How Can We Change City Code?

I get asked a lot of questions about Eagle Mountain. A couple of the questions that I hear most often are: “What does City Code say about this…” as well as “How can I change City Code?”. This article hopefully will give you enough information that you will be able to answer both of those questions. First, let us define what code is. We are not talking about computers or programming code, but the City Code. Specifically the City Code for Eagle Mountain Utah. City Code is a collection of local ordinances that are unique to Eagle Mountain. A local ordinance is a law for a division smaller than the state or the nation. For example, a local government could include a municipality (city or town), county, parish, or prefecture. These laws are enforced locally in addition to state and federal laws. “In all states, a city or county may enact a local ordinance as a criminal law[citation needed] that covers the same crime or violation as a state law but only if the penalty provided by the local ordinance is higher than the state statute. A local ordinance cannot be used to create a lesser penalty for a crime or traffic offense than state law. For example, if a state’s law set a minimum penalty of $30 for driving faster than 25 mph on residential streets, in such states allowing local ordinance with harsher penalties to duplicate state laws, a local jurisdiction could enact its own local ordinance on the same subject only if the penalty under the local ordinance was at least $31. Local law in such states could also provide for the punishment of criminal offenses if a higher penalty was imposed. If state law punished conviction for manslaughter with 20 years in prison, for a local ordinance to be valid it would have to provide a minimum punishment of at least 20 years and one day. [SOURCE] Eagle Mountain City Code includes ordinances for Land Use, Administration Rules, and Development Code. As noted, it is an extension of the State and County Code. It can add additional restrictions, but cannot lift restrictions imposed by the State or County Code. You can view Eagle Mountain City Code at https://www.codepublishing.com/UT/EagleMountain/. The process for a resident to change code can be a little confusing. So I reached out the City Council and the City Recorder to see how that can be accomplished. Fionnuala Kofoed, Eagle Mountain City Recorder had this to say about the process.

Anyone can make a suggestion to the Mayor and Council regarding any proposed changes to the code and the elected officials can take that under consideration. Formal applications can also be made by the public and submitted to the Planning Department, along with the associated fee, for any proposed amendments to the general plan or development code. Once the fees have been paid, the item would be presented to the Planning Commission for recommendation and then on to the City Council for consideration and/or approval. A copy of the application is attached, for reference and the current fee is $400; however, no fee is associated with suggestions from the public in an attempt to improve the law or amend the general plan or development code.

[pdf-embedder url=”https://cedarvalleysentinel.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/General-Plan-Development-Code-Application-10-29-191.pdf” title=”General Plan & Development Code Application 10-29-19(1)”] Donna Burnham, Eagle Mountain City Council Member, replied with this statement. “Residents can request changes to city code in three ways. They can contact the planning department, they can contact a member of the planning commission or they can contact a member of the city council. You can find the current code on our website under documents. We encourage input from residents and are open to code changes that strengthen our code and make it better.” Besides the formal process that is geared more towards developers modifying code, there is another way for residents to effect change in the code. You can have your city code change placed on the City Council agenda by City Council members as well. If you would like to see a change, you can always suggest to the City Council that they look into making the change. The first step would be to ask the Mayor if he would be willing to put your idea on the agenda as a discussion item. “The mayor is the presiding officer of the Eagle Mountain city council in the preparation of the agenda for meetings of the city council in compliance with the Utah Open and Public Meetings Act. Agenda materials, supporting documents and staff recommendations for a city council agenda shall be submitted to the office of the city recorder no later than noon on the day 48 hours prior to the required date and time for distribution to the mayor and members of the city council of the agenda and supporting materials for regularly scheduled city council meetings.” [City Code 2.15.020] If the Mayor and or Recorder are hesitant in putting an item on the City Council agenda, you can then reach out directly to the city council. “The mayor shall include any matter requested in writing by not less than two city council members on an agenda which shall be added to the agenda at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the city council following the written request.” [City Code 2.15.030] If you can convince two of the elected City Council members that your idea should be discussed and put on the agenda, they can require the Mayor to place the item on the agenda.