Sandy Planning Commission Meeting June 18, 2026: Restaurant and Subdivision Approvals
Sandy Planning Commission Meeting - June 18, 2026
The Sandy Planning Commission met on Thursday, June 18, 2026, at 6:15 PM in the City Council Chambers. The meeting included review of a dual restaurant project and reconsideration of subdivision conditions, along with administrative business. Both agenda items received unanimous approval.
Dual Restaurant: Outback Steakhouse & Bonefish Grill (1114 South State Street)
- Presentation: Applicant Craig Cheney presented a proposal for a single-story, 11,195-square-foot dual-concept restaurant on a 2.4-acre vacant site in the Central Business District. The design features shared kitchen, restrooms, and lounge, with two dining rooms and exterior patios. The site would have 181 parking spaces, including a request for 8 temporary "takeaway" spaces and a 6% parking increase (from 170 to 172 spaces), justified by a traffic study. Staff recommended approval subject to eight conditions, including strengthening a cross-access easement.
- Commission Deliberation: Commissioners praised the project as high-quality and well-suited to the area. No public comments were received.
- Outcome: Motion to approve the preliminary site plan as substantially complete, based on four findings and eight conditions. Vote: 6-0 in favor.
Brand Estates Subdivision Reconsideration (285 East 110 South)
- Background: The Brand Estates subdivision was previously approved with conditions limiting access to Sophie Court (a private street) to three existing homes. Property owners Ryan and Davina Brand requested reconsideration to allow access for adjacent lots (11 and 12) for new construction. They also sought approval of a special exception for the private lane.
- Presentation: Ryan Brand explained that they live on the property and plan to build a home on lot 11, with a side-load garage facing Sophie Court to minimize visual impact. They are working on a new maintenance agreement for the private street and addressing an address discrepancy for a neighboring lot from the Mertlich subdivision. Staff confirmed no on-street parking would be permitted on Sophie Court.
- Public Comment: Sean Hogan, a neighbor, spoke in support of the Brands, describing them as great community members.
- Outcome: Motion to approve revised conditions with an additional finding (5) and four additional conditions (7-10). Vote: 6-0 in favor.
Administrative Business
- Minutes: The commission unanimously approved the minutes from the June 4, 2026, meeting.
- Director's Report: Mike Wilcox announced that the July 2, 2026, meeting is canceled due to lack of quorum, and reminded that the next meeting is July 16, 2026.
- Election of Officers: The commission elected Lenise Davenport as chair and selected a new vice chair (the transcript identifies the vice chair as "Cameron," though no commissioner by that name was introduced; this may be a transcription error). The new officers will serve for the next six months through December 2026.
Key Outcomes
- Approved preliminary site plan for Outback Steakhouse/Bonefish Grill (6-0).
- Approved revised conditions for Brand Estates subdivision (6-0).
- Approved minutes of June 4, 2026 meeting.
- Elected Lenise Davenport as chair and a new vice chair for the upcoming term.
Meeting Transcript
Aisha, are we ready to get started? Mike? Okay. Recording in progress. Those are the magic words. All right. Yeah. Okay. Good. Okay, awesome. With that, we're gonna go ahead and kick off tonight's planning commission meeting. Um, I'd like to welcome everybody to the planning commission meeting. I am the current chair of the planning commission, Linny Stavenport, and I'm joined by my fellow commissioners, and we'll do a round of introductions. Ron Mortimer. Jennifer George. Dave Bromley, David Hart, Steve Wrigley. Thank you. Um I'm also going to turn the time over to James to introduce the staff, please. Great. Um I'm James Swanson, community development director. We have Mike Wilcox here as the planning director. Brittany Ward is here with us. She's the assistant public works director. Ivan Hooper, transportation engineer, Clint Spencer, Development Services Manager. Cash. Nancy is a senior planner, Grant Hancock with us tonight, planner, and our famous Ayesha who controls and runs the meeting. One day I'll say our last name. Whoa. One day. I'm not gonna risk it. I think I would mess it up. Okay, all right, thank you. Um just as a reminder, we meet at the call of the chairman, normally on the first and third Thursday of every month at 6 15 p.m. here in the city council chambers. Our meetings are typically preceded by a field trip of the agenda items and an exec executive session, which consists of training by our staff and legal council. These are part of the open meeting, and the public may attend. The training and regular portion of the meetings can be attended virtually through Zoom webinar as well. Um we will start our kick off the agenda with a pledge of allegiance. Everybody will stand. I pledge to the right of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands found nation under God in the visible with justice for all. All right, tonight's planning commission meeting will follow the agenda that has been published. This is made available at the entry to the room and digitally on the city's website. Each item on the agenda will proceed as follows, unless it is on a consent calendar. Staff will introduce the item, then the developer or the project applicant will present, then we'll return back to staff for their presentation, then we'll open it to public comment, uh close public comment, we'll have planning commission deliberation and then take a motion. All right, so first on the agenda is um item number two, which is the outback steakhouse and bonefish grill dual restaurant, the preliminary site plan um review for that. And then we'll start with Mike. Thank you, madam chair. Yes. Um this item is located at 111 uh one four south state streets. Uh they are proposing to develop this undeveloped vacant property as a dual restaurant uh that would house the outback and bonefish restaurants here at this location.
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