Community Development Director Peter Barnes said at Monday’s Summit County Housing Authority meeting he didn’t expect the proposed rezoning process to become so controversial.
Some on the Summit County Council worry about making rezoning too easy.
Planners have proposed requiring less detail from developers up front when they’re asking to change what’s allowed on their land.
The new process would still require the county and a landowner to agree on building heights, density, layouts and other aspects of a project.
Should they get a rezone, and before they can build, developers would eventually still need to file the same detailed paperwork the Snyderville Basin development code currently requires at the outset.
Barnes hopes to address councilmember concerns at Wednesday’s meeting.
“In order to reassure the county council — the concern at the end of the last meeting was the county council [is] going to lose control — how do we make sure something happens?” Barnes told the housing authority. “The previous iteration of the code had an optional development agreement. This version that we have on the table today requires a development agreement.”
Development agreements are contracts between the county and a landowner.
Residents will get to weigh in on the proposed rezoning process at the Wednesday council meeting. Affordable housing groups plan to voice their support.
The Summit County Housing Authority voted to endorse the new rezoning process Monday, and it has a favorable recommendation from the Snyderville Basin Planning Commission.
The change would only affect the unincorporated Snyderville Basin, not any rezones within city limits or on the eastern side of Summit County.
The policy proposal accompanies Summit County’s efforts to negotiate a partnership with Columbus Pacific Development on the county-owned Cline Dahle property in Jeremy Ranch.
The two sides had plans to build affordable housing as well as a new fire station and recreation building.
But talks have stalled after the developer expressed concern in March about the financial risk the process involves.
For Barnes, part of the issue with rezones, in general, is they currently require more detail than other kinds of developments. And he said that granularity has more drawbacks than benefits, since it takes more time to revise them as the project evolves during the application process.
“Consequently, as the project moves through the Snyderville Basin Planning Commission and hopefully to county council, there's abortive work being done, repetitive, expensive work, reviews and re-reviews by staff,” he said. “Resources are being wasted. Time is being taken on everybody's part.”
When councilmembers last discussed the proposal July 29, their opinions on it varied.
Councilmember Roger Armstrong was one of those worried about relinquishing control over the final product of a rezone, and Councilmember Canice Harte said the process is “difficult for a reason.”
Councilmembers Megan McKenna and Chris Robinson were concerned the status quo stands in the way of the county reaching its affordable housing goals.
Wednesday's public hearing starts at 6 p.m.
Summit County is a financial supporter of KPCW.
