Utah County Planning Commission recommends ordinance changes to create paid land-use ALJ, cap extensions for variances and conditional uses

Bryce Armstrong, Community Development, told the Utah County Planning Commission on April 15 that staff is recommending a text amendment to the county land-use ordinance (chapters 8 and 16) to create a paid administrative law judge to serve as the appeal authority, tighten notice language to defer to state code, and cap post-approval time extensions for variances and conditional uses.

The change would let the County Commission contract with and appoint an administrative law judge (ALJ) licensed in Utah, with experience in land-use matters, to hear quasi-judicial appeals now handled by the Board of Adjustment. "The idea is this person would be an attorney, licensed in the state of Utah and may and is familiar with land use matters," Armstrong said, summarizing staff's recommendation. Brittney Thorley of the Utah County Attorney's Office said the state statute permits either a multi-member panel or an ALJ to serve as an appeal authority: "The state code just says that there needs to be an appeal authority [and] it can take the form of a panel like we've had or it can be an administrative law judge."

Why it matters: staff told commissioners that appeals handled by the appeal authority are quasi-judicial and that other Utah counties use ALJs for greater legal consistency and efficiency. County attorneys and staff said the move aims to reduce…