The days of hoopla and merriment on the shores of Utah Lake may be returning.

The owner of 17 lakeside acres next to the American Fork boat harbor is asking the city permission to build a resort.

Resorts dotted the lake 100 years ago, before the water was fouled by releasing raw sewage for decades, a practice that stopped after World War II.

Should a resort be built in American Fork, it would be a nod to the lake's history, said Utah Valley historian and author Robert Carter.

"Hopefully it signals a revival of the long history of resorts on the lake," he said. "Many have come and gone and it would be nice to have one that would come and stay."

Property owner Ruben Adams took his proposal for a resort to a recent meeting of the American Fork Planning Commission, saying the area has great potential.

"There is an undiscovered location in central Utah where we can have a complete experience -- that is in American Fork," he said. "Our whole idea is to give something to the community that can last into the future. It can give a great deal of enjoyment. It is a convenient place to recreate.

"It is not Lake Powell, but it is not 300 miles away either."

He would like to turn his property into a "destination resort," likening the potential of the area to Garden City at the south end of Bear Lake on the Utah-Idaho border.

"Garden City stopped thinking 'resort' and starting thinking 'destination,' " he said. "It has eye appeal. ... Our property is extremely well suited as a part of the overall destination. Our goal is to provide a commercial location that is pleasurable to the eye and convenient for everyone to use."

The resort would include a restaurant, valet boat service, boat and RV storage, convenience store, condominiums, time shares or a hotel, and a facility to sell and service boats and other watercraft.

Planner Rod Despain said the city has identified the area along the lake as a resort zone, adding that a camping area would be more appropriate for a resort than condos.

"A few rental cottages would probably be consistent" with the resort zone as written, he said. "High-rise apartments are not consistent."

Providing boat services is not enough to be a resort, since several marinas already exist, including the Lindon Marina and Saratoga Resort, said Commissioner Joe Gordon.

"There has to be a profit for a private sector," he said. "You have to have enough diversity and base for them to succeed."

"We are trying to accomplish several things and enhance what is going on at the boat harbor," Adams said. "There would be storage facilities as an ancillary benefit. Valet boat launching would mean people would not have to bring their trucks and park along the road.

"We would hope we could provide something that is not an eyesore," he added.

Despain said he would prepare a proposal for a recreation resort zone, which the city could use to guide development in the area. If the Adams property is to be used for resort plans, the city could have to change its general plan since some of the land Adams owns is outside the area designated to be a resort.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1.