Utah County holds public hearing on two petitions to vacate parts of Alberta town site; decision deferred

The Utah County Commission held a public hearing on petitions to vacate parts of the Alberta town site plat, then took the requests under advisement rather than acting immediately.

Bryce Armstrong of the county’s Community Development office told commissioners the Alberta town site plat was recorded about a century ago and that many of the streets and alleys shown on the original plat were never built. "We have to go through this vacation process, which necessitates the public hearings, which we're here for today," Armstrong said, describing why the hearings were required when lot consolidations and deed changes overlap original right-of-way lines.

Greg Robinson, also with Community Development, described the two petitions. One request applies to the south property in Block 43 and seeks vacation of an alley and half of Wilson Avenue’s platted right-of-way (Wilson is shown as a 60-foot right-of-way on the plat, half of which would be 30 feet). The other petition concerns a north property that requests vacating the alley entirely and halves of the adjacent east and west right-of-way.

A nearby property owner, Eva Wade, addressed the commission and said she did not request the vacations and that her priority is a building permit. "I never did request to vacate those areas," Wade said, adding that an alley runs through the middle of her lot and that she needs the permit processed quickly.

Armstrong and county staff told the commission the meeting served only as the mandated public hearing; staff will bring the applications back as action items at a future meeting so commissioners can vote. When a member of the public asked when a decision would be made, a commissioner indicated the follow-up would occur at the next meeting and the presiding commissioner said, "Yeah," when asked whether that would be in about two weeks.

No formal vote on the vacation petitions was taken at the hearing. County staff said subdivision approvals tied to the petitions remain contingent on the petitions’ eventual approval or denial. The commission closed the public hearing without acting and moved on to the regular agenda.