S.L. County adopts 'monster home' rules

A nearly three-year long struggle to craft regulations to curb the construction of "monster homes" in Millcreek Township came to a close as the Salt Lake County Council approved new zoning rules for the east-side community.

The council's 5-4 decision Tuesday followed party lines on the Democratic-controlled board, with freshman Councilwoman Jani Iwamoto taking a lead position as the representative for Millcreek residents.

Iwamoto proposed some modifications earlier this month to a Millcreek Planning Commission plan, but retracted most of those changes, saying the two years of work done by the commission resulted in the best solution.

"Initially, we were trying to come up with different alternatives, put in things to get greater height and included another option with the floor-area-ratio plan," she said. "It became clear that we were doing the work the Millcreek Planning Commission had already done."

Iwamoto did suggest some incremental height changes to the original commission proposal, but the plan is essentially the same, and one not likely to calm the rancor among township residents who have stood divided on the issue since it was first broached in February 2007.

Curt Dowdle, Salt Lake Home Builders Association executive officer, is adamantly against placing new limitations on home construction in Millcreek, and in the final public hearing last week, reiterated his stance.

"Do you think someone with three or four kids is going to move into a 900-square-foot bungalow?" he said. "We are losing the people we need."

At the same meeting, Harold Lamb, representing the BuildWise group, which favors new size limitations, advocated for more stringent rules.

"We view building height as possibly the most critical physical characteristic of a structure with regard to compatibility and impinging on a neighbor's quality of life," he said. "Right now, you've incorporated … a 28-foot height limit. We think that is a dramatic improvement over what existing ordinance offers. However, we think it does represent a bit of a compromise."

Councilman David Wilde expressed a sentiment that seemed to be shared by the council Republicans who joined in opposing Iwamoto's proposal.

"I don't have a dog in this fight. I don't represent any of the people in the Millcreek area, but that doesn't mean I don't care about them," he said. "In listening to what people have said and the e-mails I've received … it seemed to be roughly two to one, but they were saying, 'We don't like this.' "

e-mail: araymond@desnews.com