PROVO, Utah -- On Tuesday night residents of Provo got a glimpse into the future as the city council unveiled their 20- to 30-year master plan.
A new city hall, entertainment district and hotel are just some of the major developments in the works.
The master plan isn't only designed to enhance downtown Provo, but also change it. For example, under the master plan city hall would be moving out of its current building into a brand new building, while the old location would become the new entertainment district.
The master plan would divide the downtown area into five planning districts: the Downtown North District, Downtown Central District, Gateway District, South Temple District and the Transit District.
There are almost 23 acres of public land in the downtown area, with 16 acres scheduled for redevelopment.
The vision is to create more single family homes, more parks, more commercial development and more walking and bicycle friendly pathways.
"I think it's important that we communicate with residents as well as potential developers what we're looking for and to have a vision of where we want to be so we know how to get there," said resident David Harding, who is in favor of the plan.
However, other residents are more skeptical.
Kari Kolling is worried that some residents, like herself, could be forgotten during all this big development.
"It just opens it up for more businesses to come in and purchase my home or purchase my neighbor's home and leave me next door to something I don't want to be next door to," Kolling said.
Other residents say the city needs to fix their current problems before looking decades ahead into the future.
"I think we are focusing too much on new innovations instead of cleaning up the neighborhoods as they stand right now, we have concerns for children throughout the neighborhoods for their safety, we have concern for some of the halfway houses," said resident Mary Howell.
The city council could have approved the master plan Tuesday but decided to push it off to a later date due to some details. One of them is whether or not food trucks should be part of the downtown master plan, which would conflict with an ordinance they already have in the books.
