The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing and consider recommending changes to the City’s Subdivision Ordinance at its July 13th meeting. Sounds like an exciting topic, doesn’t it? Of course not! But it is. It contains two particularly important changes. One change addresses the City’s ability to control development. The other change gives the City some flexibility over water concerns.
Wrestling with the State
At a recent Planning Commission meeting City Manager Dale Coulam explained that the State has now eliminated the ability for cities to regulate many building design elements for one- and two-family homes. Ivins can still regulate design elements for townhomes, multifamily and commercial development. And HOAs can regulate design elements, including building color, in their CC&Rs.
Even so, this significantly interferes with cities’ ability to control their own destiny.
But Dale suggested a possible solution. He said the City could change the subdivision ordinance to require development agreements for all new subdivisions. That way the City could still control design requirements. Currently, development agreements are only required when a developer asks for a density bonus.
So, the Planning Commission will hold a public hearing and consider recommending a change to the Subdivision Ordinance at its July 13th meeting. The change Dale proposes would require all subdivision applications enter into a Development Agreement with the City. Among other things, the Development Agreement can require the development to follow current design guidelines.
Thanks to Dale’s creativity, this is a good solution to a bad problem that should never have happened. The State was wrong to take control away from cities. Ivins is not Santa Clara, or Hurricane, or Springdale. Each city has its own unique character. And that is a good thing. This would take control back from the State for most new development. And, significantly, Ivins is doing this quickly. We just lost control at the beginning of July, and we could get it back in a couple of weeks. Let’s hope the State does not try to fight this. Shame on them if they did.
Wrestling with Mother Nature
But wait, there’s more. The second change Dale proposes would include a disclaimer in these Development Agreements for all new subdivisions, saying, “…there may not be sufficient water to serve lots and/or phases in the future and that decision will be made at time of building permit application.”
Here is how I read this sentence. Often, developers come in with a concept plan long before they are ready to submit for their permit. I believe the City takes the position that it is bound to honor that project once the concept plan has been submitted and follow through by issuing a permit as long as the developer is not asking for anything special. But our water situation could change significantly between the initial concept plan and the final permit application. This gives the City flexibility to deal with whatever new information it has.
If the Planning Commission recommends approval of these changes, then hopefully this will be in front of the City Council in a couple of weeks and they will approve the changes. If so, even though this is just one small step on a large water issue, it is a step, so that along with taking back development control deserves a “Bravo Ivins!”
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