Jean Boyack of Helper City’s Planning & Zoning visited the city council during their virtual meeting on Thursday evening to discuss the possible approval of adding an automotive service establishment to the limited industrial zone use table.
Boyack has been speaking with Casi Younger from the Maverik stations for quite some time due to Maverik wishing to build a location in Helper. They contacted Jesse McCourt, who gave permission to purchase a portion of his land for a station. Boyack explained that 90 to 95% of the property is in the GC1, where automotive services are allowed.
However, a portion of the land would be in the limited industrial zone, which does not allow the services. Boyack felt that it would be easier to add automotive services as a conditional use rather than attempt to do a zone change just for the small portion, as they are not buying everything in the limited industrial area.
Helper City Planning & Zoning hosted a public hearing regarding this situation and received no comments. There was one neighbor that had an issue, but they spoke with Younger and they were able to smooth it out.
Due to receiving no public comment, the board voted unanimously to recommend that the use is added to the limited industrial zone. Councilwoman Malarie Matsuda stated that her main concern is that many travelers that go through Helper do so because both of the gas stations are in the city.
She requested working jointly with Younger to possibly create a board with Helper events to get the people off of the highway. The addition of an automotive service establishment to the limited industrial zone use table was then approved by the council.