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Planning commission recommends city council keep SkyRam affordable-housing and height limits, allows alternate setbacks
Summary
The commission voted 5–1 to recommend the City Council deny the applicant’s request to remove the 10% affordable-housing requirement and to bar a proposed increase from three to four stories, while permitting the developer to apply commercial or R‑14 setback standards instead.
The Hurricane City Planning Commission on Jan. 22 recommended that the City Council deny proposed changes to the SkyRam development agreement that would remove a 10% affordable‑housing requirement and allow four‑story apartment buildings, while allowing alternate setback standards for the single‑family portion of the site.
The recommendation followed a public hearing in which Brad Brown, representing Stewart Land Company, said the market has shifted since the 2022 agreement and the affordable‑housing partner failed to secure federal funding. "We could do a lower density but still attainable product," Brown said, arguing that small‑lot single‑family homes would be a more viable outcome under current financing conditions.
Builder James Jessup of Sunwood Homes told commissioners that 15 rim lots overlooking the lower neighborhood would accommodate a better product if side setbacks were reduced from the planned commercial standard. "If we had that 5 and 5, it gives us room to be able to put an additional room right there," Jessup said, describing the difference that 5‑foot side setbacks would make to interior layouts.
Staff outlined the terms of the existing development agreement: a 10% affordable‑housing set‑aside in exchange for a density bonus (the residential area was limited to up to 17 units per acre under the negotiated agreement). Staff also reported that the city included the SkyRam commitment in its state reporting and that the city remains subject to state goals for progress on affordable housing.
Commissioners debated three separate elements: whether to keep the 10% requirement, whether to permit a four‑story apartment building in one pod of the project, and whether to allow reduced setbacks for the single‑family lots. Several commissioners expressed concern that removing the affordable set‑aside would undercut the city’s housing goals; others emphasized the financing reality developers face. Commissioners also questioned whether allowing taller buildings here would set a citywide precedent.
After discussion, Commissioner (maker) moved that the commission recommend denial of changes to the affordable‑housing component and denial of the requested increase to four stories, but that the developer be allowed to apply either commercial setbacks or the R‑14 setback table to the residential component. The motion was seconded and passed by a 5–1 vote. The commission’s recommendation will be forwarded to the City Council for final action.
The commission’s staff report recommended adoption of R‑14 setbacks as the closest existing code match and noted utility easements limit how close homes can sit to the street. Staff also advised that if the developer chooses to forgo the density bonus, the affordable‑housing requirement could be made optional in the rewritten development agreement language.
Next steps: the applicant will be on the City Council agenda in two weeks for the Council’s review of the commission’s recommendation and the proposed development‑agreement amendments.
