Planning Commission Meeting Recap

Last Wednesday’s planning commission regular meeting was a good example of how they function.

The main focus of the meeting was about stormwater management for projects involving soil disturbance. Utah mandates permits for projects exceeding one acre where soil disturbance occurs, and what projects don’t disturb the soil? Well, mowing the lawn doesn’t but pulling weeds does.

Certainly new builds do. It looks like Springdale is going to add another layer of difficulty to build, or do anything that disturbs the soil. The reason Utah only messes with lots an acre or more is because it would be an administrative impossibility otherwise.

Commission did a really good job trying to understand all this new stuff, asking questions, and bringing up “what ifs.” They also seemed highly anxious to NOT make this more onerous to just regular folks, planting gardens, etc. than it needs to be.

Although town staff “consider that it could be beneficial to introduce a local stormwater permit to address construction stage stormwater management issues. An applicant would apply for the permit at the same time as their building permit. The application form would simply list the pollution prevention measures that should be employed during construction. The contractor would submit time stamped photographs to the Town at defined frequencies which would give evidence of compliance with the pollution prevention measures.”

I am quite sure those having to do this will consider themselves just regular folks and would probably have other adverbs than “simply” to describe having to come up with the list and submit time photos, as well as having had to get a permit.

Ah, well, Springdale is already a town in which it is mighty challenging to build , what’s one more layer of hassle? And ecology matters.

Those of you with more knowledge and opinion on this should read the information at: <https://www.springdaletown.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/2043?fileID=11890> ,

maybe listen to the 03/18/2026 Planning Commission Regular Meeting discussion at:

< https://www.youtube.com/@SpringdaleTownPublicMeetings>

and give the Planning Commission the benefit of your insight.

The other major discussion centered around their upcoming priorities. They decided their first order of business would be

Revisiting ordinances that might need changing due to concerns about fire mitigation of wildland urban interface areas. (Remember WUI). For instance, the town now requires replacing a tree you take down with 2 trees, but trees close to structures create a greater fire hazard.
Continued work on nonconforming commercial properties
Soil disturbance stuff
Perfecting the Virgin River management plan
Revisiting parking ordinances

Their tier two level priorities include:

Street performer ordinances Revisiting the size and height bonus Encouraging more open space by allowing agricultural uses to make the owner revenue for their agricultural efforts Considering retaining wall standards.

This whole meeting was a good example of how a commission should function. It certainly wasn’t an on-the-edge-of-your-seat kind of meeting, but they work hard and carefully. I gave the link before but if you care to review the hour and a half meeting, here it is again:

< https://www.youtube.com/@SpringdaleTownPublicMeetings>