Developer asks to put small industrial/warehouse park along Highway 89; city staff favor commercial frontage

A real-estate developer seeking to buy acres that front Highway 89 asked Harrisville planning staff about rezoning the site to allow small warehouses with office-style fronts, saying “we need to have frontage on Highway 89” for the project to be successful.

City Planner Sarah Wicker told the developer that the city prefers commercial uses on the highway frontage to serve nearby housing developments. “The commercial uses, really protect that visible frontage,” Wicker said, adding that many of the types of small-service businesses the developer described are already allowed in the city’s commercial zone.

Why it matters: the parcel sits where the city is already investing in public infrastructure, including a new public-works building, potential city hall and police site, and the planned 1750 North road. The city expects a signalized intersection at Highway 89 near the site once adjacent residential projects move forward; Ben Lomond’s residential project was cited as a likely trigger.

What the developer proposed: the applicant (representing Ed and Trust Real Estate) described a small business park with 40,000–50,000 square-foot-style buildings, “a couple of smaller buildings along Highway 89 with a . . . nice office presence along the front and warehouse in the rear,” and said the product would target contractors and smaller users rather than heavy manufacturing.

City reaction and next steps: Wicker and other staff said the commercial zone’s uses and design standards (listed in the municipal code) are intended to protect Highway 89’s visible frontage and to provide services to the residents across the street. Wicker advised the applicant to review Harrisville’s commercial development standards (cited in the meeting as section 11.13.02 of the city code) and the city’s use table to determine whether the envisioned tenants would already be allowed without a rezoning.

The landowner who spoke during the meeting emphasized timing and tax questions, including a recently required rollback tax payment and the landowner’s preference to sell the north two-acre parcel first. The owner also said the city’s road project and the timing of the signalized intersection affect when commercial buyers would be interested and repeated that “I want that road in as much as you guys do.”

Follow-up: planning staff offered to be the contact for additional discussions and to provide the city’s code references and zoning use table. The developer said he would follow up with Sarah Wicker to refine the concept and confirm whether specific uses would require conditional-use review or a rezoning.

Community context and constraints: staff noted that the municipality has manufacturing zones behind commercial frontages and that the city’s preference is to keep manufacturing set back from Highway 89 while allowing commercial uses along the highway to serve the adjacent residential developments. City staff also described the transportation plan for 1750 North and said the signal at Highway 89 is a UDOT-planned feature tied to development activity nearby.