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SOUTH JORDAN — An eye-catching mobile mammogram unit may be forced to move from its South Jordan parking spot permanently.
The "Boob Bus" travels around Utah with the goal of making screenings easier for women.
"The Boob Bus offers breast imaging services on wheels; we're able to go to various communities, different employers, different health departments, and we bring 3D screening mammogram technology along with dense breast ultrasound," CEO and co-founder Rena Vanzo said.
She said the goal is to make women feel more comfortable getting screened.
"We got the Boob Bus in February, and we have been up and running now for six months, serving over 450 women so far across the state," Vanzo said.
However, Vanzo recently learned her bus cannot be parked in her backyard due to city regulations on weight and use. She said the city's inspector called her recently to tell her about the problem before a letter was issued.
"My bus being on my property in a residential area is violating municipal city code," she said.
Vanzo admits she didn't see these rules when she was in the process of creating the bus.
"I had extended concrete poured; I adjusted the fence so I could accommodate all of that, but I did not see the section that actually talked about the prohibition of commercial units over a certain weight limit," she said.
According to South Jordan's general use regulations, commercial vehicles exceeding the 8,000-pound weight limit cannot be parked on a residential lot.
"It's all about weight," said city spokeswoman Rachael Van Cleave.
"A commercial vehicle and an RV might weigh the same, but the use is different. An RV you might take out four to five times a summer. A commercial vehicle you might take out four to five times a week, and that has impacts on our roads and, in particular, our residential roads," Van Cleave said.
We're here to serve the community. We're here to make an impact. And really, save lives ultimately.
–Mike Koch
Compared to a residential road, Van Cleave said only the city's main arteries are thick enough to handle heavy vehicles.
"Those main arteries are about a foot deeper or thicker in depth, though, so there's more substance to them; they are made to take on that traffic, and even then we still have to have maintenance," Van Cleave said. "Right now, we're actually paving 114th because you can start to see the ruts from the continued use on those same paths by those larger, heavier vehicles."
Vanzo and her neighbors question the rule.
"I don't see any difference between the bus and somebody's class A motorhome," neighbor Jared Johnson said.
His fifth wheel is parked directly across the fence from the mammogram bus.
"I haven't heard anyone have any issues at all with the bus being here in the circle that we're on," Johnson said. "It's not like she has to drive way into the back of a subdivision. We're right off of the main road."
"There's always a chance that an RV might be taken out more, but in general, from studies and research that we do and general standards, industrywide standards in terms of city planning, roads, engineering, RVs are taken out less than commercial vehicles," Van Cleave said.
Vanzo is asking the city for an exemption due to the medical nature of her vehicle.
"The equipment on board is very expensive, it's very sensitive, and I have to be monitoring it constantly," she said.
She said she needs daily access to the plugs and equipment inside.
"The process for sending the mammography images from the bus to the radiologist is a very sensitive process, and occasionally I'm called by the radiologist to go resend the images," Vanzo said. "If I have to do that, it's very convenient to have it here. I would hate to delay a woman's care because I have to get special permission to go unlock a storage unit and get in a storage unit to resend those images."
A lot of the equipment is temperature-sensitive.
"Most of the places nearby that house commercial vehicles are big, open rocky fields with a lot of dust," she said.
A petition calling on South Jordan leaders to reconsider the rules has earned more than 1,100 signatures. Vanzo said some of their supporters question if this issue is about more than the weight.
"I know that the name draws a lot of attention, and it does make some people feel uncomfortable," she said.
Van Cleave said the city hasn't received any complaints from residents, and this violation has nothing to do with the name or exterior.
"One of our inspectors just happened to be driving by, saw a commercial vehicle on a property, said, 'Well, it violates our code, so we should probably notify the resident that violates our code,'" Van Cleave said.
She said that even if the bus was covered by a black tarp, it still violated the city code.
"We do not have any exemptions currently," Van Cleave said. "(Vanzo's) going through the process to see if she can get one, and she's welcome to do that."
The Boob Bus co-founder Mike Koch said they hope they can work through this with the city.
"We don't want to be at odds," he said. "We're here to serve the community. We're here to make an impact. And really, save lives ultimately," Koch said.
Van Cleave said they welcome residents with any issues to reach out to them.
"If there's ever an ordinance or situation that a resident thinks that needs to change, they can do exactly what this owner is doing," she said. "It'll go through the process, and it'll either change or it won't based on all of the information given."
Vanzo has a meeting scheduled with the South Jordan Planning Commission on Tuesday.
"As it stands now, they are not inclined to recommend my change, but they invited me to come to this meeting next week to discuss that more fully," she said.
She's encouraging people to attend South Jordan City Council's Sept. 3 meeting to show their support of the Boob Bus.
