Planning & Zoning
Commission

Duchesne County
Planning & Zoning Commission Meeting

The following document has been re-formatted from the original for Internet accessibility.  Planning & Zoning Commission Minutes, in their original format, are available through the Office of the Planning & Community Development Department.

County Administrative Offices
Duchesne, Utah
February 2, 2005 - 5:00 p.m.

In Attendance were:

Leon Sweat, Planning Commission Chairman
Michael Barneck, Planning Commission
Dean Brough, Planning Commission
Thomas Rather, Planning Commission
Chris Peatross, Planning Commission
Shelly Fabrizio, Planning Commission
Ann Bills, Planning Commission
Mike Hyde, Community Development Administrator
Laraine Dickinson, Planning Secretary

Visitors:	Agenda Item:
Forrest Bird.......................	Myrin Ranch
Alarik Myrin......................	Myrin Ranch
Clark Prothero WW Clyde/Obayashi.................	Myrin Ranch
Darrin Brown.....................	All
Tom Golinski.....................	Strawberry River Subdivision

Chairman Sweat called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m.

Conditional Use Permit:
Myrin Ranch Inc., requesting Conditional Use Permit to allow the extraction of earth products (clay) from property described as the North ½ of the Northeast ¼ of Section 32, Township 2 South, Range 3 West (located on Country Road #81 [13000 West] in the Arcadia area.

Mr. Clark Prothero with WW Clyde Construction stated that they are in the process of building Big Sandwash Dam and are proposing to use this pit as a conditional clay source for the dam project.

Chairman Sweat asked if there were any questions.

Commissioner Bills asked if this is approved when would you begin the operation. Mr. Prothero stated sometime between the middle of March and the middle of April. We’re thinking that it will probably take 3 months of hauling maybe a little longer. There will only be about 5 acres of land that will be disturbed during this process, it’s possible that it could get up to 10 acres but we are trying to keep it under 5 acres. Our hours of operation will be daylight approximately 6:00 am to 10:00 pm. There’s about 2,500 truck loads that will come out of this area, this will just be a portion of the clay that we will need. We will also be taking clay out of LaVon Giles pit that was approved last year.

Mr. Hyde passed around a couple of colored photos showing the area where this will take place at the bottom land of Lake Fork River and upper part of Arcadia. Mr. Hyde stated that LaVon Giles owns property southeast approximately 7 miles and he was granted a Conditional Use Permit back in September of 2003 for the same purpose. Mr. Prothero said they had removed gravel from the Giles property back in May of 2004. Mr. Hyde stated that for a conditional use request like this for the extraction of earth products we need to look at the 3 conditional use criteria:

1.	The proposed use at the proposed location will not be unduly detrimental or injurious to property or improvements in the vicinity and will not be detrimental to the public health, safety or general welfare.
	Mr. Hyde stated to the Commission that as you see in the photos this is a pretty remote area. The closest homes would be that on the property of Bernice Thacker about ½ mile east and that of Bryce Gilbert ½ mile to the south. The main issue here with public health, safety, and welfare is the shear amount of hauling which will occur over the county roads. Prior to beginning the mining operations on the property the Applicants or their agent W.W. Clyde should inspect and video tape the conditions of those hauling roads with the County Road Department so that those roads can be restored to their current condition after the project is completed. The route of travel would be down the County Road that runs parallel with the main Arcadia road to the road that goes out to Turning Point (4000 south), then over to the main Arcadia Highway and up the dug way to Highway 87 and off to the reservoir.
2.	The proposed use will be located and conducted in compliance with the goals and policies of the Duchesne County General Plan and the purposes of this ordinance.
	Mr. Hyde quoted some of the Sections of the General Plan to encourage the extractive type industries such as mining to occur in the County. Also this project is tied into the Central Utah Project at Sandwash that is supported by our general plan as well.
3.	That the property on which the use, building or other structure is proposed is of adequate size and dimensions to permit the conduct of the use in such a manner that will not be materially detrimental to other property owners.
	Mr. Hyde stated that the Myrin Ranch in the vicinity has holdings in excess of 400 acres and the particular site is 120 acres, so the findings show that there is not a problem especially if only 5 acres are going to mined out of this area.

Mr. Hyde stated that there are special conditions that the Commission needs to review specifically for the extraction of earth products:

1)	Maintain a near dust free operation with the appropriate watering in order to keep the dust down. And we will be recommending approval of condition #1 that the applicant or agents would prevent dust from becoming a nuisance.
2)	That the applicant or their agents remove dirt/mud tracked onto paved roads as required by the County Road Department.
3)	Getting a bond for reconditioning or reclamation of the site and in this case the applicants are working with the Division of Oil, Gas, and Mining and we don’t know yet whether Division of Oil, Gas and Mining will be requiring a bond, but we should know soon since they will be visiting the site with Mr. Prothero and the owners. Mr. Hyde stated that if the Division of Oil, Gas, and Mining, requires a bond then we will piggyback on that versus requiring a separate bond. If the Division of Oil, Gas, and Mining, doesn’t require a bond then the County will require a bond at $1,000 per acre from the contractor.
4)	A reconditioning plan (again we will be coordinating with the Division of Oil, Gas and Mining, if they require a permit and reclamation plan then we will adopt that as part of our Conditional Use Permit and keep it on file and make sure along with the Division of Oil, Gas and Mining, that this is done at the end of the operation). If this is kept under 5 acres and Division of Oil, Gas and Mining are not involved then we will have Mr. Prothero submit a plan of reclamation to us as part of his bonding.
5)	Rock crushing operations must be a minimum 1320 feet from any city, town or residential area. No rock crushing is being proposed as part of this operation so the ¼ mile set back does not apply in this case

Mr. Prothero stated that from their standpoint they don’t have an issue with any of these conditions since they were required on the other two permits.

Chairman Sweat asked if there were any other questions or comments.

Mr. Myrin stated that everything was pretty much covered and asked if the reclamation plan comes back here or if it’s just approved by Oil, Gas and Mining. Mr. Hyde stated that if Oil, Gas and Mining doesn’t want to get involved then the plan would come back to the County and we would make sure that the plans were followed after the mining was done. Mr. Myrin asked if Mr. Hyde was the one to approve this for the County and Mr. Hyde stated that he is providing the Planning Commission decides to approve this request.

Commissioner Rather asked how the Gilbert’s felt about this because they are within ½ mile of the project. Mr. Hyde stated that the Bryce Gilbert house is about ½ mile south and the LeGrand Gilbert house is a little further south and east of the project. Mr. Hyde stated that notices had been sent out and Public Notices had been printed in the paper and we haven’t heard from any of the property owners. We are assuming that folks are recognizing this as a necessary project and the materials have to come from somewhere. Apparently the soil is testing as such so they are acceptable for the dam. There will be some short-term traffic that the local people will have to bare.

Commissioner Rather asked if there were any concerns coming up the dug way fully loaded that is quite a tight spot. Mr. Prothero stated that they were concerned but that they didn’t see any other choice. We looked at 6 or 7 sites when we bid on the job and the district picked out 3 and Myrin’s wasn’t one of them, but every site we looked at either didn’t have the quality of clay that we needed or there was some other issue. There were 2 sites that were the best, but were the worst haul locations.

Commissioner Brough motioned to approve the request for a Conditional Use Permit by Myrin Ranch Inc. subject to the 5 conditions listed:

1.	Applicants or their agents (W.W. Clyde Construction) shall take action as deemed necessary by the County, if complaints are received, to prevent dust from becoming a nuisance.
2.	Applicants or their agents (W.W. Clyde Construction) shall remove dirt/mud tracked onto paved county roads as required by the County Road Department.
3.	Applicants or their agents (W.W. Clyde Construction) agree that County haul roads shall be maintained and repaired in condition equal to or better than the existing condition of these roads as determined by the County Public Works Director. These roads shall be inspected and videotaped prior to the commencement of hauling to establish their existing condition.
4.	Applicants or their agents shall maintain their reclamation bond in effect during the course of the operations. The bond provided to the Division of Oil, Gas and Mining shall name the County as a beneficiary to the level of at least $1,000.00 per acre disturbed. A copy of the bond submitted as part of the state permit process shall also be provided to the County prior to commencing mining operations on this site
5.	Applicants agree to abide by the reclamation plan approved by the Division of Oil, Gas and Mining and provide a copy of the approved plan to the county prior to commencing mining operations on this site.

Commissioner Peatross seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.

Plat Amendment:
Recommendation to County Commission regarding a proposed amendment of Lots 2-8 of the Strawberry River Subdivision, (Section 17, Township 4 South, Range 7 West) requested by Allred Surveying for Tom Golinski.

Mr. Golinski stated that it should be noted that the property just south of the Strawberry River Subdivision is owned by the Golinski’s, and that there are 74-lots in the Strawberry River Subdivision and they own 70 of them. In reference to the Amended Plat the access road to the property south of the Strawberry River Subdivision runs along side the river and across lots 2 thru 5 then after the access road and the river it is all cliffs so there nothing usable in this area. Mr. Golinski’s proposal is to remove this cliff area from the subdivision and add it to the property with the cabin and take a portion of the cabin property and add it to the subdivision. Mr. Francis Smith owns a small triangle piece in the subdivision, which is lot-8 and Mr. Golinski owns lot-8-1and the plan is to make Mr. Golinski’s lot-8-A and Mr. Smith lot-8-B including that portion of property taken from the cabin property.

Mr. Hyde stated that plat amendments are treated the same as a final plat and we look at the same list of criteria which is listed below:

1.	Legal description of the land for the subdivision.
2.	Registered professional land surveyor's “certificate of survey.”
3.	Owner's dedication certificate, including any records or other known interests.
4.	County planning commission's certificate of approval.
5.	Permanent address for each lot.
6.	County commissioner's certificate of approval attested by the county clerk.
7.	County recorder's certification of recording.
8.	Established 66’ right-of-way to existing county B road or state route or U.S. highway.
9.	An affidavit from the county treasurer showing that all taxes are current.
10.	An acknowledgment from the developer or their agent that the state of Utah Department of Business Regulation stating guidelines for the Land Sales Practices Act have been met for subdivisions having ten lots or more.
11.	A letter from the road supervisor approving the roads within the subdivision.
12.	The public offering statement as outline in Section 16.12.020.
13.	Title report.
14.	Any other items on the checklist as approved by the planning commission.

Mr. Hyde stated that looking at these items that #8 became a question in that this subdivision does not have access or frontage on a County B Road with 66 feet of right-of-way. The existing right-of-way in this area is about 30 feet. Mr. Hyde stated that they have spoken with Mr. Golinski about his willingness to provide the additional right-of-way to bring it up to the 66 foot standard and he has been willing to do that. So the revised amended plat map shows that 66-foot right-of-way and also shows Lot-8A in the southwest corner as being consolidated. There are 3 parcels that would make up Lot-8A it would be the triangle, the parcel to the west and the area in the horseshoe bend of the river. Also on the revised amended plat, the shaded areas on the south side of the river would no longer be included in the subdivision. Mr. Hyde stated that Mr. Bird of the County Road Department had been notified and he stated that it would be nice to have more right-of-way out there due to the shear cliffs. Because of potential slides down on the roadway, the County may want to relocate the road away from the cliffs a bit. The owners dedication statement on the amended plat states that the owners are willing to provide that right-of-way provided that the County would bear any cost for relocating the road, moving fences, irrigation ditches and etc. and both our Public Works Department and the property owners agree to this.

Mr. Hyde stated that a Title Report has been received showing Golinski’s having ownership and Lot-8A being added to the amended plat. The amended plat will have to be signed by the Golinski’s and the Smith’s involved with this before the County Commission meeting that will be held on February 28, 2005. It has also been coordinated with Tri-County Health that whatever lots have been reduced in size aren’t affected as to not being able to put in a waste water system. Mr. Brown has stated that there isn’t an issue here because the property being taken away is on the other side of the river so none of the lots will be affected. So our recommendation is that you recommend approval of this amended plat to the County Commission because the conditions have been met.

Commissioner Barneck asked are these A5 and Mr. Hyde replied that they are. Commissioner Barneck stated then these are grand fathered. Mr. Hyde stated that the A5 zone goes back to 1993 or so to my understanding, and Mr. Golinski stated that this was done in 1973 on the original subdivision. Commissioner Barneck asked so these are grand fathered and then we are going to legally grand father. Mr. Hyde stated that normally we would frown on a nonconforming lot being reduced in size but in this case all the area leaving these lots is on the other side of the river, so this is not a big impact to us.

Chairman Sweat asked if the signatures and the letters required are taken care of. Mr. Hyde stated that the Golinski’s and the Smith’s need to sign the amended plat between now and the County Commissioner meeting.

Chairman Sweat asked if there were any questions or comments.

Commissioner Bills motioned that the Planning Commission recommend approval of the amended plat for Strawberry River Subdivision to the County Commission. Commissioner Fabrizio seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.

Public Hearing: General Plan Amendment
Recommendation to County Commission regarding an Ordinance incorporating public land use policies recommended by the Duchesne County Public Land Use Committee into the Duchesne County General Plan.

Mr. Hyde stated that he had hoped everyone had a chance to go over a memo sent out on 1-24-05 explaining why we are doing this. We have had a Public Land Use Committee now for several years and they have been formed to update the Public Land Use policies in general plan. They have been working on this for the last year or so. There have been 6 different drafts of this document and we finally have sent it to the Planning Commission and the County Commissioners for review and approval. You’re involved because State Law requires that the Planning Commission look at all such amendments and make recommendations to the Board of Commissioners. It is a fairly lengthy ordinance, the first ten pages are the existing Public Land policies in the general plan those are all to be deleted. On page 10 that’s where we pickup with the new policies that will be recommended by the Committee and it is meant to clearly articulate the County’s policies in areas such as cultural and historic resources, water resources, weed control, livestock grazing, wildlife management, wild horses, fisheries, energy and mineral resource development, wilderness designation, and a variety of special designations such as areas of critical environmental concerns, wild and scenic rivers, endangered species, public road access, etc.

Commissioner Rather asked when the committee was organized. Mr. Hyde stated the Public Lands committee was originally formed in 1998 and there were18 people on it representing a variety of interests in the County. It became a little difficult at that size getting enough members there to make a quorum so they cut the size of the committee to 7 members, but it has since been bumped up to 8 members.

Larry Defa	Lumber Industry
Keith Jensen and Iris Wilson	Farmers and Ranchers
Dale Hanberg	BIA (Chairman)
Marc Eckels	Oil and Gas (recently replaced by Phil Johnson)
Bert Jenson	Historical and Cultural
Irene Hansen	Economic Development
Randy Crozier	Water Conservancy District

So this group has been meeting and they hired a consultant Dave Allison to help kick-off this plan and Lorna Stradinger was also involved with this. The policies have been circulated it to a variety of agencies (everything from Irrigation Districts, to the BLM, Forest Service) and have received comments. Some of those were built into the policy and some were not. Then, drafts 5 and 6 were produced. The committee is pretty much done with that part of their tasks. In the future the committee will change their function mode and advise the County Commissioners on Public Land issues such as the Vernal Area Resource Management Plan now out for comment. It will govern how the BLM manages millions of acres in Duchesne, Uintah, and Daggett Counties, and other issues with the Forest Service and etc. This is a General Plan Amendment so we need to run it by the Planning Commission to make sure that we’re not doing something that you think is inappropriate.

Mr. Hyde asked the Commission for any comments or questions. Chairman Sweat stated that on page 11 it shows “Indian” land and I can tell you from personal experience they would rather be called Native American. Also there is some grammar inside and I don’t know if they intended it as verbatim where they use insure with an (in) meaning to compensate or something that goes wrong rather than ensure (en), I think they meant (en) one example on line 696 page 13. The Planning Commission agreed that it should be ensure. Chairman Sweat indicated that he had read through this and on page 19 line1048, I could not find in here and I don’t know if it needs to be in here but there is nothing that I could find which address the County’s policy on opened or closed range meaning whether to fence in or fence out. As a farmer it’s important to us because of insurance policies. Mr. Hyde stated he understood this has be an issue in the past. There was a special committee formed that had interests on both sides of the table and they couldn’t agree on an ordinance to recommend to the County. So that is an issue that is still out there. Chairman Sweat stated that maybe that does not need to be put in here but it is something that needs to be addressed. Mr. Hyde stated that it goes beyond Public Lands & affects Private Land ownership issues. Mr. Myrin stated that on the word “Indian” when we met with the Ute Tribe, the Ute Tribe preferred the word “Indian” rather than “Native American”, so rather than just changing it you may want to check into it a bit. Commissioner Rather stated in some cases the word “Tribal” was preferred rather than Indian or Native American. Commissioner Rather asked if this gives the County a little more say in how the land is used. Mr. Hyde stated that this enables us to point to the policies as we are making comments back to Federal Agencies or State Agencies regarding BLM plans, Forest Services plans, etc. We can say that what they are proposing in their plan does not comply with our Public Land policies.

Commissioner Peatross motioned that the Planning Commission recommend to the County Commission that the general plan amendments recommended by the Public Land Use Committee be approved, including the amendments discussed. Commissioner Brough seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.

Minutes:
Approval of January 5, 2005 minutes

Commissioner Barneck motioned to approve the minutes and Commissioner Rather seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.

Commission Comments and Staff Reports:
Mr. Hyde stated that he had a couple of things that needs to be brought to the Commission’s attention. First, road improvements, we’ve talked in the past how the Planning Commission would be involved in helping the County decide which roads would get improved each year. In your agenda packet there are 2 lists; one list are the proposals that came into the Planning Office in the course of the last several months and the second list was prepared by the Public Works Department indicating what they thought should be paved or overlaid in 2005. Mr. Hyde stated that the County Commissioners, Forrest Bird, and himself had met and combined the 2 lists into one indicating what roads they thought needed some attention. Chairman Sweat asked first of all is there going be a road trip and are we going to be involved in that. Mr. Hyde stated that there was and that it would be on February 23 (Wednesday) and we would be leaving around l0 o’clock in the morning. Mr. Hyde stated that the focus is going to be in the east end of the County, two years ago it was on the west end and last year it was the upper country. Commissioner Barneck asked to go over the table as to where each road was located in the County. Mr. Bird went through the list and explained to the Commission where the roads were. Mr. Bird stated that they would be doing some work in the Cedarview area by the cemetery and also in the Neola area.

Chairman Sweat asked are there any comments or questions. Mr. Hyde asked if everyone would be comfortable with a road trip and would everyone like to participate. Mr. Hyde stated that the County Commissioners, Forrest Bird and himself would be going on this even if no one from the Planning Commission wants to go. We need to know how many to adjust van size accordingly. Commissioners Sweat, Rather, and Brough expressed an interest in attending.

Mr. Hyde stated that there is a Planning and Zoning Conference on April 7th. It will be a full day conference in Provo offered by the Counties Insurance Pool. They are interested in having Planning Commission and Staff attend these so that they can keep our insurance rates down, so that we don’t make the same mistakes and won’t get sued quite so often. So please inform us if you would like to attend so that we can get you registered.

Adjournment:
Commissioner Barneck motioned to adjourn the meeting at 6:05 p.m. Commissioner Peatross seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.