Hurricane council unanimously okays plans for ‘Horseman’s Edge’

Scott Stratton smiles after the Hurricane City Council unanimously votes to approve the plan for a residential/resort development that will allow residents and visitors to stable horses. Horseman's Edge will be the first recreational use development in the city's agricultural zone, Hurricane, Utah, Dec. 16, 2021 | Photo by Sarah Torribio, St. George News

HURRICANE —The Dec. 16 Hurricane City Council meeting was filled with tributes to outgoing council members Darin Larson and Kevin Tervort, both saying goodbye after serving on the council for 8 and 12 years, respectively. That doesn’t mean, however, that work didn’t get done.

Scott Stratton presents a planned development overlay for a project to be built in Hurricane’s agricultural district. Horseman’s Edge will have residences and vacation homes where horses can be stabled, Hurricane, Utah, Dec. 16, 2021, Photo by Sarah Torribio, St. George News

The council navigated, at length and in detail, an agenda featuring the usual gauntlet of zone and property use requests.

The lion’s share of scrutiny went to a planned development overlay brought by Scott Stratton of Stratton Construction in LaVerkin for council approval. Discussion of Stratton’s PDO, which outlines the creation of a mixed residential/recreational use development on 52 acres of land in Hurricane’s agricultural zone, took nearly 50 minutes.

A PDO is a special zoning – laid over the existing zone where it’s located – that provides developers more flexibility for a specific project.  It requires approval by a city council, who may say yes because it gives them more of a say on the nature and aesthetics of a development. In some cases, councils approve PDOs with densities of up to 20 percent greater than the surrounding area. A density bonus might be awarded on the basis of the developer including elements that benefit the community at large or go above and beyond to ensure their project is harmonious with the surrounding area.

Stratton’s PDO required the council to agree to allow a resort portion to his development amid a zoning that is wholly residential agriculture. His proposed PDO found him taking a different approach to a development that was earlier intended to be a group of single-family residences located on half-acre parcels. He was now asking for council to approve a project comprising a roughly half-and-half makeup of single-family homes and vacation homes.

The project, which has the working title Horseman’s Edge, has a unique angle. Residents will be allowed to keep horses, which they can ride on adjoining trails. Further, each vacation home will feature a stable where guests can keep a horse. Stratton, who’d hashed out his PDO with the planning commission the night before, said he reached the idea of catering to the horsey set on the advice of residents with a ranching background.

Kelby Iverson, owner of Western Legacy Farm & Ranch in Hurricane, and Doug Heideman, who rents and boards horses in Toquerville, suggested Stratton make the keeping of horses an integral part of his development. Their thinking was that a project allowing for the keeping of animals melds well with agricultural zoning. Further, they proposed that vacation homes with room for horses meet the needs of people who come to the city to participate in Peach Days and other local rodeos.

Council members Nanette Billings and Joseph Prete have opposed two earlier zone changes sought by Stratton for the land in question.

Stratton first appealed to the council in June, asking his holdings be reclassified from RA-1, residential agriculture, one unit per acre to R1-1, residential, 1 unit per 10,000 square feet. Billings and Prete motioned to deny his request, which would allow for houses on quarter-acre lots. The rest of the council voted to allow Stratton to table the matter, making some changes before returning with his zoning  proposal.

Councilmember Nanette Billing likes the idea of providing stables for rodeo-goers and bringing animals to the agricultural zone, but objected to a plan with lots of less than half-acre, Hurricane, Utah, Dec. 16, 2020| Photo by Sarah Torribio, St. George News
Stratton returned to council on Oct. 21 to present an updated zone change request, this time to allow for a housing development limited to half-acre lots. He noted his development would include parking to accommodate public use of adjacent hiking trails and said the project’s architecture would have a rural flair, with ranch-style homes and split-rail fences. Stratton’s request was approved, with Billings and Prete voting against the change.

At the most recent city council meeting, Billings told Stratton she was dismayed to learn the schematics for the Horseman’s Edge PDO included some 67 percent of homes situated on plots under a half-acre, with the average falling closer to a third-acre and some as small as a quarter-acre.

Stratton, whose development plans had expanded from 40 homes to 47, indicated that the greater density afforded by the proposed PDO would allow him to recoup an investment that now included expenses like the installation of horse stables. He also noted that with the PDO, the city would have a contract-firm assurance that the homes at Horseman’s Edge would include an agricultural look in fencing and other details.

Billings said that the latter argument was not convincing, given Stratton had already promised he would create homes with a ranchette feel when he appealed to council for the half-acre zoning.

Where are they going to go?

Council members Tervort and Larson as well as real-life horsemen Iverson and Heideman went to bat for Stratton’s project. Iverson, speaking remotely via computer, said he’d prefer the development be half-acre lots. Still, he felt it was better for the council to make some size concessions than to lose the Horseman’s Edge concept entirely.

The city is currently building an equestrian park that will have new, larger rodeo grounds at its center. Stratton plans to have his horse trails extend all the way to the park, which is located only a half-mile from Horseman’s Edge. Heideman took to the podium to express his appreciation for a project that takes the expansion into consideration.

“Was it this city council that approved the new rodeo grounds out there?” Heideman said. “If you haven’t provided any services for horse owners or cow owners that attend the rodeo grounds or use them, then you’ve just opened up a can of worms here … I’m thinking, where are they supposed to go?”

Heideman said people regularly approach him during rodeos, wanting to board their horses for one to three days. In many cases, they ask if there’s an option where they can stay nearby. Not long ago, Heideman said, someone asked if he could camp out overnight in a trailer near the stables, just to keep an eye on his horse.

“I mean, this horse was worth $75,000. There’s cows that are worth $50,000,” Heideman said. “This is really valuable property. This looks like an opportunity for them to rent there. I think the question’s going to keep coming up again as long as you have the rodeo grounds there. I can tell this concept’s pretty new to Hurricane, but it’s pretty old in other places.”

Tervort agreed.

“When these rodeo people come to town, they want something like this,” he said. “I’ve been dealing with them for 35 years, ever since they built the rodeo grounds out there. And when they come they have no place to go, so what do they do? They camp on the county grounds … I think this is a great concept.

“I agree with you,” Billings said. “I just want to see the half-acre lots.

Size a sticking point

Doug Heideman appeals to the Hurricane City Council to approve a development featuring vacation homes with adjoining stables to accommodate rodeo-goers, Hurricane, Utah, Dec. 16, 2021 | Photo by Sarah Torribio, St. George News

Billings and Planning Director Stephen Nelson raised logistical concerns about the prospect of stabling horses on quarter-acre lots. Nelson noted that the smaller your land, the more vigorous cleaning schedule needed to keep the smell at bay. Prete echoed his concerns.

At this point, the discussion became philosophical in nature, with attendees wondering whether the city actually supports agricultural use in the agricultural zone. If so, some said this would seem to be belied by concerns about manure and flies, which come with the territory when you’re keeping a horse or other livestock.

“Some people like the smell of silage, some people don’t,” Billings said, referring to the distinctive odor of horse feed. It was agreed that people who are averse to the smell of horses were unlikely to rent a vacation home at Horseman’s Edge and people are unlikely to buy a home in the development if they don’t plan to keep horses.

Billings asserted that a quarter-acre lot isn’t big enough to fit both a stable and a horse trailer. Many horse trailers nowadays are quite large, especially those belonging to the professional rodeo crowd, even containing living quarters for horse owners. She said by keeping the lots in the development at half-acre, council would also be adhering to the wishes of 45 people who live in the agricultural zone, whom she said have personally appealed to her to keep high-density planning away from the area.

Prete summed up the situation well into discussion by pointing out that with his PDO request, Stratton was asking for three items that were unprecedented in the city. The first was to have a recreational use development allowed in the agricultural district. The second was to have a resort that excluded the usual required amenities of a pool and clubhouse, trading those out in favor of providing horse stables. The third was the allowance of building on smaller plots.

With the council at an impasse, the back-and-forth was tense for a while, with Tervort at one point saying that having all half-acre lots in the development “doesn’t mean diddly-squat” in comparison to the assurance that the project would bring livestock and a farm feel to the agricultural area. Prete disagreed, stressing the importance of adhering to the general plan.

“Whether this is a great concept or not doesn’t mean it’s right for this piece of land,” he said.

Tervort retorted, “Well, nothing seems to be right for this piece of land.”

Billings then directly addressed Stratton.

“I’ll just be frank. You came in, asked for quarter-acres. It wasn’t approved,” she said. “It came to half-acres, you’re doing a PDO, you’re getting quarter-acre anyways … And that’s the whole point. I want to make sure that we’re still representing those other 45 people. And you have an opportunity to develop, and no one’s stopping you from developing. But half-acre is fair.”

About 40 minutes into the discussion, Stratton offered to adjust the PDO by removing 7 lots. This brings the total lots in the development to 40. Each of these will be an average of a half-acre, with a little wiggle-room included for any logistical issues that might come up during construction. With this concession made, Billings made a motion to approve the amended PDO for Horseman’s Edge. The board then voted one-by-one voted to approve the PDO. Prete took a long moment to cast his vote, providing a moment of suspense.

With his project green-lighted in a rare example of council unanimity, Stratton smiled broadly. Regarding Prete, he said, “I just want you to know that’s the first time he’s every voted for anything I’ve done.”

Prete jokingly attributed his vote to the time of year, saying, “It’s Christmas.”

Billings will be sworn in as the new mayor of Hurricane on Monday, Jan. 3 at noon. New city council members David Hirschi and Kevin Thomas will also be sworn in. The ceremony will be followed by a meeting of the town’s youth city council.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

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