| North
Logan planners split on protective strips in flag lots
By Emily Redfield
April 27, 2007 | NORTH LOGAN -- The Planning Commission
reached a split decision after a heated debate Thursday
night regarding protective strips in subdivisions.
A motion from planning commission member Bill Furlong
to approve a flag lot with a recommendation that the
City Council proactively do something about the protective
strip problem was split 2-2.
Sue and Joe Do want to split their property into two
lots in order to build another house on their property
using the flag lot ordinance. The Dos pass all guidelines
set by this ordinance, said Cordell Batt, city planner.
The only problem is that the new lot will be blocked
in with no access to the street due to a strip of land
called a protective strip. The people that own this
strip of land between the lot and the road are not willing
to sell it to the Dos at a reasonable price, said Marty
Spicer, neighbor to the Dos. He also said they are not
willing to do anything with it.
"It has always been the Dos' intention to build
another home on their property," Spicer said.
If the Dos buy this protective strip they will be
responsible for building a sidewalk on it as well as
a curb and extending the sewer system. Many citizens
at this meeting are upset about the fact that there
is no sidewalk on the road due to the protective strip.
They see it as a safety hazard. The protective strip
ordinance has been outlawed a couple years ago, and
the one in question has been there for over 35 years,
said Don Fullmer, neighbor to the Dos.
"I plead with you to do away with those strips. I
would like to have a nice sidewalk down there. I am
the one that mows the grass there, not the city, and
I am ready to give up that job," said Fullmer.
Planning Commission member, Mark Hancey, brought up
an ordinance that says the only way the Dos can get
out of putting in a sidewalk is if they can prove they
demonstrate an extreme hardship.
"It scares me to think that we may say $15,000
is a hardship," said Hancey.
Hancey said that if other members have to buy sidewalks
in order to get rid of protective strips, then the Dos
should to. Why should the commission make an exception
for them, he asked.
"Where is the line? What is a hardship, I don't
know. We are trying to solve a problem that was created
years ago," said Furlong.
MS
MS |
