19.13.02 General Considerations

1. Land Use Element of the General Plan. The City’s adopted Land Use Element of the General Plan shall guide the use and future development of all land within the corporate boundaries of the City and is advisory in nature per Utah Code § 10-20-406. 2. Municipal Code. The size and design of lots, nature of utilities, design and improvements of streets, types and intensity of land uses, and provisions for any facilities in any subdivision shall conform to the land uses shown and the standards established in the City Code, and other applicable ordinances and policies. 3. Conservation of Natural Features. Trees, native land cover, wetlands, natural watercourses, hillsides, and existing topography shall be preserved where possible. Development projects shall be so designed as to prevent excessive grading and scarring of the natural terrain. The design of new projects shall consider and relate to existing and future street widths, alignments, and names. 4. Community facilities. Community facilities, such as parks, recreation areas, and transportation facilities, shall be provided in the development project in accordance with the Land Use Element of the General Plan and the City’s land use ordinances, particularly Chapter 19.04, Zoning. In order to facilitate the acquisition of land areas required to establish the creation and expansion of community facilities, the applicant may be required to dedicate land, grant easements, or otherwise reserve land for schools, parks, playgrounds, public rights-of-way, utility easements, and other public purposes. 5. Public Utilities and Easements. The City recognizes the policy of concurrently installing public utilities in relation to any development within the City boundaries. Although the City will work with developers to provide utilities to a developer’s project, the City is under no obligation to install utilities in order to accommodate a proposed development. The City reserves the right to approve only those developments wherein all necessary public utilities and infrastructure have been installed. In order to facilitate the installation of public utilities, developers shall be required to dedicate to the City all necessary City utility easements, rights-of-way, and fee simple dedications necessary for the City to provide services to the property. These dedications shall be exclusive rights to the City for City utilities only and shall not be dedications to public utilities or public utility companies as defined in Utah Code § 54-3-27 or Utah law. Furthermore, developers shall be required to dedicate all necessary public utility easements as defined in Utah Code § 54-3-27 for the use of public utility companies and the City to install public utilities. These public utility easements shall be subject to the regulations in Section 54-3-27 and Utah law with respect to public utility easements. The required locations of public utility easements are shown in the City Engineering Standards and this Title 19. In all cases, public utility easements shall extend to all buildings and structures previously constructed or to-be built on the lot or parcel. The City may, on a case-by-case basis, require public utility easements in different locations than the City Engineering Standards and this Title 19 to ensure that the City, City franchisee, and any public utility company may extend all necessary utilities to the buildings and structures in the lot or parcel. 6. Utility and System Capacity Allocation Policies. All development activity in the City is subject to the City’s utility and system capacity allocation policies. For residential development, capacity is considered reserved at plat recordation. Capacity for residential development shall be reassessed when a plat amendment is recorded that vacates such lot or increases the overall density for the plat. For non-residential development, capacity is considered reserved at final site plan approval, which capacity is vacated if the site plan expires per this Title.