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Commission remands Smelter Road rezone request back to planning commission for general-plan and water reviews
Summary
The commission sent a 40-acre rezone request east of Tooele City back to the planning commission to resolve discrepancies with the county general plan and to allow the Division of Water Rights and the health department to provide needed analyses.
The Tooele County Commission voted to remand a rezone request for a 40-acre parcel east of Tooele City back to the planning commission, citing inconsistencies with the county’s future land-use map and outstanding water and wastewater questions.
Trish DeClo of the county planning staff summarized the application from Jason Harris, who sought to rezone the parcel from RR-5 (rural residential, 5-acre minimum) to R-1 (residential) to allow smaller lots. Planning staff and several neighbors raised concerns about water availability and septic impacts. Tooele City public works told staff its sewer system could not support the density proposed without significant upgrades, and the state Division of Water Rights said it could not provide the documentation the planning commission requested until a formal change application was filed.
Why it matters: The parcel is mapped in the county’s general plan as agricultural, and several commissioners said a rezone that conflicts with the future land-use map should not proceed without revising the plan or adding appropriate zoning conditions. Commissioners also flagged the potential impact of additional septic systems on nearby wells and the need for a formal state water-rights review.
County Attorney Nathan Harris advised that remanding the request to the planning commission would permit the general-plan review and allow time for the water-rights change application or other state reviews to proceed before the county takes a zoning action.
The commission approved a motion to return the application to the planning commission for further review and potential general-plan amendment. During the meeting, applicant Jason Harris said he had been working with the Division of Water Rights and that a change-application process would evaluate impacts to nearby wells once a subdivision layout and wellhead coordinates were provided.
The remand means the planning commission will revisit the application with the specific direction to reconcile the requested zoning with the future land-use map and to incorporate additional information from the health department and the state engineer’s office regarding wells and septic density. Staff recommended tabling revisiting the rezone until those analyses were available; the commission instead remanded the item to allow the planning commission to consider broader general-plan implications.
The commission’s action preserves the county’s procedural path to ensure coordination between land-use planning, public-works capacity, and state water-rights and health reviews before approving any change to zoning on the parcel.
