N. Ogden Council says No to Public Hearing
After nearly two hours of public testimony the North Ogden City Council voted against holding a public hearing concerning the conditional use permit granted to Tom’s Auto Repair during their regularly scheduled meeting on May 28.
The City Planning Commission granted Tom Baugley, owner of a home-based repair business, a renewal of his business permit on May 1 after determining Baugley had met the conditions of his permit. Two weeks later, 16 residents, including four of the five residents whose property border Baguley’s, filed a formal petition prompting the Council to consider whether to hold a public hearing, or opt for an appeals meeting that would take place during a regularly scheduled council meeting.
City Council Member Brent Taylor favored a public hearing to allow an appeal to be heard with enough time to prepare adequate paper work and defense materials. According to Taylor this is the proper role of government, “by the people, for the people, and in public” rather than behind closed doors.
Council Member Justin Fawson disagreed. Several pages of documents had already been given to the Council for review. Additionally the issue of residents against Baguley’s business had already been heard at previous public meetings, and again for two hours that evening. Fawson didn’t believe any additional information could be brought to the Council.
City Attorney Jon Call explained that holding a public hearing was not required under current City code. It is up to the Council to consider whether or not they wished to take upon themselves the role of jury. Call clarified that the current appeal only applied to whether or not the Planning Commission followed the rules when they extended Baguley’s conditional-use permit during his annual permit review. Both Call and City Manager Ronald Chandler believed the Commission had acted appropriately, but put the ultimate decision into the hands of the Council.
Following the Council’s decision to not hold a public hearing, Council Member Wade Bigler suggested that the Council come prepared during their next public meeting, on June 11, to not only hear the appeals from North Ogden City residents, but to also look over the City code pertaining to the granting of conditional-use permits, land-use ordinances and the home occupation application process. Chandler believes it may be possible to discover that it was ‘not a legally correct decision” to issue the original conditional-use permit in 2010.
