Town of Daniel
Planning Commission Minutes
May 20, 2009
Wasatch County Services building
Room 132
55 South 500 East
Heber City, Utah
7:00 PM
Quorum present: Commissioners Lynn Crisler, Barry Hobbs, Kim Norris, and Gary
Weight. Excused were Chairman Eric Bunker and Commissioners Diane Grose and Ed
Pressgrove. Recorder Merry Duggin was present to record the minutes.
Members of the public signing as being in attendance: Lorie Hobbs, Chip Turner,
Barbara Callister, Connie Kiser, and Nathan Kiser. Ryan Taylor of Epic Engineering was
also present.
Commissioner Gary Weight as acting Chairman called the meeting to order at
7:06 PM.
There were no public comments.
1) Callister Subdivision
Nathan Kiser, Connie Kiser and Barbara Callister were present to discuss their
subdivision request with the Commission. The 20.5 acre property is currently divided
into 2 lots with 2 homes already constructed and accessed from Crazy Acres Road. The
applicants would like to subdivide the property into 3 lots to accommodate a third home
to be constructed.
Ryan Taylor of Epic Engineering proposed that a small scale subdivision would
suit their purposes. Commissioner Hobbs asked about the requirements for a small scale
subdivision. Mr. Taylor responded that the requirements in the RA 5 zone require that
the lots be a minimum of 5 acres, and in this case the three lots would all be well above
this minimum. The lots require a 250 foot frontage as measured at set back, but in this
case one lot is shy of the requirement for frontage by approximately 6 feet.
Mr. Nathan Kiser noted that there is a boundary dispute with a neighbor due to an
overlap in the legal descriptions of the respective deeds. This frontage requirement could
be remedied if the dispute is settled between the neighbors.
Commissioner Hobbs asked the Callisters if they had considered a cul de sac
access which could provide the required frontage and allow the families to use their
property more effectively.
Mr. Kiser responded that the survey, engineering, and road construction expense
would be prohibitive. Mrs. Kiser responded that she didn’t see the benefit of a cul de sac
since 2 houses are already constructed with access from Crazy Acres Road, and all they
now require is to build another house also with access from the same road.
Commissioner Norris moved that the Callister application be continued with the
requirement that the Callister’s supply the additional information recommended by the
Epic Engineering staff report. (This is referring to items 1 through 5 in the attached
Staff Report.) The motion was seconded by Mr. Crisler. (Commissioner Weight called
for a vote and reminded the Commission that since only 4 Commissioners were present,
the vote must be a unanimous one in order to pass. As the acting Chair, Commissioner
Weight would vote only in the instance that the other 3 commissioners voted
unanimously.) Mr. Crisler and Mr. Norris voted aye, but Mr. Hobbs voted nay. The
motion was defeated.
Discussion among the Commissioners continued. Commissioner Weight noted
that the only noncompliance of the proposed subdivision is the frontage requirement.
Everyone agreed that it would be good to resolve the boundary dispute which could
address the frontage problem. Commissioner Hobbs suggested the applicants take
another look at their property to be sure that this subdivision is in the best interest of the
future of their property. He felt that this was not the best use of a small scale subdivision.
Commissioner Norris repeated his previous motion to continue the application
with the requirement that the additional information should be provided, and
Commissioner Crisler made the second. There was no discussion. The vote was
Commissioners Norris and Crisler in favor and Commissioner Hobbs opposed, and the
motion was defeated.
Commissioner Weight continued the discussion by asking on what grounds the
application would be denied if all the requirements were met. Commissioner Hobbs
indicated that he was concerned about roads, infrastructure, and access to the property for
emergency vehicles, but he realized that this application was more concerned with
allowing another home to be constructed now than any future benefit to the property
owners. Commissioner Hobbs moved to continue the application requiring the
applicant to address issues 1 through 5 from the Epic Engineering staff report.
Commissioner Norris made the second. There was no discussion, and the vote was
unanimous to continue the application.
2) Harry Weyandt –Revised Master Plan
Mr. Weyandt was not present.
3) Wind energy Conversion Systems (WECS)
Commissioner Norris had spoken to Mike Henke from Wasatch County Planning
who has been working on a WECS ordinance and informed the Commission that
Wasatch County should have an excellent draft in a few weeks to share with Daniel
Town. Commissioner Hobbs added that the Commission could look at this new
ordinance and perhaps add some sound restrictions. Commissioner Weight also
suggested looking at setbacks so that adjacent neighbors’ options of windmill use would
not be inhibited. The Commission felt that they would be able to recommend an
ordinance to the Town Council before the current 6 month moratorium on accepting
applications for windmills expires.
4) Public Hearing Daniel Town General Plan
Commissioner Norris moved to open the public hearing, and Commissioner
Crisler seconded the motion. The vote to open the public hearing was unanimous.
Commissioner Norris shared a draft of the general plan with the Commission in
which he had rearranged the wording of the old Plan. Commissioner Hobbs noted that he
would like to address the “enterprise zone” designation with a better explanation of what
that actually means and where it should be located. Commissioner Weight would like to
preserve our rural atmosphere.
Ms. Lorie Hobbs shared her comments on morality, feeling that people will
interpret the word “morals” differently but believed that our community should uphold
moral values, and the General Plan should provide notice that this is a part of the purpose
of our town. Mr. Chip Turner also felt that good morality is a part of our society.
Commissioner Crisler also believed that we should address morality in our General Plan.
Recorder Merry Duggin was asked for her comments on this issue. She felt that
while we would hope to have law abiding, good hearted people in our town, she did not
believe that the Town Council could or should try to legislate “morals” or “morality” and
would rather not have the words “improve the morals” in our General Plan
Commissioner Weight suggested that after the next Commission meeting, he
would like to have a draft of a General Plan to post on the website to elicit more public
comment. Commissioner Crisler suggested that he could take copies of the general plan
draft door to door and request public input. The Commission moved on to the public
hearing for the Daniel Land Use Plan.
5) Public Hearing- Daniel Town Land Use Plan
Commissioner Weight noted that our current plan was a holdover from the time
when Daniel was part of unincorporated Wasatch County and 80% of it does not apply
and should be removed. There are lots of issues involved, and we have some major
challenges to address.
Mr. Chip Turner shared his concern that South Field road should not be used as a
collector road by the traffic from the airport if it was not built for it. He wanted to be as
specific as possible about traffic concerns in our land use plan to get what we want.
Commissioner Norris expressed concern about traffic exits onto HWY 189 with
the Weyandt commercial development.
Commissioner Crisler moved to continue the public hearings for the Daniel
Town General Plan and the Daniel Town Land Use Plan to the next Commission
meeting scheduled for June 17 at 7 PM. Commissioner Norris made the second, and
the Commission voted unanimously to continue both public hearings.
6) Approval of minutes
Commissioner Norris moved to approve the minutes of the April 15, 2009
meeting as amended. Commissioner seconded the motion, and the Commissioners
voted unanimously to approve the minutes.
7) Administrative issues:
There were no issues discussed.
8) Motion to Adjourn
Commissioner Hobbs moved to adjourn, and the motion was seconded by
Commissioner Crisler. The vote to adjourn was unanimous, and Commissioner
Weight adjourned the meeting at 9:12 PM.
Merry Duggin,
Recorder,
Daniel Town