Weber County commissioners favor limiting agritourism rules to larger farms, propose separate track for small educational uses

Weber County commissioners spent the bulk of a work session discussing a draft agritourism ordinance and appeared to coalesce around limiting the ordinance's full set of agritourism permissions to larger farm parcels, while handling small-scale, education-oriented activities through a different code path or existing tools.

The commissioners and county planning staff said their goal is to allow functioning agricultural operations to diversify income while avoiding loopholes that would let nonfarmers run commercial lodging, wedding venues or similar high-impact enterprises in residential neighborhoods.

Commissioners described three practical categories emerging from the discussion: (1) large agritourism operations (events, lodging, glamping, corn mazes) that require more review and mitigation; (2) mid-size uses where education and modest visitor activities might be allowed with conditions; and (3) very small, hobby or classroom-style activities that county staff and some commissioners argued could be handled through home-occupation rules, special-event permits or another, separate code section.

Several commissioners said the draft ordinance as written was too broad and risked creating incentives for "bad actors" to market lodging and events under the banner of agritourism on small parcels. Commissioners and staff discussed specific regulatory levers: a minimum farmland acreage threshold for full agritourism privileges (6, 9 or 10 acres were mentioned at various points), minimum lot width and setback standards, and whether the ordinance should reference eligibility under the state Farmland Assessment Act or the county's Urban Farming Assessment provisions.

Staff advised that most agritourism permits issued to date in the county have been for relatively large parcels (examples cited include a pumpkin patch run on monastery property and a 40-acre operation called Monte Cristo). Commissioners repeatedly returned to practical impact concerns: parking, access and road blocking, restroom and sewer needs, headlights and hours of operation, and the difficulty of denying conditional-use permits once the county opens a use category and applicants meet mitigation measures.

Planning staff proposed two implementation options discussed by the commission: keep agritourism narrowly focused on larger farms (the conservative option) and direct smaller, educational or low-impact uses into a simplified separate category; or put detailed size- and use-based limitations directly into the agritourism chapter (which would require line-by-line review and more staff time). Several commissioners favored the first approach as more administrable and protective of neighbors.

County staff noted that small-scale education or classes can in many cases be accommodated now via home-occupation rules or special event permits and that enforcement is complaint-driven because the county has limited code-enforcement resources. Commissioners also discussed local programs that reduce the need to treat all small operations as agritourism, for example the county's adoption of an Urban Farming Assessment Act option for smaller parcels.

The commission asked staff to prepare a revised draft that: (1) separates larger agritourism uses (events, lodging, glamping) with stricter mitigation requirements and a clear acreage threshold; (2) moves or defines small, education-focused activities in a simpler regulatory path (home occupation, special event, or a new small-scale agrieducation category); and (3) clarifies how eligibility will interact with Greenbelt/Farmland Assessment status and with the county's Urban Farming Assessment provisions. Commissioners requested another work session to review a revised use table and suggested target dates for follow-up discussions and eventual public hearing scheduling.

No formal motions or votes on the ordinance were taken during the session; staff said a public hearing would likely follow subsequent work-session edits.

The commission also used the latter portion of the meeting to announce upcoming meeting logistics: an August 22 work session and a September 26 meeting in Ogden Valley (Huntsville library), where the general-plan and infrastructure topics are planned for public discussion.