By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News

Among the regular business items facing the Emery County Commissioners during their June 3 meeting, a string of four items set the tone for the meeting. Questions concerning planning and zoning were raised regarding code enforcement, conditional use and nonconforming lots.

The first concern was by Tyler Jeffs – a current planning and zoning board member – regarding how the county handles code enforcement. “I’m not sure that I’m necessarily representing the Planning and Zoning Commission. This is more from a concerned citizen standpoint,” opened Jeffs. “My question is, where does Emery County stand on code enforcement, and how has that been happening?”

Jeffs explained that he was concerned about two properties in Huntington that he says have become encampments of camp trailers and tents. He stated that some of the trailers had insulation around them with the intent of staying long-term.

“I don’t think that Emery County wants that type of person to be living in our area here,” said Jeffs. “I’m not against people in trailers. I don’t need anybody to be concerned about that. But I do have concerns where one of the tenants of the property is not the owner. And there are multiple trailers set up there and multiple families living there.”

Commissioner Keven Jensen jumped in,” One thing that’s kind of difficult, and we’ve talked about this just a little bit, is the cost of houses these days. The cost of living is so high. And so I don’t know if we need to come back and revisit those ordinances and try to make it to where people can kind of live. But like I said in those ordinances before, I think if somebody is causing an issue to a neighbor, we need to take a look at that.”

Jeffs fired back,” I’m sorry that the cost of living is high. I don’t like it either. I don’t like to pay my fair share of taxes. I’m not happy that the cost of living is high. But that should not negate tent cities and camp cities. Camp Trailer cities could be allowed to appear within our county, especially in a compacted area of land.”

In closing, Jeffs requested a response from either himself or the Planning and Zoning Commission when the Commissioners decided on a course of action.

Moving ahead, the Commissioners again faced a zoning dilemma: whether or not to send a letter from the Planning and Zoning Commission to Jason Merrill.

“Dear Mr. Merrill, we received your letter dated March 12, 2025, reported to the county attorney. The planning commission was advised by the county attorney to respond with the following information: We do not agree with your analysis,” reads the letter. “Further, we do not entertain hypotheticals. Please refer to Emerycounty.com, where our zoning ordinance is fully attached.”

The issue stems from a one-acre, nonconforming lot in Huntington Canyon, which Merrill owns. In his initial letter to Planning and Zoning, Merrill states,” I have visited with county personnel several times about this before and received different responses each time. It seems all the county wants to do is forbid me from doing anything on the property!.”

In 2023, Merrill was found guilty of two misdemeanors related to this land. As a result, Merrill was fined $1000 and sentenced to 12 months of probation.

Addressing the Commissioners, Merrill said,” You have an ordinance that says all uses and structures are prohibited on a nonconforming lot. That is so unconstitutional. You cannot make an ordinance or a law that says all uses are prohibited on private property. That is a regulatory taking.”

County Attorney Mike Olson responded,” This case has been fully and fairly litigated in court, where it was supposed to be. I’m not going to do it again. I’m not going to entertain a whole bunch of hypotheticals. If you want to do something on your property, follow the procedure to do it. And the board will answer it.”

“Unless we want to send this letter, I think we’ve been given some stuff to chew on and need to ask ourselves what we can or can’t do, what someone can and can’t do in this county. That’s my take on this because it is connected because we’re dealing with other issues on nonconforming land,” said Commissioner Jensen.

When put to a vote, the Commission elected to send the letter to Merrill in a unanimous decision.

After this, the Commissioners considered potentially issuing Derek Beagley a conditional use permit following a positive recommendation from the Planning and Zoning Commission. 

Beagley seeks to open a scrap metal business and wrecking yard on his property outside the town of Emery. The Planning and Zoning Commission recommended granting this permit if Beagley followed certain guidelines set forth by the board. These include not being a long-term storage facility for scrap metal and tires, not storing hazardous materials and taking long-term precautionary measures to protect the soil and surrounding environment.

In a 3-0 decision, the Commissioners approved this permit.

Next, the Commissioners considered changing how they handle conditional use permits on nonconforming lots. “We just simply say we’re not going to issue a conditional use permit because it’s nonconforming,” said Jensen. Commissioner Dennis Worwood added,” The nonconforming overrides any other considerations basically.” 

This change would only apply to county land, not individual cities.

When discussed among the Commission and attendees, the item’s initial intent was amended to include its original purpose and for the body to work to establish new zoning law for commercial businesses. 

The final zoning item discussed by the commissioners concerned the county’s handling of conditional-use permits. Commissioner Jensen explained that he would like to establish a way for each commissioner to know what’s happening with conditional-use permits. “There’s been enough little incidents in the county where it would be handy to know that the Commission is trying to mitigate things like noise.”

Commissioner Jordan Leonard echoed this sentiment,” I think it’s a good idea. Bring everything before the Commission after it’s approved, and I think it has helped Jim (Jennings), too. If there’s any concern that he knows, we know. I think it would be a good process.”

The next meeting of the Emery County Commissioners will be held on Tuesday, June 17, starting at 3 p.m. in the Emery County Administration building. Immediately following the meeting, the Commissioners will host a public hearing regarding the future of nuclear industries in Emery County at 5 p.m. 

For those unable to attend in person, a livestream of the hearing will be available on YouTube at KOAL–Castle Country Focus.