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Law enforcement officials and a Provo police car can be seen outside the home of Craig Deleeuw Robertson on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. Robertson was shot and killed as the FBI served a warrant.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald file photo

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Utah Lake is shown from Lincoln Beach Park in Spanish Fork on Tuesday, July 18, 2023.

Harrison Epstein, Daily Herald file photo

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A rendering of the Utah City mixed-use development in Vineyard.

Courtesy Woodbury Corp.

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The Orem Utah Temple will be dedicated Jan. 21, 2024.

Courtesy Intellectual Reserve

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The Saratoga Springs Utah Temple, pictured on the day of its dedication Sunday, Aug. 13, 2023.

Courtesy Intellectual Reserve

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Flooding in Lehi's Dry Creek is shown in this photo, shared on Monday, May 15, 2023.

Courtesy Lehi City

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This undated photo shows a Pride Month display in the children's section of the Orem Public Library.

Courtesy Orem City

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Weather conditions, proposals and lawsuits started in 2022 affected the way 2023 panned out. From spring flooding to the plan for human-made islands in Utah Lake being dissolved, last year was a whirlwind for government officials and residents across Utah County.

Controversy surrounded the county when President Biden came to town and as new developments including “Utah City” were discussed. Amongst the flurry of events, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Orem and Saratoga Springs showed their excitement for new temples that finished construction.

Here are a few of the top stories from 2023:

Provo man shot and killed by FBI after threatening social media posts

President Joe Biden flew into Utah on the afternoon of Aug. 9 to discuss veterans and the PACT Act in Salt Lake City. That same morning, Craig Deleeuw Robertson, 75, who lived in Provo, was shot and killed by the FBI after Robertson had posted online messages on social media threatening the president and other Democratic elected officials.

Local and national news outlets covered the shooting and shared with the public a variety of the 30 threatening posts cited in court documents that Robertson had published on social media over the past two years.

The investigation into Robertson’s social media posts began in April, and attempts by FBI special agents had been made to speak to him about the posts. He told them not to return without a warrant. Special agents were attempting to serve search and arrest warrants at Robertson’s residence on Aug. 9 when he was shot.

The shooting caused controversy between political parties as Robertson’s posts were far-right-learning. It also caused fear within the neighborhood — among some that political extremists could be just around the block, and among others that the federal government had killed an aging man with limited physical mobility.

Information reported after the incident showed Robertson had pointed a revolver at the FBI agents before he was shot and killed. However, the shooting sparked much controversy, especially after family members and neighbors said Robertson was “an elderly, homebound man with physical limitations that suggested he posed no danger to anyone he had threatened online.”

Plans for Utah Lake islands come to an end 

The proposal to create human-made islands in Utah Lake faced scrutiny from the start and came to an official close last year when the company that created the plans, Lake Restoration Solutions LLC, dissolved in June due to financial issues.

Along with the dissolution, LRS requested its defamation lawsuit against Ben Abbott, a Brigham Young University professor and critic of the lake proposal, be nullified and all associated proceedings dismissed. In April, before the dissolution, Abbot was awarded $174,347.50 in attorney’s fees by the Utah court system.

Construction had not begun on the lake before the company dissolved, meaning no permanent changes were made to Utah Lake. The Utah Lake Authority continues to work on the restoration of Utah Lake in other ways.

Jon Benson, president and chief operation officer of LRS, has stood behind the foundation of his company’s plans to restore the lake through dredging and land creation, even though the company was unable to move forward with the islands. While the specific plans of LRS were dissolved, another company or entity could still attempt the same or similar plans in the future.

Alabama Supreme Court upholds verdict in fraud lawsuit against Orem mayor and his son

After an Alabama court issued a $1 million judgment in a civil fraud lawsuit against Orem Mayor David Young and his son Shawn Young in 2022, the pair appealed the decision to Alabama’s highest court.

But in November, the Alabama Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s decision, which had found the plaintiff, Ross Gagliano, had been defrauded while investing in Shawn Young’s real estate endeavor.

Also in November, Gagliano filed another lawsuit in federal court against David Young and his wife, alleging they violated Utah’s Uniform Voidable Transfer Act when David Young transferred millions in assets into a trust in his wife’s name.

Vineyard to house 700-acre ‘Utah City’ development

At the end of August, developers announced a master plan to build a 700-acre development focused on sustainability and walkability at the former location of the Geneva Steel Mill.

The development will be called “Utah City” and is planned to be 100 acres bigger than “The Point,” a similar type of development at the former location of the Utah State Prison near the Point of the Mountain.

Utah City will contain mixed-use space with housing, dining, shopping and entertainment, a Hunstman Cancer Institute research center and green space.

The development also will house a grocery store, something Vineyard has been lacking, with that announcement being made in early September.

2 Utah County temples complete construction, 1 opens for use 

Last year, two Utah County temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Orem Utah Temple and the Saratoga Springs Utah Temple, completed construction and held open houses. Announcements for 2024 also were made, including the Provo Utah Temple closing on Feb. 24 for reconstruction and the construction of a temple in Lindon continuing.

The Orem temple open house lasted from Oct. 27 through Dec. 16, and it will be dedicated on Jan. 21. The Orem Utah Temple, announced in 2019, experienced minor setbacks during construction including a small fire and electrical problems, but the temple persevered and was finished despite the challenges.

More than six years after it was announced by the then-President Thomas S. Monson, the Saratoga Springs temple was dedicated on Aug. 13 and opened for church members as a working temple the next day. The Saratoga Springs temple is Utah County’s fifth temple and was the first of six across the world to be dedicated in a span of less than two months.

Around the world, there are 179 dedicated temples, 57 under construction or awaiting dedication and 79 more announced and in planning stages.

Record winter snowfall leads to spring flooding across Utah County

After Utah saw record snowfall during the 2022-23 winter, spring brought the floods, with the Utah County government and Spanish Fork City both issuing emergency declarations due to the flooding.

To prepare for the flooding, citizens, government employees and elected officials throughout the county joined together to prepare sandbags in April. Cities throughout the county, like Provo and Orem, invited residents to assist with sandbag efforts, with those residents showing up ready to help.

As flooding began, damages led Utah County to reopen its budget in May to allocate money for repairs and mitigation efforts.

Most recently, the federal government announced in December that federal assistance funds would be made available to Utah County to repair infrastructure impacted by the flooding.

Honorable mention

Current, former Orem library employees accuse city of censorship over book displays and collection; national groups rebuke moves

At the beginning of 2023, a former library employee accused Orem of censoring book displays, specifically those set up during Black History or LGBTQ+ Pride months.

Then, the Utah Library Association released a statement in February criticizing the library for ceasing formal displays related to heritage and diversity months.

And in June, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression threatened to sue over the book displays in a letter penned to Orem Mayor Young and City Manager Brenn Bybee.

The city responded to the national group’s concerns in July, stating in a letter that they made the library’s display policy public and lifted limits on librarians’ participation in professional development support from the Utah Library Association, which had been critical of the city.

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