Snyderville basin planning commissioners agree to targeted fixes for muddled use table

Snyderville Basin Planning Commission members spent their early meeting in a work session debating how to finish a 2019 rewrite of the county's land-use "use table," concluding they will pursue targeted, short-term fixes while preparing a longer effort with the county council.

Principal planner Milner told the commission the earlier subcommittee moved many uses out of a single matrix and into zone-specific sections but that the package never reached the council because of COVID, development workloads and outstanding commercial-zone and definition work. "If it's not in the code, it doesn't exist as a land use," Milner said, describing why clear definitions are essential.

Commissioners endorsed a two-track approach: staff will correct and tighten problem definitions first — especially those that recur in hearings, such as the owner-occupied threshold, group-home language and the residential treatment definition — and bring a short list of straightforward use-table clarifications forward for council review. Commissioner 4 said the change would "put appropriate uses in appropriate places," urging staff to move certain commercial home-business uses toward the commercial-use chapters or add clearer criteria rather than ban them outright.

Members repeatedly emphasized the practical limits of the county's single rural-residential zone: it covers vastly different neighborhoods, and commissioners said that, where appropriate, smaller new zones could better reflect "what is on the ground." But several commissioners also said a complete rezoning is long and complex; they favored incremental, narrowly targeted changes now to reduce repeated appeals and confusion at hearings.

The group suggested an immediate work plan: (1) circulate the list of top problematic uses and definitions to commissioners for prioritization; (2) draft measurable guardrails (for example, parking minimums, limits on heavy vehicle trips) for conditional uses that remain in residential zones; (3) bring a pared-down package to council early in the new year, followed by a larger visioning process for more fundamental zoning changes.

Commissioners and staff agreed on continued outreach and to provide hyperlinks and cross-references in the code so citizens can find allowed uses and definitions for their specific zones. The commission closed the work session and reconvened for the evening's regular meeting, where other agenda items were heard.