Provo residents debate state zoning laws

PROVO — In this college town, zoning is a huge issue.

Huge enough, anyway, that nearly 100 people turned out at a Tuesday town meeting where emotions ran high as residents and lawmakers discussed the impact of two recent pieces of state legislation that affect the city's zoning laws.

State Sens. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, and Becky Lockhart, R-Provo, invited residents to City Hall to give citizen feedback on the bills, which were passed during this year's legislative session.

"As legislators, we value the input of citizens," Bramble said. "We want to hear from you."

And there was a lot to hear. Both House Bill 381, "Municipal Land Use Provisions," and Senate Bill 45, "Utah Fit Premises Act Amendments," tackle zoning issues usually handled by individual cities. In the days before the meeting, many had expressed concern — especially in online forums — that the state government was treading on the rights of cities.

But State Sen. John Valentine, R-Orem, said that was not the case.

"There is a fundamental constitutional difference between cities and states, and states and the federal government," Valentine said at the meeting. Cities, he said, look to the state government for their constitutional authority.

But residents had other concerns, as well. Some areas of Provo had previously had a two-person limit for the number of unrelated individuals who can live in a single-family dwelling. Other zones could have as many as four. SB45 sets that number at three, and while some in the audience approved of the bill, most of the residents who spoke did not.

Ray Christensen, who lives in Provo's Tree Streets neighborhood, said SB45 "knocks a prop" out from under some of the zoning rules allowing the area to house a variety of families and tenants.

"The one-size-fits-all approach that's encapsulated in SB45 produces some very undesirable, unintended consequences," Christensen said. "This is what happens when we legislate from Salt Lake City."

The Tree Streets are zoned as a mix of an S overlay — which allows residents to rent out their basements to as many as four students — and an A overlay, which lets a couple with children rent a basement apartment if the owner lives upstairs. But the new legislation will cause problems, Christensen said.

"Somebody sitting in this room is going to bring a lawsuit," he said.