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Planning commission recommends city adopt Wildland-Urban Interface overlay code
Summary
The commission voted to recommend adoption of a Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) overlay to Springville City Code, adopting the International Code Council’s WUI provisions by reference and planning to return with a mapped overlay; no public comments were received.
The Springville Planning Commission voted to recommend that the city council adopt a Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) overlay to the city’s zoning code after a staff presentation on the state-mandated code and a short question-and-answer period.
Josh, a city staff member, told commissioners that the state passed legislation requiring jurisdictions to adopt the WUI code published by the International Code Council in order to maintain participation in cooperative wildland firefighting programs. "The state has, passed a bill 2 years ago that required cities to adopt the wildland urban interface code..." Josh said, and added that the planning commission action would adopt the code by reference and enable the city to later apply a mapped overlay to specific foothill-adjacent parcels.
Josh described the overlay as imposing additional building- and landscaping-related requirements on new construction within a narrowly mapped foothill-adjacent area to reduce wildfire risk. Asked whether the code is retroactive, Josh responded, "No. It's not. There's no obligation for property owners to, go in and, retrofit existing construction." He explained enforcement will occur through the building permitting and plan-review process and that county and fire department inspections will handle compliance for the highest-risk properties.
The chair opened the public hearing; no members of the public spoke. A commissioner moved to recommend approval of zone-text amendments to Springville City Code Title 11, Chapter 5 to adopt the WUI overlay, the motion was seconded, and the commission approved the recommendation by voice vote. The recommendation will be forwarded to the city council, and staff said they will return with a map showing the overlay’s geographic extent before any enforcement actions apply.
Next steps: staff will prepare the map to show which properties would be within the WUI overlay and forward the planning commission’s recommendation and supporting materials to the city council for final action.
