Randall Knight, Reporter
Rich Civic Times
GARDEN CITY, Utah.
April 2, 2014. There was a
marathon Planning and Zoning Commission Public hearing and regular meeting held.
The public hearing meeting started at 4:30 PM and the regular meeting wasn’t
adjourned until 10:30 PM. The 6 hour
marathon focused on the wording for 9 ordinances that have been discussed over
the last several months. Mike Schiess, acting chair, hoped to get final approval of the ordinances. At the end of
the night 6 were passed and 3 were tabled. The board members in attendance
were: Mike Schiess, Jim Stone, Susan House, Pat Argyle, and Dewayne Gifford. Lance Bourne supported the regular meeting
via telephone. Gary Cox and Jim Hanzelka were also seated at
the table and provided insightful information to various topics.
Schiess stated there were several items to discuss and
asked for comments from the board and public.
Norm Mecham, developer, asked a question about what bonding ordinance 14-01 wording
meant in regard to infrastructure maintenance and operation costs continue to
be the responsibility of the developer after the specific infrastructure had
been inspected and signed off. Susan
House pointed out the topic was already addressed in the document where it states
once the final plat is recorded the developer is no longer responsible. Additional wording was requested to provided
clarification because the plat may be signed off prior to the city engineer’s
inspection. There was a long discussion
on who would be responsible for the costs of damage done to infrastructure that
had been signed off in phase 1 but damaged in subsequent phases.
Darin Pugmire stated Parking ordinance 14-03 was not
written as he expected. The number of
parking spaces is not as clear as it should be.
He also stated the city needs to purchase property to establish additional
parking areas within the city.
Mike Schiess stated he had issues with sign ordinance 14-10
in regard to off premises signs for those businesses not paying taxes to the
city.
During a discussion in regard to the height ordinance
14-04, a question was asked if the ordinances should be worded so they don’t
have to be rewritten in the future. The
commission agreed the ordinances are living documents and will most likely be
rewritten to meet the needs of the future generations and developments.
During the regular meeting the minutes were approved for
the March 5 regular scheduled P&Z meeting with corrections. The March 20
Public Hearing meeting minutes were set aside until clarification is
provided. Minutes for a special meeting
held March 20 was passed with corrections to add a request for the P&Z to provide
a check list of what the developers need to complete prior to their next
P&Z meeting.
Ordinance 14-01 an ordinance updating the bonding of
infrastructure in 11E-505 was approved with some minor wording changes to make
the document clearer.
Ordinance 14-03 is an ordinance to update parking
requirement in 11C-303-E. It was pointed
out egress and ingress was not addressed for commercial property. Lance said that will be a topic for May. He also stated the additional parking spaces
provided by the city will be discussed in May as well. The Fire Chief said he is only responsible to
determine the maximum occupancy number and not the number of parking
spaces. There was a recommendation to
determine the number of parking spaces based on occupancy and not on square
footage. The Chief stated there is not a
set way to calculate the maximum occupancy, and it would be on a case-by-case
bases. He uses the final floor plan and
left over available space that can be occupied.
The formula he uses assigns 3 square feet per occupant, so he divides
the available square footage by 3 to determine the maximum limit. After the estimated limit is determined he
and the owner agree to the final acceptable limit. So the required number of parking spaces would
be the maximum occupancy limit divided by 3.5, the average number of people
assigned to a vehicle.
It was also pointed
out that if a business doesn’t own enough property to provide the necessary
parking spaces, they would be required to pay the city a determined amount for
the additional parking spaces in one of their parking lots. Jim Stone said he thinks there is too much emphases
given to parking. He stated for his
business, most of his customers are walk-ins from Ideal Beach but the ordinance
requires him to have a certain number of parking spaces that are never used. This was tabled for future discussion.
Ordinance 14-04 updating height and phasing in PUD/PRUD
11F-100 was discussed. A request was
made for future plans to show the height and not just elevation. Wording changes were made to replace any
definitions with references to the ordinance definition document. The ordinance was passed with corrections.
Ordinance 14-05 an ordinance updating the height and phasing
in subdivisions in 11E-303-A and 11E526-F was discussed. Wording needs to be changed for
clarification. The document needs to
provide references to specifications and definitions and not repeated in the
document. The comments stating a maximum of 35 feet
would be removed and replaced with a reference to ordinance giving the height
requirements for the specific zone. The
ordinance was passed with corrections.
Ordinance 14-06 an ordinance making changes to all zones in
11C was discussed. The main discussion
focused on the wording for conditional use.
This was tabled for future discussion.
Ordinance 14-07 an ordinance adding definitions for
infrastructure, phasing and stand alone to 11A-200 was discussed. The ordinance was passed with corrections.
Ordinance 14-08 an ordinance making changes to the abatement
of garbage and other deleterious material ordinance in 9-500 was
discussed. The main discussion focused
on inoperable and/or unregistered vehicles in commercial zones. A
recommendation was made to remove the references to unregistered vehicles and
commercial zones. The ordinance was
passed with corrections.
Ordinance 14-09 an ordinance stating that property needs to
conform to all City ordinances was discussed.
Recommendations was made to change the wording for clarification to
ensure the property is cleaned up and conform to all city ordinances before a
permit would be released. Individual
water meters for two businesses sharing a single building or lot was used as an
example. The ordinance was passed with
changes.
Ordinance 14-10 an ordinance discussing sign requirements
was discussed. Joey Stocking presented a
revised document in an attempt to make it easier and clearer to read. Some of the main changes removed liability
insurance in some sections because it is covered in other sections; the small
and large sign sections were combined; and the need for a permit for temporary
signs was removed. Off premise signs
were discussed. The revised document
would not allow signs for companies not within the city limits. A recommendation was made to allow signs be
posted for items sold by the business; i.e. Chads Raspberry Salsa was used as
an example. It was also pointed out
there are a few businesses in the surrounding area that are a big draw to tourists and subsequently add to the
revenue the city gets; i.e. Beaver Mountain ski and lodge, Bear Lake West
Golf. This ordinance was tabled for
further discussion.
The commission discussed changing commercial setback
requirements. The Fire Chief was asked
for his opinion on setbacks. He stated
there is not a requirement for setbacks from a fire department standpoint. The building codes would have to be written
to include fire resistant walls between adjoining business, inflammable roofing
material and adequate access to at least one side of the building.
