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I am writing about one of the larger developing sections of Vineyard, namely the Lakeview Drive loop. What you are about to read is purely my opinion, some may think I am off-base and that these problems aren't that bad. So my advice to you would be to come and sit down in front of the house/lot you are looking to purchase at random times during the week and make your own call. Also, knock on some doors and talk to your potential neighbors. This area is very friendly and most people won't beat around the bush.

NOISE: New homes are being built EVERYWHERE. So if you are looking to buy in this area and are sensitive to construction noise pick an area that is already developed or close to it. Sound travels a lot here because there isn't much to block it.

TRAFFIC: Lake view drive is a huge loop (approx 1 mile) the whole loop was built with TWO LANE streets. Normally that would be okay, annoying, but okay, however; when you allow people to park on a street that only has two lanes, it gets REALLY dangerous. Add in the multitude of oversized construction vehicles to the mix and it just gets deadly. I personally have seen in the last year 4 children nearly get mowed over. The streets are a HUGE negative to living in Vineyard, I truly don't know how they allow people to park on the street. This is an easy fix for Vineyard officials to not allow street parking but my faith in their little office is wavering.

EMERGENCY SERVICES: At the moment Vineyard is policed by the Utah county sheriff's department, whose office is in SPANISH FORK. So if you are expecting someone to arrive in a timely manner to your distress call you may be disappointed. There may be some political/financial reasoning why Vineyard isn't covered by Orem PD, but surely it can't be good reasoning as I'm fairly certain Vineyard citizens would rather pay a few dollars more a month to get police who are always nearby.

SIDEWALKS: So you would like to take a walk with your kids around the neighborhood at some point I assume, right? Well, good luck. Most people don't use the sidewalks here because all of the undeveloped lots (owned by the many builders) let weeds, dirt, snow, trash, and construction materials cover the sidewalk. The junk covering the sidewalk forces the kiddos and mothers with strollers out into the street. Which, as we discussed, is a two-lane street with cars parked on either side. This means those kids, and mothers with strollers are, yes, actually walking in the MIDDLE of the street! To be completely honest though it is entirely possible SOME of the people walking in the street might deserve a Darwin award. With an amazing park less than a mile away it is totally feasible to pack the kids up and let them play safely. Yes, there have been many complaints to the Vineyard officials, but, well, this wouldn't still be a negative on this list if anything had been done yet, would it? Also, lake view drive only has a sidewalk on ONE side of the street.

THE SMELL: Don't be alarmed if you walk outside some time and immediately feel like you may have poop under your nose. It's just the sewage treatment plant nearby that, when the wind hits just right, makes you gag a little. This doesn't happen often but when it does...wow. Not American Fork wow but still it's a wow. This is definitely minimal enough that it should NOT sway you from wanting to buy here, but you should know beforehand.

MAIL: Please know that if you are going to buy a home on lake view drive you will NOT get a mailbox in the front of your home. No seriously, that $300k-$1 million home you just built won't come with home mail delivery. You will need to use the community mailbox.

CRIME: New homes mean nameless workers in the neighborhood and partially completed homes with valuable copper and tools. We were warned a few months back in the Vineyard newsletter that there have been a few homes broken into. I have seen the sheriff canvassing the area at night searching through the weeds for a suspect. I would hope the sheriff department could give you statistics of the area if you were really interested. Other than those few isolated incidents and some stupid teenagers driving like crazy crime is not something you should worry about for long once the rest of the lots are developed.

YOUR ADDRESS: Plug your new/hopeful street address into Google maps sometime. If Google maps can't find it, good luck getting UPS, FEDEX, OnTrac, or any food delivery to your home. I've had a few different contractors knock on my door to ask directions which is crazy to me because, well, we live on a friggin' loop...it shouldn't be this hard to get addresses correct.

PESTS: Vineyard informed us of a rising stray cat problem in the area. Personally I'd like to thank the furry critters for laying waste to the voles trying to chew up my yard. I've only seen one stray looking cat but their poop is pretty prevalent. Mosquitoes can get gnarly but it's livable.

POSITIVES: Look, I know all of this sounds bad, which it is, BUT, you should also know there are a lot of good things about the area as well, the majority of which is VERY apparent when driving through. The homes here are beautiful, the neighbors are friendly, you live on a golf course, property value is jumping, a school and park are really close by, proximity to the freeway is great, the area is booming with residential and commercial growth, and for the most part (minus construction) this is a nice, quiet neighborhood. Even with all of the mentioned negatives I still find the positives outweigh the negatives, but the positives are easy to find. The negatives I am giving came only after living here for a while and I felt like they should be shared. Also note that most of these issues could be hammered out if Vineyard wanted them gone. Once more people start to complain I imagine things will get a little more logical around here right-quick.

Good luck on finding a home! Please feel free to talk to us, we are friendly folks!