Oakley Council adopts state‑mandated Wildland‑Urban Interface building code; local map to be set later

Oakley — The Oakley City Council voted unanimously Jan. 28 to adopt Ordinance 2026‑01, formally adopting the Utah Wildland‑Urban Interface (WUI) building code required by state legislation (HB 48), with the local WUI map to be drafted and adopted at a later date.

Recorder Amy Rydalch summarized the ordinance and how it implements HB 48, saying the code establishes building and development standards for new construction in wildfire‑prone areas, including vegetation mitigation, fire perimeter considerations and building‑material specifications. Rydalch said the new standards apply to new construction only and include incentives for existing structures to pursue mitigation.

Rydalch said the state will set an assessment fee that will appear as a separate line on property tax notices and that the county will collect and remit the fee to the state for use in state firefighting resources. "The City has no control over the fee amount or collection," she said.

At the public hearing, resident Kevin Barker raised concerns about the state map and potential insurance impacts. "I've actually read this ordinance in detail multiple times...this is going to be the baseline for insurance companies. They're going to be using this to assess their customers and then determine whether or not to carry their insurance for them," Barker said, adding the FFSL map was hard to read and did not align with the city's own risk mapping.

City Attorney Lisa Watts Baskin told the council the municipality has three practical options for which map to use for applying the WUI building code — the state map, a designation by the local fire marshal, or a federal map — but that choosing a local application map does not change the state's assessment map or fee collection. "This allows the city to determine which map the building code applies to but not the assessment," Baskin said, and she recommended the council work with the South Summit Fire District in developing Oakley's WUI application map.

Councilmember Tom Smart moved to adopt Ordinance 2026‑01, Councilmember Amy Regan seconded, and the council "all voted in favor," resulting in adoption of the ordinance. The transcript records the unanimous adoption but does not list individual roll‑call votes.

The council's adoption implements the state's WUI building standards in Oakley and directs staff to coordinate with the local fire district on a local WUI map for later council consideration. The city will not set the assessment fee or the state's assessment map; those remain state determinations and county collection responsibilities.