South Jordan planners weigh halving cell-tower spacing, and a trade school's parking math

SOUTH JORDAN — The Planning Commission meets Tuesday, Oct. 27, at 6:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers at 1600 W. Towne Center Drive for two public hearings: a conditional use permit for an electrical apprenticeship school, and a city code amendment that would halve the required distance between wireless monopoles 1.

The code amendment is the citywide one. Ordinance 2026-26, file PLZTA202600194, would amend §17.112.070(D). The current text reads, "A minimum one (1) mile distance is required between monopoles"; the proposed text reads, "A minimum one-half (1/2) mile distance is required between monopoles" 1. Exhibit A to the ordinance shows the two versions side by side, and subsection D is the only text the amendment touches 1.

Planning staff support it. The staff report describes the amendment as "specifically designed to improve cellular coverage and network reliability within the Daybreak area," and states that the applicant, Rocky Schutjer of RAGE Development, "has collaborated with Larry H. Miller Real Estate to evaluate wireless coverage limitations in the Daybreak area" 1. The reduced spacing, the report states, is what would allow the applicant "to eventually construct four (4) 100-foot-tall monopoles in Daybreak." Staff wrote that it "has no objections to the proposed amendment" and recommends approval 1.

The record the commission will work from dates the request to a council study session six weeks ago. The staff report's timeline runs: Sept. 15, 2026, City Council review at a study session; Sept. 30, formal application submitted; Oct. 6, staff completed its review; Oct. 27, Planning Commission; Nov. 17, "Scheduled City Council meeting for final decision" 1. The Sept. 15 study agenda listed the item as "Amendments related to cell tower spacing," presented by Planning and Economic Development Director Brian Preece 3.

The one-mile rule has been the city's answer to a coverage complaint before. At a Jan. 21, 2020, council study meeting on a Crown Castle request for cell-tower text amendments, Planning Director Stephen Schaefermeyer told the council "there is a lack of monopoles in Daybreak," and Strategic Services Director Don Tingey said Daybreak "only has roof mounted poles" 2. Council Member Don Shelton said cell phone coverage "on the west side of the city is awful" 2. Council Member Tamara Zander said "the issue of cell towers needs to be readdressed in Daybreak," and Council Member Gary Whatcott said "much of the Ordinance was created due to public comment" 2. Council Member Jason McGuire said "the sentiment hasn't changed; the public still does not like cell towers" 2. The one-mile separation was already in place at that meeting, as Schaefermeyer described "a distance requirement on poles" 2.

The amendment would change the spacing rule and nothing else in the chapter. The other limits stand as the Ledger reported them earlier: the code caps monopoles at 100 feet, restricts them to rear yard areas, keeps them at least 100 feet from a street right-of-way and sets a table of required distances from a residential property line that runs to 370 feet for a 100-foot pole, as published by a municipal-code mirror the paper cited 4. The 2020 minutes record the same 100-foot ceiling and note the code sets no limit on how low equipment may sit on a pole 2. A monopole application still has to clear those standards; halving the spacing requirement would not change them 14.

The commission makes a final decision, not a recommendation, on the evening's other hearing. IEC of Utah, a nonprofit trade association representing merit-shop electrical contractors, is seeking a conditional use permit to occupy an existing vacant building of about 15,700 square feet on 1.34 acres at 10888 S. 300 W., zoned C-F, with no exterior building or site work proposed 1. City Code identifies vocational and professional education as a conditional use in that zone 1.

The issue in that file is parking. The property has 65 stalls; applying the standard vocational-school ratio of one stall per 100 square feet produces a requirement of 157, or 92 more than exist 1. The applicant argues the ratio does not fit its operation: classroom instruction is delivered online, students attend only for scheduled hands-on labs after 5 p.m., labs run at a maximum of one instructor to eight students, daytime staff number four, and occupancy peaks at about 60 people 1. Staff agree the daytime use is small and that the concern is evening lab demand. They recommend approval subject to three conditions: occupancy capped at 60 people; no student instruction or lab activity before 5 p.m., with a minimum 30-minute buffer after daytime operations end; and staggered evening lab schedules to spread arrivals and departures 1. The standard of approval is whether proposed conditions can mitigate the reasonably anticipated effects of the use 1.

The city amended the agenda, which is dated Oct. 23 1. Public comment is allowed in person or in writing; attendees joining by Zoom or phone may not comment during public comment or a public hearing 1. Written comments go to City Planner Greg Schindler at gschindler@sjc.utah.gov by 3 p.m. on the day of the meeting 1. Chair Nathan Gedge presides, and the commission is scheduled to approve the minutes of its Sept. 22 and Oct. 13 meetings 1.

The Ledger's earlier report on the notice found that the city had posted no agenda packet, no draft ordinance text and no staff report 4. Those documents are now in the packet attached to the amended agenda 1.

If the commission recommends approval, the ordinance goes to the City Council on Nov. 17 for final decision 1. It would take effect immediately upon publication or posting as required by law 1. Approval would not by itself authorize a tower: it would remove the one-mile separation as a bar to the Daybreak sites, and each application would still be measured against the chapter's other standards 14.