Kane County Commission denies ordinance eliminating one acre lots on county land

Attendance was higher than average at the Com­mission Meeting on June 24. The public comment period was busy, mostly attended by citizens speak­ing on an ordinance on the agenda that would make minimum residential lot sizes in Kane County two acres. Said one, “It’s going to make those lots unafford­able for most people, when you’re dropping two, three hundred thousand dollars on just the price of land.” Another citizen added, “There’s two kinds of people that live here: people who aren’t from here, that have money, that want to live here and will come here re­gardless of what they have to do. The other category would be locals, I have a lot of friends in their teens, twenties and thirties who have conversations all the time … and none of them can afford to live here, faced with the fact they have to move out of town because they can’t afford houses. Moving to force people to buy even more land on two acres is moving the opposite direction.” Multiple subse­quent commenters added similar sentiments, with a few bringing letters from other citizens who could not attend. Lara Clayson, of the Kane County Plan­ning and Zoning Commis­sion also commented, “We have other areas that have utilized smaller lots, such as Church Wells and Bryce Woodlands … I believe that if those areas had not used smaller lots, they would not have been able to afford the infrastructure to be livable … I don’t think we should take away people’s free­doms to buy and develop property.”

After about thirty min­utes of public comment, the meeting moved into the overall agenda. Commis­sioner Meyeres commented that the consent agenda would have a higher than usual spending budget, as some one-time fees were coming out of the county this week.

The first item on the agenda in earnest was the recognition of Judge Gary Johnson, who is retiring after 27 years of service as a county justice court judge; his retirement party would be on the same day.

(L-R) Commissioner Patty Kubeja, Jeanine Johnson, Judge Gary Johnson, Commissioners Gwen Brown and Celeste Meyeres. Photo by Ty Gant.

Following Judge John­son’s recognition, County Land Use Authority Shan­non McBride stood to re­view some ordinance up­dates to bring the county into compliance with state code; the state specified that while the Land Use Authority can approve the broad range of land use and lot divide issues, some specifics were still required to be brought before the administrative body. Each item was reviewed and ap­proved by the commission.

The following item was a review of an ordinance re­vising Kane County’s Gen­eral Plan to add a water-use and conservation clause. The clause would provide information to the public and provide insight to the administrators on specific water needs in different areas around the county, as well as plans for public edu­cation and auditing. Mc­Bride and the Commission reaffirmed that changes to the water system in Kane County in no way affects the Great Salt Lake Basin. The commission approved unanimously.

The commission then considered the previously discussed ordinance which would eliminate one-acre residential zones on coun­ty land. Commissioner Brown, who sponsored the ordinance, stated, “I’ve been asked by a lot of people in the unincorporated area … a lot of people were up­set because they feel like there needs to be areas in the unincorporated area for people that want to live a more rural lifestyle … people have put their lifeblood into living in a rural area, then next door someone builds a subdivi­sion of one acre lots. Talking about more affordable housing, even the houses built on one acre lots, they’re still not affordable, it hasn’t made them any more affordable.” Brown also mentioned the increasing costs of services the county isn’t prepared to pay if more dense hous­ing was built. Said Commissioner Patty Kubeja, “I struggle with this one … two and a half years ago I would have said ‘Yeah, definitely,’ but being in office you see more about what the state is doing. The state more and more is get­ting involved, it’s not about stopping growth, what I struggle with is when you say ‘two acre minimum,’ the ship has sailed, they’ve allowed half acre lots. The county is diverse, if you say ‘all lots two acres,’ you have to consider how to meet the needs of everyone … it will, by making lot size bigger, drive the prices of houses up by making land costs go up. We need people to be able to come in and work and support Kane County.” Commissioner Celeste Meyeres said, “I feel it would be wrong to put our hand into the market and say, by reality, only the wealthiest people can afford a home in to­day’s market, and I feel that’s where we’re moving if we say mini­mum two acres, we’re saying only a very select few would be able to afford a home in the county and I’m not comfortable with that.” Commissioner Brown added, “I do want to say, I respect everybody, where ev­erybody’s coming from - that’s why I suggested the compromise of having a small per­centage of one acre lots within R2.” Mey­eres responded, “I am happy where it is now, the county has a wide variety of lots sizes just by the free mar­ket, we don’t need to interpose ourselves on that.” Commissioner Meyeres voted to deny the ordinance, Kubeja voted aye to the motion to deny, Brown voted nay to deny. The mo­tion to deny carried.

The following few items were land use “house cleaning” in the words of the com­missioners, generally adjustments to bring county code into com­pliance with state code, increasing property frontage and reducing requirements in split­ting minor unimproved lots, which passed unanimously.

The commission then considered the RFP and bid award for the Fire District Fea­sibility Study. The board awarded the bid to Matrix Consult­ing Group for a $50 thousand budget. The following item was an associated agreement between Kane County and Kanab City to cover the small por­tions of the county not yet covered by a fire protection SSD. The proposal as written connected fire service to compensatory con­siderations, such as water purchased from the city, which would allow fire responders to be safe from liabil­ity. The commissioners thanked Kanab City for their efforts in coming to this agree­ment. The motion to approve the proposal was made and passed unanimously.

Following a brief item appointing an indigent defender, an attorney who can de­fend individuals who cannot afford repre­sentation, the commis­sion then considered a motion de-annexing portions of the town of Alton to return certain parcels to within town borders. Motion passed unanimously.

The following item considered the coun­ty’s support of a senate motion which would prompt the sale of some of the nation’s public lands to private land­holders. Per Commis­sioner Meyeres, this land would not be al­lowed to be purchased by corporations, or for use as short term rentals, as the purpose of the bill is to allevi­ate the deficiency of affordable housing in the country and state. Said Meyeres, “It is my opinion that this provi­sion will protect local control and local land­owners. I don’t believe it contemplates using national park land or national monument land.” Commissioner Brown abstained “un­til [she] could get more information,” Meyeres and Kubeja voted aye.

Following brief leg­islative reports, the commission adjourned the meeting to make room for Judge John­son’s retirement party scheduled for the same room.