Worried that their neighborhood streets won’t be safe, some Stansbury Park residents pleaded with Tooele County Commissioners to overturn a subdivision approved by the county’s planning commission in May.
The Tooele County Planning Commission approved the preliminary plat for the third and final phase of Northport Village, a development south of SR-138 in Stansbury Park along Delgada Lane.
Four Delgada Lane residents appealed the planning commission’s decision to the county commission. They claim there were errors in the decision-making process. They also have safety concerns with the connection of the two roads.
The county commission heard their appeal during the Tuesday night’s commission meeting .
The 21 lots in phase three of Northport Village bring the total number of lots the subdivision to 50. County ordinance requires all subdivisions with 40 or more lots to have two access points.
Right now Northport Village has only one access point via tiny Pequeno Road to SR-138.
To satisfy the second access point requirement, the preliminary plat for Northport Phase III, as approved by the county planning commission, calls for the connection of the west end of Delgada Lane with Schooner Lane.
However, the planning commission required a crash gate to be placed at the connection that will limit the connection to emergency vehicles only until Village Boulevard and SR-138 are connected.
No public hearing was held before the preliminary plat approval because county ordinance only requires a public hearing for the initial concept plan approval, not for preliminary and final plat approvals, according to Tooele County Planner Blaine Gehring.
However the connection of Delgada and Schooner lanes will turn the neighborhood residential streets into collector roads, according to James Lear, one of the Delgada Lane residents who appealed the planning commission decision.
The connection constitutes a change in road use and a change in Tooele County’s general plan for transportation, according to Lear.
State law and county ordinance require a public hearing with written notice to affected property owners for these kind of changes, he said.
Lear successfully appealed a 2013 county planning commission approval of the Northport Village development agreement because, in part, the approval included the unrestricted connection of Delgada and Schooner lanes.
The Tooele County Commission denied the 2013 planning commission recommendation to include the open connection between Delgada and Schooner Lane as part of the Northport Village development agreement.
In response to the 2013 appeal, the county commission recommended that the developer either provide secondary access to the development when required, or obtain a variance from the secondary access requirement.
The Delgada-Schooner connection with a temporary crash gate was proposed to meet the secondary access requirement because county ordinance contains no provision for a variance from the second access requirement, according to Gehring.
The crash barrier will be removed after Village Boulevard and SR-138 are connected because both the county road department and the North Tooele County Fire Department oppose a permanent barrier.
If the properly noticed required public hearing had been held, the planning commission would have heard the residents’ safety concerns which could have been met by a permanent crash gate, Lear said.
Other Delgada residents offered other solutions.
Shane Maycock suggested that phase two of Northport Village could be terminated where it currently ends on Delgada Lane with a turn around at the west end of the street.
Access to phase three could be built on Delgada Lane with access to Delgada Lane from Schooner Lane and around on the east end of Delgada Lane, adjacent but not connecting to phase two, he said.
Mike Hansen proposed making the connection of Schooner and Delgada Lanes a one way going west connection.
The county commissioners said they will take the matter under advisement and issue an answer at a future commission meeting.