A new zone-change proposal could require most future homes in Lehi to be built on plots that are a minimum of 12,000 square feet.

The initial concept for the zone changes was presented by City Councilman Dee Ray Russon with the approval of the Planning and Zoning Commission at the most recent City Council meeting.The zone changes would not affect lots already within the city boundaries but will define the direction for the future growth of Lehi.

"It's going to weave into our Master Plan," Russon said. "We really need to design the city. If we don't plan our city, the developers will do it for us."

The R-1-12 zone will affect the growing areas of the city, including new subdivisions. In the concept proposal, Russon indicates the council believes the new zone matches well with the RA-1 zoning, which at 15,000 square feet is the next size lot for residential dwellings.

The R-1-8 zone, which allows 8,000-square-foot lots, will basically remain the same. But that zoning would be reserved to fill in existing vacant lots within the inner city. R-1-8 would not longer be authorized in new subdivisions of three units or larger.

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"We have several vacant lots in the city, about 1,000 at 8,000-square-foot size," Russon said. "We'd like to fill those in."

In the earlier homesteading days residents would build homes and have large garden plots next to the homes. Now many of those gardens are weeds and collect unsightly debris. The City Council hopes these changes will encourage new homebuilders looking for smaller lots to build in those vacant areas inside city limits.

Other zone changes would include removal, for a period of time, of the Planned Unit Development ordinance from the books; and modification of the GC-1 ordinance to allow several "permitted uses" and eliminate "conditional uses" except as approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council.

The City Council and Planning and Zoning are continuing to study the proposals and put them into ordinance form for final approval. A public hearing will also be held at a later date.

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