UTAH COUNTY GENERAL PLAN
CHAPTER 5: LAND USE ELEMENT
The word “planning,” when used by a city or county government, means the process of logically arranging physical development, both public and private, to coordinate residential, commercial, industrial development, agriculture and open space, with the essential supportive public facilities and services. To initiate planning within its jurisdiction, a local government customarily prepares and adopts a general plan having various elements mandated by state government and additional elements selected by the jurisdiction, to provide for the management of long-range growth and development.
Municipalities
In preparing the Utah County Land Use Plan, notice was taken of the existing and permitted land uses in the twenty-four incorporated municipalities within the county.
A county is distinct from a city in that it does not actually have the function, as a city does, to accommodate the complete spectrum of activities available to those who reside within it. Municipalities are created to provide urban governmental services essential for urban development and for the protection of public health, safety, and welfare. Counties are recognized as legal subdivisions of the State and thereby function in a supportive role to the incorporated urban places rather than competing with them for control of industrial sites, shopping centers, and residential growth. Counties exist to fill the governmental void that would otherwise exist in the territory lying between cities and towns.
In their role as subdivisions of state government, counties collect the property tax for the state, the school districts, and the cities, as well as act as custodians over court, land, marriage, and other important public records. On the other hand, it is inappropriate for a county to imitate municipal governments by zoning for a full range of urban land uses, with the resulting responsibility of providing a matched set of urban services.
Land uses excluded from the county land use ordinance and the land use element of the general plan, in unincorporated Utah County, were not intended to be exclusions from county residents, but were found to be properly provided for in the incorporated municipalities for those living in both county and city. Those uses of land recommended for inclusion in the land use ordinance of the unincorporated area are the uses deemed valid for a non-urban, unincorporated setting.
Preparing the land use element plan
In the process of determining what uses of land to include in the land use plan of the unincorporated area of Utah County, it is necessary to take into account the historical use of the land, the changing economic conditions, geographic and geologic features, transportation routes, slope and vegetation, and population. Reviewing these categories, along with the annexation policies of each jurisdiction, land ownership and other specific land area studies, a planning matrix can be achieved to indicate those areas best suited for future changes to the land use pattern or areas to be maintained with little or limited change.
Agriculture as a land use
Because good, level agricultural soil is equally suitable for industrial, residential, and commercial development, the future of agriculture on the valley floor of Utah County is tentative. The decrease in minimum lot size from forty acres to five acres for a dwelling in the agricultural zone has also contributed to larger ranches and farm tracts being broken into smaller parcels which become less productive as an agricultural unit. Agricultural land has provided a local market of fresh fruit, vegetables, eggs and meat, and continues to provide an attractive landscape for recreation, hunting and visual ruralness.
Unfortunately, the high value placed upon Utah County agriculture for aesthetic reasons is the very thing which threatens the continuation of farming in this area. From the detached vantage point of the urban county resident, the farmland is a magnet that lures residents to resettle amidst the cattle and cornfields. After moving into the agricultural areas, the non-farmer’s annoyance at odors, pesticides, dust, pre-dawn tractor and sprayer noise, and run-away irrigation water, creates conflict. The agriculture protection area afforded by state code may provide the protection needed by the farmer for urban encroachment into the production farm areas.
Housing as a land use
Residential districts shown on the land use element map are those most suitable for residential use, including the commercial and governmental activities that support such use. Each zone district permits single-family dwellings that meets the minimum area, frontage and width required within each zone. Areas designated as residential on the land use element map are those areas that could be developed for residential use with water systems, sewer systems, and road access, with the support of adjacent municipal services or abutting existing outlying water and/or sewage systems.
Utah County’s preference for the location of residential development is, first in the established municipalities, second in areas adjacent to those municipalities which are included within an annexation boundary of a municipality, third in unincorporated communities with central water systems and existing dense settlement, fourth in unincorporated communities with existing dense settlement and some services (except a central water system), and last, new communities in areas where the developer pays the cost of installation of services. It is the policy of Utah County, by resolution, that new unincorporated communities, and existing dense settlements in the unincorporated county, proceed toward incorporation as a town as soon as the minimum population to do so is achieved.
When an application to amend the general plan to a residential designation is submitted, a soil report and soil feasibility study on the use of septic systems for the development or amendment should be submitted by the owner/developer based on existing soil studies that have been provided by the Soil Conservation Service or studies completed by a recognized soil engineer.
Commerce as a land use
The central business district is the beginning point from which city utilities and services extend outward into the community; the best roads, largest water lines, and major police and fire-fighting equipment are usually located in this area. The large proportion of the community’s taxes collected from the central business district is paralleled by the high level of government services provided in the downtown area.
Nearly every resident of unincorporated Utah County lives within three miles of one of the several municipal commercial business districts in the county. It is proposed that no new commercial zones be established in the unincorporated area, except: (1) commercial areas in remote, well-spaced locations along state highways for the convenience of the traveling public; (2) in populated unincorporated neighborhood areas to provide convenient commercial uses for the residents of these areas; and (3) within platted recreational resort developments.
Industry as a land use
Industry is a term which is applied to a wide variety of economic activities and land uses, and is essential to most communities as a source of jobs and tax revenue. Most industries need good highway access, water and sewer availability, level ground with moderate to heavy load bearing capacity and adequate heating and electrical utilities that exist or are readily available. State adopted and county mandated building codes and fire safety codes limit the type of structures and uses available in the unincorporated county industrial zones when no water supply system is available for the required fire flow. Existing and new industrial zones have not developed in the county due to this lack of infrastructure to meet minimum code requirements.
Many industrial uses are sufficiently offensive that they cannot be located in municipal industrial areas. Other industrial activities, such as mineral reduction or processing plants, need to be located near the site of their associated natural resource extraction operation. In such cases, industrial zones in the unincorporated area may be created. It is recommended that industrial uses not be allowed in the commercial, residential or agricultural zones; or that nonindustrial uses be allowed in the zone designated for specific industrial activities.
Lands used for watersheds
The most fundamental land use in the arid west is watershed use which provides the essential water for agriculture, residential and all other land uses. Any damage to watershed areas should be rehabilitated, and the critical mountain areas should be managed for flood and fire protection, water conservation and erosion prevention. Valley infiltration areas that recharge the ground water supplies should also be protected from development, pollution, excavation, and surface covering that would reduce infiltration.
Since the valley floor areas contribute to the water table, the disposal of human and industrial waste into the soil should be minimized by the utilization of sewage treatment facilities whenever possible. Storm water runoff from development should be required to be disposed of on-site to increase the water table recharge, unless a storm drain or surface drain that is controlled by an agency or jurisdiction is available that would allow for the increase of water runoff to an acceptable body of water or sump.
Public utilities
Public streets, parks, or any public way, ground, place or space, publicly owned buildings or structures, and publicly or privately owned utilities are necessary for the continued growth and development within Utah County and within the state. All land use designations and zone map designations should provide for the location of these public uses.
General Plan, Land Use Element Plan
Watershed area Lands in the unincorporated area of Utah County that are classified within the CE-1, Critical Environment Zone, typify the canyon and mountain areas of Utah County. The majority of the water necessary for culinary use, irrigation, recreation, natural vegetation and wildlife, is initiated from these CE-1 zoned areas. This is accomplished from winter snow accumulation and absorption of rainfall. Any request to diminish this watershed area by changing this zone designation, should be accompanied by an engineered soil study and report which would indicate the mitigation of the watershed land area being converted to an alternative land use and the ability of the watershed soils to accept in-ground septic systems without incurring pollution to this critical water storage area.
Agriculture area This designation includes those areas within the M&G-1, Mining and Grazing Zone, A-40, Exclusive Agriculture Zone and RA-5, Residential Agricultural Zone. These areas are zoned for land uses relating to the grazing and pasturing of livestock, mining, production agriculture operations and low density residential development. Historically, the previous RA-1 Zone, and the A-1 Zone, and the current RA-5 Zone, have been those areas related to irrigated agriculture. Any additional conversion of land to the RA-5 Zone should include evidence of an existing irrigation system with irrigated crops, orchard or pasture in production; and not a proposal to do so in the future if the zone map change is approved. Conversion of the RA-5 Zone to the A-40 Zone is encouraged in this agriculture area.
Residential area Land that is within the classification of the CE-2, Critical Environment Zone, RR-5, Rural Residential Zone and TR-5, Transitional Residential Zone, are considered residential. These three zones have been developed residentially in recreational canyon areas, adjacent to municipal boundaries for future annexation and in unincorporated areas where some utilities exist or have been constructed by the developer. New areas of residential designation should not be approved except for the expansion of existing residential zones when roads, central sewer systems, topography, central water systems and fire protection indicate that such expansion is feasible.
Commercial area These are areas in unincorporated Utah County that are classified within the NC-1, Neighborhood Commercial Zone or the HS-1, Highway Service Zone. As municipalities expand their boundaries into the rural portion of the county, the need for neighborhood commercial activity decreases. Most residents in the unincorporated area of the county are only minutes from city commercial shops and services. Existing neighborhood commercial areas should be maintained only until they no longer serve the population in the surrounding area. New neighborhood commercial areas should not be established unless the need is required by increased unincorporated population or as part of an approved recreational resort development.
Highway Service commercial areas aid the traveling public. Any expansion of the existing HS-1 zoned areas or proposals for creating new areas along state roads and highways should be in conjunction with economic data indicating the need for the expansion or the new location and the cost to Utah County to provide the mandated fire and life safety services. The improvements to vehicular travel by automobile and commercial trucking has reduced the necessity for frequent stops between urbanized areas, which decreases the demand for new highway commercial services in the rural parts of the county.
Manufacture area Land that is classified within the I-1, Industrial Zone. Existing industrial areas that do not have access to a municipal or private sewage system or water delivery system for fire suppression should be reviewed and, where appropriate, eliminated. Any new manufacturing area should be approved only if sufficient utilities are available to support the industrial use and annexation into a municipality is not currently possible. As with commercial areas, the municipalities are relied upon to provide the majority of the manufacturing since they also are able to provide the required infrastructure.
General Plan, Land Use Element Map
The Utah County General Plan, Land Use Element Map, illustrates the five areas of the Utah County General Plan, Land Use Element Plan. This land use plan and land use map, along with the goals, objectives and policies element; the moderate income housing element; the transportation and traffic circulation element; and the environmental element; make up the advisory guidelines for the comprehensive development and long-range land use planning for the unincorporated lands of Utah County, Utah.
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