Council denies rezone request for Valley Behavioral Health property after neighbor concerns

Midvale City Council unanimously voted to deny an ordinance (2025 O-09) that would have rezoned two properties at 6854 and 6852 South 700 East from single-family residential with duplex overlay (SF1 DO) to multifamily residential (RM25).

Valley Behavioral Health sought the rezoning to build additional deeply affordable housing and supportive services on a 1.75-acre parcel adjacent to its existing facilities. Valley representatives said the site currently hosts a HUD-funded 12-unit property and a treatment facility that allows women to remain with children during treatment. The applicant said the RM25 zoning would enable about 48 units in the proposed concept (staff estimated a 20-unit increase over what could be built under the existing zone) and told the council a rezone was needed to pursue financing sources for deeper affordability.

More than a dozen neighbors and nearby homeowners urged denial during the public hearing, citing frequent ambulance and emergency responses to the existing site, pedestrian and traffic safety concerns on nearby Seventh East and 700 East, limited transit and sidewalk access, loss of mature trees along the canal, and the location’s distance from transit and services residents argued are important for the population the applicant would serve. Several speakers said the parcel is a “spot zone” surrounded by single-family properties and should remain within the stability area designated in the general plan.

Russell Opatz, speaking for Valley Behavioral Health, said the organization has provided supportive housing in the region for decades, that the parcels include preexisting uses, and that the organization would aim to keep the buildings to two stories if a development agreement required that. He described the project as targeting deeply affordable households (income-targeted units) and noted that financing for such projects typically depends on higher-density zoning to qualify for certain capital sources.

After hearing public comment and staff analysis indicating the parcel sits in a stability area of the general plan and that zone-change criteria in city code were not met, the council approved a motion to deny the ordinance. Councilmembers thanked Valley Behavioral Health for its work and encouraged the organization to pursue alternatives that fit the existing zoning or to bring back a proposal with additional commitments and neighborhood agreement if possible.