TREMONTON CITY CORPORATION
PLANNING COMMISSION
JANUARY 9, 2024

Members Present:
Micah Capener, Chairman—excused
Penni Dennis, Commission Member
Jeffrey Seedall, Commission Member
Raulon Van Tassell, Commission Member
Mark Thompson, Commission Member
Shawn Warnke, City Manager
Cynthia Nelson, Deputy Recorder

Co-Chairman Seedall called the Planning Commission Meeting to order at 5:36 p.m. The meeting was held January 9, 2024, in the City Council Meeting Room at 102 South Tremont Street, Tremonton, Utah. Co-Chairman Seedall, Commission Members Dennis, Van Tassell, and Thompson, City Manager Warnke, and Deputy Recorder Nelson were in attendance. Chairman Capener was excused.

1. Approval of agenda:

Motion by Commission Member Van Tassell to approve the January 9, 2024, agenda. Motion seconded by Commission Member Dennis. Vote: Chairman Capener – absent, Co-Chairman Seedall – aye, Commission Member Dennis – aye, Commission Member Van Tassell – aye, Commission Member Thompson – aye. Motion approved.

2. Declaration of Conflict of Interest: None.

3. Public Comment: None.

4. Approval of minutes—November 14, 2023

Motion by Commission Member Dennis to approve the November 14, 2023, minutes. Motion seconded by Commission Member Van Tassell. Vote: Chairman Capener – absent, Co-Chairman Seedall – aye, Commission Member Dennis – aye, Commission Member Van Tassell – aye, Commission Member Thompson – aye. Motion approved.

Co-Chairman Seedall called a Public Hearing to order at 5:39 p.m. to discuss items 5. a. b. and c. together. There were four people in attendance.

5. Public Hearing:

a. Amendments to the City’s Land Use Code, including but not limited to amending Title I Chapter 1.04 Land Use and Appeal Authorities; Title II Chapters 2.02 Concept Plans; 2.03 Preliminary Plats; 2.04 Final Plats; and Chapter 2.07 Lot Splits. The purpose of these proposed amendments is to comply with the requirements of SB 174 requirements (Utah Code)
b. Rezoning parcel 05-186-0058 comprised of approximately 10.94 acres from the Bear River Meadows Overlay Zone to the Aspen Ridges Overlay Zone and the adoption of a new zoning development agreement associated with the Aspen Ridges Overlay Zone
c. Amendments to the moderate-income housing strategies contained in the Tremonton City & Tremonton City RDA 2022 Moderate Income Housing Plan

There were no public comments. Co-Chairman Seedall closed the Public Hearing at 5:40 p.m.

The following items were discussed out of order.

6. New Business:

a. Discussion and consideration of making a recommendation to the City Council regarding amendments to the City’s Land Use Code, including but not limited to amending Title I Chapter 1.04 Land Use and Appeal Authorities; Title II Chapters 2.02 Concept Plans; 2.03 Preliminary Plats; 2.04 Final Plats; and Chapter 2.07 Lot Splits. The purpose of these proposed amendments is to comply with the requirements of SB 174 requirements (Utah Code).

Manager Warnke said we engaged Landmark Design to help us put this together. In the last legislative session, the State made changes to subdivisions that we need to comply with. The intent of that code is to streamline the approval process for subdivisions, which are administrative and do not have a lot of discretion. For those approvals, land use authority boards are just applying code. In part, because of the housing crisis, their intent is to speed up the process and make it quicker. They do not want city councils being involved in approving subdivisions. There are limited circumstances in which the Planning Commission can get involved. What is being proposed is to have the Development Review Committee be the land use authority for preliminary and final plats. They have also eliminated concept plans as a requirement.

Co-Chairman Seedall suggested they do digital copies instead. Manager Warnke agreed and asked Co-Chairman Seedall to send him his suggestions and red lines. The zoning administrator sort of acts as the point person. They will take all the calls relative to zoning. They have duties in the land use code about interpretation and set the agenda for DRC as they work directly with the applicants in preparation for getting it on the agenda. Some of the discussion has been laid out in Landmark Design’s comments and are a little more refined in the latest draft. Our deadline is February 1, for implementation so if you want to make a recommendation to the Council this is the meeting to do so.

Motion by Commission Member Dennis to make a recommendation to the Council, with the discussed suggestions, regarding amendments to the City’s Land Use Code. Motion seconded by Commission Member Van Tassell. Vote: Chairman Capener – absent, Co-Chairman Seedall – aye, Commission Member Dennis – aye, Commission Member Van Tassell – aye, Commission Member Thompson – aye. Motion approved.

b. Discussion and consideration of making a recommendation to the City Council regarding rezoning Parcel No. 05-186-0058, comprised of approximately 10.94 acres from the Bear River Meadows Overlay Zone to the Aspen Ridges Overlay Zone and the adoption of a new zoning development agreement associated with the Aspen Ridges Overlay Zone—Ryan Rogers

Manager Warnke said Aspen Ridges is to the south. They are looking to purchase this property (about 11 acres) and proposing that they replicate and continue the Aspen Ridges project to the north. This development is entitled for this type of density. They are proposing less density than is allowed under the current zone. They would like to amend the items that are inconsistent with their development and what they have done to the south. When we worked with the developers of Bear River Meadows, they could either provide on-site amenities or pay a fee in lieu. We encouraged them to pay the fee in lieu because we felt that would be a better outcome for everyone. That fee was $1,500 per unit, in addition to their impact fees. What is being proposed with this developer already having amenities is that the $1,500 fee be removed. Instead, they would use the amenities on-site in Aspen Ridges. The compromise is that they would construct the trail from 12– South to 600 South. We do need to work with the canal company on this. There is plenty of capacity within their amenities. This will help lower the HOA costs for homeowners. They will use the same plan set they had for Aspen Ridges. They do have one and two-car garages. Having a mix of product types adds diversity within neighborhoods. They would also install the fencing that divides the trail from their project with an 18-inch mow strip.

The Commission discussed the flow and layout for this development. Manager Warnke said the Development Review Committee will go through the review process to finalize these things and come up with the most optimal layout.

Motion by Commission Member Dennis to approve the rezoning of the overlay zone. Motion seconded by Commission Member Van Tassell. Vote: Chairman Capener – absent, Co-Chairman Seedall – aye, Commission Member Dennis – aye, Commission Member Van Tassell – aye, Commission Member Thompson – aye. Motion approved.

c. Discussion and consideration of making a recommendation to the City Council regarding amendments to the moderate-income housing strategies contained in the Tremonton City & Tremonton City RDA 2022 Moderate Income Housing Plan

Sam Taylor with Landmark Design said this is a follow-up to our last discussion. We have discussed the inclusion of strategy C, which is to demonstrate investment in existing housing stock, capitalizing on the neighborhood improvement program, which is already in place and entering phase seven. The implementation measure for that is to contribute matching grants and to reduce imports for committed projects. Strategy B is to identify and utilize general funds or other sources of revenue related to fees that are generally imposed by the municipality for the construction of housing. This could move some barriers for construction. Implementation would be to grant ordinances to manage some of these fees in anticipation that new homes could construct 10% of their units as moderate-income housing and have those fees waived. Strategy I is to amend regulations to allow for single room occupancy developments. This is something we discussed in our last meeting. The implementation here would be to amend the central development district ordinance. Strategy L is to reduce or waive impact fees related to moderate income housing. This would amend the ordinance and those fees would be waived for projects geared toward moderate income housing. This would be on a project-by-project basis. The City could use RDA funds to pay those impact fees. Strategy R is very similar to L, but it is for accessory dwelling units. This would waive that fee and use RDA funds to pay for those as well. At the back of the document is a list of strategies for further exploration. This is a good direction for future updates to the Modern Income Housing Plan. We would like to keep a record of these and set some targets of how we might make progress. Beyond the implementation measures, we have discussed maybe taking it one step further and selecting specific targets and making assignments as to who would be responsible for these implementation measures. There is a very clear path forward in making sure we accomplish our goals.

Motion by Commission Member Seedall to consider these strategies as part of item 6. c. to the City Council for approval. Motion seconded by Commission Member Dennis. Vote: Chairman Capener – absent, Co-Chairman Seedall – aye, Commission Member Dennis – aye, Commission Member Van Tassell – nay, Commission Member Thompson – aye. Motion approved by a 3-1 vote.

7. Planning commission comments/reports: None.

8. Adjournment

Motion by Commission Member Dennis to adjourn the meeting. Motion seconded by consensus of the Board. The meeting adjourned at 6:44 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 27th day of February, 2024.

______________________________
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.