CITY OF SOUTH JORDAN

PLANNING COMISSION MEETING

COUNCIL CHAMBERS

 

May 26, 2009

 

Present:        Chairman Linda Auger, Commissioner Kevin Tominey, Commissioner Paul Pugmire, Commissioner Beverly Evans,  Commissioner David Wood, Community Development Director George Shaw, Assistant City Attorney Ryan Loose, Deputy City Engineer Jeremy Nielson, City Recorder Anna West.

 

Others:          Matt Ball, Ray Bassani, Joe Williams

 

 

6:30 P.M.

 

REGULAR MEETING

 

        

I.   GENERAL BUSINESS

 

A.     Welcome and Roll Call

 

Chairman Linda Auger welcomed everyone present.

 

B.     Motion to Approve Agenda

 

City Planner Greg Schindler said there is one change to the agenda. Item IV. C.1. has an incorrect file number. It should read File #CUP-2009.03.

 

Commissioner David Wood made a motion to approve the May 26, 2009 Planning Commission Agenda as amended by staff. Commissioner Beverly Evans seconded the motion. Vote was unanimous in favor.

 

C.    Approval of the Minutes from the Meeting held on May 12, 2009

 

Commissioner Beverly Evans made a motion to approve the May 12, 2009 Planning Commission meeting minutes as printed. Commissioner Kevin Tominey seconded the motion. Vote was unanimous in favor.

 

 

II.   INFORMATIONAL ITEMS AND OTHER BUSINESS

 

A.     CALENDARING ITEMS

 

City Planner Greg Schindler reminded the Commissioners of the Rural Conservation Development Open House on Wednesday, June 10th 6-8 p.m. and will be held at the Community Center. Planning staff will also be there.

 

Also, The General Plan Workshop #5 will be held on Wednesday, July 1st from 6-8 p.m. at the new Public Works building.

 

Commissioner Kevin Tominey asked about the schedule for the June 9th meeting. He said he may have to leave early that night.

 

Commissioner Paul Pugmire arrived at the meeting at this time.

 

B.     COMMENTS FROM PLANNING COMMISSION MEMBERS

 

None

 

C.     STAFF BUSINESS.

 

None

 

D.     NEW BUSINESS

 

None

 

III.   CITIZEN COMMENT

 

None

 

 

IV.   PUBLIC HEARINGS AND POTENTIAL **ADMINISTRATIVE ACTION ITEMS

                   **Administrative Action = Less Discretion, Substantial Evidence (Objective Standard)

 

A.1.      File # CUP-2009.10, Conditional Use Permit Application to permit an additional (third) pet on property located at 11666 South Gold Dust Drive, Christopher and Sharmila Lyons (applicants).

 

City Planner Greg Schindler reviewed the background information on this item. The applicant currently owns two German Shepherds that are between 12 and 24 months of age. They sleep in Mr. and Mrs. Lyon’s bedroom and spend most of their time inside the home. The back yard is completely fenced off by a chain link fence. One of the dogs has had serious health problems since January and the applicants would like to obtain a Conditional Use Permit for a third dog so they will have an option of getting the third dog in case the health of the sick dog worsens. German Shepherds typically grow up to 26 inches in height and will weight anywhere from 77-85 pounds. Their life expectancy is around 13 years. They have a large property 1.5 acres and their yard is fenced.  Staff recommends approval of the Conditional Use Permit with the following conditions pertaining to the third dog:

 

1)  That all outdoor areas accessed by dogs are to be kept in clean and sanitary condition

2)  The dog, if displaying aggressive behavior, will not be allowed to leave the property unless muzzled.

3)  If complaints are brought forward in regards to the proposed use, the Conditional Use Permit shall be revisited by the Planning Commission and reviewed for the possible amendment and/or revocation of the permit.

4)  That all South Jordan City Municipal Services, Public Safety, and Parks & Recreation Service Department requirements are met.

 

Chairman Linda Auger asked the applicant to come up and address the Commissioners.

 

Sharmila Lyons, 11666 S. Gold Dust Drive (applicant) – Tahoe is our older dog. He will be 2 years old at the end of June and he has been ill since January. Sierra turned a year old in March and the two of them are very close. The reason we made this application is our concern if something should happen to Tahoe, we would like to get another dog into the family so Sierra is not devastated by the loss of Tahoe. We don’t have any other animals on our property, just our dogs. She displayed pictures of the dogs on the overhead screen.

 

Chairman Linda Auger opened the Public Hearing to comments. There were none. She closed the public Hearing.

 

A.2.      Potential Action Item – (See IV. A.1.)

 

Commissioner Beverly Evans made a motion to approve File # CUP-2009.10, Conditional Use Permit Application to permit an additional (third) pet on property located at 11666 South Gold Dust Drive, Christopher and Sharmila Lyons (applicants), with the 4 conditions listed. Commissioner Kevin Tominey seconded the motion. Roll call vote was unanimous in favor.

           

      B.1.      File # CUP-2009.07, Conditional Use Permit Application to allow for an additional (third) pet on property located at 11649 South Gold Stone Drive, Lance and Christie Somerville (applicants).

 

City Planner Greg Schindler reviewed the background information on this item. The applicants have submitted an application for a Conditional Use Permit seeking approval to allow for a third dog on their property. The applicants have had two of the three dogs at their current residence for just over 5 years and were unaware of the City’s requirements regarding a third dog. They have had all three dogs at their residence since February 2008. One of the dogs is a Brittany weighing roughly 40 lbs. and the other two are Labradors weighing between 80 lbs and 90 lbs. each. According to the applicant, they primarily keep all three dogs in the house about 70 % of the time and when they are outdoors, they are either within a fenced area or on a leash. The property is under a quarter of an acre in size and is bordered to the north, west, and south by other similar residential development. Two of the three dogs are current with their licensing and other related vaccinations. It was not until an attempt was made to license the third dog that the applicants were informed of the need for a Conditional Use Permit for a third pet.

 

City Planner Schindler said we have had 4 calls from residents stating their opposition to the approval of the third dog and 1 email (Attachment A). The complaints are pretty much the same stating that when the dogs are out they are loose and not on a leash or in a fenced enclosure. They said one of the dogs did not seem to be very friendly toward the children in the neighborhood. He said the yellow lab was considered unfriendly. He said these complaints came in after we did the staff report, so originally we wrote staff recommends approval subject to the 4 conditions being met; however, if the approval is given we would recommend adding a fifth condition to fully fence the rear yard so there is no chance that they would get loose in the neighborhood.

 

Chairman Auger invited the applicant to come up to address the Commissioners.

 

Lance Somerville, 11649 South fold Stone Drive (Applicant) – said I was not aware that any of my neighbors had a problem with my dogs. We got our third dog Moose for our 4 year old son last year. He is about 15 months old. Our other dogs we have had for a long time. We have one dog that is 10 years old and she has medical problems. Our other dog is 5 years old. We were looking at fencing our yard but we just had twins, so that set us back a bit. We have five children and three dogs.

 

Chairman Auger said it looks like we have received calls that Moose is terrorizing the neighborhood. Mr. Somerville said yes, he did. We try to control that and now we keep him on a lead when he is out.

 

Chairman Auger asked Mr. Somerville how long he would need to get the fence installed. Mr. Somerville said he planned on having it in by end of Summer.

 

Chairman Auger opened the Public Hearing to comments. There were none. She closed the Public Hearing.

 

Chairman Auger asked City Planner Schindler how much time they were allowing the applicant to get the back yard fenced.

 

City Planner Schindler said we do recommend that a time frame be put on this, but that is up to the Planning Commission. We would make sure that it was done as one of the conditions to be met.

 

Chairman Auger asked City Planner Schindler, if we approve this with the conditions and if they don’t meet all of the conditions listed, then can we pull the Conditional Use Permit?

 

Assistant City Attorney Ryan Loose said lets think about the theory of Conditional Uses. Before you start a use, we put the condition on it so that the detrimental affect, whatever that is that the condition is designed to mitigate, stops that detrimental affect from happening. If we have a use already going on, I would suggest a time frame to be met. If there really is a detrimental affect that needs to be mitigated, that is clearly identified, then the time frame should be short. The purpose is to not subject the neighbors and others to the detrimental affect; that is why they are conditional and not permitted uses. Any time you have done a Conditional Use and the Conditions are not being met, you can re-hear or remove the Conditional Use Permit.

 

Chairman Auger asked City Planner Schindler if there were any complaints prior to the notification of the neighbors.

 

City Planner Schindler said not that I know of. The complaints do not go through our department, so I would not be aware of them. The four calls that we did get, they all said the reason they called was because they could not attend the meeting tonight.

 

Commissioner Tominey asked if the callers were anonymous. City Planner Schindler said no; we have the names of all callers.

 

Commissioner Evans asked for clarification if we were to approve this on a conditional permit, and we do get complaints from neighbors, then what would the process be to re-visit this.

 

Assistant City Attorney Loose said where the third dog is already there and you are trying to ratify that decision, you could set a timeline for the fence. If by that timeline date there is not a fence, then they no longer meet the conditions of their use.

 

Commissioner Evans asked what happens if there are complaints, having known that there are three dogs when we approved it; is there any recourse that we can take if there are problems in the neighborhood.

 

Assistant City Attorney Loose said, if the conditions that you set to mitigate the complaints of the dogs is to put up a fence, then you have identified the detrimental affect that the dogs running around bothering people and the mitigating condition is a fence, then that is the condition that they have to comply with in the timeline that you give them.

 

Commissioner Wood asked if the complaints were because the dogs were loose or noisy. City Planner Schindler said it was because they were loose. We did not get any complaints about noisy dogs.

 

Commissioner Paul Pugmire asked Assistant City Attorney Loose if we can make a compliance with an existing statute a condition.

 

Assistant City Attorney Loose said yes, but it depends. From the standpoint from making compliance with criminal ordinances and criminal code a condition, you can do that with land but it would be holding them to a higher standard. Basically you need to identify the detrimental affect.

 

B.2.      Potential Action Item – (See IV. B.1.)

 

Commissioner Beverly Evans made a motion to approve File # CUP-2009.07, Conditional Use Permit Application to allow for an additional (third) pet on property located at 11649 South Gold Stone Drive, Lance and Christie Somerville (applicants), with the 4 conditions listed and adding a 5th condition, requiring that the rear yard be fully fenced by August 30, 2009 (90 days). Commissioner Paul Pugmire seconded the motion. Roll Call Vote was unanimous in favor.

 

Assistant City Attorney Loose said it might be appropriate to ask the applicant if the time frame of 90 days is achievable.

 

Commissioner Tominey said I would like to make a comment to the applicant. He said I don’t mean to lecture you, but if you have 5 kids and two of them are twins and you have three dogs, you are in over your head. The problem with this is it is a Conditional Use; that means we can not turn you down so long as we can mitigate it. The mitigating is the fence. We are making you put up a fence, which I am gambling that you don’t have the money to do right off. Nevertheless, you have got to somehow make it happen. You need to be a responsible neighbor.

 

Commissioner Evans asked Mr. Somerville if August 30th is a realistic date to get the fence in.

 

Mr. Somerville said yes.

 

Commissioner David Wood said in comment to Commissioner Pugmire’s comment about the dogs being on a leash, during this interim period where there is not a fence, the animals really should be subject to the leash law. If they are out in the neighborhood, they should be on a leash. All residents have the right to feel secure.

 

C.1.     File # CUP-2009.03, Conditional Use Permit Application to allow for artificial turf on property located at 4222 West White Birch Road, Joseph Williams, (applicant).

 

City Planner Greg Schindler reviewed the background information on this item. Joseph Williams has submitted a Conditional Use Permit application seeking approval to install artificial turf at his residence. Section 17.40.160 of the City’s R-3 Zoning Ordinance states:
“The front and street side yards of single-family lots shall be landscaped and properly maintained with lawn or other acceptable plant material unless otherwise approved with a conditional use permit.” The City’s Code Enforcement contacted Mr. Williams and informed him of the City Ordinance and the need to contact the City concerning the proposed product.

 

Staff has researched many of the pros and cons concerning artificial turf products generally used in residential applications including the specific product that Mr. Williams is proposing to install at his residence. Although, staff has discovered some information, there are still a lot of unanswered questions concerning the proposed product. We have listed some of the findings and concerns encountered with artificial turf as follows:

 

1)   At this time, both staff and the applicant have been unable to locate any CC & R’s recorded at the County or with the original developer (Perry Homes) that would either allow or further restrict, beyond the City’s Ordinance, the use of artificial turf within the Oquirrh Park Subdivision.

2)   The City has made steps within the recent past to promote water conservation through water efficient landscaping.

3)   The front yard of the house, where the artificial turf is proposed is South facing.

4)   Artificial turf is generally marketed with the following notions or philosophies: No watering, fertilizing or aeration. It is also suggested that artificial turf is low maintenance and environmentally safe.

5)   Based on research, staff has encountered the following concerns and unresolved questions relating to artificial turf:

·         There may be excessive heat generated from the product

·         There may be health concerns associated with artificial turf with a rubber base

·         The warranty does not extend to the expected lifespan of product (product life span is 10 to 15 years and a warranty is for 5 to 10 years).

·         There is a probability of fumes or chemicals may be omitted during a possible house fire.

·         There is a probability of mildew, mold, and algae that may create health concerns due to the lack of proper drainage.

·         The warranty may be made void due to improper maintenance.

·         Manufacturer going bankrupt, who then would guarantee the product?

·         Ingestion by humans and animals such as birds or household pets.

6)      Staff has discovered other artificial products that use a fabric material as part of the base instead of a rubber base as proposed by the applicant.

7)      A fabric material is commonly used below flower beds as a weed barrier which also allows for better draining. Unlike the rubber base material proposed by the applicant.

8)      Plant materials, including natural grass help absorb heat, filter storm water, recharge aquifers and bio-degrade air pollutants. There is a concern that artificial turf may do the opposite.

 

Staff’s recommendation is that you approve the Conditional Use Permit with the 7 conditions listed in the staff report.

 

Chairman Auger asked the applicant to come up and address the Commissioners.

 

Joseph Williams, 4222 W. White Birch Road – I see the recommendation of the fabric based artificial turf and I looked into a fabric based artificial turf. I am actually a dealer for this turf I am proposing to use. I did not realize that there were restrictions of installing this. I also own a daycare and one of the things they put in the playground is a fabric weed barrier that they put underneath. Fabric barriers have been restricted due to the mold and mildew that accumulates from the water soaking into the fiber barrier and staying wet. I have also purchased the rubber based turf that I will use. I have a hotel that I have put the rubber-based turf in and there is 60,000 sq. ft. of roof that drains onto the turf and it drains into the ground. I live out of town and that is one reason that I wanted to put this in. I am only here every other weekend. I don’t have a lot of time to spend weeding or doing yard work. I would hate for my yard to look ugly; that is one of the reasons that I want to install this turf.

 

Commissioner Evans asked the applicant if he has already installed the artificial turf.

 

Mr. Williams said no, it is not installed. Code Enforcement came while I was working on it and I just stopped working on it.

 

Chairman Auger asked Mr. Williams if he lives here in South Jordan. He said he actually lives in Wendover, but owns a house here in South Jordan. Our children live in Daybreak, so we come in as often as we can.

 

Commissioner Pugmire asked Mr. Williams if he has seen the staff report and is he familiar with all of the findings and does he have answers to all of the things that staff has listed.

 

Mr. Williams said yes, I have answers for all of it.

 

City Planner Schindler said I want to clarify that Planner Sanderson pulled these questions and information from the internet. We have determined that some of them probably didn’t pertain to this particular application.

 

Commissioner Pugmire asked the applicant why he would choose this to install for the amount of money he will be spending on it as opposed to actual grass. If the issue is maintenance, then why not hire a maintenance company to maintain the yard in your absence or install xeriscaping.

 

Mr. Williams said I just didn’t realize there would be as much opposition as there is. When I made my application here at City Hall they commented at what wonderful stuff this was.

 

Commissioner Wood said the life span of this is relatively long; does it degrade after so long?

 

Mr. Williams said I have some of this installed at Montego Bay, the casino in Wendover, and it has been there for 6 years. It doesn’t look a bit different than the day it was installed. There is some also installed in Las Vegas that has been there longer than that. Liabilities are a great concern for Casino’s so they would not have installed something that they thought would be a liability to them.

 

Chairman Auger opened the Public Hearing to comments.

 

Ray Bassani, 10353 S. White Birch Circle – I live six or seven houses down from the proposed home. I did send a letter to the City Planner voicing my concerns back in April. I come from the perspective of the neighborhood where this astro-turf is being proposed. I don’t know if other neighbors have written with their comments to the city, but I have talked to a number of individuals and it is pretty unanimous that no one likes the astro-turf being in the area. It is being viewed as being unsightly; it looks cheap and is totally out of character with the rest of the neighborhood. People that live in the neighborhood have spent upwards of half a million dollars on their homes and by allowing astro-turf in the area it would detract from the value of these homes. This material is better suited for a campsite or a trailer park. South Jordan has some very strict codes and once the codes are compromised the area will begin to deteriorate. If you approve this permit, you will be opening up a Pandora’s box for a lot of people to follow. I know that the Planners have done their best to find some middle ground on this, but I don’t think that the middle ground is what’s best for this neighborhood. I have read section 17.84 of the Municipal Code and my understanding is it is fairly clear that an application can be denied if certain conditions are triggered. Item number 2 specifically says “if the use negatively affects property values, it should be denied.”  I think that this type of addition to the neighborhood would affect the resale values of people’s homes. It also says that if the proposed use is a nuisance, you should deny it and astro-turf is so out of character with the neighborhood, I think is would be deemed a nuisance. Lastly, item number 4 says if the use is incompatible or architecturally inconsistent with the neighborhood, that the Conditional Use Permit should be denied.

 

Jack Sanford, 10282 S. Chestnut View Ct. – the letter that we received as notification did not have any of the photographs, so I don’t have the benefit of seeing what Montego Bay looks like or what percentage of Mr. Williams’ front yard will be covered with this. If you turn the clock back 15 years and look at xeriscaping as we know it now, most neighborhoods would have refused it. I have been by Mr. William’s house and comment that if it looks natural when you are driving by, the only way someone would know is to get out of their car and actually look at it up close. The only impact visually is if it looks out of place. I pulled six tons of rock from my yard to level it for top soil. South Jordan is notoriously difficult to grow anything on without spending a lot of money on water and fertilizer. I am not sure what is more unsightly, green artificial grass or yellow lawns, weeds etc.  I think it warrants at least looking at from the aesthetics. I would like to see what his proposed yard is going to look like percentage wise with the astro-turf, to xeriscaping, to trees. I think looking ahead 5 to 10 years where water conservation is concerned; we may be in a worse water shortage than we are in now. He said right now Perry Homes lets the weeds grow past Code, so Code Enforcement is not doing their part to maintain our property values with the spec homes and empty lots that they have in the area. I applaud Mr. Williams for thinking of ways that he can keep his yard looking presentable for the rest of us when he is only there on the weekends.

 

Matt Ball, 10372 Weeping birch – I am curious about the report that has been mentioned. I would like to get a copy of it if I can.

 

Chairman Auger closed the Public Hearing.

 

Commissioner Pugmire said he would like to know if the holes in the back of the product are designed to let the water percolate into the ground.

 

Mr. Williams said yes. I have 60,000 sq. ft. of hotel roof draining onto 14 feet wide of turf around the perimeter of the yard. There is a swimming pool to one side and if it ran off then it would run into the pool.

 

Commissioner Pugmire said I am concerned about assuring that water is seeping into the ground as nature intended it to.

 

Commissioner Wood asked, how do you install this product so that you don’t get folding, creasing and movement of this.

 

Mr. Williams said you put 10 lbs of sand on top of the turf for every square foot of turf installed. I put a border around the perimeter to hold it in place.

 

Commissioner Tominey asked what the composition of the backing material is.

 

Mr. Williams said I don’t know the exact composition. I know that it has an anti-microbial material that is built into it. I have had no algae, mold or mildew underneath.

 

Commissioner Tominey asked if it is original or post consumer material used.

Mr. Williams said it is a post consumer material. The fibers themselves are attached to the pre-backing in China, then it is brought back here to a carpet mill in Georgia where the rubber backing is placed on it. The backing material is about 60% post consumer material. He said there are two houses in Wendover that have this type of turf, not this quality, but they have a putting green surface and they have three dogs. The turf there was installed about three years ago.

 

Commissioner Evans said the picture that we have here seems to show a lot more than 50% of your front yard that you want to do.

 

City Planner Schindler said we would like the applicant to submit a scaled landscape design plan to be reviewed and approved by staff. The plans currently show the artificial turf as a secondary sub-ordinate product with less than 50% of the soft area.

 

Mr. Williams said I just got this notice a couple days ago. I have not had time to draw up a plan yet. I did not realize that there was an ordinance that you had to put in a plan until I received this notice from them.

 

Commissioner Tominey said I am guessing that there are different grades of this material; please educate me on what we are looking at here.

 

Mr. Williams said the product I am proposing is the top of the line of the waterless grass. This product is the very best that they make. I researched several companies before I came to choose this one. I invested money to become a dealer with this product. This has been used on some high school fields in Las Vegas.

 

Commissioner Evans asked what the warranty is on this product and what do you plan on doing when the warranty expires.

 

Mr. Williams said the warranty covers 5 years. This same product is installed at Montego Bay and has been there for over 6 years and it does not look a bit different than when it was first installed. I have samples that I have laid on there just to check to see if it has changed. If I ended up having to replace this after the warranty was up and it needed to be replaced, I would use regular grass.

 

Commissioner Evans said I am concerned about the maintenance of this. I spent a lot of time in Arizona where they had a lot of this in trailer parks. After a couple of years the dirt and leaves make it look terrible.

 

Chairman Auger said I have a question for staff on this. How are you going to get the plan that shows you what he intends to do and to assure that it is only 50% or less of his front yard.

 

City Planner Schindler said we are recommending that you approve a landscape that does not have the product on more than 50% of his front yard. If you approve it that way and he doesn’t want to do it then basically he would appeal your decision with City Council to approve his landscape plan.

 

Chairman Auger asked Planner Schindler if we can ask him to submit a new plan. He keeps talking about Montego Bay and it would be nice to see it so we could decide how well this is going to hold up.

 

Assistant City Attorney Loose said you need to identify the detrimental affect and then look at what would mitigate it.

 

Chairman Auger said then let’s look at conditional use number 3 where it talks about odors, fumes, dust and other negative affects to the community in general.

 

Assistant City Attorney Loose said it really comes down to the detrimental affect and if you can find findings.

 

Chairman Auger said it also says here that the proposed use is found to be incompatible architecturally inconsistent with neighboring uses. To me there are just too many loose ends on this. It is not compatible with the rest of the neighborhood architecturally because everyone else has natural grass.

 

Commissioner Evans said I think there are some real detrimental affects here. I think it is inconsistent with the neighborhood, the property values would be very questionable and I think it would definitely impact the neighborhood. I think there are some health issues, maintenance issues and a very high probability with the rubber base that you are going to have mildew and algae. I think 100% or even 50% coverage is so inconsistent and I would be very concerned about drainage issues.

 

Chairman Auger asked Mr. Williams to return to the podium.

 

Mr. Williams said you misunderstood me when I said I wanted to put 100 % in. My wife wants to put in flowers and trees.

 

Chairman Auger said there is no one to maintain it if you put regular grass in and if you put in flowers, then who will maintain them?

 

Mr. Williams said my wife said she will take care of all of that on weekends. I put in a backflow preventer and hooked into the secondary water supply to be able to put in landscaping, flowers and trees. I would like to have trees, I just don’t want them in the parkstrip where they would break up the sidewalk.

 

Commissioner Wood said I don’t have the level of concern that some of my colleagues are expressing. I think it is probably a pretty good idea. I think when you look at this yard compared to the other ones it is going to look very favorable. I suspect that when you are driving down that street and you look at the yards, you would not know one is artificial. By the time you take a look at some of the other things that we put in our yards in the way of fertilizers and insecticides, the issue about public health is not going to be a problem.

 

Commissioner Pugmire asked Assistant City Attorney Loose if he installs this artificial turf that he has already purchased and he said will drain just fine, if we find that it doesn’t drain after the fact can we have him take it out.

Assistant City Attorney Loose said you would need to specifically address drainage in your conditions to be met. If there was an excessive amount of sand in the storm drains just down from his house, then that would certainly be an indication and a reason that the Planning Commission could pull it back and say it is not draining properly.

 

Commissioner Pugmire said I think the way in which the state of Utah in its jurisdictions and its people manage water in the future will become one of the most difficult and most pressing and most important issues that we will face and it is going to come sooner, not later. One of the City policies of South Jordan that we will regret the most is the irrigation we do with potable water. I want to see us doing things to address this issue. Has the City ever considered this kind of thing as an experiment to answer all of these questions that come up but away from neighborhoods that have an architectural standard. Right now I don’t think that our ordinances are caught up with this proposal.

 

City Planner Schindler said I don’t think that we have for exterior uses. I think we have at least one commercial application at the Lifetime Fitness. Our recreation center has it on the interior.

 

Assistant City Attorney Loose said I do know if the City Parks have experimented with it or researched it at length, but I know for outdoor use there has been investigation with it.

 

Commissioner Pugmire said I would like to see us get some experience with this. Managing the water that we put on our lawns is becoming a bigger and bigger problem.

 

Commissioner Tominey said I could go either way on this. I am a little concerned about it because it is so new that there are so many unanswered questions. I think the neighbors have obvious concerns and I would have a concern with it. The problem is, you just don’t know until its there. Five or ten years from now we would look back and say yes, that was a good idea or man that was the worst idea. I would love to see it put into xeriscape. The bottom line is it is his property and so long as its not a massive intrusion on his neighbors, I think he has a reasonable expectation to be able to do what he would like to do on his own ground.

 

Commissioner Pugmire asked if this could be sent to the Architectural Review Committee.

 

City Planner Schindler said no. They review only architectural issues, not landscaping.

 

 

C.2.     Potential Action Item – (See IV. C.1.)

           

Commissioner Pugmire made a motion to approve File # CUP-2009.03, Conditional Use Permit Application to allow for artificial turf on property located at 4222 West White Birch Road, Joseph Williams, (applicant), with condition number 1 being amended to read “That a high quality artificial turf (product purchased and owned by the applicant), be installed with sufficient surface compaction that will allow proper drainage into the ground.” Commissioner Wood seconded the motion. Roll Call Vote was 3-2 in favor, with Commissioner Auger and Commissioner Evans voting against.

 

Commissioner Pugmire directed comment to staff – “let this warn us, our ordinance is not prepared to deal with this and we need to catch up to it.”

 

V.   PUBLIC HEARINGS AND POTENTIAL *LEGISLATIVE ACTION ITEMS

                        *Legislative Action = More Discretion, Reasonably Debatable (Subjective Standard)

 

            None

 

VI.  OTHER BUSINESS

 

            None

 

Commissioner Evans motioned to adjourn. Commissioner Pugmire seconded the motion. Motion was unanimous in favor.

 

The May 26, 2009 Planning Commission Meeting adjourned at 8:05 p.m.

 

ADJOURNMENT

 

 

 

This is a true and correct copy of the May 26, 2009 Planning Commission meeting minutes, which were approved on June 9, 2009.

                                               

South Jordan City Recorder