City Council members unanimously voted to deny a request to rezone almost 200 acres from agricultural to residential on Layton's west side, calling it speculative zoning.
The property, located west of the Denver and Rio Grande railroad tracks; east of 2200 West and south of Gentile Street, has about a half-dozen landowners.The rezone request was also modified from the original proposal because two property owners withdrew their land from the rezone request, dropping the acreage from a high of 233 acres.
"I can't see where this buys us anything," City Councilman Brent Allen said of the rezone. "We don't have a time frame. . . . The agricultural zone is a better holding zone than a residential one."
Allen was concerned over the lack of a plan by the landowners, but they maintained they didn't need a plan until they actually applied for a building permit.
City staff expressed concern over the rezone leading to uncontrolled growth in the area that the current infrastructure and utilities couldn't accommodate.
Councilman Jerry Stevenson said if about 30 acres at a time were rezoned to residential, that would work, but 200 acres was too much at once.
Ethel Adams, another council member, said she believed the proposal involved overzoning without a plan. She referred to a 1984 council action where all of Main Street was zoned commercial at once.
"The citizens suffered" after that blanket rezone, Adams said.
Ron Layton, one of the landowners, said he believes there is adequate utilities to serve the area now. He also said he found after talking to planners from other cities that his request meets all the necessary criteria. He believes someone in Layton simply doesn't want this particular rezone to take place.
"I think this is a good chance to get this started in an orderly fashion," involving multiple landowners, Layton said.
The Layton Planning Commission had also voted 3-1 to deny the rezone, saying it was not in the best interests of the area.