Planning commission approves home-occupation permit for Rusty's Pitmaster with condition on smoker location

The Draper City Planning Commission on Aug. 27 approved a home-occupation conditional use permit for Rusty's Pitmaster Barbecue LLC, allowing the owner to prepare and sell barbecued food from a basement kitchen with a single smoker in the rear yard, subject to operational limits and mitigation conditions.

City staff described the request as appointment-only pickups with a maximum of eight customers per hour and no more than two customers in a 15-minute block, and said the applicant provided a smoke-mitigation plan and the required parking. "Up to and no more than 8 customers per hour are scheduled for order pickups," said Nick Whitaker, the staff contact, noting the applicant provided three off-street parking stalls though the requirement had been for two.

Commissioners asked about odors, mitigation and parcel configuration. Applicant Russell Stevenson said much prep is done inside, and customers are scheduled to limit visits. "So prepping up the meat, there is a lot of the prep that will just take place in the kitchen," Stevenson said. Commissioner Susan moved approval and added a condition addressing parcel configuration and smoker placement: "that the smoker be moved so that it isn't located entirely on the main parcel as the home or he combined the properties," she said when making the motion. The motion was seconded and passed with recorded yes votes from Susan, Kendra, Lisa and Gary.

Staff will attach the approved conditions, require a Draper City business license and confirm compliance with engineering, public works, building and fire division requirements before the business operates.