Shelley City Council decides to keep large garages in its development ordinance

SHELLEY: In Shelley’s City Council meeting last Tuesday, the Council decided to keep the 24’ x 24’ garage ordinance in place. The Council also agreed with provisions in the Fox Creek development agreement.

The Council discussed proposed changes to the title seven building code which, at present, will regulate the development of the Fox Crossing subdivision. A garage size requirement was specifically discussed.

The issue is whether the building code should only require a “two-car garage,†potentially leaving its actual size open to interpretation, or a 24-foot by 24-foot garage,†which unambiguously requires a good-sized two-car garage.

The related issue is that city officials want to minimize cars parked on the sides of city streets, which can be a safety issue and possibly create other problems. After discussion, the Council split its votes, with Jeff Kelley and Kim Westergard voting in favor and Leaf Watson and Adam French voting against the motion to keep the 24-foot by 24-foot garage ordinance in place. Mayor Pascoe cast the deciding vote on keeping the larger garage ordinance.

The next order of business was the Fox Creek development agreement. Some changes to this agreement included using city water to irrigate the retention ponds within the development and the development agreement allowing a third-party HOA to enforce its covenants.

With those provisions in place, the large development, which includes 75 building permits issued yearly, passed with the majority of the Council’s vote. French was the dissenting vote on the development.