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Commissioners press for new zones and clearer future land‑use maps; policy 2.3 flagged for deeper review
Summary
Commissioners and staff agreed the county's current six base zones are inadequate for future land‑use goals and discussed creating new zones or overlays. Policy 2.3 — which limits new entitlements until existing ones are used — was singled out as controversial and slated for detailed review in the next land‑use session.
Commissioners spent a substantial portion of the Jan. 27 work session on zoning tools and the future land‑use map, concluding that the county’s roughly six base zones are too coarse to reflect neighborhood differences and future goals.
"We don't have enough zones," Ray, the planning lead, told the commission. Director (Speaker 8), who leads the planning office, described zoning as "a fairly clumsy planning tool" and urged the commission to use the general plan to propose new, more nuanced zones or overlays that match desired development patterns. Director said examples could include multiple mixed‑use categories or an affordable‑housing overlay applied by performance criteria rather than a single blanket zone.
Commissioner 7 recommended using visual tools so residents and commissioners can see what density or mixed‑use development would actually look like in specific places: "If you show them, here's Snyderville, here's what we expect here...you could probably do that in one page," the commissioner said.
The conversation also covered development agreements, which director and staff noted remain legally binding until changed by the contracting parties. Director emphasized that many parcels on the ground do not match map‑based zoning because previous agreements or consent orders altered the built pattern. "An agreement that exists remains an agreement until all of those parties involved agree to change their agreement to something else," the director said.
Policy 2.3 — the draft policy that says "no new entitlements will be granted until such time as the old entitlements are used up" — drew particular attention. Staff acknowledged the policy’s history of controversy and said the land‑use chapter scheduled for the next session will include an in‑depth debate on whether to amend the policy, clarify exceptions, or refine how entitlements and rezones interact.
Commissioners asked staff to prepare clearer future‑land‑use maps that tie zones to visualized outcomes and to lay out how rezoning or overlay tools could be applied neighborhood‑by‑neighborhood rather than using a single countywide standard.
Next steps: staff will bring the land‑use chapter and supporting maps to the next work session for a deep dive into policy 2.3 and potential zoning strategies.
