Davis County, Farmington discuss selling parking to Rock Hotel Dental; follow-up session set
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Summary
At a Jan. 19 work session, county staff and Farmington city officials reviewed parking counts and proposals to make on-campus parking permanent for Rock Hotel Dental to allow the clinic to sell its building. No sale was authorized; commissioners asked staff for more information and agreed to a follow-up work session.
Davis County commissioners and Farmington city staff met Tuesday to review a proposal that would convey parts of the countys campus parking to Rock Hotel Dental so the dental office could obtain permanent on-site parking and enable a sale of its building to an investor.
Farmington city planner David Pearson presented parking counts and scenario analyses, saying the county campus currently falls short of ordinance parking requirements and that Rock Hotel Dental relies heavily on county-owned stalls. "We have estimated just based on our own study ... we think that they are using between 30 and 40 parking stalls at all times during the day," Pearson said.
The issue arose after Rock Hotel Dental said it would like permanent stalls rather than renewing short-term leases. County staff described existing lease arrangements that have typically ranged from one to three years and said the most recent lease for additional stalls expired at the end of 2024.
Pearson walked commissioners through multiple options Farmingtons staff and council discussed: revising the citys parking ordinance (currently 6 spaces per 1,000 square feet for medical/dental uses) to a lower ratio; conveying roughly 0.21 acres of city right-of-way to the county to create an estimated 17 additional stalls; vacating part of the 100 East driveway; or removing interior landscape islands to recover many spaces on the campus lot. Under the baseline numbers Pearson provided, the county campus needed roughly 371 spaces on-site, had about 336, and was short about 36; the combined campus shortfall was reported as about 79 spaces.
Pearson also outlined how different scenarios would change the shortfall: lowering the ordinance requirement from 6 to 4 spaces per 1,000 would reduce the campus shortfall but not eliminate it; conveying the 0.21-acre strip would add about 17 spaces but still leave the dental site short of its on-site requirement. He noted that converting right-of-way or removing landscaping could change usable area and provided a rough accounting of square-foot amounts discussed (for example, the citys proposed transfer was described as adding approximately 17,000 square feet, while about 5,148 square feet would be conveyed to Rock Hotel Dental under one scenario).
Farmington council members present told the county council that the city is open to options such as granting land or vacating right-of-way but would seek protections for the historic building on site. The city indicated it would prefer a facade/conservation easement held by a nonprofit (the Heritage Foundation was mentioned) to preserve the buildings exterior if a transaction moves forward; Farmington staff said the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and that the council would likely seek a facade easement as part of any deal.
County staff and the commissioners discussed long-term campus control, maintenance responsibilities (for example, plowing and asphalt upkeep if the county were to take more right-of-way), and utilities in the strips under consideration. City staff said utilities and sidewalk easements would remain considerations and that some sidewalk improvements along the right-of-way would likely be required.
No formal sale or ordinance change was authorized during the work session. Commissioners expressed openness to continue exploring options and asked staff to gather additional details (including utility locations, maintenance implications, and final acreage/space calculations). Several attendees suggested drafting a red-line agreement for review. One participant requested discussions about any proposed sale or conveyance take place in closed session when negotiating property terms.
The bodies agreed to schedule a follow-up work session and for staff to continue developing technical details and draft agreement language for later review by the county and Farmington City Council. The county did not vote on any sale or transfer at this meeting.
Questions and concerns raised during the discussion included: the countys interest in maintaining long-term control of its campus; short-term vs. permanent parking arrangements; preservation requirements tied to the historic building; and the potential future redevelopment value of additional fee-owned land for the county.
Looking ahead, staff said they would return with updated counts, clearer parcel/legal descriptions for any conveyance, proposed easement language, and answers on utilities and maintenance obligations so decision-makers could assess whether to authorize a sale or other permanent transfer.