The Provo City Planning Commission voted unanimously Aug. 13 to recommend denial to the municipal council of a request to rezone 1050 West 100 North from R‑1.6 single‑family residential to VLDR (Very Low Density Residential) so the applicant could create a flag lot and condominium plat.

Jessica, a city planner presenting the item, told commissioners that staff recommended denial because the property could achieve an additional dwelling through an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) without a rezone, and the VLDR rezoning would allow a subdivided ownership arrangement that staff saw as spot zoning. She also noted the VLDR zone disallows flag lots, so the applicant’s approach would require a condominium plat.

Applicant Kendall Seymour and co‑applicant Heather Shelley said the existing lot is unusually deep and that building an ADU would be financially infeasible; they argued a separate lot would allow them to improve the front home and make the back parcel developable, potentially enabling owner occupancy. “We purchased it in [its] condition…we remodeled the interior,” Seymour said, and added that the cost estimates for an ADU ran about $300,000, which they said made the ADU option unrealistic.

Commission debate focused on several competing goals: maintaining single‑family neighborhood character, encouraging owner‑occupied housing, avoiding spot zoning for one property, and finding efficient infill solutions for deep center lots. Commissioners and staff discussed the frontage and emergency‑access standards that make flag lots technically challenging, and the risks that a two‑owner condominium plat could create long‑term maintenance or enforcement problems.

After extended discussion and a straw poll that showed the majority of commissioners were concerned about spot zoning, condominium maintenance on a two‑owner plat and the absence of owner‑occupancy guarantees, Commissioner Kendall Seymour moved to forward a recommendation of denial to the municipal council. The motion, which listed the commission’s primary concerns, passed unanimously.