Mayfield lifts business license moratorium, but limits conditional use permits instead
Megan Batterman
Staff writer
8-25-2016
MAYFIELD—The town of Mayfield is lifting a moratorium placed on business licenses last month and instead placing a moratorium on conditional use permits.
Malynda Bjerregaard, who serves on the town board, said the change will give people looking to run a home business an opportunity to get a business license. It will still prohibit licenses for businesses looking to locate in any other type of building, including a shed or garage.
Bjerregaard said the moratorium will remain in place for an “indefinite” period of time while the town works on updating its general plan.
“We’ve got to redo our zoning ordinances,” she said while explaining that the state of Utah is trying to get communities to move away from issuing conditional use permits. Instead, municipalities should have sophisticated zoning ordinances that can anticipate and provide space for various types of development.
Mayfield currently has just one zone represented in its municipal boundaries, meaning that all prospective businesses have had to apply for conditional use permits. Currently there are 12 general use permits in town.
But according to town recorder Catherine Bartholomew, before the economic recession in 2008, up to 20 small businesses in Mayfield held conditional use permits.
Bjerregaard, who acts as a liaison between the town board, and the planning and zoning commission, said that a forthcoming public hearing will give residents of Mayfield an opportunity to voice concerns and actively participate in the general planning process. A date for the hearing has not been scheduled.
In addition to the public hearing, Bjerregaard said, the planning commission and the town board will look at zoning ordinances in several other small towns to see what could work in Mayfield.
