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County planning staff outline sweeping land‑use code cleanup and fee increases
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Summary
Planning staff proposed consolidating and updating about 600 pages of code to remove provisions tied to incorporated Ogden Valley, rename and consolidate zones, remove manufactured‑home and cluster‑subdivision rules, simplify drinking‑water protection to state‑required zones and increase application fees to better reflect county costs; staff will return with a redlined packet and comparative fee analysis.
County planning staff told commissioners on April 20 they have condensed roughly 600 pages of land‑use code changes into a single summary sheet and intend to present the full, color‑coded electronic draft for public hearings in the coming weeks.
Key proposed edits include consolidating forest residential zones into forest chapters, moving higher‑density forest residential (FR‑3) into an R‑3A residential chapter, renaming commercial recreation zones, deleting rarely used manufactured‑home and MP‑1 zones, and tightening form‑based provisions for Western Weber. Staff said cluster‑subdivision rules crafted for the Ogden Valley are redundant now that form‑based flexibility and residential zone standards have been broadened for the unincorporated area.
The draft also proposes narrowing the county’s drinking‑water source‑protection approach to the state‑required zone 1 and zone 2 designations rather than a four‑zone model the county had previously adopted. Staff argued the county code need not duplicate state controls and recommended the county be largely “hands off” while preserving the right for water providers and state regulators to enforce protections.
Planning staff also said they completed a cost‑of‑service analysis for planning, engineering and surveying functions and will propose fee increases to better align applicant fees with staff time. Staff acknowledged the fee changes will be substantial for some application types but said the county must recover its operating costs rather than subsidize development review out of the general fund.
Commissioners asked for a phased approach to fee changes, comparisons to neighboring jurisdictions and the technical redlines. Staff agreed to circulate the color‑coded code changes electronically, provide side‑by‑side fee comparisons and return with public‑hearing dates.
No vote was taken; staff proposed bringing the package to a commission public hearing once the supplementary materials and comparative analysis are complete.
