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Roy City planning staff proposes story-based height limits; public hearing set for March
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Summary
Planning staff proposed measuring mixed-use zone height limits by number of stories rather than feet to align downtown and other zones, and recommended ground-floor flexibility for storefronts; commissioners agreed to send the draft to a March public hearing.
Planning staff reopened a months-long discussion on building heights at the Roy City Planning Commission work session on Feb. 24, proposing a switch from foot-based maximums to story-based measurements in mixed-use zones.
Steve (staff) presented a zone-by-zone approach intended to standardize how the code measures height. He said the change would simplify rules across downtown, station and urban-corridor zones and allow consistent definitions for row houses, storefronts and larger-format buildings. "I presented today is a little different than normal," Steve said, framing the package as a mapping exercise to show how many stories would be allowed in each zone.
Under the staff approach, some airport-adjacent business-park parcels would see allowances in the mid-to-upper single digit stories (presenter cited an approximate "7–9" range), while row houses would be limited to about 3–3.5 stories to better reflect typical building forms. Staff also recommended that storefront ground floors allow taller clearances—14 to 24 feet—while noting that anything above 18 feet counts as two stories under the proposed counting method. The change is intended to give developers flexibility for commercially viable ground floors without creating unlimited overall height.
Commissioners discussed tradeoffs between raw height in feet and the story count, and several members said stories are a clearer way to regulate massing. One commissioner observed that economic forces will usually prevent developers from routinely building floor plates tall enough to maximize story counts; another noted past development agreements that temporarily increased heights in downtown projects.
Steve said the draft is intended to align mixed-use zones with downtown language and avoid frequent development agreements by providing clearer parameters. Commissioners signaled general comfort with the proposed direction and asked staff to set the item for a public hearing in March, where residents and developers can provide formal comment. The commission did not take a final vote at the work session.
