BOUNTIFUL -- A local construction company, which has been in business for 52 years from the same location, is appealing a decision to deny the business legal non-conforming use status, saying a move to force it to move its equipment from a residential area would put the company out of business.
Aric Jensen, director of planning for the city, recently denied the Jack Nielsen Construction Company the legal non-conforming use status, citing several factors, including the storage of equipment in a residential area along Davis Boulevard.
City ordinances do not allow the storage of construction equipment in a residential area.
The Nielsens have appealed the decision to the city council, saying the equipment has been stored at its current location since the business was started in 1958.
Without the legal non-conforming use status, the company will have to close down its current location.
Members of the council voted to take the matter under advisement and consider a decision in the future.
In appealing the matter to the council, members of the Nielsen family are citing a handshake deal made in the 1980s with a former property owner, who gave them the first right to buy three lots in the area and reportedly did not include the three lots sold to the family under restrictive covenants in the newly rezoned residential area.
The area was a gravel pit before the rezone.
Jensen said there were three key factors in the decision to deny the company's request. He asked if storage of the equipment on the site at 2496 and 2508 South Davis Blvd. was a legal use and if it was continuous. He suggested history showed the use wasn't legal or continuous. He also said the family lost the right to use the property in its current use, when zoning in the area was changed.
Jensen also showed a business license agreement with the city signed by the late Jack Nielsen in which the man who started the company agreed to restrictions on the storage of equipment, as outlined in city ordinances.
Family members have suggested the case isn't so open and shut.
Eugene Nielsen said his father had a handshake agreement about storing the equipment in its current location, with the family who had the property rezoned. Nielsen got emotional when he made it clear that moving the equipment would be fatal for the company his father started.
"There's no way we can afford to move. If we move, then we're out of business," Eugene Nielsen said.
Eugene's older sister, Pam Brown, owns the two lots where equipment for the company is stored.
She said she bought the property with the clear understanding there were no restrictive covenants in continuing to store equipment on the property.
While they have yet to decide on the appeal, it is clear the decision could be difficult for council members.
"They elected us to make decisions, even tough decisions," Councilman Marc Knight said of the matter.
Councilman Fred Moss suggested he could vote to approve the appeal.
"I have no problem with letting them stay," Moss said.
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