Weber County, UT Environmental Rules: Defensible Space (2026)

Chapter 108-14, Sec 108-14-1, sets out the county's purpose in regulating hillside and environmentally sensitive terrain: steep slopes, combustible native vegetation, and unstable soils can produce fire, flood, and erosion hazards, so the county pursues that purpose by encouraging and requiring, where necessary, that building sites be placed to permit ample room for adequate defensible area as defined by the fire code, along with landscaping and drainage between and around buildings. Sec 108-14-3 makes hillside review mandatory, not discretionary, for any parcel, subdivision lot, road, or access where the natural terrain averages 25 percent slope or more; the Planning Division cannot issue a land use permit and the Building Official cannot issue a building permit until engineered plans have been reviewed for compliance with the chapter, and hillside review is folded into preliminary subdivision review.

Sec 108-14-4 requires the development application to include detailed engineering plans for cuts, fills, and retaining walls, a site plan with two-foot contours, a geotechnical report, and a Utah Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit with a stormwater pollution prevention plan, with erosion-control landscaping required wherever the review board finds it necessary. Retention of native vegetation is favored except where it creates a high fire hazard, tying the vegetation and defensible-space goals together within the same review.