skye development: DR Horton wants to move about 98 planned townhomes from the upper hillside to a parcel beside Timpanogos Highway. As Building Salt Lake reported, the builder says the relocation would keep Skye’s overall unit cap unchanged. The shift would nevertheless change the distribution of housing near a major Utah County tech corridor.
The requested amendment would change the allocation for Mixed Use 1, allowing between 517 and 627 equivalent residential units (ERUs), rather than its current fixed allotment of 517, according to Building Salt Lake. Skye covers 1,728 acres and has an overall limit of 2,736 units. Under the proposal, any increase assigned to Mixed Use 1 would have to be balanced by reductions elsewhere in the plan, the outlet reported.
Moving Homes Off the Hillside and Toward the Highway
The units in question currently sit in upper Inverness, part of the Skye hillside, and would relocate to Mixed Use 1, which straddles Center Street on the north side of SR-92, or Timpanogos Highway. Per Building Salt Lake's reporting, the parcel along the highway has no proposed development yet, even as DR Horton pursues the paperwork to eventually build there. City staff attributed potential upside to the move, saying it could reduce congestion on local roads and lower environmental risks to homes, according to the outlet's account of the staff report.
The builder describes the request as a redistribution of housing types, not an increase in Skye’s overall housing or townhome totals. Building Salt Lake reported that DR Horton’s Inverness Preliminary Plat E shows 405 townhomes on 36.76 acres—about 11 per acre—and would bring Mixed Use 1 close to its existing 517-unit allotment. The company says it would replace some townhomes in the upper area with single-family homes and move the displaced townhomes downhill.
A Dispute Over Whether Commercial Land Turns Residential
The proposed accounting has a point of disagreement. Building Salt Lake reported that the amendment converts four nonresidential units to residential, while a DR Horton representative told the outlet the plan neither adds units nor converts commercial units to residential. The discrepancy is unresolved in the reporting. The outlet said the amended plan would list 2,460 residential units and 276 nonresidential units.
City staff also raised a separate caution: commercial development on the Timpanogos Highway parcel could push Mixed Use 1 past its unit cap, according to the staff report referenced in the coverage. Building Salt Lake reported that Lehi's Development Review Committee had asked in August for utility and traffic studies examining what would happen if up to 200 units were added to Mixed Use 1; engineering studies on file instead analyze a shift of 110 units out of upper pods MD13 and LD6, while a water-study exhibit pegs the planned move at 98 ERUs with 110 as the maximum figure analyzed.
What transportation data shows
The available transportation context describes highway capacity, not measured traffic-count changes on Timpanogos Highway. UDOT reported that six lanes were open in each direction on I-15 through the Technology Corridor project, from S.R. 92 to Main Street in Lehi. That information does not quantify how traffic on Timpanogos Highway near Skye has changed.
Planning Commission Backs the Change, Council Takes It Up
The Planning Commission recommended approval in a 4-1 vote on Sept. 24, and the City Council considered the amendment at its Oct. 13 meeting, according to Building Salt Lake. The outlet reported that no one spoke at the public hearing and that Scott Bishop represented DR Horton before the commission.
DR Horton has described its broader aim as rearranging housing types within Skye’s complex development agreement, and is separately purchasing about 38 acres and residential units previously held by Gardner Group, Building Salt Lake reported. A separate Lehi amendment document cited in connection with a rule on transferring unused ERUs concerns Holbrook Place; it does not establish that the rule applies to Skye.
Part of a Bigger Footprint Near Silicon Slopes
Per a report from Building Salt Lake, DR Horton has been developing land originally owned by Micron for what was once envisioned as a manufacturing and office concept, part of a broader pattern of change in the area; Micron itself sold other land nearby to Texas Instruments. Lehi is home to much of Utah's Silicon Slopes tech sector, and the back-and-forth over how many homes go where along Timpanogos Highway reflects the pressure that growth has put on the city's housing and infrastructure planning.
