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Utah County approves agricultural-protection area for Kaye property, excludes full 56-foot roadway corridor
Summary
The Utah County Commission approved an agricultural protection area for seven Kaye-family parcels while excluding the full 56-foot right-of-way for 1400 South; the decision followed competing testimony from the applicants’ attorney and a neighboring landowner who says the exclusion would limit his future access.
The Utah County Commission on July 11 approved an agricultural protection area for seven parcels owned or leased by the Kaye family but excluded the full 56-foot right-of-way for 1400 South from the protection overlay, a measure intended to preserve the county’s ability to acquire the corridor for future road improvements.
Peggy Kelsey of Community Development presented the application and maps, saying the proposal covers seven parcels in an RE-5 zone and lies between Highway 6 and 1400 South. She told commissioners the land is presently used for crop production, cattle grazing and a feed lot and noted the County Engineer recommended excluding the full 56-foot right-of-way from the protection overlay to preserve a future corridor.
Randy Kester, attorney for the applicants, urged the commission to limit any road exclusion to the existing fence line, describing the road as historically a narrow two-track and saying there is no current plan by Santaquin City to expand it. "We think that this agricultural protection statute was designed for the very purpose and for the very kind of properties that we're asking for the protection," Kester said, adding his clients only sought fence-line protection unless future circumstances required otherwise.
Neighboring landowner Alan Steele said he is in the process of pursuing annexation and that preserving a full 56-foot corridor is important to protect secondary access and utilities. "We've got to have that access," Steele told the commission, noting sewer, water and pressurized irrigation lines along the road.
Garrett Hall of the Utah Farm Bureau testified in favor of the ag protection, saying the land qualifies and urging approval while expressing concern that a 56-foot exclusion may be excessive compared with the existing travel way.
Commissioners debated competing interests: protecting agricultural operations from encroachment versus preserving negotiating parity for future roadway acquisition. Commissioners directed Public Works and the county surveyor to determine the center line of 1400 South and the appropriate offsets where exclusions would apply. After discussion, a motion to approve the protection area while excluding the 56-foot right-of-way corridor carried (two ayes, one nay).
Votes at a glance: the commission moved multiple consent items and routine measures during the meeting. Notable outcomes recorded during the same session include approval of a CSIP grant award on the consent agenda (item 4), adoption of an ordinance amendment updating the county’s fire-code references, and setting two closed meetings to discuss personnel and threatened litigation; those consent and ordinance motions carried without recorded dissents.
What happens next: Public Works will establish the center line and offsets for the excluded corridor, and staff will prepare the formal description for the ag-protection designation as approved. The commission noted that any future need to acquire a wider right-of-way would still require standard acquisition or condemnation procedures and that property owners retain the ability to seek removal of ag protection in the future if circumstances change.
