Grantsville council approves changes to ADU rules, adds owner-definition and parking review

Grantsville Mayor Aaron Neal Critslow and the City Council approved Ordinance 2024-41 on Jan. 7, 2025, revising Chapter 25 of the Grantsville City Land Use and Management Code to add detached accessory dwelling units (ADUs) with new ownership definitions, modify setback and building-separation requirements, and require site-plan review of parking.

The ordinance, as moved by Mayor Aaron Neal Critslow and seconded by a council member, passed with a voice vote. "I make a motion, that we approve ordinance 20 24 dash 41, amending chapter 25 of the Lanceville City Land Use and Management Code related to accessory dwelling units with the following changes," the mover said before reading the list of amendments. After a second, the council voted in favor; the meeting record shows the motion carried.

Council members and staff said the rewrite responds to a state moderate-income housing review and seeks to allow smaller, owner-occupied ADUs while limiting developer-driven density and roadside parking impacts. Shelby, the planning and zoning administrator who drafted the language and presented the ordinance, told the council she used language adapted in part from Farmington and said she had reviewed the draft with the planning commission and building-staff. "A lot of this language is from Farmington. I liked how they set it up," Shelby said. She confirmed the draft had been through local staff and commission review and answered council questions during the special meeting.

Key provisions approved or clarified in the motion and by subsequent council discussion include: - Owner definition: The ordinance will define "owner" (the owner of record). If the property is owned by an LLC, a named officer or manager will qualify as the owner; if owned by a trust, the trustee or a named beneficiary (and the motion added trustor/settlor/grantor language) will qualify. This language was added to address frequently used ownership forms. - Removal of consanguinity/family restriction: The council voted to delete the three-degrees-of-consanguinity requirement and related family-only occupancy language from the ADU rules. Council members said the owner-occupancy requirement (the recorded owner must live on the property in either the primary dwelling or the ADU) was the primary safeguard. - Detached ADU bedroom cap: Detached ADUs are limited to no more than three bedrooms as written in the draft; council discussion confirmed that limitation remains part of the ordinance. - Building separation and setbacks: The council reduced the proposed minimum separation between primary dwelling and detached ADU from 20 feet to 10 feet (measured as amended in the ordinance); the motion struck the proposed front-yard setback provision for detached ADUs, while retaining a 20-foot front-yard setback standard for the primary dwelling. Council members and staff noted the change aligns setback language with adopted building- and fire-code allowances. - Entrances and duplex conversion prevention: The ordinance requires that an ADU entrance be reviewed by the planning and zoning administrator. The council added a sentence specifying that "no dwelling unit shall have more than one front door visible from the street" to discourage conversions that would make a single-family home appear and function as a duplex. - Parking and site-plan review: Rather than adopt a flat, numeric parking minimum for all ADUs, the motion requires the zoning administrator or designee to review site plans for adequacy of parking and specifies a minimum of one additional parking space be provided for a detached ADU; the city retains discretion to require more spaces on a case-by-case basis during site-plan review. - Construction standards: The ordinance reiterates that ADUs must comply with the city—s adopted uniform building and fire codes (and related state-adopted codes). The council confirmed that any container- or modular-style unit would need to be placed on a permanent foundation and meet building-code standards before being used as an ADU.

Council members raised several implementation issues during discussion: how to verify owner-occupancy when a property is owned by a trust or LLC (the new owner definition addresses that), how the city would enforce removed family-relation restrictions (staff said enforcement would be complaint-driven), how to avoid on-street parking impacts (staff proposed site-plan review and design standards), and how the rules would interact with homeowner association covenants (HOA approval remains a private contract issue that homeowners must resolve before pursuing an ADU permit). Shelby noted that building-department staff (including an identified Gina in the building department) would review permits alongside planning staff.

The motion as read by the mover included the specific amendments: (1) add an "owner" definition to clarify trusts and LLCs; (2) delete family/consanguinity occupancy requirements; (3) reduce separation between buildings to 10 feet and remove the proposed front-yard setback change for detached ADUs; (4) add the one-front-door-visible-from-street restriction; and (5) require site-plan review for parking with a minimum of one additional parking space for a detached ADU. After the motion and a second, the council voted "Aye," and the mayor stated the motion carried.

The council also made a procedural vote later in the meeting to table agenda item 3; that motion was seconded and carried by voice vote.

Meeting context and next steps: Planning staff will incorporate the council—s instructions into a final ordinance draft for formal codification. Staff indicated that existing ADU-related conditions, such as minimum lot sizes (the draft had proposed prohibiting ADUs on lots under 12,000 square feet unless a deviation is approved), building-code compliance for foundations, and site-plan requirements, will be enforced at the permit-review stage. The council noted it can return to amend the ordinance if unforeseen problems emerge.

Votes at a glance: Ordinance 2024-41 (Chapter 25, ADU amendments) — Motion to approve with listed amendments: mover Aaron Neal Critslow; second: council member (name not specified in the transcript); vote: voice vote recorded as "Aye," motion carries; outcome: approved. Agenda item 3 — motion to table: motion seconded; voice vote recorded as "Aye," motion carries.

For residents, the ordinance changes mean Grantsville will allow detached ADUs under the clarified owner-occupancy and site-plan controls approved Jan. 7; specific permit requirements, parking determinations, and any allowed variances will be handled by planning and building staff through the site-plan and permit-review process.