Provo, UT Fire Regulations: Wildfire Zones (2026)
Key Facts
- Zone
- CH - Critical Hillside Overlay
- Area
- Provo's east bench hillside
- Enacted
- Ordinance 2020-22, amended 2024-38
- Exempt
- Pre-2020 lots, cemeteries, public parks
- Review body
- Coordinator Review Committee
- State code adopted
- 2006 WUI Code (9.51.010(3))
Summary
Provo layers a Critical Hillside (CH) Overlay Zone over the east bench, adding development standards on top of the underlying zoning specifically to manage slope, fire, and other natural hazards. Section 14.33A.010 states the zone exists because hillside terrain carries wildfire risk that ordinary zoning does not address.
The Critical Hillside (CH) Overlay Zone is established to provide prudent development standards to help protect the sensitive hillside areas of Provo City's east bench. The requirements of the CH Overlay Zone impose additional or prevailing requirements to those required by the underlying zone. The provisions of this zone are intended to aid in the protection of ridgelines, to support the stability of slopes, and to protect existing public accesses. Trees and other vegetation provide earth-stabilizing and aesthetic benefits. The provisions of this zone help preserve existing vegetation and require the reestablishment of vegetation areas disturbed in the development process. Design standards are included herein to preserve and complement the natural beauty and ecological health of Provo's hillside areas. The requirements of this zone consider the potential slope, fire, and natural hazards associated with the hillside areas and require mitigation of these hazards in the development process.
Official source re-checked September 8, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: current through Ordinance 2026-17, passed June 9, 2026).
Full Breakdown
030), so a parcel might carry both an 'R1' base zone and the 'CH' designation on the City's Zone Map. 040 requires every development in the zone, including grading, clearing, excavation, and even utility infrastructure, to go through review by the Coordinator Review Committee before anything is built, and any conflict between the CH chapter and the rest of Title 14 or 15 is resolved in the CH chapter's favor. 040(3)). 040(4), verified by Provo City Engineering. The wildfire piece of the overlay runs through the chapter's Definitions section: an 'approved fire protection plan' is one signed off by the applicable fire authority, and that plan drives the tree-removal, vegetation-clearance, and defensible-space rules found later in the chapter.
010(3), Provo has adopted the 2006 Wildland Urban Interface Code as required by Utah Code Title 65A, Chapter 8, and that state code automatically updates whenever the Legislature adopts a new edition.
Violations & Fines
Section 14.33A.040(2) requires site plans and supporting documents to go to the Coordinator Review Committee before construction; skipping that review, or building outside the approved Limits of Disturbance, keeps the project from getting Project Plan Approval under Section 14.33A.080. Without that approval the City withholds building permits, and a parcel that no longer matches its approved plan is out of compliance with Chapter 14.33A the same way any other Title 14 zoning violation is treated.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Provo's Critical Hillside Overlay Zone?
Does the CH Overlay apply to a house built before 2020?
What has to happen before building in the CH Overlay Zone?
Can the hillside fire-hazard standards be modified for a specific lot?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Provo
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Wildfire Zones in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Utah County handle wildfire zones.