Council approves group‑quarters use in limited Center Street PO zone as conditional use; staff to define density limits

Provo Municipal Council approved a text amendment to Provo City Code to permit group quarters in the professional‑office (PO) zone along Center Street, but the council adopted a substitute motion placing group quarters in the conditional‑use section rather than as a permitted use. The substitute passed 6–1. Councilors also directed planning staff to return as soon as feasible with definitions and density limits for group quarters.

Planner Hannah Salts described the proposal as a narrow text amendment limited to PO properties with frontage along Center Street (roughly the 200–400 East block faces). Staff said the change is intended to allow an adaptive reuse of an existing assisted‑living building at 256 East Center Street into a dorm‑style group quarters with about 20 private rooms, shared facilities, and about 20 on‑site parking spaces. Salts and staff emphasized the zone change would not apply to properties on the historic registry.

Applicant Anders Taylor (presenting for Tom Taylor) said the proposed conversion would reduce overall occupancy (the building previously housed 34 assisted‑living residents) to about twenty tenants, with long‑term leases and janitorial staff, not short‑term rentals. Planning staff said the PO zone does not allow short‑term rentals and that proposed leases would be typical 12‑month leases.

Neighborhood representatives raised concerns that the building could be reused in ways that invite transient occupancy; Soraya Hallam, a district chair, said neighbors worry about long‑term impacts and asked how the city would respond if the property later became a nuisance. Councilors discussed options including making group quarters a conditional use rather than permitted and using conditional‑use conditions and administrative review to limit potential adverse impacts.

Council approved the substitute motion moving group quarters into the conditional uses for the PO zone along Center Street by roll call (6–1). After voting for the amendment, council members asked planning staff to develop clear definitions and density limits for group quarters and to bring those standards back through the Planning Commission and City review process as soon as possible; that staff request was approved by council vote.

Why it matters: the change creates a city regulatory pathway to reuse an existing building for shared‑housing that staff and the applicant framed as affordable, small‑scale housing near transit; the conditional‑use route gives staff and the planning commission more authority to impose conditions intended to protect nearby residents.

Next steps: the applicant will pursue required permits and the city will begin drafting definitions and density limits for group quarters and route those standards through the planning process.