Changes leave divide down Centerville’s Main St.
Nov 21, 2010 | 590 views | 0 
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DOZENS attended Tuesday’s public hearing about the plan amendments, the second one held this month.
At their Nov. 16 meeting, the Centerville City Council responded to two days of impassioned public hearings on amendments to the city’s Main Street Plan by reducing the allowed height and number of possible residential units permitted for buildings on the street’s east side.
On the street’s west side, however, which back up against multiple-family rather than single family dwellings, the original heights and number of residential units remains the same.
“The council came up with a resolution that balanced what they heard from the community with principles of the planning process,” said Centerville City Community Development Director Cory Snyder. “The city went through a good process, with lots of public participation.”
The initial amendments to the plan, which eased height restrictions to 35 feet, will now max out at 25 feet on the street’s east side (the west side will remain 35 feet, but only with a conditional use permit).
The 35 feet height maximum is the same as has been allowed on both sides of the street by zoning that’s been in effect since the early 1990s.
The number of rental units in each building will be one to three on the east side, with four to six with a conditional use permit. On the west side, that number will be one to four per building, and five to eight with the permit.
The method to measure the buildings was also tweaked, with the top most point moving from the midpoint of a peaked roof to the very tip.
Single family homes were also added to the list of possible uses allowed on Main Street.
The amendments also removed some language from the plan that was seen by some as too friendly to public transportation.
“In my mind, we need to focus on the tweaks we need to make to alleviate some fears,” said Centerville City Mayor Ron Russell, after the hearing but before the final decision was made. “But it would be a terrible mistake to throw out what we have.”
At the most recent public hearing, which was a continuation of the one begun at the Nov. 2 city council meeting, the main fear expressed was that any changes to Main Street would cause Centerville to lose its residential feel.
“I keep hearing the words that we have no identity and that we need to make Main Street the heart of Centerville,” said resident Nancy Smith. “But for me, the heart of Centerville is each of the locally owned businesses. That’s what makes me want to shop there. That’s our vibrancy.”
There was also a considerable amount of worry over either the possibility that UDOT would widen Main Street, or that UTA was still considering bringing light rail through the same area.
“I went to a transportation summit recently where people were asking a UTA representative how to get light rail into their towns, and what they were telling these people was our Main Street plan,” said resident Robyn Mecham, specifying that the UTA doesn’t like parking lots near their stops. “I was shocked.”
Council member Justin Allen, who also sits on the Board of Trustees for the UTA, offered a different perspective.
“I think we can all rest assured that UTA has bigger fish to fry than buying small pieces of land in Centerville,” he said, adding that any density increase caused by the allowed rental units wouldn’t be anywhere near the numbers in the areas UTA is focusing on.
It was a worry about how specific the requirements of the landscaping areas would be, however, that most accurately showed the council’s desire to move forward.
“We haven’t even gotten to deciding on that part of the plan,” said Russell. “We’ve been too busy having discussions like these.”
jwardell@davisclipper.com
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