Fairfield adopts landscape ordinance, discusses hiring town planner and fee schedule updates

Fairfield’s Town Council on May 13 adopted a revised landscape ordinance, discussed hiring a contract town planner to help consolidate the town code and conditional-use procedures, and continued review of an updated fee schedule ahead of further consideration at the June 24 meeting.

Attorney Brad Christopherson reviewed the final language in Ordinance 2026-04 (Title 10.19), noting the Planning Commission’s extensive line-by-line review and public feedback that led to significant revisions intended to avoid overly restrictive, HOA-style rules. Christopherson recommended moving enforcement language to a general enforcement section of the code to improve consistency across the code book. The ordinance applies prospectively and does not impose new landscaping requirements on existing properties. Councilman Tyler Thomas moved to adopt Ordinance 2026-04; Councilman Richard Cameron seconded; the vote was unanimous.

Christopherson introduced Jim Spung as a candidate for contract town planner. Spung described municipal experience in code rewrites, conditional-use procedures and development review and said he prefers to provide detailed project scopes and estimated budgets before beginning work. He proposed rates of $250 per hour for complex code work and $165 per hour for standard planner services. Council members generally supported proceeding with professional planning assistance, identifying Title 10 consolidation and conditional-use permit clarification as priorities.

Recorder Stephanie Shelley and Mayor McKinney reviewed a proposed fee schedule update covering business licensing, building permit and plan-review fees, land-use application fees, park-use and pavilion fees, animal-control fees, and proposed road-use/traffic-control fees for collector-road closures. The Council discussed whether nonresident organized leagues should face higher field-use fees or limits to prevent overuse, and considered the principle that development-related costs are generally borne by applicants rather than existing residents. The fee-schedule review will continue at future meetings before possible adoption.

Mayor McKinney also reminded the Council that American Legal is preparing a consolidated, updated Town Code expected within two weeks to integrate recently adopted ordinances and simplify code navigation for staff and residents.