Font ResizeSalt Lake County has cinched down the building standards in Millcreek, hoping to keep so-called "monster homes" from squeezing into neighborhoods where they might not fit.
The decision -- witnessed by fewer than two dozen spectators Tuesday -- comes as an anticlimactic end to more than two years of polarizing debate in which the rights of property owners to build have been pitted against the rights of residents to enjoy their homes.
In the end, the County Council voted 5-4 to adopt building standards sculpted by the Millcreek Township Planning Commission that bridle big homes yet provide developers latitude to enlarge their projects in neighborhoods where they might be compatible.
"Who are we to jump in at this point and do what the planning commission did?" said Councilwoman Jani Iwamoto, a Democrat, arguing that the planning commission represents the "local control" that should guide future growth.
Still, the council voted to increase the height restrictions in some neighborhoods, allowing ridge lines to reach 40 feet in places where they would have stopped at 35 feet before.
The vote split along partisan lines with the council's five Democrats outnumbering its four Republicans.
"I'm not sure the public knows what it wants," said Councilman Michael Jensen, a Republican. "They just don't want what has been proposed."
The decision was welcomed with applause from Kathy Swift, a resident of East Millcreek. The
"It's not what people on this side have been working for," she said. "It is a compromise. ... I'm totally OK with that."
But the vote doesn't sit well with residents such as Gary Cornum, who lives in Canyon Rim. He argued earlier this year that such restrictions would discourage developers and lead to neighborhoods with fewer long-term families.
The council's decision, he says, simply reflects the lack of political representation in Millcreek and the need for residents to break away from the county.
"We will use it a springboard to showcase to the property owners of Millcreek who had their property rights stripped by a body that doesn't represent them," Cornum said. "We will work toward our autonomy."
