On Lehi's eastern border, developers are building Costco and Lowe's.

Across American Fork's 900 West from that development lies a field with its future in question.

For years, American Fork's general plan has designated the land as residential. Since Lehi placed commercial uses in the vicinity, American Fork has been considering changing its plan to something other than residential, with the thinking that no one would want to live across the street from the commercial area.

The City Council opted to pull the controversial zoning from its Tuesday meeting agenda, calling for more study before they make a decision.

They asked city staff to provide information about the traffic impact, regional traffic plans, financial impact, proposed uses, buffering between the development and neighbors and the vacancy rates of retail and office space in the community.

Mayor Heber Thompson said it was a good idea to do further study.

"In an area such as this we need better information," he said.

Councilman Dale Gunther said he did not want the city to wait too long for a decision.

"I feel we may have analysis paralysis," he said.

Brothers Wade and Francis Carson own 10.5 acres of ground on the east side of 900 West. They had planned in 2002 on selling it for housing, but the deal did not materialize.

"It didn't pan out," Wade Carson said. "Ivory Homes (the prospective buyer) has said they would rather see it go commercial."

Carson said he now has a developer interested in the property for commercial use.

"He has some national chains interested in this piece," he said.

Carson said commercial development would help the city.

"Commercial pays both property and sales tax," he said. "It is a win-win for everybody."

His home would be worth more to sell in a commercial area, he said.

"If their house was worth $300,000, who would sell it for $250,000 just to be nicefi" he asked.

Carson said the project could be built to minimize the impact on the neighbors.

"My developer has designed his project so that there is a 65-foot strip of buffering," Carson said. "There would be privacy wall with 15-20 feet of landscaping. It could keep those neighborhoods isolated." He said commercial uses would be medium size stores which would close around 8 p.m. and not open on Sundays.

He said 900 West would become more crowded even without his proposal.

"That intersection has the potential of being the largest intersection in north Utah County," he said. "Who wants to live on a busy road."

Carson said five of the seven neighbors on the east side of his property were in favor of the proposal.

Bob and Derrie Morris are among the closest neighbors to the property in question.

"We believe it is his property, and he should be able to do whatever he wants," Derrie Morris said. "We have no objections to what he wants to do."

She said she would rather have commercial than high density residential, which has also been proposed.

"I don't want apartments looking down on me," she said. "I would rather have a parking lot."

Bob Morris said he was in favor of commercial in the area, and said it could be done with minimal impact.

"When we lived in Mesa, Ariz., we had the same type of development in our residential area," he said. "It worked great. Nobody was opposed to it."

Morris said his property backed up to the commercial area. "We were the ones impacted."

Rebecca Staten has lived in the neighborhood eight years, and she said she has different feelings about the potential for commercial development.

"Our main concern is support of the general plan that the city has," she said. "The city should protect the neighborhoods and keep them livable. They should avoid any further encroachment of commercial into the residential area."

She expressed other concerns about having commercial uses which may be vacant.

"As we have driven around town, there is so much empty space," she said. "Those areas need to be revitalized and protect the neighborhoods."

Staten said the impact on her neighbors would be negative.

"Adding more commercial would just reduce the quality of life of this neighborhood," she said.

After attending most of the Planning Commission meetings for the past six months, urging caution with commercial, Staten said she is ready for the city to make a decision, whatever the outcome.

The issue was before the City Council without any recommendation -- positive or negative -- from the Planning and Zoning Commission. That group had been studying the alternatives for months and had finally passed it on to the council when its members could not reach an accord.

They may get another chance to consider it as one option the City Council could use is to send the issue back with the direction to reach an agreement.