House approves changes to impact-fee notice requirements, allowing web posting but mandating mail to large landowners

The House on Feb. 16 approved amendments to House Bill 125 changing how local governments notify stakeholders about impact-fee studies and enactments.

Representative Craig Powell, sponsor of the amendment, said the bill allows municipalities to use the Utah Public Notice website instead of mailing notices to statewide advocacy groups, reducing mailing burdens on cities while retaining mailed notice for property owners of parcels of five acres or larger. ‘‘If the cities place the notice on the Utah Public Notice website, then they don't have to mail ... the U.S. Mail that notice,’’ Powell said, while adding that owners of five-acre parcels must still receive mailed notice.

Powell also said the amendment removes the League of Women Voters from the mandatory mail list while adding AARP and the Utah Taxpayers Association. Representative Wayne Harper and others supported the amended approach as a way to improve transparency while limiting administrative burden on municipalities.

Opponents raised concerns that adding owners of five-acre parcels could be a significant new mailing burden for some cities and questioned the arbitrary cutoff. ‘‘It does seem like an additional burden, and yet I believe that it's probably a good idea to do the notice,’’ Representative Webb said, noting uncertainty about the 5-acre threshold.

The House adopted Amendment No. 4 and passed HB125 as amended by a roll-call vote of 40 yes to 32 no. The bill will be transmitted to the Senate for its consideration.

Why it matters: The change shifts some notification from mailed paper to an electronic statewide public-notice system for advocacy groups, while preserving mailed notice for certain private landowners. Municipal clerks, planners and property owners with large parcels are directly affected by the procedural change.

The bill now moves to the Senate.