Developers preview Mountain View Commons mixed‑use rezone; commissioners press for density, transit and height clarity

Developers seeking a Neighborhood Mixed Use (NMU) rezone for the Mountain View Commons site near Home Depot presented a high‑level, eight‑building proposal to the Snyderville Basin Planning Commission, prompting detailed questions about entitlement, transit and height exceptions.

"We're looking to rezone into the NMU," Justin, the applicant representative, told the commission at the pre‑application work session, and described the submittal as an early massing exercise. Staff said the proposal as presented totaled about 572,500 square feet, with roughly 89,000 square feet identified for retail/office, about 267,000 square feet for residential, and roughly 215,000 square feet for parking. The applicants asked to be considered for a 60‑foot building height allowance under the NMU/Master Planned Development process.

The commission front‑loaded questions that will shape a formal application. Commissioners repeatedly asked the applicant and staff to provide a baseline calculation showing what could be built under the site's current community‑commercial (CC) zoning so the body could measure any increase in entitlement. One commissioner summarized the issue: if the base entitlement is, for example, 300,000 sq ft but the NMU proposal is 500,000 sq ft, "that is a significant increase in entitlement" that invokes General Plan policy 2.3 and requires a compelling countervailing public interest justification.

Commissioners also pressed the project team on the requirements and limits of NMU incentives. Staff clarified that NMU's base height is 45 feet, with consideration to reach 60 feet only when tangible community benefits are delivered (commonly affordable housing or other public amenities) and that the County Council—not the commission—ultimately grants height exceptions. Staff noted stepback rules and that balconies can alter stepback calculations.

Sustainability and design were focal points in the presentation. Richard Jong, the project's sustainability consultant, outlined potential measures including on‑site composting and e‑waste collection, weatherization and green building materials, Level 2 EV charging and provisions for future DC fast charging, photovoltaic arrays and battery storage, water‑wise landscaping and sensor‑based irrigation, Energy Star appliances and lighting, and leak sensors. "Sustainability is one of the top priorities of this development," Jong said, and asked the commission for guidance on which measures to prioritize.

Commissioners urged the team to consult local affordable‑housing projects and to produce detailed pro forma and density calculations that show how proposed affordable units would be counted and how they would relate to the NMU incentives. They recommended transit coordination: the NMU code requires a site to be located along an existing transit system or to secure a written service commitment from the regional transportation planner, and staff noted that some nearby planned transit lines have not yet been implemented.

Other recurring requests included: a traffic study (especially for roundabout impacts near Home Depot), clearer parking and grading plans, consideration of underground parking to reduce surface lots and building profile, and visual analyses for entry corridors along US‑40. Commissioners also asked for clarity on eligibility criteria, any underlying development agreements, and whether the parcel is truly contiguous to existing commercial development as required by the code.

Tom Lehi, the project principal, said the team views the design as "building for the future" and that the initial numbers are conservative and will be refined: "we're building this for the future and not for exactly what's available right now." The applicant thanked the commission for the feedback and committed to returning with more detailed calculations, transit commitments or service letters, and refined massing and parking assumptions.

What comes next: the applicant will prepare a detailed application that addresses commissioner concerns—particularly a pro‑forma comparing CC‑zone entitlements to proposed NMU entitlements, a traffic study, a transit servicing plan or commitment, and a clearer affordable‑housing proposal—before the commission or County Council considers any legislative rezoning or height exceptions.