Planning commission recommends revisions to development guidelines after public hearing

Dec. 11, 2024 — At a public hearing, the Payson City Planning Commission recommended that the city council adopt an ordinance amending the city's development guidelines to update stormwater standards, stormwater pollution prevention practices and several utility- and electrical-related provisions.

The change was presented by Jonathan, a planning staff member, who said staff had "made some some changes to our storm drain standards and stormwater pollution prevention standards and, a few others along that along those lines." Commissioners opened the public hearing; there were no public comments, and the commission moved to a recommendation with edits requested by commissioners.

The commission discussed multiple specific edits proposed by staff and by commissioners. Discussion items included replacing the term "public utility easement" with "municipal utility easement" for culinary water easements to prevent allowing other utilities such as fiber in water easements; cross-referencing a separate electrical construction standard to avoid duplication of trenching specifications; and a requirement that conduit ends be terminated with a PVC plug-in cap rather than being left covered with duct tape. Jonathan told the commission that the code language already specified a PVC plug-in cap for conduit ends and that the duct-tape prohibition addresses a common field practice of simply covering ends with tape.

Commissioners pressed staff for clarity on several drafting points. One commissioner suggested limiting some requirements to public roads and also adding language covering locations where public utilities cross other public utilities. Another recommended rephrasing an inlet-protection provision so the code specifies required measures and allows deviations only by approval, rather than listing only prohibitions. Staff acknowledged a manufacturer-specific detail for curb inlets and a separate detail for non-curb inlets would remain in the guidance.

After discussion, the commission voted to recommend approval of the text amendment with the commissioners' requested clarifications and cross-references. The motion passed unanimously.

The planning commission's recommendation will be forwarded to the Payson City Council, which must hold its own hearing and vote to adopt the ordinance text amendment.

Votes at a glance: The commission voted to recommend approval of the development-guideline text amendment with staff and commissioner edits; vote recorded as unanimous (6-0).