Lehi Planning Commission Work Session: Conditional Uses and Bike-Ped Plan Update - May 1, 2025
Lehi Planning Commission Work Session: Conditional Uses and Bike-Ped Plan Update - May 1, 2025
The Lehi Planning Commission held a work session on May 1, 2025, at 5:30 PM in the City Council Chambers. The meeting focused on updates to conditional use regulations and a presentation on the Bike-Pedestrian Plan update. No public comments were heard, and no votes were taken; the session was entirely informational and deliberative.
Discussion Items
Update on Conditional Uses
- Jacob (Planning Staff) presented proposed changes to reduce the number of conditional uses in both residential and non-residential tables of uses. In the residential table, the number of conditional uses would drop from 12 to 5, contingent on the zone: electrical substations and non-municipal power transmission lines, commercial campgrounds, commercial recreational facilities, kennels, and commercial greenhouses. The remaining conditional uses were retained due to potential impacts (e.g., kennels requiring municipal code changes, commercial recreational facilities needing flexibility for parking and traffic).
- In the non-residential table, the number of conditional uses would be reduced to 8, including communication facilities/towers, wind energy facilities, auto service and repair (large), commercial entertainment facilities, commercial recreational facilities, and contractor storage yards. Many former conditional uses (e.g., bed and breakfasts, child daycares, dog care facilities) would become permitted with supplementary requirements.
- Staff noted that the effort originated from a City Council request and has expanded to include updates to definitions (Chapter 39) and property development standards (Chapter 12), with additional supplementary requirements being developed. Commissioners asked about specific uses: kennels were discussed as allowed only in agricultural zones; commercial campgrounds in TH5 were questioned; nursing homes in TH5 were clarified as permitted only if no city water services are needed; and data centers were flagged for potential City Council involvement due to water usage.
- The update also addressed state code requirements for bars and liquor stores (600-foot distance from churches, schools, etc.), removing them as conditional uses. The heliport definition was narrowed to only allow medical establishments.
Bike-Pedestrian Plan Update
- Mike (Planning Staff) presented the draft Bike-Ped Plan update, emphasizing simplification from 200 pages to 30 pages of text, with a new prioritization map, design examples, and a gaps analysis. The plan aims to achieve a vision of safe, comfortable walking and biking for all ages and abilities.
- Key statistics: Lehi currently has 17 miles of bike lanes, 1.8 miles of separated bikeways, and 75 miles of paved trails. Per 10,000 residents, Lehi has 7.5 miles of paved trails, compared to Highland (10.0), Alpine (2.7), Saratoga Springs (higher), and Eagle Mountain (nearly 15). Data from trail counters showed an average of 306 daily users on the rail trail (peak day 475) and 680 on the Murdoch Canal Trail (peak day near 1,000). The 700 South bikeway (7th South) saw a 400% increase in usage after the SR92 bridge was completed.
- Public input indicated safety (70% of survey respondents) as the top concern, followed by facility needs and connectivity. The plan sets eight goals for the next 5–10 years, including adding 20% of missing sidewalks, 11 miles of paved trails, 12 miles of on-street bike infrastructure, and lighting to the rail trail. Commissioners discussed the 7th South design (temporary delineators, parking issues, curb changes) and the need for connections to parks, downtown, and neighboring cities. Mike noted that the next step is to finalize the map, meet with remaining neighboring cities, and release the plan for public comment before adoption.
Key Outcomes
- No formal decisions were made. The conditional use update will continue with internal review of supplementary requirements, and the planning commission may hold another work session before adoption.
- The Bike-Ped Plan update will be finalized, then released for public comment, followed by the adoption process.
- The next regular planning commission meeting is scheduled for May 8, 2025, at 7:00 PM, where an appeal regarding a medical office building on 1200 West will be heard. The appeal involves neighbors challenging the buffering/fencing installed during development.
Meeting Transcript
Ready to begin? Staff, we ready to go? Everybody's happy. Okay. All right, welcome everybody. We'll convene this tonight's planning commission work session. We excuse Chairman Jackson who has another commitment tonight. So I'll be MCing the meeting, I guess. So welcome to our staff and to the public who may be listening online. We'll go to the f second item, discussion of updates to conditional uses. Jacob, is that you? Yeah, it is. We could have used you the other night. We talked a lot about conditional uses. Oh, the the long meeting from the other night. Yeah. Yes. Longer. Longer. Yeah. What time do you guys get out of here? No. That's not bad. 1040. I watched. To be fair, some of the bad items that night weren't conditional uses. There was a general plan amendment, a couple development code amendments. Anyways. No, no, no. It's not always their fault, but a lot of times they are. So here we are. Conditional uses, what you've been wanting for a while. Um an update on where we're at. Um I wish I could move you out of the way. But on the screen, can you guys do you see is there the video camera of yourselves on this screen? Yeah. Okay. Well, I can tell you what it says underneath. Um so right now what we've done, we've started going through the residential and non-residential table of uses. Uh internally with planning department, but also with Craig Chambers. Um then we've also yeah, decided to remove as many of the conditional uses as possible, but there's ultimately we've left a few, and we can talk about those tonight. Uh that's what I think the next ten slides of this presentation is. Um and then something we realized with several of the ones that we've removed as conditional uses. We realize there's a need probably to add some supplementary requirements for approval so that they're permitted uses, but you know, there's things that automatically kick in that the DRC can review to to make sure something you know we still have control over situations. We have these for a bunch of other uses already in the code. Um so this will make our lives easier and it'll take things off of your plate as conditional uses. And then um yeah, as we've done this, you know, what started as a small thing is how ripple effects out and out on the code. Um we've needed to make some changes to chapter 39 with the definitions to chapter 12 with property development standards, which is still in progress. Um we're realizing there's probably some other updates to chapter five and chapter 23 and a few other places with the signs and so anyways, we'll get into that, but I guess probably the the nutshell is what started off as a small thing has kind of compounded to a bigger bigger process. Um any questions on that first slide before I jump into this?
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