South Ogden Council previews rezone for 1425 Kingston Drive amid lot-count questions

At its Feb. 17 work session, the South Ogden City Council discussed a request to rezone 1425 Kingston Drive to R-18 and took questions from council members and staff about how many housing lots the change could allow.

City staff member Steve told the council that a rezone changes what zoning the property allows but does not itself determine a final subdivision layout. "You just make the lots bigger," he said when describing how an owner could reduce lot count; he added that "the owner might have to get with their engineering firm to show how that all works with zoning and setbacks," but that "there would definitely be a way to make 8 lots work as opposed to 10." The council confirmed there will be public comment on the item later in the meeting.

Council members noted the surrounding neighborhood is largely zoned R-10 while the subject property sits adjacent to existing R-18. One member argued that a higher lot count can lower per-household infrastructure costs and so contribute to more-affordable homes. Staff and council discussed using tools such as a conditional overlay or a development agreement if the council wishes to limit the number of buildable lots when rezoning is approved.

The chair said that if the council is not comfortable with lot sizes, this work session is the appropriate time to request changes before a formal rezoning comes back. If the council approves a rezone, subsequent subdivision approvals would go through the planning department and planning commission review.

The council will hear the item in its regular meeting later and accepted public input on the rezone during the public-comment period.