Sandy City Board of Adjustment Meeting Summary – September 10, 2026

The Sandy City Board of Adjustment met on Thursday, September 10, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. in the Sandy City Council Chambers, following the scheduled 4:30 p.m. field trip to the subject property and a pre-meeting Open and Public Meetings Act training session. Vice Chair Jim Edwards presided, joined by board members Josh Chandler, Matt Hale, and Burke Staker. The Board considered one variance petition, application BOA0804202, for 10156 Majestic Canyon Road, heard public testimony expressing safety concerns, unanimously approved the variance with conditions, elected officers for the coming year, and adjourned.

Public Comments & Testimony

• Sharon Orlando, 10165 Majestic Canyon Road (directly across the street), expressed strong concern about development, said neighbors were not informed before the meeting, called the lot unbuildable, and worried construction would undermine the street, which she described as the only access for most homes on the street. She noted the slope is around 50% and said building on it is not a good idea.
• Barbara Luton, 10174 Majestic Canyon Road (next door), asked whether the purchaser knew the lot was not buildable, noted that her own recent garage project on the slope required a difficult Sandy City process and significant expense, asked whether the recently overhauled storm drain would need to be overhauled again, and asked what was being considered for the wildlife corridor.
• Daniel Rio, 10104 Majestic Canyon Road (two houses down), said his family has a child and that if the house slides down the hill it would be in their yard; he urged the Board to be certain the slope would not slide before approving.

Discussion Items

• Staff presented the variance request for a single-family dwelling on a steep R-110 zoned lot in the Sensitive Area Overlay. The lot was platted in Salt Lake County in 1978, adjusted in 1995, and annexed into Sandy City in 2012. Staff found the lot is a legal lot with a right to a single-family home, but it lacks 5,000 square feet of area below 30% slope, so building on the slope is unavoidable.
• Three variances were requested: (1) build on a lot containing continuous slopes of 30% or more; (2) reduce the front setback from 20 feet to 5 feet from the property line, about 10 feet to the back of the sidewalk; and (3) allow a portion of the driveway/parking area to be located in the right-of-way behind the sidewalk rather than entirely on private property. No side-yard variance was needed because the proposed side setback met the R-110 minimum of 8 feet with a 20-foot combined total.
• Staff noted the property contains major utility infrastructure, including Bell Canyon overflow and pressurized irrigation lines, a Cottonwood Improvement District sewer line, and a Sandy City storm drain. The proposed home site on the south side avoids those utilities to the extent possible and reduces hillside disturbance. A geotechnical report documented 2.5 to 13 feet of undocumented fill and included a global stability analysis.
• Travis Ackerman, assistant city engineer, and Tyler Shelley, public utilities engineer, answered Board questions about slope stability, temporary sheet piling to protect the road during excavation, and a required storm drain improvement upgrading a 15-inch corrugated metal pipe to a 30-inch concrete pipe and related outflow work. They confirmed the driveway over utility easements would need to support a vector truck and that the homeowner would be responsible for restoring the driveway if a utility had to remove it.
• The applicant, Mr. Rappleye, said he was not a developer but had purchased the lot 2.5 years earlier to build and live in. He stated that safety was his top concern, that engineering and architecture teams had spent two years designing the home, that professionals were stamping the plans as safe, and that he would not build on an unsafe lot. He also said he accepted the cost of required improvements.
• The Board discussed condition no. 6, which limited the total footprint to 1,885 square feet. The architect, John Galrath of Element Design Collective, calculated the full footprint including garage, rear walkout porch, and front porch at approximately 1,932 square feet. The Board agreed to update the condition to 1,955 square feet to match the site plan presented.
• Staff also addressed the wildlife corridor question, explaining that wildlife corridors are normally addressed during subdivision review and no corridor was prescribed for this lot; however, fencing within the slope corridor would be restricted to black, brown, or green vinyl-coated chain-link fence, and drainage flow through the rear of the property would have to be accommodated.

Key Outcomes

• The Board unanimously approved the requested variances for 10156 Majestic Canyon Road, adopting staff findings 1 through 9 and conditions 1 through 9, with condition no. 6 modified to allow a total footprint no larger than 1,955 square feet, including garage, front porch, and rear porch as presented in the site plan.
• The vote was 4-0: Burke Staker, Matt Hale, Josh Chandler, and Jim Edwards all voted in favor.
• The Board elected Brian Jones as chair and Tyler Brown as vice chair for the next year; the motion passed unanimously by the members present.
• The Board then adjourned after completing the business.