By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
Some changes in the last year have come into play in
the zoning and land use issues facing cities.
Those changes came about by the adoption of amendments
to the land use laws controlling the way such issues are
handled by cities.
The legal authority granting Nephi City the right to
plan for its future is provided by the State of Utah through
the Land Use Development and Management Act.
"Some of the city's zoning and planning issues have
been affected by the act," said Randy McKnight, city
administrator.
Senator Greg Bell, in the state senate, was sponsor of
the Local Land Use Management and Development Act Amendments
which were adopted as law last year.
The Utah League of Cities and Towns urged support of
S.B. 60 First Substitute Local Land Use Management and
Development Act Amendments before the bill was passed last
year.
One change is that, under the old plan, the city had a
zoning ordinance, said McKnight.
"It is now to have a land use ordinance," he said.
City councils approved uses but now those uses come
under jurisdiction of the Land Use Authority.
"There is no longer a board of adjustments," said
McKnight. "Those duties now are the responsibility of our
Appeal Authority, who is Denton Hatch, our city council
attorney."
"No longer does the board of adjustments hear hardship
cases or appeals," he said.
In the past, he said, the council approved
subdivisions but, under terms of the act, that is no longer
the case. The Land Use Authority is the approving group.
"We did not need a public hearing to approve a
subdivision but now a public hearing is required by the Land
Use Authority," said McKnight. "A public hearing is now
required before a subdivision is approved. The Land Use
Authority holds the hearing."
The council also used to hold hearings for zoning
ordinance and zoning map changes. That duty now falls upon
the Land Use Authority.
The planning commission did not have a alternate
member of the board. However, under the new requirements,
the Planning Commission, now known as the Land Use
Authority, will have an alternate member who can vote in the
absence of a regular board member.
Current members of the Planning Commission are Glenn
Greenhalgh, Richard May, Richard Paxman, Shannon White and
Wes Lynn.
The Land Use Management and Development Act Amendments
requires that each municipality prepare and adopt a
comprehensive, long-range general plan for present and
future needs of the municipality and growth and development
of the land within the municipality or any part of the
municipality.
The act modifies county and municipal land use,
development, and management provisions.
"Nobody can make an ordinance in a city but the city
council," said McKnight. "The administration of the act no
longer has to be done by the council."
The act reorganizes and modifies county and municipal
land use, development, and management provisions; includes
the protection of access to sunlight for solar energy
devices in the statement of the purposes of county and
municipal land use provisions; modifies provisions giving
counties and municipalities general authority over land use
matters; modifies existing and adds new definitions.
It also modifies notice provisions related to land use
applications, the preparation of a general plan and
amendments, land use ordinances, and subdivisions; modifies
provisions related to planning commission appointment and
powers; modifies provisions related to the preparation,
adoption, content, and effect of a general plan.
The act modifies provisions related to the
preparation, adoption, and content of land use ordinances;
enacts a provision relating to the imposition of exactions;
enacts provisions related to land use approval standards and
the rights that vest with approval.
It modifies provisions related to the preparation,
enactment, and content of subdivision ordinances; modifies
provisions related to subdivision plats; provides that a
transfer of land by a void plat is voidable; modifies a
provision relating to exemptions from plat requirements.
"Counties and municipalities are now authorized to
designate a land use authority to decide certain land use
matters," said McKnight. "Counties and municipalities
required to designate an appeal authority to handle appeals
of certain land use matters."
The law enacts provisions relating to procedures and
standards applicable to appeals before the appeal authority
and modifies provisions relating to appeals to the district
court.
It repeals provisions relating to a board of
adjustment; repeals provisions relating to vacating a street
or alley; repeals a provision relating to planning
commission organization and procedures; and makes technical
changes.
The act is the product of the LUDMA Task Force,
convened during the interim by Senator Greg Bell.
The Task Force involved over 50 members.
The act was endorsed and supported by designated
representatives of the: Utah Association of Realtors; Utah
Home builders Association; Utah Municipal Attorneys
Association; Utah Local Governments Trust; DEQ Small
Subdivisions Task Force; Utah Association of Counties; Craig
Call, the Utah Private Property Ombudsman; PacifiCorp;
Questar; and Kennecott Land.
"The act is the product of a year long, good faith
effort on the part of entities, to resolve 28 long standing
land use issues," said McKnight.
The act codifies common law rules relating to
conditional use permits; non- conforming use /structure;
exactions; and vested rights.
The act eliminates statutory barriers to streamlined
development review, authorizes the use of hearings
examiners, encourages the use of a routine and uncontested
permit review and resolves a long-standing uncertainty
related to spot zoning.
Every word in the act was negotiated.
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