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Saturday, September 16, 2017

Garden City Panning Commision

Anita Weston, Reporter
Rich Civic Times

GARDEN CITY, Utah.  September 6, 2017.  Ryan Blake requested that his tiny home be allowed to remain on the lot that he had purchased in Buttercup.  At the time Blake brought this small RV (170 Square Feet of living space) into Buttercup, there were no ordinances dealing with this type of structure.  The main problem in allowing this small home to be occupied is that it requires an inspection by the residential building inspector. Because this RV was built away from the area without being inspected as it was being built makes it almost impossible to be inspected now that it is finished.

Most small homes are built by a business that does all of the inspections throughout the building procedure.  A stamp of approval and a certificate is given to people who buy such homes showing that all standards have been followed.  Blake, however, built this RV on his own without any inspection work being done.  Now, there is no way to inspect the plumbing, the electrical work, structural standards, foundation requirements, and so forth, without tearing out several areas of the RV.  The home has to meet state and national requirements prior to be inhabited.

Blake has requested an application for a building permit.  He will need to get whatever inspections are required prior to getting his permit.  The permit issues will need to be taken to the City instead of the Planning Commission for resolution of this problem.

There is a new subdivision, Bear Lake Resort, to be built by Mark Smoot and Lance Anderson.  It will be located along 200 North in Garden City.  Smoot has made several changes to the original plan that he explained to the Commission giving them the reasons for the changes that had been made.

Smoot would like to get final plat approval for an Adventure Center, an employee housing building, and a steel storage shed.  The Adventure Center will be just north of Merlin’s Drive Inn.

The employee housing and storage shed will be built up behind Smoot’s Maintenance and Repair Station on 200 North.  The storage shed will be of steel along with a steel roof.  It will be close to the Maintenance and Repair Building.  The employee housing will be located on the west property line with access on Berry Blossom Road.  This building will have 10 dorm rooms—five going down each side.  There will also be two queen suits.  Each dorm room will house two people, and there will be couples in the queen suits making a total of 24 people who can be housed in this facility.  The siding will be vinyl, and the height of the building is about 17 feet.

The public hearing was closed and the regular Planning Commission Meeting was called to order.

Since Smoot and Anderson were already at the table, the Bear Lake Resort project was introduced first.  Smooth was asked to determine where the utilities on Berry Blossom Road are currently located.  The Commission wanted to make sure there would be no utility issues during the construction of the new facilities

The motion was made and passed that final approval of phase one for the Bear Lake Resort be allowed to be built with the condition that the plat be updated to show where the above discussed utilities are shown on the plat.

A motion was made and also passed that the 20’ road would be approved since the road would be one-way only.

Ordinance changes were introduced.  Ordinance #17-09 updating the definition for dwelling was accepted and passed.

Ordinances #17-10 through 17-15 each made the following change dealing with Side Setbacks:  All structures shall have a minimum side set back of 20 feet on the street side of a corner lot.   A motion was made, and the Commission accepted the above changes.

A discussion of storage sheds being put on multiple properties was discussed.  Tonya Petersen noted that storage sheds are needed in the area.  She thought building some sheds along Third West would help with the shed shortage.  The Commission noted that Third West is zoned for commercial businesses such as restaurants, souvenir shops, clothing stores, and so forth.  However, storage sheds did not fit in that zone.  Tonya asked where storage sheds should be built.  After a short discussion, it was decided that Tonya would work with the members of the Commission and show them some of the areas that she thought would be good to use for storage sheds.  The decision concerning this issue will be placed on next month’s agenda.

A discussion about the possibility of changing setbacks within the Thornberg Subdivision was held.  Rusty and Julie Hart have a home in that area and would like to be able to build a garage.  According to the City’s current requirements, the lots in that area are too small to allow garages to be built.  However, many individuals who live there have built them by obtaining a variance.  Harts asked for a variance and were turned down.  They came to the Commission to see what could be done to be fair to everyone.

The Harts had gone to the work of getting signatures from everyone who has property in that subdivision for their permission to build a garage.  All were in favor of allowing this to be done.
After a brief discussion, it was decided that each of the Commission Members go down to the Subdivision and look it over so that they will be informed as to the current situation.  This item is to be placed on next month’s agenda.

George Peart requested that the Commission make a decision about the tiny house issue.  Currently, this is a popular item and needs to be addressed before more issues arise in the City.

The motion was made and passed that a tiny home in Garden City would require that no side of the dwelling be less than 12’ in length and must have access to sewer/septic, and water.

It was also noted that when people have a tiny home, they require larger garages and storage areas.  The request was made that a size requirement for garages and storage areas be determined so that outside buildings will be kept within a reasonable size.  This issue will be on next month’s agenda.

Gene Cook wants to build a dwelling behind his drive-in.  It was noted that he would need to get a lot split before he could build such a building.


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