Council advances most Title 12 parks and cemetery code changes but holds vehicle rules for revision

KAYSVILLE, Utah — After an extended work-session review, the Kaysville City Council on Monday agreed to advance a broad package of proposed changes to Title 12 of the city code — covering parks, public property, recreation and cemetery rules — but carved out the vehicle/motorized-vehicle language for additional drafting.

Cole Stevens, Kaysville parks and recreation director, reviewed technical and substantive edits scattered throughout Title 12, including updated language on vehicles in parks and trails, fireworks and fire-pit permits in the wilderness park, concessions and vendor permitting, camping by permit in the wilderness park, and cemetery rules governing monuments, plot definitions and interment timing.

On vehicles, staff said the current draft intended to restrict dangerous uses (for example ATVs doing “donuts” on turf or high-speed e-bike behavior that causes safety problems) while still allowing reasonable uses such as class 1 and 2 e-bikes and scooters on hard surfaces. Council members and staff debated the wording and whether paved multiuse trails (such as the rail trail or Bonneville Shoreline Trail connections) would be treated as locations where e-bikes and similar devices are permitted or restricted. Council agreed the vehicle paragraph as written was unclear and asked staff to redraft it; that section will return for further review.

The council approved moving the remainder of the Title 12 amendments to an action item for a future meeting, but requested staff refine the vehicle language before it becomes final. Council member Oakes voiced support for advancing the non-vehicle sections; the motion to separate the vehicle portion and move the other items forward carried.

Cemetery provisions drew substantial discussion. Staff proposed several clarifications and limits: a 36-inch maximum headstone height for new monuments (citing irrigation and maintenance impacts), keeping standard single-depth graves (staff said double-depth/companion graves require pre-excavation and deeper, narrower trenches that pose operational and safety challenges), and maintaining a moratorium on selling pre-need burial spaces to prolong the cemetery’s lifespan.

Stevens told the council the cemetery currently has roughly 3,500 traditional adult spaces remaining and that returning to prior pre-need sales rates — which staff said had been about 300–350 spaces a year historically — would reduce the cemetery’s projected life to about 10 years. Staff said limiting new, pre-need sales and developing a memorial garden for cremations are among the strategies to extend cemetery capacity.

Staff also proposed restricting interments on Sundays and city-observed holidays (with Saturday burials to remain permitted with an additional fee). Council members discussed how the city notifies funeral homes about holiday schedules and the operational and overtime costs associated with burial services on holidays.

Other Title 12 edits the council agreed to advance include stricter rules on fireworks without a permit, clarifying permitted concession and vendor sales (permit required; purpose to prevent unregulated commercial activity in parks), enforcement language addressing motorized vehicles on grass and athletic fields, and updated definitions and housekeeping edits across the parks and cemetery chapters.

Council directed staff to refine the vehicle and motorized-vehicle language to make clear which classes of electric bicycles and which paved surfaces will allow such devices, then return the revised language for council review. The rest of the Title 12 package will be posted as an action item with the edits discussed at the meeting.