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Planning Commission forwards narrower standard road profile for 600 West to City Council
Summary
The Planning Commission unanimously recommended the City Council adopt a Title 17 amendment establishing a 60-foot standard ROW for 600 West (2100 South–2890 South), reducing bike-lane widths by 1 foot per side, consolidating sidewalks to the west, and increasing park-strip widths.
The South Salt Lake City Planning Commission voted unanimously on Feb. 19 to forward a recommendation to the City Council to amend Section 17.10.120 of the South Salt Lake Municipal Code and establish a 60-foot standard road profile for 600 West between 2100 South and 2890 South. Senior City Planner Spencer Cawley presented the code change as a reconciliation of codified standards with the existing physical right-of-way.
"The proposed standard road profile was a 60-foot ROW," Cawley said, summarizing the changes that staff proposed to avoid forcing a single property owner to dedicate a narrow sliver of land. Under the amendment, travel lanes would remain two 12-foot lanes, bike lanes would be reduced from six feet to five feet per side, park strips would increase to six feet on the west and eight feet on the east, and only one five-foot sidewalk on the west side would be required.
Cawley told commissioners that staff completed an inventory of existing ROW widths and found 600 West generally measures 60 feet in reality while the current codified standard is 63 feet. He said requiring a 1.5-foot dedication from a developed property ‘‘would not achieve the intended 63‑foot corridor’’ and would create a ‘‘zig‑zag’’ ROW line rather than a uniform streetscape. Staff recommended forwarding a positive recommendation to the City Council.
Commissioners questioned plantings and water use in the expanded park strips and whether removing the east sidewalk would undermine walkability. Commissioner George Pechmann asked about plantings; Cawley said the city’s Landscape Ordinance governs materials and staff is reviewing options and may present a waterwise‑landscaping recommendation. Commissioner Mary Anna Southey cautioned that improving pedestrian infrastructure can create demand: "If you build it, they will come, and walkability would encourage more people to walk," she said. Chair Jeremy Carter noted the corridor is predominantly industrial with few residences and supported maintaining the existing sidewalk configuration.
Chair Carter opened a public hearing; no members of the public spoke. Commissioner George Pechmann moved, and Commissioner Suzanne Slifka seconded, to forward a recommendation of approval to the City Council for the Title 17 amendment. The motion passed unanimously (Dahlberg, Pechmann, Slifka, Southey, Self, Spencer, Chair Carter voting yes). The recommendation will now be considered by the City Council.
