Planners give thumbs down to Dimple Dell proposal

A rezoning request to allow denser housing along a bucolic stretch of Dimple Dell Road will go to the Salt Lake County Council with a negative recommendation from the County Planning Commission.

The commission voted unanimously Wednesdayagainst the zoning sought on two parcels totaling 4.75 acres at 10300 South. The reasoning: The proposed density exceeded the area's adopted land-use master plan and would undercut the area's "rural country feel."

Applicant Mike Winder, the former West Valley City mayor now working in the private sector, was seeking to double the housing density on two adjacent parcels currently zoned for half-acre lots.

The owners of the parcels, former Salt Lake County Mayor Nancy Workman and physician Brent Layton, are eager to sell their properties and believe the requested zoning — for one unit on a 10,000-square-foot lot — would allow for high-quality residences that would mix well with the overall community.

"We're not talking apartments and mobile homes here," Winder said. "I get that a lot of people would like to see nothing change. But there are good property owners on that land. They would like to see something for their years of investment in that property. And it fits with market forces."

But the Granite Community Council and 15 speakers at Wednesday's hearing argued that the requested zoning would damage the character of the whole Dimple Dell area by increasing traffic, cutting down on views and encouraging other landowners to seek higher-density zoning.

"There's always going to be change, but not always change for the good," said Brad Green, who lives just south of the Layton/Workman parcels. "It's up to the Planning Commission to make sure all change isn't driven by profit and greed. If we let this happen, basically we'll have a Daybreak in Dimple Dell."

Daybreak is a master-planned community being developed by Kennecott in South Jordan.

Planning commissioners sided with the community council and the speakers, even though their staff had recommended approving the change after determining the housing allowed in the requested zone still qualified as low density.

"Sometimes change isn't warranted, even when it's allowed, because it just doesn't make sense," said planning commissioner Jeff Creveling.

With that negative recommendation, the zoning request is expected to go before the County Council in the next couple of months for final action.

mikeg@sltrib.com

Twitter: @sltribmikeg