Utah Court of Appeals
2025 UT App 55 (click for full text of opinion)
The Utah Court of Appeals reversed the city’s denial of a building permit for an existing improperly subdivided lot because the provisions of city’s ordinances allowing for such lots to be developed did not plainly restrict the application on the basis of off-site road conditions.
North Logan City’s ordinances have provisions that allow for the development of an “improper lot,” which is defined as land that was subdivided without complying with applicable subdivision ordinances, that would have been compliant with applicable standards at the time it was created, and which is later sought to be developed by a subsequent “innocent owner.” The ordinance provides standards that are required for an improper lot to be compliant for development approval.
Bob Strebel bought property that was the result of an “improper subdivision” from a larger parcel. He applied for a building permit to construct a home. The city denied the application, arguing that the lot lacked adequate access because the road leading to the property was too narrow, failing to meet the minimum width of 20 feet required by the city’s engineering standards for new developments.
Strebel appealed, arguing that the city was misinterpreting and misapplying its own ordinance, which was specifically created to handle improperly subdivided lots. He contended that the ordinance’s language limited the city’s review to conditions on the lot itself, not on existing roads outside of the property.
The Utah Court of Appeals reversed the decision, finding that the city’s ordinance was ambiguous and did not plainly restrict Strebel’s application, therefore requiring the ordinance to be interpreted to favor the land use application. The court concluded that the city had not done this. Instead, it had engaged in a “strained analysis” to apply standards for new subdivisions to a pre-existing road. The court determined that neither the city’s ordinance nor its technical manual provided a clear legal basis for denying the permit due to the off-site road conditions. The city could not use a separate ordinance designed for new subdivision roads to deny a permit for an already-existing lot.
