Planning commission recommends shrinking pool setback to 6 feet

Fruit Heights City Planning Commission on Tuesday voted unanimously to recommend that the City Council amend the municipal pool setback ordinance, reducing the required rear-yard setback from eight feet to six feet.

Commissioners said the change is intended to reflect smaller lot sizes in parts of the city while balancing neighbors' concerns about noise and lighting. The commission's recommendation will be sent to the City Council for consideration.

During discussion commissioners and staff reviewed a range of setback proposals that had been floated, including five and six feet. One commissioner said the commission had reached more consensus around six feet than five. Planning staff noted that average setbacks in some subdivisions run larger, and discussed practical constraints such as utility easements. A planning staff member cautioned, "You would never risk as a homeowner the expense of a pool in a utility easement thinking that someday that might get ripped out. Right? That's just not a risk you should run. So we should steer as clear of that as we possibly could." That staff comment was offered as a reason to ensure applicants check for any existing utility easements before siting a pool.

At the end of the discussion a commissioner made "a motion to send a recommendation to the city council to amend the pool ordinance from an 8 feet set setback to 6 foot setback." Another commissioner seconded the motion and the commission voted in favor. The transcript records the vote as unanimous; no individual roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript excerpt.

The commission's recommendation does not itself change the city code; it is a nonbinding recommendation that will be considered by the City Council at a future public meeting. Staff said applicants would still be expected to determine the presence of utilities and obtain any required permits prior to construction.