Dan S. said...
Now that the Planning Commission has given us more time to study the two proposed zoning ordinances, it looks to me like Peterson doesn't need both of them to pass--he can probably get by with just one or the other. Since the SAOZ ordinance won't come before the PC again until its January work session, let's turn our attention at the other ordinance--the "mixed use" (MU) zone--which is now scheduled for a vote on December 6.
The first thing to note about the MU zone is that it is misnamed: there's nothing in the proposed ordinance that would actually required mixed use! The "allowed uses" section reads, in its entirety: The uses allowed in a MU zone established pursuant to this Chapter shall be those uses specified in an approved development agreement for the subject project. The uses shall not necessarily be limited to those uses otherwise allowed in the Ogden City Zoning Ordinance or otherwise allowed in any other MU Zone. In other words, you can put anything you like into such a zone--a sprawling residential subdivision, a Walmart, a hog farm, etc.
Moreover, the MU zone even allows developers to be exempted from requirements that apply throughout all zones: Development regulations and standards of general application, including all applicable requirements of the Sensitive Area Overlay Zone, shall apply to the MU Zone, unless specifically waived or varied in the development agreement. That unless clause could open the door to anything at all. It means that the MU zone is truly a no-zoning zone.
The only mitigating factor is that the City Council would still have the power to reject any particular proposal (development agreement) that would apply the MU zone to a particular piece of land. So passage of the MU zone ordinance wouldn't accomplish anything in and of itself. For this reason, it seems likely that the Planning Commission will consider the ordinance innocuous and go ahead and recommend that it be passed, and that the Council will even go ahead and pass it. But the very existence of this MU ordinance would be a constant invitation to developers to write their own rules. When those developers have the mayor on their side, and hence the city attorney as well, the Council will be under tremendous pressure to approve whatever development agreements are proposed.
Mark your calendars and plan to attend the PC meeting on December 6.
Comments -- Wednesday Night Planning Commission Press Write-ups.
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