Mona City Council approves land-use ordinance updates, shifts subdivision authority to DRC

The Mona City Council approved Ordinance 2024-13 on Dec. 10, adopting broad revisions to the city's land-use code that transfer final subdivision authority to a newly defined Development Review Committee (DRC) and update bonding and warranty language.

Unidentified Speaker 1 opened the item and Unidentified Speaker 2, who led the staff presentation, said the draft contains roughly "75 pages of changes." Unidentified Speaker 2 said the DRC will include the city engineer, fire chief, water and road directors, the city attorney and one member of city staff, and noted the council's council-seat representation on the DRC has been removed (a planning-commission member remains as a gray-area inclusion). "The DRC is now our land use authority," Unidentified Speaker 2 said, describing the committee as handling the preliminary review through final approval.

The draft was prepared by Hansen Planning Group and reviewed by the city attorney, presenters said. The presenter told the council that a planning commission public hearing was held the previous week but no members of the public attended.

The ordinance also revises guarantees required for subdivisions. Unidentified Speaker 2 read the proposed language: "The guarantee shall be a performance bond or cash deposit for a % plus 10% of the estimated costs as a warranty guarantee." The presenter said the subdivider must provide an engineer's estimate, which the city engineer would then review, and that staff plans to add a fee for outsourced engineering reviews to the fee schedule.

Council members asked clarifying questions about public outreach and commission involvement. One council member noted a local newspaper report that had said minor subdivisions were removed; Unidentified Speaker 2 corrected that minor subdivisions remain but were relocated to a different section of the code. Another council member expressed frustration with the increased state-level requirements, saying they can be onerous for a small community.

Unidentified Speaker 4 moved to approve Ordinance 2024-13; Unidentified Speaker 6 seconded. The council approved the ordinance by voice vote; individual roll-call tallies were not specified in the transcript.

Votes at a glance

- Approval of Nov. 26, 2024 meeting minutes: motion moved by Unidentified Speaker 3, seconded by Unidentified Speaker 4, approved by voice vote (individual tallies not specified). - Ordinance 2024-13 (land-use updates): motion moved by Unidentified Speaker 4, seconded by Unidentified Speaker 6, approved by voice vote (individual tallies not specified). - Finances (routine approval): motion moved by Unidentified Speaker 4, seconded (transcript indicates second), approved by voice vote (individual tallies not specified).

What it means

If implemented as drafted, the code changes will route subdivision approvals through the DRC rather than bringing many of those final approvals to the council. The changes refine bonding and warranty mechanics for developers, add an engineer-review requirement for cost estimates, and propose an updated fee to cover outsourced engineering reviews. Staff said the city attorney has reviewed the draft and the planning commission held a public hearing.

Next steps

Council members and staff said minor editorial changes still may be made before final publication. No appeals or additional hearings were recorded at the meeting; presenters indicated staff would circulate a final version of the ordinance.

Quotes

"The DRC is now our land use authority," Unidentified Speaker 2 said during the presentation.

"The guarantee shall be a performance bond or cash deposit for a % plus 10% of the estimated costs as a warranty guarantee," Unidentified Speaker 2 read aloud while summarizing the bonding changes.

Ending

Council members approved the ordinance and proceeded to routine finance and operations items. The presenter said staff will circulate the final draft after addressing minor editorial edits.