The Holladay Planning Commission voted unanimously Jan. 7 to forward a recommendation to the City Council to deny an application by Ron Hilton that sought a General Plan map amendment (Map 3.1) and a text amendment to Title 13 to allow a narrower right‑of‑way for a section of Murray Holiday Road.

The application would have changed the roadway design standard for secondary residential streets from 50 feet to 40 feet for new rights‑of‑way and included a site‑specific map change for the stretch near Clearview. The applicant and his traffic consultant argued a narrower pavement and lane widths — a “road diet” or choker — would reduce vehicle speeds and discourage cut‑through traffic; traffic engineer Brian Horan told commissioners “narrowing streets has a proven effect on increasing safety, and lowering speeds.” Horan noted a speed study in the application showed an 85th‑percentile speed of 31 mph in a 25 mph zone.

City staff and several commissioners raised broader policy and implementation concerns. Staff advised the commission that the proposed text change would apply citywide to all secondary residential streets, not only the single stretch the applicant highlighted. Commissioners said that a blanket code change that reduces right‑of‑way and roadway width could reduce park strip widths, limit street tree planting, and shift impacts to other streets; several commissioners recommended handling the issue in the upcoming General Plan update rather than by an isolated text amendment.

Ron Hilton, the applicant, described neighborhood complaints about speed and said neighborhood petitioning and earlier administrative appeals motivated the application. Hilton told the commission he and supporters had sought alternatives to relocating utility poles and that, to avoid the city moving poles, his team would pay for an initial restriping of the road; he said the restriping bid was about $25,000. He also reported an estimate provided earlier by the utility (Rocky Mountain Power) of roughly $16,000 to move a single pole, and he said as many as eight poles could be affected if the right‑of‑way were changed under prior design assumptions.

Public comment included residents who said they do not perceive a serious safety problem, raised concerns about losing on‑street parking for guests, questioned whether traffic would be displaced to adjacent streets, and asked that the city prioritize sidewalk continuity and tree planting. Commissioners repeatedly pointed to the broader citywide consequences of a text amendment that would apply to all secondary residential streets and to the competing budgetary priorities for sidewalk and traffic‑calming projects.

Commissioner Dan Roach moved to forward a negative recommendation to City Council; the motion cited the pending General Plan update and the need to consider the request in citywide context rather than through a standalone code change. The motion passed unanimously. The commission’s resolution will be transmitted to the City Council for final action.