This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The rewriting of Salt Lake County's land-use ordinance that sets tougher standards for building in the fragile canyons and foothills was completed Tuesday after five years of revisions.
The County Council voted 8-1 to approve the Foothills and Canyons Overlay Zone (FCOZ) ordinance, making no changes to a document that received their preliminary endorsement a week earlier.
But after receiving multiple requests to reconsider their prohibition on mountain bike parks in the new Mountain Resort Zone, the council approved the ordinance creating that zone and asked the county's Mountainous Planning Commission to take a deeper look at the possibility of allowing that summertime use at ski resorts.
The final action took less than 10 minutes, in contrast to the thousands of hours put in by planning commission members and staff — council members as well over the past few months — ever since former Mayor Peter Corroon convened a "Blue Ribbon Task Force" in 2012 to assess how the revision should take place.
County Councilman Jim Bradley, a member of the County Commission when FCOZ was enacted in the 1990s, was disappointed in the results of this prolonged effort.
"This falls disgracefully short of providing any meaningful protection in the canyons," the Democrat said before casting the lone vote against the FCOZ ordinance. "When you use words like 'compromise' and 'balance,' the canyons always lose. You compromise down, not up. This is not the document I want to protect the canyons."
His Democratic colleague, Arlyn Bradshaw, said he was taken aback by Bradley's opposition — "Jim and I rarely disagree," he said — but felt that "there are some gains in the ordinance" that offset points of concern.
In the amended ordinance, the county recognizes that Salt Lake City has extraterritorial jurisdiction in the canyons to protect its watershed, an authority that has come under attack from some private landowners in the canyons.
Wording was included to protect scenic vistas. Fence heights between homes and highways were limited to 42 inches, in part to make it easier for wildlife to escape being trapped on roads, unable to jump over tall fences.
Forestry studies will be required when ski-run additions or alterations are requested. Standards for replacing cut-down trees were set.
But in its most controversial decision, the council kept one of the most debated provisions from the old FCOZ ordinance — the right of a property owner to seek a variance to build within 100 feet of a perennial stream.
"The waiver process has been the cause of canyon degradation for decades," Save Our Canyons Executive Director Carl Fisher said afterward, also chagrined that FCOZ's final version lacks noise standards and does little for wildlife of the Wasatch.
"It says we'll protect drinking water, but if wildlife have no habitat and we lose species, that's OK with Salt Lake County," he added. "We find that disgusting."