Zoning Authority in Daggett County, Utah: County Code vs. Dutch John

Two zoning authorities, and an outdated document still sitting on the county's own site

Before Dutch John incorporated, Daggett County itself administered zoning inside the townsite under a specific carve-out: the Dutch John Planning District Zoning Regulation, adopted by the County Commission on June 1, 2004, implementing the federal Dutch John Federal Property Disposition and Assistance Act of 1998 that authorized privatizing the former Bureau of Reclamation company town. That 2004 county regulation was superseded once the Town of Dutch John incorporated in January 2016 and adopted its own Planning and Zoning Ordinance that May -- but as of this research pass, a copy of the original 2004 county-adopted regulation remains posted on Daggett County's own document center. A buyer, agent, or researcher pulling the first Daggett County zoning document that turns up for Dutch John can land on ten-year-plus-outdated rules rather than the Town's current ordinance. If any Dutch John zoning question turns up a document referencing the county's 2004 regulation, treat it as historical background only and go straight to the Town's own current ordinance instead.

Dutch John's actual current zoning districts and where the detail lives

The Town of Dutch John's Planning and Zoning Ordinance -- amended as recently as December 11, 2024, per available records -- establishes its own named districts, distinct from Daggett County's Title 8 categories: a Residential (R-1) District for standard single-family use, a Residential (R-R-1) District aimed at larger estate-lot residential use, a Residential (R-2) District for multiple-family use, and a Mobile Home (M-H) District. The ordinance's Section 605 (Table of Uses) sets out what's permitted, conditional, or prohibited in each district, and Section 606 (Table of Site Development Standards - Primary Structures) sets the lot, setback, height, and site-coverage standards that go with them. This research pass could not extract the complete permitted-use and dimensional tables from publicly indexed sources -- get the current Table of Uses and Table of Site Development Standards directly from the Town for a specific parcel and intended use before assuming a figure.

Getting an actual answer from the Town, not just the county

Because Dutch John is its own incorporated municipality, its Planning and Zoning Commission -- not Daggett County's Planning and Zoning office -- is who to contact for zoning questions on a parcel inside town limits. As of this research pass, published contacts for the Town's Planning and Zoning Commission include Jared Marquis and Rachel Albritton, reachable through the Town's public-meeting listings, alongside a general Town number for accessibility and general inquiries. Confirm current contact details directly through the Town of Dutch John's own site (dutchjohn.gov) before relying on any contact information found elsewhere, since small-town staffing and volunteer commission rosters change more often than a county planning department's.

Separately, Dutch John's early post-incorporation period included at least one building-permit moratorium ordinance (2016), adopted while the new town stood up its own planning framework -- a reminder that a small, newly incorporated municipality's zoning and permitting rules can still be actively settling even years after incorporation. Confirm there is no current moratorium, temporary land-use restriction, or pending ordinance amendment affecting a specific parcel before relying on the town's standing zoning districts alone.

Confirming which rulebook actually applies to a specific parcel

1. Determine first whether the parcel sits inside the incorporated Town of Dutch John or in unincorporated Daggett County -- town limits, not general proximity to the townsite, is what decides which ordinance applies.
2. For a parcel inside Dutch John, get the current Table of Uses (Section 605) and Table of Site Development Standards (Section 606) directly from the Town, and confirm you're looking at the ordinance as amended through its most recent update, not the county's superseded 2004 Dutch John Planning District regulation.
3. For a parcel outside Dutch John (and outside Manila's own town limits, which has its own separate municipal zoning as well), Daggett County's Title 8, Land Use Regulations governs -- confirm the applicable district with the county Planning and Zoning office.
4. Ask directly whether any current moratorium, temporary land-use restriction, or pending ordinance amendment affects the parcel, on either side of the town/county line -- a small jurisdiction's zoning framework can change faster than its published documents are updated.