With lot size issue settled, Spring City moves forward on comprehensive planning process

SPRING CITY—With the long-standing lot-size controversy apparently resolved, the Spring City Council has started talking about a broad city planning effort involving a planning consulting firm, an advisory panel and a timetable.

Since the mid-2000s, the city has required a 1.06-acre lot for all residential structures. In late 2025, the city council passed an ordinance permitting the 1-acre lots in certain parts of town to be split into two half-acre lots. Then in February 2026, a newly elected city council repealed the 2025 ordinance.

Proponents of the half-acre lots launched an effort to put the issue on the ballot. That effort failed when the present council, by unanimous vote, repealed both the 2025 and 2026 ordinances. The council then passed a third ordinance, which appeared to lock in the acre lots, at least for now.

As of the Jan. 2 city council meeting, Cami Christensen, chairwoman of the Spring City Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z), announced she had received bids from three consulting firms for development of a new city plan.

The bidders were Citi Design of Farmington; Sunrise Engineering, with offices in Fillmore and Nephi; and Jones and DeMille Engineering of Manti and Richfield.

Citi Design bid $19,000 for the project, Jones & Demille $23,000, and Sunrise $70,000. Sunrise said its bid included “additional services” outside of bid specifications, but Christensen said she expected if Sunrise were selected, the final price would be $70,000.

Christensen said Citi Design wanted to use the city’s present plan, which was developed in house under the leadership of former P&Z Chairman Craig Paulsen, as the foundation for a new plan She said the firm would add a transportation, plan, which was recently completed, as well as what Christensen described as “the new things we’ve got.”        

Christensen said she favored setting up a board or panel to oversee the planning process. But she said, “I don’t want another division” like the city had in a “Growth Committee” in 2024. “That scares me to death,” she said.

Discussion turned to how to pay for a new general plan. Cade Penney, advisor from the R-6 Regional Council, said one source might be a Technical Assistance Planning (TAP) grant from the Utah Department of Transportation.

Another possibility, he said, was the Utah Community Impact Board (CIB), although Spring City’s request would have to be endorsed by the R6 governing board before it could be presented to the CIB. That could delay CIB consideration of a Spring City grant request.  

The city council turned to two resolutions addressing the planning process, one from Councilman Stan Soper and another from Councilman Michael Broadbent.

The Soper resolution was just over a page. It called for establishment of a Planning and Land Use Review Committee within 45 days. Such a panel appeared to mirror the kind of oversight group Christensen had described.

Then it listed seven topics the panel should take up ranging from evaluating goals from the present plan that have not been achieved, to defining minimum lot sizes, setbacks and building placement, among other characteristics.

Other items on the list were “ways to further support Spring City’s unique historic and rural character” and “construction standards consistent with historic and rural architecture.”

The resolution called for the panel to present its findings to P&Z and the city council within one year. That would be followed by one or more public hearings, after which the city council would recommend “master plan amendments, overlay zoning concepts, or related land use proposals resulting from the review process.”

In contrast, Broadbent’s resolution was two pages. It contained specific on composition of a steering committee for the general plan. And it contained a seven-page exhibit from the Utah League of Cities and Towns listing recommended steps in developing a plan, topics the plan should address and a recommended timetable.

Broadbent told Soper, “I looked at it as yours was kind of the spirit of the undertaking, and I was trying to get to the nuts and bolts, and the bones and muscles.

Mayor Paul Penrod urged council members to study both resolutions. He said there were commonalities between the two documents and added that the two documents, and other discussion, was “all kind of circling around the same issues.”

The city council agreed to hold a work session with P&Z on Thursday, July 30, at 6:30 p.m. to map out the next steps.