Vesper Amphitheater Returns With a New Application: Same Venue, New Zone, One Entrance

The Vesper Amphitheater is back before Provo City, and the biggest change is not to the venue. Two months after the developers withdrew their first application, Provo planning staff told a North District neighborhood meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 10, that the Vesper team has begun filing a new one, this time asking the City Council to create a new "Regional Entertainment Venue Zone" that would apply only to the site at the mouth of Provo Canyon. That is according to Julie's Provo Notes, an independent local newsletter whose author covered the meeting and published a detailed account on Wednesday, Nov. 11. ABC4 also reported on the meeting under the headline "Developers present new application for controversial Vesper amphitheater project."

The seat count, the hotel and the retail cap are essentially unchanged, staff said. Parking drops, access consolidates to a single entrance, and the legal vehicle for the whole thing changes. The earliest the Provo Planning Commission could hold a hearing is Wednesday, Dec. 9, and staff called even that date tentative.

What happened Tuesday

About 70 people attended the Nov. 10 meeting, where Provo City Planning staff gave the update, and most who spoke opposed building Vesper in Provo Canyon, according to Julie's Provo Notes. The newsletter reported that Councilors Becky Bogdin, Craig Christensen, Rachel Whipple and Katrice MacKay attended, along with Mayor Marsha Judkins, and that none of them commented.

KUER reported on Oct. 30 that the developer was submitting a new application after withdrawing the first one in September "to make some changes," and that Provo told the station it expected Vesper to present the proposal to the Planning Commission in December.

What changed: the zoning route

The original request, filed in spring 2026, asked Provo to rezone the land to SC3, a general shopping center zone, with a lengthy development agreement layered on top to limit what could be built there, according to the staff explanation reported by Julie's Provo Notes.

The new request asks the council to write a brand-new zone, the Regional Entertainment Venue Zone, that would apply only to this one location in Provo. Staff explained the practical difference: zoning stays with the land no matter who owns it, so many of the terms that sat in the development agreement would move into Provo City Code if the zone is approved.

That speaks to a concern raised earlier in the process. Orem's open letter on the project, still posted on orem.gov, warned that a financially stressed developer could shift to lower-quality retail under Provo's SC-3 zone and asked for an analysis of permitted uses before any rezoning. The letter predates the new application.

What changed: parking and access

Two physical changes came out of the update, per Julie's Provo Notes:

• Parking in the garage and surface lots combined would be capped at 6,000 stalls, down from 8,000 in earlier discussions. KSL reported in September that the earlier draft development agreement allowed 8,000 spaces.
• Access would move from three points on US-189 to one, using a roundabout and a bridge. Staff noted that the site sketch submitted does not match that description and said they have asked Vesper to clarify.

Parking was one of the two issues the City Council named when the first application was withdrawn. The Salt Lake Tribune reported on Sept. 3 that the council understood the developers intended to address the Critical Hillside Overlay Zone and parking requirements, while saying it could not "speak to precisely what that application will propose until it is submitted." The Nov. 10 update, as reported, did not describe how the new application handles the hillside overlay.

What did not change

Staff summarized the plan with a line from Planner Andrew Jackson, as quoted by Julie's Provo Notes: "It's the process that's changed." Per that account, the new application keeps:

• Seating: up to 20,000 open-air seats in summer, shrinking to 8,000 enclosed seats in winter.
• Hotel: up to 75 rooms.
• Restaurant and retail: up to 40,000 square feet.
• Maintenance and support buildings: up to 110,000 square feet.
• Height: three stories (50 feet), except the fly loft and rigging, which could reach 125 feet.
• Open space: trail access maintained and undeveloped land kept as open space.

None of that is new. In September, Vesper representative Bayles told KSL that retail and restaurants would be capped at 40,000 square feet, with the other 110,000 square feet going to support uses, and that the hotel and seat count would stay the same.

Staff gave the site as about 95 acres, including a privately owned gravel pit and about 66 acres of city land, per Julie's Provo Notes. Earlier coverage, including KSL's, described the site as about 100 acres.

What staff still want answered

Staff said questions about traffic, emergency access, noise, building height, open space and off-site parking must be resolved before the application moves forward, according to Julie's Provo Notes. Traffic and noise studies will likely be required before the council decides, and Vesper plans to submit a traffic study to the Utah Department of Transportation, which owns US-189. A development agreement is still expected to cover off-site parking shuttles and road improvement costs.

The city land sale runs on a separate track

About two-thirds of the site is Provo City property, and that piece moves on its own timeline. Staff said the city's property sale process is expected to wrap up in early December, that bids are being taken and that the city has received offers from parties other than Vesper, per Julie's Provo Notes. The city is not obligated to accept any bid, and the City Council must hold a public hearing and vote before any sale.

Who reviews it, and when

The process starts over, as the Tribune reported it would when the first application was pulled. Staff laid out four steps, per Julie's Provo Notes:

1. The Vesper team files the new application.
2. The Provo Planning Commission holds a public hearing and makes a recommendation.
3. The City Council reviews the plan in work meetings.
4. The council holds a public hearing and makes a final decision in a regular meeting.

The Planning Commission is the same body that, on June 24, 2026, recommended denial of the original general plan and zone map amendments and denied the concept plan, as we reported in our explainer. Its vote is a recommendation. The council holds the final decision.

The earliest Planning Commission hearing staff gave is Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2026, at 6 p.m., and staff said that date is tentative and could slip to 2027. No source we read gave a meeting location, and the state's public notice website was not loading when we checked Wednesday. Treat Dec. 9 as a possibility until it appears on a Planning Commission agenda.

Where the politics stand

On the council, Councilor Jeff Whitlock is the only member who has publicly stated opposition, according to Julie's Provo Notes. Mayor Judkins said in July she thought the project deserved careful vetting, the newsletter noted. Orem's council passed a formal resolution opposing the project in September, as we covered in our withdrawal report.

KUER reported that while many in Utah County worry about environmental impact and canyon traffic, others see the project as an improvement over the current gravel pit. The station quoted sound engineer Nickolas Thurber saying Utah "has kind of been passed over a lot" and Vesper "can bring those kinds of touring acts in," while restaurant owner Dean Judd told KUER he likes the concept but would prefer a venue of about 5,000 to 6,000 seats because of canyon traffic.

What to do if you want to weigh in

• Email the City Council at council@provo.gov, per Julie's Provo Notes.
• Comment to the Planning Commission through the city's online public comment form at provo.gov/546/Public-Comments.
• Watch the Planning Commission agendas in the Agenda Center on provo.gov. Our guide to following the Provo City Council explains how agendas, recordings and public comment work, and our public meetings guide covers the wider calendar.
• Ask for the filing. Once the application is on file, it is a public record. Our GRAMA records request guide explains how to request documents a city has not posted.

We will report the Planning Commission hearing when it is formally noticed.

Sources: Julie's Provo Notes, "Vesper News: Same Plan, New Process" (Nov. 11, 2026); KUER (Oct. 30, 2026); KSL (Sept. 4, 2026); The Salt Lake Tribune (Sept. 3, 2026); Orem City's open letter at orem.gov/vesper. Figures for the new application come from Provo planning staff's Nov. 10 presentation as reported; the application itself had not been posted by the city at publication.

Related Guides

• The Vesper Amphitheater fight, explained - what was originally proposed, and the case on both sides
• Vesper: the application is withdrawn, and Orem has formally voted no - the September withdrawal and Orem's resolution
• Vesper: no vote on August 25 either - the pre-withdrawal record
• Vesper: August 11 is not the vote - the city land sale and draft development agreement
• Following the Provo City Council - agendas, recordings, how to comment
• Public meetings in Utah Valley - the calendar
• Provo Canyon: the complete guide - the canyon as it is today