Bluffdale planners to weigh a smaller setback for indoor kennels

BLUFFDALE — The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing Wednesday, Nov. 4, on a text amendment to Bluffdale City Code 11.350.020 that would write a shorter distance rule for kennels that keep their dogs indoors 1.

The applicant is Full House Dog Training, represented by Tracie Kay 1. The staff report prepared for the meeting describes the business as a dog-training service that wants to move into Bluffdale and is looking for space in the Wardle Business Park or Saddleback Point commercial areas 2.

Kennels are a permitted use in the GC-1 general commercial zone, but a footnote to the land-use table requires 350 feet between any kennel use and the nearest residential property line 2. Staff wrote that the two sites the applicant is considering are approximately 250 to 270 feet from the nearest dwelling, "thus necessitating an amendment to the code" 2.

**What the footnote would say**

The proposed footnote keeps 350 feet for "any outdoor area (which may include runs, pens, enclosures, or activity areas)" and sets 250 feet for kennel businesses "entirely enclosed and [with] no outdoor areas," measured to residential buildings rather than property lines 2. The applicant asked for 250 feet for indoor kennels 2.

The code defines a kennel as "a commercial establishment having three (3) or more dogs or cats for the purpose of boarding, breeding, buying, grooming, letting for hire, training for fee or selling," so a training business holding three or more dogs falls under the use 2.

Two numbering systems appear in the record for the same request: the agenda lists it as Application 2026-33, and the staff report headings number it 2026-32 12.

**Why staff looked at the distance at all**

The report compares Bluffdale's rule with the rest of Salt Lake County and concludes the city "currently requires the most distance between dwellings and kennels and does not distinguish between indoor or outdoor kennels" 2. Its table puts Salt Lake City at 200 feet to the nearest dwelling, South Salt Lake at 150 feet from a residential zone with no indoor requirement, and West Valley City at 10 feet from a property line and 50 feet from the nearest dwelling 2. Herriman and West Jordan allow no outdoor kennels, and South Jordan requires a sound study within 300 feet of a residential zone or a religious assembly or educational use 2. Midvale, Sandy, Riverton, Murray, Cottonwood Heights, Holladay and Draper are listed with no indoor requirement 2.

Staff also set out the history of the use in the code: Ordinance 12-08-81-1 allowed kennels as conditional uses in what is now the R1 zone in 1981, Ordinance 12-14-93-1 added hobby kennels of up to four dogs in 1993, and Ordinance 1-11-94-1 made hobby kennels a conditional use in residential zones 2. The city's 2018 land-use overhaul, Ordinance 2018-242, made hobby kennels a permitted use in various residential zones 2.

The distance footnote is quoted in the report directly above the citation to the Sept. 26, 2018 council packet 2. The 2024 change is the one the report ties to this applicant: it says Kay approached the city on April 10, 2024, and that the City Council then adopted Ordinance 2024-093, which made kennels a permitted use in GC-1 2.

**What the commission is being asked for**

The item is a recommendation item, not a decision: the agenda lists it as a public hearing, consideration and recommendation, and the staff report supplies model language to "forward a positive recommendation to the City Council" 12. The report does not state a staff recommendation for or against the change 2.

The notice was given under BCC 11.30.060 and staff had received no public comment on the item when the report was published 2. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at Bluffdale City Hall, 2222 West 14400 South, and is broadcast live on the city's website 1. Written comments go to planningmeetingcomment@bluffdale.gov by 4 p.m. the day of the meeting; emailed comments are passed to the commission but not read aloud 1.

The kennel amendment is item 8 on a six-hearing agenda that also carries the Chapel Row development agreement and a rezone for a boutique in a building from about 1920 1.