Planning commission unanimously recommends council adopt state-mandated WUI building code; residents raise insurance and fee concerns

The Salt Lake City Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend that the City Council adopt a text amendment to incorporate the state’s Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) building-code provisions into city code.

The proposal would add WUI requirements — special building-code provisions that regulate roof and exterior materials, defensible-space landscaping, and building separation — for mapped parcels on the city’s foothills and along several creek corridors. Planning staff and the fire department said adopting the code is necessary to preserve eligibility for state reimbursement of wildfire response and to reduce wildfire risk to homes.

The measure matters because the city’s draft overlay focuses on foothill neighborhoods and creek corridors including Capitol Hill, the Avenues, the East Bench, Immigration Creek and Red Butte Creek. The staff presentation said the current draft map includes about 917 parcels; staff said earlier drafts included many more parcels and that the fire department coordinated parcel-by-parcel revisions with State Forestry and Fire Lands.

Division Chief Tony Allred, the city’s fire-code official, told commissioners that “new structures in these areas would need to be compliant with the current adopted version of the building of the wildland code,” and that small accessory buildings under 120 square feet are exempted in the current state-based code. He and Assistant Chief Robert Stafford described the mapping process and said enforcement timelines will be handled case by case to balance public-safety needs with practical timelines for property owners.

During a roughly 30-minute public-comment period, many residents urged the city to clarify the local impacts of the change. Speakers repeatedly raised three concerns: whether being mapped will make homeowners uninsurable or face sharply higher premiums; whether a separate county or state fee tied to House Bill 48’s “high risk” triage process will be charged to property owners; and how the city will manage vegetation on city-owned open space that abuts private parcels.

Scott Rosenbusch, a resident identified on the draft map, said, “The map creates a target on the backs of us property owners who are identified,” and asked the commission to remove a reference to an “insurance services office” from the ordinance or to add language preventing insurers from penalizing owners who are in compliance with the ordinance.

Deputy State Fire Management Officer Tiger Rohrer (Forestry, Fire and State Lands) addressed the insurance and fee questions during the hearing. Rohrer said the county-administered fee tied to the state’s highest‑risk triage boundary (created under HB 48) is still in rulemaking and “has yet to be set.” He also emphasized that insurers use their own models and that HB 48 does not itself compel insurers to maintain or price coverage in a prescribed way, though the bill requires insurers to provide reasons if they discontinue coverage or increase rates beyond specified thresholds.

Planning staff also described an outreach program that included 11 community-council presentations and public events and offered free home defensible-space assessments. Staff and the fire department said the mayor’s office has directed a triage and mitigation assessment of city-owned parcels, and that those city projects are being prioritized alongside private outreach.

Commissioners said they were sympathetic to homeowners’ concerns but noted the Legislature has required municipalities of a certain profile to adopt WUI provisions and that the commission’s role is to weigh mapping and implementation discretion. After deliberation, a commissioner moved and the commission seconded a recommendation that City Council adopt the proposed text amendment. The commission’s recommendation passed unanimously.

What’s next: By recommending adoption, the commission sends the amendment to City Council for final action. The staff presentation noted the state currently references the 2006 WUI code (often cited as the 02/2006 edition) and that the 2024 code cycle is under consideration at the state level; staff said the city will review and align with future state code updates when adopted.