By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
The residents of the Town of Davis have spoken. In a special election held Saturday, June 8th, residents shot down the Town’s proposed zoning ordinance. The measure, sought by the Town, was rejected by nearly 59% of the 195 votes cast. The votes broke down to 80 for and 115 against, according to Town of Davis Mayor Al Tomson.
However, the measure is not completely dead, according to Tomson. Tomson stated at a June 12th meeting of the Town Council that the issue will be revisited in January of 2025 by the Planning Commission to be drafted and brought before council for approval. “Planning Commission will push that forward again,” Tomson said. “Just like they did this year.”
According to Tomson, the new drafting of the ordinance is slated to include input by the residents. “The next meeting of the Planning Commission will be in January of 2025,” Tomson said. “At that point they will work on a new zoning ordinance that will be tailored to a lot of the comments that we heard from people.”
Tomson said if approved by the Council, residents would have 90 days to petition for an election on the matter should any opposition be raised. If no petition is presented, the ordinance would go into effect. Should a petition be presented on the matter, the ordinance would be placed on hold pending an election on the matter, according to Tomson. “Next year probably it will go to the council for vote for implementation,” Tomson said, “and then if people want to have an election, you’ll have to do a proper petition.”
Should the vote had been successful, it would have replaced a temporary moratorium on short term rentals in the Town that has been in effect for over two years.
