The final Planning Commission meeting for the year, prior to the last City Council meeting that Councilmembers Love, and Curtis will be voting at has a very packed agenda. It includes 12 buildings on a 6.5 acre 74 multifamily lots in the Firefly (Pole Canyon) community. It also includes changes to the Official Zoning Map (simply clarifying the zoning and creating a user-friendly map), the height of multi-family structures including religious and cultural meeting halls, drive-thru ordinance, fencing ordinance, lot line adjustment ordinance, open space requirements, landscaping ordinance, and more.
With the current election, Melissa Clark, Rich Wood, and it looks like Jared Gray (who will keep his seat) will replace the outgoing Colby Curtis and Carolyn Love. Before the change in leadership happens there is the last Planning Commission meeting for 2023 that will be held on November 28th. The agenda is packed full of code changes. The following list is a breakdown of those changes.
6.B – Wildlife Corridor Overlay Zone
This is an item to approve the changes and additions to the proposed wildlife corridor overlay zone.
6.C – Offical Zoning map Adoption
A huge research and GIS mapping project has been in process by City Staff to update the City’s Zoning Map, with the goal of producing a digital user-friendly online map. This has been a much more difficult project than anticipated, as each approved master development plan was approved with unique zoning districts, leading to nearly 100 unique zoning districts that need to be properly displayed on a map. Although the map still requires some final adjustments and minor fixes before publishing for the public, the meat of the map is complete and ready for your review in the meeting.
6.D – Height of Multi-Family Structures, Religious and Cultural Meeting Halls
Current EMMC has a maximum height of 35 feet in the MF2 zone regarding multi-family buildings. The Code is proposed to be amended to a maximum height of 45 feet and a maximum of three stories. Three stories is implied but not specified in the current code as four stories and required sloping roofs are not possible at 35 feet. An increase in height will allow for greater architectural options such as steeper roofs, interior ceiling height variability, and rooftop amenities.
The height of Religious and Cultural Meeting Halls is regulated by the standard of the zone in which they are located. This type of use is typically located in a residential zone, which has a maximum permissible height of 35 feet with an ancillary structure(s) an additional 10 feet above the finished structure height. The proposed change will permit the ancillary structure height to not exceed 70 feet above grade. A survey of many of the churches in the City show ancillary structure height at 60-70 feet above grade.
6.E – Drive-Thru
The attached code draft (in a different rendition) was attached to zoning amendments that have made their way through the public hearing process to be codified. Since that time, the language has been modified to make it more condensed. The site plan review process would vet the proper application of the proposed language that introduces the requirement for some form of escape/bypass lane to be a part of the design and installation of drive-thru lanes. In general, the Planning Commission and City Council seemed mostly favorable with the idea but wanted to address it when time better permitted.
6.F – Fencing
Three matters triggered the attached code changes. First, a desire to reformat the code’s fencing language to better organize the same into one location thematically arranged; second, a desire to add wording respecting site screens, suitable fencing materials and their care and keeping, the equivalency of berms and hedges to fences, and, electric fencing; and, third, as an aid to help more specifically direct along which rights-of-way screen walls [decorative masonry or concrete etc.] will be required given requests advanced to the City Council for exceptions to the stone type walls that have been made and granted or denied to date. The amendments hereto attached were started some months ago prior to Council introducing a priority list of City code changes in which they were given the status of secondary importance. It should be remembered that some changes are sparked by interactions with the public whereby needed improvements to our ordinances are realized and others by forethought from Staff.
6.G – Lot Line Adjustments
The state’s last legislative session included passage of House Bill # 406. The bill introduced various edits to state law, inclusively the allowance for a property line adjustment to be executed by survey in lieu of platting (via a plat amendment process) between a subdivision and outlying parcel of ground. The code amendment attached to this report introduces that allowance into the City’s code in care and keeping with the state’s action.
6.H – Livestock
Conflict between two neighbors over the placement of a chicken coop brought to light the need to slightly modify the presentation of required setbacks for accessory livestock structures to other structures nearby and the need to define the word “structure”. The amendments do not change current policy (memorialized as code), but rather clarify separations for livestock quartering.
6.I – Landscape, Open Space
The Planning Commission approved the recommendation of adopting the water efficiency standard from the Central Utah Water Conservancy District at the April 25, 2023 meeting. Another proposal was presented to CUWCD to tailor the water efficiency standard and allow Eagle Mountain City to determine the percentages for lawn areas. Instead of 20% of lawn areas for commercial and industrial properties, these areas will have 0% lawn except for active recreation areas. 20% of lawn areas will still apply to institutional and multifamily properties outside active recreation areas. In return, residential properties can have lawn areas in the front and side yards, which shall not exceed 50% of the total landscaped area. These will only apply to new construction starting February 1, 2024. By either accepting the CUWCD water efficiency standards or this new proposal of allowing the City to determine the percentage for lawn areas will allow Eagle Mountain to secure 2,000 acre-feet of water from CUWCD.
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