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Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Garden City Council

Anita Weston, Reporter
Rich Civic Times 

GARDEN CITY, Utah.  September 14, 2017.   Jennifer Casillas asked that her business license to renewed for the Little Bear Lake Monster Preschool.  The location has changed to 120 South Bear Lake Blvd. The license request was approved.

Two short-term rental licenses were requested.  The first requested was from Kenneth Kawiti Finlayson who is the owner and manager of a property at 916 N. Blackberry Drive.  The second request was from James Thomas who is the owner of property located at 1705 South Bear Lake Blvd.  It will be managed by Bear Lake Condo Rentals.  Approval was granted to both requests with the condition that Mr. Finlayson get a copy of his tax number to the City.

A discussion was held concerning short-term rentals and the renewal process that is currently used.  It was noted that when large changes are made by the owners of the short- term rental, these changes need to be made known to the City.  Also, parking is becoming a real issue at many of the short-term rentals.  The City needs to look into this problem and make some changes.

A Public Hearing was held.  There was a question concerning the ordinance updating the utility service requirements for Garden City.  There was also a discussion regarding the application process for obtaining the needed funding for water system improvements for the Town of Garden City and the need for the water system improvements.  This is going to an ongoing and expensive item.  Hopefully, citizens will be able to come up with some ideas of how more money can be found to assist with this major overhaul.  It was noted that JUB is in the process of writing a grant for water system improvements.  By 2020 the City will need to drill a new well.

Additional funding for Third West will probably borrowed from UDOT.  There is either a small interest rate or no interest charged at all which would be very helpful to City in getting this project completed.

The Public Hearing was closed and Ordinance #17-16, an ordinance updating the utility service requirements for Garden City was approved.

Ordinance #17.09, an ordinance updating the definition for a Dwelling was discussed.  The City has been working on this ordinance. The Planning and Zoning Commission wanted the size to be at least 350 square feet or above to be called a dwelling.  The State has set the square footage at 600 square feet.  According to the State of Utah’s ordinance, a manufactured home has a minimum of 12 ‘ wide by 54’.  The State also calls anything 320 square feet or less is an RV.  Several suggestions were made concerning information about possible garages and their size according to a home size.

It was noted that Garden City already has an ordinance concerning the age of mobile homes to be brough into the city.  They must be five years old or newer.

The Council finally made the motion and approve it that a dwelling must have at least 12’ for all walls of the dwelling.

The remainder of Ordinances #17-10  -  #17-15 were updated so that zones be consistent with a 20’ set back in each of the zones listed.


A discussion was held and approval given for the Final Plat, Phase 1 for Bear Lake Rental Resort submitted by Mark Smoot.         

1 comment:

JSSox said...

I am not sure if it was a misquote, but I can't see in the Utah Code where 600 sq. ft. is the minimum size of a home.

I can see in section 15a-1-302 where it says a "manufactured home" "in the traveling mode, is eight body feet or more in width or 40 body feet or more in length, or when erected on site, is 400 or more square feet;"

Another section of Utah Code 15a-3-105 (8) quotes IBC and says "The unit shall have a living room of not less than 165 square feet (15.3 m2) of floor area. An additional 100 square feet (9.3 m2) of floor area shall be provided for each occupant of such unit in excess of two."

So as far as I can see the state requirement is 320-400 sq ft for a manufactured home. The state requirement for a home built on site could be as small as 265 sq.ft.

I just wanted to point this out and say that I am against the town council's vote to further regulate private property. I do not feel there is a safety concern with a tiny home and therefore the town should not regulate it. I do understand their could be a negative externality in that it could affect home values around it, but I feel that if you have this concern then you have the right to form an HOA with other home owners to make a minimum sq. ft. size.

I ask the town council members to re-evaluate the principles upon which they make decisions to further regulate Garden City. If the town council does not agree with me, it is fine. I can agree to disagree and move on.