17-27a-508.  Applicant’s entitlement to land use application approval — Application relating to land in a high priority transportation corridor — County’s requirements and limitations — Vesting upon submission of development plan and schedule.

(1) 

Terms Used In Utah Code 17-27a-508

  • Affected owner: means the owner of real property that is:
(a) a single project;
(b) the subject of a land use approval that sponsors of a referendum timely challenged in accordance with Subsection 20A-7-601(6); and
(c) determined to be legally referable under Section 20A-7-602. See Utah Code 17-27a-103
  • Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
  • Land: includes :Utah Code 68-3-12.5
  • Land use authority: means :
    (a) a person, board, commission, agency, or body, including the local legislative body, designated by the local legislative body to act upon a land use application; or
    (b) if the local legislative body has not designated a person, board, commission, agency, or body, the local legislative body. See Utah Code 17-27a-103
  • Land use permit: means a permit issued by a land use authority. See Utah Code 17-27a-103
  • Legislative: when used to describe the powers, duties, or functions of a county commission or council, refers to:
    (a) the power and duty to enact ordinances, levy taxes, and establish budgets; and
    (b) those powers, duties, and functions that, under constitutional and statutory provisions and through long usage and accepted practice and custom at the federal and state level, have come to be regarded as belonging to the legislative branch of government. See Utah Code 17-50-101
  • Person: means an individual, corporation, partnership, organization, association, trust, governmental agency, or any other legal entity. See Utah Code 17-27a-103
  • Plat: means an instrument subdividing property into lots as depicted on a map or other graphical representation of lands that a licensed professional land surveyor makes and prepares in accordance with Section 17-27a-603 or 57-8-13. See Utah Code 17-27a-103
  • Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of a judicial proceeding. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
  • Public agency: means :
    (a) the federal government;
    (b) the state;
    (c) a county, municipality, school district, special district, special service district, or other political subdivision of the state; or
    (d) a charter school. See Utah Code 17-27a-103
  • Specified public agency: means :
    (a) the state;
    (b) a school district; or
    (c) a charter school. See Utah Code 17-27a-103
  • Subdivision: includes :
    (i) the division or development of land, whether by deed, metes and bounds description, devise and testacy, map, plat, or other recorded instrument, regardless of whether the division includes all or a portion of a parcel or lot; and
    (ii) except as provided in Subsection (70)(c), divisions of land for residential and nonresidential uses, including land used or to be used for commercial, agricultural, and industrial purposes. See Utah Code 17-27a-103
  • Writing: includes :Utah Code 68-3-12.5
  • Zoning map: means a map, adopted as part of a land use ordinance, that depicts land use zones, overlays, or districts. See Utah Code 17-27a-103
  • (a) 

    (i)  An applicant who has submitted a complete land use application, including the payment of all application fees, is entitled to substantive review of the application under the land use regulations:

    (A)  in effect on the date that the application is complete; and

    (B)  applicable to the application or to the information shown on the submitted application.

    (ii)  An applicant is entitled to approval of a land use application if the application conforms to the requirements of the applicable land use regulations, land use decisions, and development standards in effect when the applicant submits a complete application and pays all application fees, unless:

    (A)  the land use authority, on the record, formally finds that a compelling, countervailing public interest would be jeopardized by approving the application and specifies the compelling, countervailing public interest in writing; or

    (B)  in the manner provided by local ordinance and before the applicant submits the application, the county formally initiates proceedings to amend the county’s land use regulations in a manner that would prohibit approval of the application as submitted.

    (b)  The county shall process an application without regard to proceedings the county initiated to amend the county’s ordinances as described in Subsection (1)(a)(ii)(B) if:

    (i)  180 days have passed since the county initiated the proceedings; and

    (ii) 

    (A)  the proceedings have not resulted in an enactment that prohibits approval of the application as submitted; or

    (B)  during the 12 months prior to the county processing the application or multiple applications of the same type, the application is impaired or prohibited under the terms of a temporary land use regulation adopted under Section 17-27a-504.

    (c)  A land use application is considered submitted and complete when the applicant provides the application in a form that complies with the requirements of applicable ordinances and pays all applicable fees.

    (d)  The continuing validity of an approval of a land use application is conditioned upon the applicant proceeding after approval to implement the approval with reasonable diligence.

    (e)  A county may not impose on an applicant who has submitted a complete application a requirement that is not expressed in:

    (i)  this chapter;

    (ii)  a county ordinance in effect on the date that the applicant submits a complete application, subject to Subsection 17-27a-508(1)(a)(ii); or

    (iii)  a county specification for public improvements applicable to a subdivision or development that is in effect on the date that the applicant submits an application.

    (f)  A county may not impose on a holder of an issued land use permit or a final, unexpired subdivision plat a requirement that is not expressed:

    (i)  in a land use permit;

    (ii)  on the subdivision plat;

    (iii)  in a document on which the land use permit or subdivision plat is based;

    (iv)  in the written record evidencing approval of the land use permit or subdivision plat;

    (v)  in this chapter;

    (vi)  in a county ordinance; or

    (vii)  in a county specification for residential roadways in effect at the time a residential subdivision was approved.

    (g)  Except as provided in Subsection (1)(h), a county may not withhold issuance of a certificate of occupancy or acceptance of subdivision improvements because of an applicant’s failure to comply with a requirement that is not expressed:

    (i)  in the building permit or subdivision plat, documents on which the building permit or subdivision plat is based, or the written record evidencing approval of the building permit or subdivision plat; or

    (ii)  in this chapter or the county’s ordinances.

    (h)  A county may not unreasonably withhold issuance of a certificate of occupancy where an applicant has met all requirements essential for the public health, public safety, and general welfare of the occupants, in accordance with this chapter, unless:

    (i)  the applicant and the county have agreed in a written document to the withholding of a certificate of occupancy; or

    (ii)  the applicant has not provided a financial assurance for required and uncompleted public landscaping improvements or infrastructure improvements in accordance with an applicable ordinance that the legislative body adopts under this chapter.
  • (2)  A county is bound by the terms and standards of applicable land use regulations and shall comply with mandatory provisions of those regulations.

    (3)  A county may not, as a condition of land use application approval, require a person filing a land use application to obtain documentation regarding a school district’s willingness, capacity, or ability to serve the development proposed in the land use application.

    (4)  Upon a specified public agency‘s submission of a development plan and schedule as required in Subsection 17-27a-305(8) that complies with the requirements of that subsection, the specified public agency vests in the county’s applicable land use maps, zoning map, hookup fees, impact fees, other applicable development fees, and land use regulations in effect on the date of submission.

    (5) 

    (a)  If sponsors of a referendum timely challenge a project in accordance with Subsection 20A-7-601(6), the project’s affected owner may rescind the project’s land use approval by delivering a written notice:

    (i)  to the local clerk as defined in Section 20A-7-101; and

    (ii)  no later than seven days after the day on which a petition for a referendum is determined sufficient under Subsection 20A-7-607(5).

    (b)  Upon delivery of a written notice described in Subsection(5)(a) the following are rescinded and are of no further force or effect:

    (i)  the relevant land use approval; and

    (ii)  any land use regulation enacted specifically in relation to the land use approval.

    Amended by Chapter 478, 2023 General Session