Hooper City Council and developer debate PUD rezoning, sewer financing and Smith’s anchor at work session

Hooper City Council met with representatives of Terra Grama Group at a work session to review a proposal for commercial development with adjacent housing and to seek direction on rezoning, infrastructure finance and project phasing. The developer’s application currently shows commercial pads plus a mix of quarter- and half-acre lots and a PUD; the Planning Commission recommended a PUD for the entire site at its public hearing and voted unanimously to do so, the developer said.

Why this matters: the project’s ability to proceed hinges on building a sewer lift station large enough to serve the proposed commercial and residential uses. Council members and the developer discussed multiple funding tools — including tax-increment financing (CRA/RDA), impact fees, pioneer/developer reimbursement agreements and revenue bonding — and stressed that the council will require a development agreement and milestones before approving zoning changes.

At the meeting Allen (city planner) summarized the zoning options in Hooper: patio-home zoning (which requires minimum open space and amenities and can support smaller, age-targeted units) and the PUD zone (a more flexible mixed-use designation that can allow density bonuses for amenities and moderate-income housing). He noted ordinance details such as a roughly 5-acre minimum for some options and discretionary density bonuses that…