The Tooele County Planning Commission turned down a rezone request in Pine Canyon and approved a private dog kennel in Erda during its meeting Wednesday night.
Greg and Darnell Ghidotti applied for a conditional use permit for a private dog kennel for up 10 dogs in their home at 1382 E. Erda Way.
The Ghidottis have a home occupation business license to train dogs in other people’s residences. They currently have 10 dogs of their own that live in their 4,000-square-foot residence.
Some of their personal dogs are used as “tools” when training other dogs, but no training occurs in the Ghidotti’s Erda residence, according to Darnell Ghidotti.
The Ghidottis were granted a conditional use permit for a commercial kennel and training facility in 2015.
However, due to ongoing lawsuits with neighbors the facility was never built. Their CUP for the commercial facility is set to expire in February 2017.
“We want to do this to be legal and keep our dogs,” Darnell Ghidotti said.
Without the private kennel CUP, county ordinance restricts the number of household pets to three dogs, according to Tooele County Planner Blaine Gehring.
The planning commission approved the Ghidotti’s private kennel CUP with a 6-1 vote. Planning Commissioner Martie Leo opposed it.
The planning commission also voted to recommend that the county commission deny a rezone request for Meadowbrook Ranch Estates.
Utah Youth Village, doing business as Meadowbrook Ranch Estates, requested that 85 acres of property it owns on the east side of Droubay Road at approximately 1400 North be rezoned from RR-5 to RR-1.
Meadowbrook Ranch Estates bought the property with the intent of developing a subdivision of 5-acre lots, according to Eric Bjorklund, MRE president.
After MRE bought the property, the state Division of Drinking Water changed the rules on water systems for subdivisions.
At the time the property was purchased, MRE’s plans were to provide water through private wells and well sharing agreements.
However, the Division of Drinking Water now requires a public water system for subdivisions over eight lots.
Along with extra costs for developing a public water system, the North Tooele County Fire District’s requirements for water storage for a public water system adds around $500,000 to the development’s costs, according to Bjorklund.
MRE is requesting the rezone so it can develop 2.5-acre lots and reduce the per-lot cost of developing the water system, according to Bjorklund.
MRE’s public water system would also be available to adjoining developers to use, creating a regional water system as suggested in the county’s long range plan, Bjorklund said.
The county doesn’t have any zoning category between RR-1 and RR-5, according to Gehring.
The RR-1 rezone would be needed to build 2.5-acre lots, however the county health department won’t allow septic tanks on lots smaller than 2.5 acres so that would effectively limit the lot size, Gehring said.
MRE’s property is bordered by RR-5 zoning on the north and east. To the south of the MRE property is the undevelopable Atlantic Richfield conservation property.
The property to the west of MRE is in Tooele City. It is zoned R1-8 and RR-5.
Pine Canyon residents have vigorously opposed rezoning this property in the past and oppose this rezone now, according to Gordon Beals, Pine Canyon resident.
“We don’t want this developed as anything under 5-acre lots,” he said. “Rezone it and surrounding landowners will follow. Pretty soon Pine Canyon will not look like Pine Canyon at all.”
The planning commission voted 4-3 to recommend denial of the rezone request. Planning commissioners Martie Leo, Michael Donovan, John Wright and Michael Pressley voted to recommend denial of the request.