BOUNTIFUL — Approvals for new homes and subdivisions in the Bountiful foothills will not be granted this summer after the City Council and Planning Commission passed a six-month moratorium on foothill development Tuesday.
Homes have been creeping higher on the city's east bench, causing some residents to complain, City Manager Tom Hardy said. "The biggest complaint from our citizens is why we are allowing building so high on the foothills," he said. "They ask, 'Can't you stop development?' No, we can't. We can't have an absolute prohibition because of constitutional issues," he said.
The city does, however, have certain regulations for building in the hills, but, Hardy said, "Now people are saying we are granting too many exceptions."
Mayor Joe Johnson and Hardy expect the moratorium to be lifted far ahead of its six-month deadline, possibly after two or three months. During that time, the city will study its foothill ordinance and consider hanges. A public hearing will be held before any changes are adopted
"My guess is that within three months we'll have something wrapped up and it will go through the hearing process and people can come down to represent their interests at that time," Hardy said.
As it reads now, the city's foothill ordinance deems slopes of 30 percent or greater unusable; requires a minimum 5,000-square-foot pad be on a slope of less than 30 percent; that a house be no more than 500 feet from a street; that cuts and fills be limited to 10 feet; and that all subdivisions have two access streets.
Bountiful has only small parcels of privately owned land left that can be built on. The city owns a couple of sections of land above the "B," but it won't be developed because it is watershed, Hardy said. Most of the east bench is federally owned land managed by the Forest Service.
E-MAIL: lweist@desnews.com