Planning Commission Work Session - February 6, 2025

Meeting Summary

The February 6, 2025 Planning Commission work session addressed several ongoing code development topics that have been moving through multiple review sessions. Staff opened with a review of recent items approved through the Development Review Committee (DRC), the administrative body that handles smaller and more routine project approvals that do not require full Planning Commission action. Commissioners then discussed the Environmental Sensitivity Area (ESA) overlay zone, which governs development in environmentally sensitive areas such as steep slopes, wetlands, and wildlife corridors — a particularly active policy issue as Lehi continues to develop land near the Wasatch foothills and along natural drainages. Staff also provided an update on the Affordable Housing Overlay Zone (AHOZ), which gives developers regulatory flexibility — such as reduced setbacks or increased density — in exchange for including affordable units in their projects. The session closed with a substantive discussion about streamlining the residential and commercial tables of uses by reducing the number of land use categories that require conditional use permits. The goal is to make the approval process more efficient for routine, lower-impact development applications, reducing the hearing burden on both applicants and the commission while reserving conditional use review for genuinely complex or sensitive proposals. No formal votes were taken at this session. All four topics were at the work session stage and were expected to return as formal agenda items at future Planning Commission meetings.