The Heber City Planning Commission met on Tuesday passing on positive recommendations on the development known as the Springs at Coyote Ridge, the North Village Overlay zone and voting in favor of the changes to code guidelines for Owner Occupied Accessory Units.
The 153-unit cluster development, Springs at Coyote Ridge, was given a positive recommendation from the planning commission. It’s located on US 40 near Lloyd Lane and south of the Coyote Ridge project. They talked about farm style buildings, using white paint and brick finishes, and eliminating street lighting in exchange for adding trail and park lighting. Planning Director Tony Kohler says there is nothing in the code that dictates the building style.
“Petitioners did have some concern that we were trying to use legislative discretion on an administrative act. They just pointed that out. I think they just make a very good point. We don't have a lot of discretion and our point would be just to remind them in the spirit of things that this is our entrance to town, and we hope that they produce as high quality as possible. I can say they do have high quality materials and an architectural style that will be compatible with the North Village.”
The 1470-unit North Village overlay zone conversation included a long discussion on lot sizes finally resulting in a positive recommendation from the Commission.
Kohler explained how the overlay zone meets the general plan by clustering density and protects open lands from dispersed development. The code promotes village centers to include varying lot and house sizes, preventing strip commercial development and promoting work force housing.
“The guiding principles for the general plan in the North Village is mountain modern architecture, trails that connect parks and plazas. a concentration of hospitality uses and dark sky lighting. We are compliant with that.
Kohler says the development meets the requirements to create a center that connects with Utah Valley University. It includes retail, tech and hospitality amenities and student and workforce housing. Trailhead and transit connectivity, he says is, included.
Commissioner David Richards recommended approval of the North Village Overlay Zone.
“I move to recommend approval of the North Village Overlay presented in exhibit 2 with the following changes. First change is to amend the community design in exhibit, to adjust the district boundary to align with property lines on the city property. Change two address single family dwelling lots by adjusting setbacks or varying the setbacks in adjusting the single-family lot width. Three is the average four story height change. [for commercial] And four is to the nature preserve changes as presented by Tony tonight in our staff report.”
The motion was approved by the commission and moves on to Heber City Council for approval. A link to the details can be found here.
The Commission also addressed a parking text amendment in the public session, recommending a decrease in parking stall dimensions to meet industry standards. The presentation also addressed parking availability based upon business category. Public input was given by Dan Simmons who asked that more mitigation be used to prevent storm water pollutants from running into the Weber River.
Planning staff presented a name change to the Accessory Dwelling Unit or ADU, instead of Owner Occupied Accessory Apartment, along with other code text amendments. They recommend requiring only one parking stall instead of two. The text changes eliminate the minimum size requirements and make changes to the maximum size limits. A summary can be found here.
