Planning commission recommends removing size limits from recreation-vehicle definition

The Snyderville Basin Planning Commission voted 4-0 on Jan. 14 to recommend the Summit County Council approve an amendment to Chapter 11 of the Snyderville Basin Development Code that removes the phrases "less than 9 feet wide and 35 feet long" from the definition of "recreation vehicle."

County planner Laura Kurmeier told the commission the amendment is legislative and that the petitioner, Scott Roberts, owner of Park City RV Park, requested the change because many contemporary recreational vehicles exceed the size limits currently written into the code. "The only proposed change is to the definition of recreation vehicle, and the only change to that is removing the words 'less than 9 feet wide and 35 feet long,'" Kurmeier said.

The change would affect how the code defines RVs but would not change the list of uses that are permitted in each zone. Kurmeier noted that recreation vehicle parks are not an allowed use in the code’s zones, while campgrounds are allowed in the Hillside Stewardship, Mountain Remote and Community Commercial zones. She said the campground definition covers movable or temporary sleeping quarters of any kind and therefore already includes recreation vehicles. "If they were to come in and apply for that, they would come before the planning commission, have a public hearing," Kurmeier said, noting that conditional-use review provides an opportunity to add conditions of approval if a specific RV- or campground proposal raises impacts.

Commissioner Matt raised concerns about downstream effects on future campgrounds, saying the campground definition could allow large RVs if the RV-size limits were removed. "As soon as somebody wants to host a couple people in some tents, that our code, our definition of campground necessarily would then allow ... 50-foot long RVs to come in as well," he said, adding that the commission could address site-specific impacts through the conditional-use process.

Several commissioners said they did not see immediate negative consequences from removing the size limits and praised the staff report. Commissioner McKenna said she did not foresee negative consequences from increasing the size threshold and thanked Kurmeier for the report. After discussion, a commissioner moved to "positively recommend this application to the county council due to the findings of fact, conclusions of law, and conditions of approval in this application." The motion was seconded and passed 4-0.

The commission’s action is a recommendation only; the Summit County Council, as the legislative decision maker, will make the final determination. Kurmeier said staff found the amendment compliant with the code and recommended approval to the council. No members of the public spoke during the hearing.

Votes at a glance: the commission recorded a 4-0 vote in favor of a positive recommendation to the Summit County Council on the Chapter 11 code amendment to the recreation-vehicle definition.

Looking ahead, the county council will consider the amendment in its legislative process; the planning commission’s vote is an advisory recommendation.