Planning Commission forwards senior housing overlay to council with limits on density incentives

The Eagle Mountain Planning Commission on a 5-0 vote recommended that the City Council adopt a draft senior housing overlay (SHO) with targeted edits, including moving the new chapter from 17.55 to 17.44 and exempting low-density residential zones from bonus-density incentives.

Planner Beth, who presented the draft, said the overlay is intended to "expand housing choices, but ... be more high quality" and that affordability would come primarily through smaller unit products rather than guaranteed subsidies. The commission asked staff to clarify which base zones should permit the overlay outright and which should remain subject to special review; commissioners coalesced on permitting the overlay in smaller lot zones while removing incentive density in RA1/RA2/RD1/RD2/FR areas via an asterisk in the land-use table.

The public comment period included remarks from Kurt Oster, who identified himself as an owner/partner of Eagle Quest and urged staff to consider on-the-ground feasibility, saying one developer concern is water supply: "One of the things the developers, as a landowner, that would encourage us is the water." Commissioners said they want objective criteria in the general plan and code so rezone and special-use decisions are predictable and not arbitrary.

The commission asked staff to return with the SHO placed at the agreed chapter number and with the table edits as an asterisked approach that removes density bonuses for large-lot zones. Next steps: staff will refine the ordinance language and forward the commission's recommendation packet to City Council for their consideration.