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Planning commission postpones proposed playground-amenities rule after extended debate on size and cost
Summary
Mount Judah planning commissioners voted to postpone a zoning amendment that would require single-family developments to provide 100 square feet of playground space per bedroom, citing cost, feasibility and continuity concerns.
The Mount Judah Municipal and Regional Planning Commission on Jan. 16 voted to postpone a staff-proposed zoning amendment that would require single-family developments to provide 100 square feet of playground space per bedroom.
Commissioners debated the amendment for more than an hour, raising questions about scale, cost and consistency with existing multifamily rules. Commissioner Giles and several other commissioners said the 100-square-feet-per-bedroom metric would translate to very large dedicated playground areas in typical subdivisions and could raise housing costs or HOA fees for homeowners. Planning staff had recommended the amendment as a direct copy of an existing multifamily standard.
"As this amendment was requested, we were asked to copy over from what the multifamily standards are, and that's exactly what the multifamily design standards are," Planning staff member Jill Johnson told the commission. Commissioner Giles used the example of a 300-house neighborhood with an average of four bedrooms per home and said the rule would create roughly a 3-acre playground in that scenario.
Commissioners suggested alternatives including a sliding scale tied to development size, clearer definitions for how open space could be used, and more flexibility that would allow multiple smaller amenities rather than a single large playground. Commissioner Ratz said a sliding scale or discretionary waiver process could address the scale concern.
After discussion the commission voted to postpone the item and forward a revised recommendation to staff for further clarification before sending the amendment to the Board of Commissioners.
Why it matters: The rule change would alter development requirements citywide for single-family projects and could affect lot layouts, HOA obligations and developer costs. Commissioners said they supported the goal of more play space for children but wanted firmer, practicable language and more data before asking the Board of Commissioners to adopt the change.
Next steps: Staff will take the commission's comments under advisement, refine the amendment language and return the item for further review; the commission formally postponed the item during the Jan. 16 meeting.
