TREMONTON CITY CORPORATION
PLANNING COMMISSION
FEBRUARY 28, 2023

Members Present:
Micah Capener, Chairman
Jordan Conrad, Commission Member—excused
Penni Dennis, Commission Member
Paul Fowler, Commission Member
Jeffrey Seedall, Commission Member
Connie Archibald, City Councilmember
Steve Bench, Zoning Administrator
Shawn Warnke, City Manager
Cynthia Nelson, Deputy Recorder

Chairman Capener called the Planning Commission Meeting to order at 5:34 p.m. The meeting was held February 28, 2023 in the City Council Meeting Room at 102 South Tremont Street, Tremonton, Utah. Chairman Capener, Commission Members Dennis, Fowler, and Seedall, City Councilmember Archibald, Zoning Administrator Bench, City Manager Warnke, and Deputy Recorder Nelson were in attendance. Commission Member Conrad was excused.

Chairman Capener said we would like to recognize Administrator Bench on his last meeting. We appreciate all his efforts all of these years. We should have a party for his retirement.

1. Approval of agenda:

Motion by Commission Member Fowler to approve the February 28, 2023 agenda. Motion seconded by Commission Member Seedall. Vote: Chairman Capener – aye, Commission Member Conrad – absent, Commission Member Dennis – aye, Commission Member Fowler – aye, Commission Member Seedall – aye. Motion approved.

2. Declaration of Conflict of Interest: None.

3. Approval of minutes—No minutes to review at this time.

4. Public Hearing:

Chairman Capener called a Public Hearing to order at 5:36 p.m. to receive public input on the Integrated Land Use Plan. There was one person in attendance.

a. To receive public input on the proposed Tremonton Integrated Land Use Plan and proposed amendments to Title 1 Zoning Code, Chapter 1.19 Supplementary Regulations, Section 1.19.060 Residential Architectural Standards.

Chairman Bench said we overlooked the public hearing for this. The Commission approved it a few weeks ago. It has been well over a year we have been working on it. We stopped to do the housing plan and other things before picking it up for final approval.

There were no public comments. Chairman Capener closed the Public Hearing at 5:37 p.m.

5. New Business:

a. Discussion and consideration of the proposed Tremonton Integrated Land Use Plan—Sam Taylor

Manager Warnke said we have a good plan at this point. We want to take that future Land Use Plan, with all its various land uses, and have our traffic engineer take a look at the densities assigned and how our transportation network would function. Depending on what the modeling shows, we may need to change the classification or land use. We are waiting to hear from our engineer on cost and timeline. This is the final touch in evaluating and finalizing the plan. When our engineer does the Capital Facilities Plan, he can use that data base to help make sure the lines are sized appropriately. Mr. Taylor said it is good to make sure what we have is fitting. We do not anticipate much, but it is good practice to be sure. We want this to be a useful document for the City. Manager Warnke said I will report back one more time before we put this on the City Council agenda.

Motion by Commission Member Dennis to table this item. Motion seconded by Commission Member Seedall. Vote: Chairman Capener – aye, Commission Member Conrad – absent, Commission Member Dennis – aye, Commission Member Fowler – aye, Commission Member Seedall – aye. Motion approved.

b. Discussion of proposed amendments to Title 1 Zoning Code, Chapter 1.19 Supplementary Regulations, Section 1.19.060 Residential Architectural Standards

Manager Warnke said the State code allows for building design regulations. In a limited way cities can, by ordinance, define what they would like to see. This is primarily for multi-family housing. Historically, we have moved that direction by granting densities and trying to improve the design of our housing projects through overlays. We have touched upon building materials, roof lines, glazing, front elevations and doors, orientation, covered entries, and different architectural elements on the façade for landscaping and street trees. I submitted that list to Sam Taylor and his colleague Mark Vlasic. They provided comments and added their thoughts on how we could create and shape design for some of these projects. Mine were easy to administer, but the negative is it narrowly defines what is allowed. Mr. Vlasic looked at some standards and their outcomes suggest a variety of housing. This is a tradeoff between the two approaches. Mr. Vlasic’s approach would be terrific, but it will be a challenge to understand it by developers and City staff. We need to work though those and come to a better understanding of what they are saying and how to apply it.

Manager Warnke gave examples of different projects and asked for the Commission’s feedback. Commission Member Seedall suggested making park strips more waterwise by moving away from turf and having drip irrigation. Manager Warnke said as a fourth-class city, Tremonton is required to do a Water Plan as an element of our Land Use Plan. We will be talking more about that. Landmark will help us with that project, too. We would need to amend our landscape ordinance.

When discussing River Valley, Manager Warnke said an obvious issue here is the lack of landscaping, which adds a lot of value. Landscaping is an important element and that is why we require landscape architects. We are using design professionals to obtain better outcomes. For multi-family and commercial we require landscape architects to design a landscape plan. Chairman Capener said the pushback has come from the stamp, not the architect. That stamp is super expensive. Manager Warnke said the City also uses a landscape architect. We are using Mr. Taylor to design our parks. I see a big difference in the level of sophistication, the design and understanding for someone who is a licensed architect. There is a different level of knowledge and expertise. That is why they are licensed and have the stamp. Mr. Taylor said you want to minimize the risks and make sure they have the expertise to not create problems. Chairman Capener said when putting in 500 units we need someone who is on their game, but if we are putting in one four-plex it is not a big deal if a plant is in this spot or that. That is overkill. You can still hire a professional, but the stamp is overboard. Manager Warnke said as we emphasize waterwise landscaping we need to have a design professional who knows plants. In my experience of reviewing plans, you can tell a difference between someone who is a landscape architect and someone who is not. They know the plants and bloom times, as well as the maintenance. Commission Member Fowler said if I am putting in a lot of units that stamp is not a big deal, but for a fourplex that is too much. This bears more discussion. It makes it cost prohibited. Chairman Capener said the developer can do it, but then rents go up and people wonder why.

Manager Warnke said let us look at 350 North. One of the guidelines talk about the front door facing the street. Developers want to have narrow frontages because they are less money. In some cases, sites are overbuilt. The doors and fences are touching each other and there are no trees. Chairman Capener said some of this would be unaffordable. These standards would make things cost more. Manager Warnke reviewed another area saying these are appealing elevations with different material, glazing, and roof lines, with balconies, which provide some recess and shadow lines. This is a well-done development with a good amount of green space. In a development like this you want green space and areas for kids to recreate. Street trees are important, but we want to make sure they do not over power. They do help break up the façade. Most people prefer trees along the street scape.

Manager Warnke said in our Land Use Plan we discuss clustering. Many of these throughout the State are done on master scale so they had the ability to do things differently than Tremonton since we have smaller land holdings. We do not have the ability to plan at that level so it is incrementally done. Something that drives the density here is the efficiency of the design not necessarily the quality or aesthetics of the product. Most of the designs we see are done by an engineer who lays out the subdivision based on efficiencies. Landscape architects do efficiencies too, but they think about it in a different realm. We should continue to move forward or we will continue to get what we always have. You get a better end project when they are master planned. That is why some of the standards are important.

Commission Member Seedall said I would like to see us spread some of this off Main Street so the same type of things are not all within a mile of each other. We need to start spreading it out in master plans. That would also help with traffic. We need to get a variety of things not just residential. Manager Warnke said we would like to do that. Traffic counts feed some of those businesses so it’s critical for their success so it can be hard to see them outside the main corridor. Chairman Capener said I agree we need to do it, but we have to figure out how to make these things affordably doable so we do not completely price out 80% of our population by making it so fancy and the requirements so high that most of our people cannot afford to live there. Manager Warnke said I agree, you usually find success in the middle not on either side of the spectrum. I feel we need to keep the spectrum going in the right direction and incrementally change. We have made some good adjustments and there is more we can do.

Chairman Capener said I would love to hear Mr. Vlasic’s explanation. Let us bring him back for a discussion. It would be helpful if we can take these guidelines and put an estimation of cost to them. Manager Warnke said there is always a tendency for developers to get as many units as they can, but we want them to function well. We also need some green space for recreation but not too much for conservation. I like what Mr. Vlasic has put together. I just have concerns on administering it. It could be a challenge. Mr. Vlasic could coach us through it and figure that out. As I have talked to developers, I have not received a lot of push back on these standards.

Motion by Commission Member Dennis to table this item for further discussion. Motion seconded by Commission Member Seedall. Vote: Chairman Capener – aye, Commission Member Conrad – absent, Commission Member Dennis – aye, Commission Member Fowler – aye, Commission Member Seedall – aye. Motion approved.

6. Planning commission comments/reports: None.

7. Adjournment

Motion by Commission Member Fowler to adjourn the meeting. Motion seconded by consensus of the Board. The meeting adjourned at 7:00 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 9th day of May, 2023.

______________________________
Linsey Nessen, 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.