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Snowflake council approves West Gardens residential-reserve overlay after split vote
Summary
The Snowflake Town Council approved Ordinance 2025-04 creating a residential-reserve overlay for part of West Gardens after a 4-2 vote; supporters said it aligns with deed restrictions and preserves neighborhood character, while opponents raised property-rights concerns.
The Snowflake Town Council on June 3 approved Ordinance 2025-04, creating a residential-reserve overlay for a portion of the West Gardens neighborhood. The council voted to strike stated exclusions and adopt the overlay, with Councilmembers Travis Kay, Mark Sheen, Mayor Byron Lewis and Joe Bjornn voting in favor and Reid Stinnett and Greg Brimhall opposed; Cory Johnson was absent.
Supporters told the council the overlay would align local zoning with existing deed restrictions and preserve the single-family character of the area. Matt Bloomfield, a resident who canvassed the neighborhood, said the parcels that do not want the overlay "already have a house [and] wouldn’t go backward and place a manufactured home," and told the council he had collected strong neighborhood support.
Opponents raised property-rights concerns and warned that non-response to outreach should not be treated as assent. Jeff Millett said he was a "big fan of freedom for property owners," noting the town’s general plan contains multiple options for different life stages and questioning which restrictions should be enforced.
Council members discussed consistency with deed restrictions and the town code. Mark Sheen said the town has been working to define terms such as "manufactured," "mobile home" and "factory-built" in the code and indicated the overlay would follow similar overlays elsewhere in town. Sheen also stated a timeline of roughly "90–120 days" for implementation details but did not set a firm effective date.
The council took two motions on the item: first to read Ordinance 2025-04 one time by title and strike the exclusions, then to approve the overlay with the exclusions struck. Both motions passed with the same 4–2 split (Kay, Sheen, Lewis and Bjornn in favor; Stinnett and Brimhall opposed). The council did not adopt separate terms restoring existing manufactured homes; members said the overlay would not remove already-built homes.
Council members asked staff to ensure the ordinance packet clearly shows the parcels included and excluded and to reflect deed-restriction language where applicable. The ordinance record will show the council’s vote and the ordinance as approved.
