Spanish Fork council tightens rules for impound yards, approves one rezoning and denies another

The Spanish Fork City Council on Tuesday changed the municipal code to add conditions and size limits for new impound yards in the Industrial-2 zoning district, and separately approved one zoning map amendment for a towing site while denying another.

The council voted to make impound yards “uses subject to conditions” in I-2 rather than automatic permitted uses and added new standards staff said include improvements, screening and a limit on yard size. “One of the bigger concerns about having impound yards is having locations or maybe area that has value to the city,” planning consultant David G. Anderson told the council, noting a proposed cap staff emphasized during debate.

The action followed public testimony from three tow operators who described losing yards in recent months and the difficulty of finding sites that meet zoning and landlord requirements. “I just feel like opening it up is gonna be a disaster, in my opinion. So I’m against it,” said Sabrina Clark of ABS Towing. Elizabeth Bettino of 3d L Towing said she and her family wanted to keep working in Spanish Fork and asked that the council allow a targeted site change so her company could return to the city. “We are asking for a zone change … to continue working in the city,” Bettino said. Selena Tienda of King of Kings Towing told the council she had searched for a new yard for more than five years and warned that leaving the market open without guardrails would not necessarily create available space for existing local companies. “They said I had to wait till this year and to see what would happen. There are no I-2 zone areas,” she said.

Chief Matt Johnson of the Spanish Fork Police Department told the council the city’s current tow rotation has provided “adequate service,” but council members and staff discussed the long-term effects of allowing multiple small yards to cluster near roadways or freeway interchanges. Council members called the ordinance changes a way to permit impound yards in limited, site-specific cases while protecting investment in industrial land and public infrastructure.

Council action on related map changes split the applicants. The Freddie’s Towing rezoning request for a roughly 12,960-square-foot site on 300 West — located behind existing commercial frontage and accessed via a drive aisle — won council approval on a roll-call vote after staff said the site met the new I-2 conditions. By contrast, the council denied a separate request for a small Oakleberry site of about 6,300 square feet near the freeway exit; several council members said the location was too small and too close to the highway entrance for that use. The Oakleberry motion to deny passed 4–1.

The council emphasized the difference between discussion and legislative decisions: the Title 15 change creates a framework that will require a separate zone-change process — a legislative decision — for any I-1 parcel to become I-2 so a yard could open there.

What the council approved Tuesday will apply only to future I-2 approvals that meet the new conditions; existing licensed tow yards may continue to operate where they are. Staff said any future site proposed under the new rule still requires a formal map amendment and city approval, giving the council discretion over specific locations.

The ordinance change and the two map actions were the culmination of months of staff review and multiple public hearings. Proponents argued the change provides a clear, conditional path for needed impound yards; opponents urged tighter limits and raised concerns about proliferation and yard maintenance.