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.

Thousand Dollars To Rich Middle School Sports

Student athletes at Rich Middle School will gain a competitive edge thanks to a $1,000 Thomas R. Brown Athletics Grant from California Casualty.  The funds will be used towards new volleyball uniforms.   Principal Kip Motta says the funds will help attract more students to the program, enabling them to learn life lessons of teamwork, perseverance and self-confidence.  

Rich Middle School is one of 79 public schools in 33 states receiving a total of $83,000.  Since its creation in 2011, more than $580,000 has been awarded to 500 athletic programs across the nation.  The grant is named after California Casualty Chairman Emeritus Thomas R. Brown, who is a champion of helping more student athletes learn valuable lessons that carry to other aspects of life.  

Vandals Hit Boats At Rendezvous Beach

A $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for throwing Starbuck's bottles full of yellow paint at boats parked at Rendezvous Beach State Park at Bear Lake on the night of Wednesday Sept 13th. Send a private message to Brian Hirschi if you have information, or contact the Rich County Sheriff's department 435-793-2285.

Good Stuff

I Can't Fix Everything
By John Brown, The Man

What’s your typical response when someone shares a frustration, problem, or issue with you? Or when they state an opinion or desire you disagree with?

Sometimes we get impatient, exasperated, or annoyed with them and simply don’t want to hear it.

Sometimes we get mad. Or defensive. And want to line them out.

Sometimes, however, we want to help.

And wouldn’t you know it, but we sometimes cause as many problems with that last reaction as the first two.

How can this be?

Your teenage daughter comes home and expresses disappointment about something that happened at school, and you want to help. How in the world could that be wrong?

Your coworker expresses annoyance with a program management is trying to implement, and you know exactly what will fix the problem and want to share it. This is going to cause problems?

In their fabulous book, I Don’t Have to Make Everything All Better: Six Practical Principles that Empower Others to Solve Their Own Problems While Enriching Your Relationships, Gary and Joy Lundberg show two different ways of acting on the desire to help others that have dramatically different results. If we try to help using the first method, we actually create more issues. We will make the person less willing to talk to us, introduce strain into the relationship, and create a lot of stress for ourselves. On the other hand, if we try to help using the second method, we’ll find the person more willing to talk. There will be more friendliness in the relationship. And our own stress will go way down. Furthermore, we’ll end up helping the person far more than we ever could with the first method.

Gary is a licensed marriage and family therapist. The six principles shared in the book for using the second method all revolve around accepting this one statement: “I do not have the power to make anything all better for anyone else. I can offer my help, but I cannot make it all better.”

Accepting this view has a dramatic impact on how we approach helping others.

So when the teenage daughter comes in and expresses disappointment, instead of trying to get her to buck up or tell her she just needs to do xyz with her friends, we listen, validate her emotions, leave the responsibility for the problem where it belongs—with her!—and then, when it’s all out, offer to help in a way that empowers her, not have us take over.

When the spouse shares frustration, it’s the same. When the coworker expresses annoyance, the same. When someone comes in to complain to us, it’s the same.

What the Lungbergs do in this book is show exactly what this looks like, with tons of examples. They even have a whole chapter (a short one) which gives a list of validating phrases and questions. The first six chapters of the book explain the principles. The last eight each apply them to a different group: young children, teenagers, adult children, spouses, parents and parents-in-law, friends, and coworkers.

Folks, this book is a gem. It’s loaded with wisdom and insight. Every time I practice what’s in here, my interactions go better. This stuff produces immediate results. I just wished I’d studied and practiced it more. But it’s never too late. And that’s why I’m rereading it now.