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Council sends proposed change on parking in flood hazard area back to planning commission
Summary
A proposed ordinance to remove a town code restriction on parking in the special flood hazard area was tabled and referred back to the planning commission for further study of water-quality and large-parking-lot impacts.
The council opened a public hearing on proposed Ordinance 2025-O-03 — a revision to Chapter 10-23-7 that would remove language barring parking areas within the town’s special flood hazard area — and then voted to table the ordinance and send it back to the planning commission for further study.
Town staff explained the change would delete a line in the parking chapter that currently prohibits "any parking lot area or space" within 10 feet of the special flood hazard area (the 1% annual or "100-year" flood zone). Staff said the prohibition predates Springdale’s adoption of FEMA flood maps and the town’s 2009 entry into the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), and that the existing code now allows buildings in the floodplain under certain design criteria while still prohibiting parking.
Planner Niall Connolly told the council this creates a discrepancy that can encourage developers to place parking on higher ground and more vulnerable uses in areas more likely to flood, running counter to flood-risk-management principles. "So it's kind of created a bit of a discrepancy where we don't allow parking spaces in the flood plain, but we allow homes and other potentially more vulnerable uses in the flood plain," he said.
Council deliberations focused on water-quality risks posed by parking areas — oil, antifreeze and other runoff — and whether stormwater-retention and detention requirements in the town’s construction-design standards adequately mitigate those risks. Several councilmembers suggested the planning commission consider distinguishing residential parking (small household garages or a few on-site spaces) from large commercial parking lots and consider buffer zones or additional stormwater treatment for lots near the river or mapped washes.
Action: Councilmember Kyla Topham moved to table the proposed change to Chapter 10-23 and send it to the planning commission with direction to study impacts of large parking lots on water quality in the Virgin River corridor and to consider distinctions for residential uses; the motion was seconded by Jack Burns and approved unanimously (Jack Burns, Randy Aton, Barbara Bruno, Pat Campbell, Kyla Topham — all "aye").
The public hearing was opened and closed with no public speakers offering substantive comments. Planning staff will return with revisions or additional analysis.
