TREMONTON CITY CORPORATION
PLANNING COMMISSION
DECEMBER 9, 2025
Members Present:
Raulon Van Tassell, Chairman
Micah Capener, Commission Member—excused
Karen Ellsworth, Commission Member—excused
Andrea Miller, Commission Member
Mark Thompson, Commission Member
Ashley Phillips, Commission Member—excused
Jack Stickney, Commission Member—excused
Bret Rohde, City Councilmember
Jeff Seedall, Community Development Director
Linsey Nessen, City Manager—excused
Tiffany Lannefeld, Deputy Recorder

Chairman Van Tassell called the Planning Commission Meeting to order at 5:32 p.m. The meeting was held December 9, 2025 in the City Council Meeting Room at 102 South Tremont Street, Tremonton, Utah. Chairman Van Tassell, Commission Members Miller, Thompson, City Councilmember Rohde, Director Seedall, and Deputy Recorder Lannefeld were in attendance. Commission Members Capener, Ellsworth, Phillips, Stickney, and Manager Nessen were excused.

1. Approval of agenda:

Chairman Van Tassell said I would motion to amend the agenda by moving public comments and open discussion to after our discussion (item 5. after item 6).

Motion by Commission Member Thompson to approve the December 9, 2025 agenda with that change. Motion seconded by Commission Member Miller. Vote: Chairman Van Tassell – yes, Commission Member Capener – absent, Commission Member Ellsworth – absent, Commission Member Miller – yes, Commission Member Phillips – absent, Commission Member Thompson – yes, Commission Member Stickney – absent. Motion approved.

2. Declaration of Conflict of Interest: None.

3. Presentation by Jeff Seedall for the proposed amendments of Chapter 1.04 Land Use and Appeal Authorities and Chapter 2.02 Concept Plans

Director Seedall introduced ChrisDean Epling and Kelly Wood. He said Mrs. Epling found a program Provo City initiated years ago and we have tried to tailor it to Tremonton with several districts. This diagram shows how the communication would flow as we receive information in the approval process. We will also discuss code. The four districts include: the central district (everything between I-15 and the Malad River), the east district (the Malad River to the Bear River where the annexation boundary ends), the south district (everything between I-84 and 9600) and the west district (Radio Hill). Mrs. Epling will be the chairman, and Mrs. Wood will be the vice chairman. Each district will have a district board comprised of president, vice president and secretary. Those 14 individuals will be the executive group that meets and organizes information for the public and coming back to staff. Mrs. Epling said I love open communication, and I know this adds an element to our City we do not currently have. The neighborhood representatives and chairperson will be in charge of getting information, concept plans, any zone changes or any issues that might affect the land in their areas to the public. This will make your jobs easier and allow the public and developers to communicate. One individual will run the meeting, likely Director Seedall. The developer is invited to the meeting, so citizens have information on what is coming and are educated on the impacts to their neighborhood. They can hash it out and sometimes the developer can go away with better ideas because the citizens know their area. They might make adjustments to their plans. This builds a relationship between the developer and citizens, and the information is put out there so there is transparency and clarity. We will schedule the meeting, have a discussion and take unbiased notes. Information will be presented to the Planning Commission providing a representation of the public based on that meeting. I am excited to get the information out ahead of the game so we can actually get public input. This will make your meetings faster and easier. The public is informed and educated and has a place to have an impact. Director Seedall said developers submit a concept plan to me, which I share with the DRC. We would like to schedule those meetings with the public and our staff. Mrs. Epling said developers are never required to attend these meetings, but it is highly recommended. If the developer does not attend, at least people still get to have input, and the information is getting out.

Director Seedall said we are going to frontload this process for the community and developers so if there are significant changes, they do not spend a lot of money going into this process and then having to go backward. Once they hit their vested rights it is hard to make changes. They will have a lot of detailed conversations with the DRC. This helps with master planning and identifying potential impact. The Planning Commission is the administrative approval for preliminary plats. They will move on to pulling their building permit after preliminary plat, then develop residential development goes into the final plat, which approves the construction of development on a phase-by-phase basis. This new process incorporates the neighborhood partnership and hopefully gets the community more engaged. Each of the four districts will have a Planning Commission Member assigned to it and you will be notified of those meetings. That way each district has a representative. It is not a requirement that you be there, but that is the avenue we would like for Mrs. Epling and Mrs. Wood to make sure the districts have representation. You can be that educated voice.

Mrs. Epling said the whole idea of this new initiative is to create better communication, pull volunteers and have input in an organized way. This provides a place to channel their concerns. I feel it will help create synergy and a way to work together with amazing people. When citizens come to the Planning Commission, we do not have to feel like we are not educated and do not know what is going on. Mrs. Wood said we were involved in a recent annexation and all have done some painful learning together. I think this could have prevented so much of the hard feelings back and forth because it is an avenue for people to get information and have a voice before things get too far and then they do not have a voice anymore. My goal is to create more unity and positive feelings in our community. This is a huge avenue to help that. Everyone has good intentions, but the communication has been fractured. This could give residents a voice in the growth or changes that are happening and that is really important. No one likes to be blindsided. I think this helps them feel like they had a voice before decisions are already made. When I was first involved in trying to get people to come to meetings, we started with tons of people, but that fell off quickly because they felt like it did not matter what they said. People felt they were wasting their time because no one was listening. If people feel like someone is listening and it is driving decisions, people are going to come. Mrs. Epling said people will show up to local things that affect them personally. It is going to be a lot of work and will take some traction to get going. Mrs. Wood said this will be better because before we were hearing voices after it was too late and it did not matter by then. We are asking people for input before decisions are made. That is a huge change that will help. Mrs. Epling said they will be more educated and more okay with the decisions because they were part of the process. Director Seedall said out the gate we will try to have regular meetings to get organized. People are busy and will not always be able to attend, but they can send emails and talk to their representatives.

Chairman Van Tassell said it would be good to have a pulse on where the conversation is going before we get to the serious stage. Can I request specific things from you to bring to the meeting? First, is the number of people in attendance. Also, a number of households in your district. After some discussion on that, Director Seedall said these districts will make the same recommendations the Planning Commission does. Ultimately, it comes down to trying to get the public informed. As this is going, the optimistic outlook is that it finds its own momentum and people understand it is the best avenue to express their concerns. Mrs. Epling said the intent of this is to make things easier on City staff and make your meetings go faster. People will have a chance to discuss the information before decisions need to be made. All that input and dialogue would have happened before. The process will be the same for you. This will hopefully just make it better for residents to have a voice and for the developer to not be blindsided by people who are really angry and never heard about it until now. Same process just better communication. Director Seedall said this gives me an avenue to get information out. It gives me a way to communicate to districts as I hear about development or annexation. My hope is it will help me communicate better with the public.

Chairman Van Tassell called a Public Hearing to order at 6:21 p.m. to discuss proposed amendments to the chapters below. There were six people in attendance.

4. Public Hearing:

a. To receive public input on proposed amendments to Chapter 1.04 Land Use and Appeal Authorities and Chapter 2.02 Concept Plans

Debbie Brantner clarified how many representatives each district could have, which is four. Mrs. Epling said to further clarify, there will be the four, but then there will also be neighborhoods involved. Those four will be elected from the different neighborhoods. Ideally, each neighborhood will have at least a president and vice president.

Chairman Van Tassell closed the Public Hearing at 6:24 p.m. Then called a Public Hearing to order at 6:24 p.m. to discuss a rezone. There were six people in attendance.

b. To receive public input on proposed zoning of the parcel 05-060-0089. The property is located at 190 South 900 West, Tremonton, Utah.

Director Seedall said a few months ago the owner of the parcel to the north came in for a rezone because they were moving. Now, this is the parcel to the south also hoping to rezone. The developer who bought the land to the north is hoping to buy this one and do a subdivision on both. It is currently zoned RR-1 and they are hoping for R1-10. We have been working with the new landowner on concept development. This would be the same zone for the houses to the east and north.

There were no public comments. Chairman Van Tassell closed the Public Hearing at 6:24 p.m.

5. Public Comments and Open Discussion: This discussion took place after item 6.

Russell Thornley said I am the property owner who asked to do the rezone. It has been interesting watching both sides. I believe in property rights. It is sad to see other property owners fighting against current property owners. If a consenting property owner wants to do as he wishes, the mob should not be able to affect that. I love that we have laws and rules for that reason. That is the only concern I would have about these neighborhood councils is if neighbors are uninformed and make decisions out of fear. I hope we take best practices and ensure it is done in a good way for everybody.

John Alaco said first, the citizen advisory thing. I have heard about this for quite a while. I think it is a great idea. I am glad you guys approved it. Second, I think the really big thing you guys have to focus on is the Land Use Plan that has to be updated. Without that, it is just free game. That has got to be a priority, in my opinion.

6. Planning Commission Members’ Discussion and Consideration of

a. Chapter 1.04 Land Use and Appeal Authorities and Chapter 2.02 Concept Plans

Commission Member Miller said I think this neighborhood initiative would be good for communication throughout the City. I do have concerns about getting people there. I think that if we get people together and make it positive, people will be involved. Commission Member Thompson said it is going to take some time to get everybody into that thinking mode, that I do have a voice and want to be heard. This will be a way for them to participate. Director Seedall said ideally, this is the program that is going to help replace Planning Commission Members down the road. One of the hard parts of being over Planning Commission is finding people who are interested. This initiative is a great way to start getting people educated so that if vacancy happens or we need an alternate, we now have an entire system of people who may want to get involved. Chairman Van Tassell said I tend to side with the owner of the property. Your property is your property and nobody has a right to demand of you what that property should be. Obviously, we have City code. We have to have some sort of structure, but at the end of the day it is still their property. Mrs. Wood said as your general plan is updated that is going to help a lot. They will know what their options are beforehand. Chairman Van Tassell said using that input to develop a general plan is smart. If you are a member of the City, you should have a say in how it is set up since you are paying taxes. Director Seedall said the neighborhood initiative is going to be a great way to help explain what our code is trying to accomplish in terms of the City and land use planning.

Motion by Commission Member Miller to recommend the changes to this chapter. Motion seconded by Commission Member Thompson. Vote: Chairman Van Tassell – yes, Commission Member Capener – absent, Commission Member Ellsworth – absent, Commission Member Miller – yes, Commission Member Phillips – absent, Commission Member Thompson – yes, Commission Member Stickney – absent. Motion approved.

b. Proposed zoning of the parcel 05-060-0089

Motion by Commission Member Miller to approve the proposed rezone to the Council. Motion seconded by Commission Member Thompson. Vote: Chairman Van Tassell – yes, Commission Member Capener – absent, Commission Member Ellsworth – absent, Commission Member Miller – yes, Commission Member Phillips – absent, Commission Member Thompson – yes, Commission Member Stickney – absent. Motion approved.

7. Planning Commission Comments/Reports: None.

8. Adjournment

Motion by Commission Member Miller to adjourn the meeting. Motion seconded by consensus of the Board. The meeting adjourned at 6:40 p.m.

The undersigned duly acting and appointed Recorder for Tremonton City Corporation hereby certifies that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Planning Commission held on the above referenced date. Minutes were prepared by Jessica Tanner.

Dated this _____day of ___________, 2026.

______________________________
Cynthia Nelson, CITY RECORDER

*Utah Code 52-4-202, (6) allows for a topic to be raised by the public and discussed by the public body even though it was not included in the agenda or advance public notice given; however, no final action will be taken.