20 Mar Meeting Minutes March 7, 2018
Sugar House Community Council Trustee Meeting Minutes
Trustees Present: Mike Bagley, Sally Barraclough, Laurie Bray, Landon Clark, Mary Clark, Deb Henry, Steve Kirkegaard, Will Kocher, Susan Koelliker, Eric Mcgill, Larry Migliaccio, Benjamin Sessions, Judi Short, Shane Stroud, George Sumner, Erika Wiggins, Sue Watson, Rawlins Young
Trustees Excused: Camron Anderson, Benny Keele, Sue Ann Jones, Michael G. Kavanagh, Dayna McKee, Jason Smurthwaite, Chris Sveiven, Adam Weinacker
Trustees Unexcused: Tina Escobar-Taft, Melanie Heath, Topher Horman, Dave Mulder
The meeting was called to order at 7:03 pm by Landon Clark, Chair SHCC
Motion to approve last month’s minutes was made by Will, seconded by Judi. The motion passed unanimously with no corrections to the minutes.
Chair Announcements: Landon Clark
David Moeai, Director of Marketing for Legacy Village welcomed us and announced that construction on Wilmington Ave. will start soon and traffic will be restricted to one lane, westbound off of 13th East. Construction will last through May. Legacy Village has activated the ticket kiosk for the parking garage. In the future, anyone attending will have to ask for a parking validation from the receptionist on the 5th floor to park at no charge for the Sugar House Community Council meetings.
There will be a Safe Neighborhood meeting at Highland High on April 4th from 6-8pm. The meeting is sponsored by Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County.
Fairmont Aquatic Center and the Boys and Girls Club are sponsoring an Easter Egg Hunt which will be held on March 23rd at 5pm.
Updates on the Wilmington Ave construction will be on our website.
Secretary Report: Sally Barraclough
Sally reminded Landon that his petition expires in June.
There will not be a SHCC meeting in July since the first Wednesday falls on the 4th of July.
Treasurer Report: Benjamin Sessions
There is a current balance $4758 in the account. Expenditures include $2062 for the new website design, $199 for Sugar House Chamber of Commerce annual dues, and $45 for the electronic newsletter.
Library Report: Peter Bromberg, Executive Director SLC Library
Cherie Kofoed, Acting Manager Sprague Branch
The Sprague Library elevator has been rebuilt and they are waiting for the Fire Marshall to sign off on the repair prior to reopening the basement area of the library.
They are currently running air quality tests to make sure the air in the building is safe to breath following the flood and demolition work. If the tests are good the library will open the lower level after the fire inspection. If the tests fail, they will be closing the entire building until remediation and construction is complete and the air quality is deemed safe.
Contract negotiations with the architect are underway. After the contract is signed, the design work will run through the summer with construction starting in the fall. The library board reallocated funds from other projects to proceed with the repair and updates for the Sprague branch. Renovations will take approximately 1 yr.
They have also signed a contract with Pathway Associates for a fund-raising feasibility study. They will be collecting public input on whether or not the library should have a capital campaign to raise funds for renovation projects at other branch libraries. The general budget has funds for maintenance but not for larger projects.
Fire Department Station #3: Daniel Jorgensen
SLC Fire Department received an ISO #1 rating in a recent evaluation that was conducted by an independent rating organization. It is based on response times and the Salt Lake department was the only one in the state to receive a #1 rating. That means that fire insurance rates for homes and businesses are generally lower.
The OutClimb Cancer Challenge was on March 3rd. Firefighters from around the state competed by climbing 24 floors inside the downtown Well’s Fargo building in full gear and oxygen tanks to raise money for the Huntsman Cancer Institute. The Salt Lake Fire Dept. took first place based on the fastest time, and raised $2400 for cancer research.
The new Station#3 construction should be completed by mid summer. There will be a bay large enough to house a ladder truck but at this point that truck has not been purchased.
Applications are being taken for new fire fighters. The deadline to apply is March 31st. Go to www.slcfire.com/jobs to see the application and testing process.
Police Report: Josh Ashdown
There will be a new bike registration process starting in April. This will be an on-line process and will allow you to register your bike for free. There will no longer be a sticker that has to be attached to the bike. Josh is encouraging everyone to go online and register their bike even if they think it is already registered. This will help build a new data bank.
The department is hiring 50 new officers. Please encourage anyone interested to apply. Applications in recent years have gone down.
Use the SLC App to report suspicious activities and homeless camps. The city has hired a team to clean up camps, although there is a bit of a back log right now. The graffiti reporting feature works really well. If you are using the Next Door App that is fine but remember that you still need to report crimes or suspicious activity directly to the SLC Police Dispatch.
The police department is going to be conducting a Stolen Package Operation. They have received some expensive items from some shipping companies and they will be putting tracking devises in them and leaving them on porches to try to catch thieves. They are going to have an operation in the 9th East and 21st South due to the high numbers of reports coming from that area.
The department is still looking for a location for an east side precinct. Nothing has been decided yet.
Westport Capital (Shop Ko Block) Update: Hilary Robertson and Mark Issac
Starting at the end of March there will extended work hours while they are doing concrete work. Extended hours will be 5am to 8pm which will allow them to work around the rush hour traffic. Salt Lake County Board of Health only allows for extended hours for 10 days at a time. The concrete pours are significant, with several of them requiring several hundred concrete trucks to make the delivery. The second crane was added because the work required of the first crane was getting backed up. The second crane allows the work flow to move more quickly. The vertical steel structures will start to be installed in April.
Construction of the hotel being built on the Olson property near the old Toys ‘R’ Us will start next week, so there will be significant activity in the area.
Sugar House Rotary: Errol Eernisse
The 27th annual Chili Open was held on Feb 10th. There were 300 attendees which raised approximately $150,000 for five smaller charities. The donations will be distributed to the charities on March 29th at an event held at noon at the Sons of the Pioneers. The public is invited to attend.
For those interested in joining the Rotary, the dues are $87.00 per quarter, and that money stays in the local community. The Rotary meets every Thursday from 12-1pm at the Forest Dale Golf Club House. There are also family and corporate memberships that are also $87.00 per quarter.
The Rotary Foundation sponsors global projects including a current water storage tank project for three villages in Kenya.
Salt Lake City Marathon: Ben Burdett – Aid Station Director, Kristy Wachter – Volunteer Director
Ben announced that the SLC Marathon will take place on April 21st. The SHCC will be manning a water station located behind the Salt Lake Running Company on 7th East. They are still looking for volunteers for some of the other aid stations.
Kristy Wachter is a U of U Professor who has had two close family members who have been treated at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. She volunteers because the marathon is a way to give service the institute. She manages the volunteer effort which has grown from 700 volunteers to more recently, over 1000 volunteers on marathon day.
This year is the 15th year anniversary of the marathon and volunteers will receive a nice gift bag. They are still looking for volunteers. They need businesses who are willing to donate gift cards or products for the event. Alaska Airline is the title sponsor.
This year they are adding a 10k race. They also have the 5k and a kids race. There will be a large celebration event at the finish line at Library Square. Go to www.saltlakecitymarathon.com to register for the race. The website also has maps, spectator information, and a list of race day activities. For more questions, including traffic issues on the day of the race, calls will be taken on their hotline, (866) 311-7526.
They still need volunteers to help with two distributions of notification flyers. The first is on March 31st to notify the businesses along the route. The second is a door-to-door distribution for residential units taking place on April 14th. Meet at 8am at Sugar House Park to help with flyer distribution events.
Fairmont Park Update: Kristin Riker – SLC Parks and Public Lands Director, Troy Baker – Parks Program Manager
The Parks Department oversees all the city parks, natural lands, trails, and urban forests. They also oversee the regional athletic complex and the city cemetery.
In 2017 , Salt Lake City Public Lands conducted an asset evaluation and from that, set their park maintenance and improvement priorities for 2018.
There are needs identified for Fairmont Park, Stratford Park, and Elizabeth Sherman Park. They also have projects identified in Parley’s Historic Nature Park. Go to www.slcparks.com for more details.
The department applied for CIP funds to pay for two projects in District 7.
- Central foothills trail construction which would follow a master plan that is almost complete. They asked for funding to start construction on what will be a multiyear project.
- City wide park walkway safety improvements to sidewalks to eliminate root uplifting and broken sidewalks. This is an ongoing maintenance issue.
The following is a list of already funded projects in District 7.
- Parleys Trail through Hillcrest Park (SL County project)
- Salt storage at Fairmont Park west parking lot
- Dog Park drinking fountain at Fairmont Park
- Pavilion wall removal Fairmont Park
- Pond improvements Fairmont Park
- Recreation and lighting improvements Fairmont Park
The pond in Fairmont Park will be stocked with fish to create an urban fishery sometime in April after the construction fencing is removed.
Committee Reports
Land Use and Zoning Committee: Judi Short
There were two townhome projects that were approved by the Planning Commission. The first is located at 2965 S. Richmond St. and second is at 2473 S. 700 E. The projects are on our website www.sugarhousecouncil.org.
There is a new project located at 660 E Wilmington Ave that was “over the counter” permitted so it did not go through Land Use and Zoning. The project is called the Brixton Apartments and will have 93 units.
The city has made a ruling that “stealth” antennas that are built to look like light poles cannot exceed 16 feet in height.
The Salt Lake Tennis and Health Club has sent a request to the Planning Commission to change the zoning ordinance regarding size of signs located in the open space near the freeway. They are requesting 200 sq ft instead of the current 60 sq ft. This topic will be on the agenda for the next Land Use and Zoning Meeting on Monday, March 19th.
Judi announced that Delores Donahue who served as treasurer and as a trustee for many years on the SHCC recently passed away. She also announced that Amy Barry has been appointed to the Planning Commission.
Transportation Committee: Larry Migliaccio
The Transportation Committee met in February with UTA Vice President of External Affairs and the new Planning Director. The Utah Legislature will be voting on a bill to restructure UTA, going from a very large number of board members to a three person board appointed by the governor. The bill includes a name change from UTA to TDU (Transportation District of Utah). The bill will also change the registration fee schedule for hybrid and electric cars.
UDOT has started the Environmental Impact Study for the Parleys/I-215/Foothill Drive interchange. They are looking at the multiple bridges and loop drives. UDOT held an open house at Highland High School last night and will continue to take public comments through August.
There is a Wasatch Front Regional Council project underway to look at all regional transit prior to writing the 2019-2050 Regional Transportation Plan. This plan is very important as it is used to request federal funds for transportation projects. They are taking public comments until the end of March. Go to www.wfrc.org to make comments.
The Transportation Committee will be meeting Monday March 19th at 7:00pm to discuss the Parley’s Interchange project.
Parks, Open Space, and Trails Committee: Sally Barraclough
The POST Committee did not meet in February. They will be meeting on Monday March 19th at 5pm in the Legacy. Guest speaker will be Tom Malar from SLC Transportation/Trails. They will be discussing Parley’s Trail and the McClelland Trail in the Sugarmont/McClelland area of Sugar House.
Sally announced that there is an area clean-up planned for the Draw and Hidden Hollow scheduled for Friday, March 23rd from 2-5pm. This is a trash clean-up project and everyone is welcome to come volunteer. Wear sturdy shoes and bring gloves. There will be another volunteer project in early May to plant the plantings in the Sego Lily.
Arts and Cultural: Laurie Bray
The Sugar House Arts Walk has been changed from monthly to once a quarter. The first one of 2018 is this Friday from 6-9pm. Go to their Facebook page or Instagram for a list of event venues.
Laurie has relocated her black and white photography display to Market Source Real Estate next to Sugar House Coffee. She has joined two other artists at that location.
Maggie Treely introduced herself as a graduate student at Westminster who is working with Laurie to market the Sugar House Art Walk. They are developing a marketing strategic plan for the arts in Sugar House. There is a survey to take on the Facebook page or in the newsletter to provide feedback regarding the Arts and Cultural Events.
Political Community Involvement Announcement: Deb Henry
Deb announced that the political caucus meetings for all political parties will be held at various locations on March 20th. The purpose of the caucus meetings is to choose delegates to the party conventions. It is at these conventions that candidates are chosen to run in the primaries on the party ticket for public offices. If a candidate receives 60% or more of the delegate vote they automatically advice to the primaries.
House districts are broken into precincts and the number of caucus delegates chosen is based on the size and demographic of the precinct. After that there are two more meetings at which the delegates decide who will be running for pubic office. Attend your precinct caucus meeting as this is a chance to get involved in the process prior to the primary elections.
Presentation:
RDA 101: Susan Lundmark, Project Coordinator
Danny Walz, Chief Operating Officer
The RDA (Redevelopment Agency) mission is to:
- Improve areas of the city
- Encourage economic development
- Encourage housing projects, especially affordable housing
- Implement City Master Plans
The RDA is governed by an executive branch and a legislative branch. The executive director is Mayor Biskupski and the legislative board is the SL City Council. They also have a full staff.
The RDA is funded through tax increment and not the general fund. The tax increment is any property tax that is over and above a set base level. They work with the taxing entity partners in a particular area to set the base level. The tax entity partners agree to forgo some of the taxes in order to help assist with the developments.
Susan showed slides of examples of redevelopment projects that have completed or are currently under construction in SLC. The next three development areas will the 9 Line Area, State Street Project Area, and the Northwest Quadrant.
In Sugar House, the old DI building and property is owned by the RDA. The west portion of the block is owned by Salt Lake City. The hope is that the whole parcel will be developed at the same time and it will most likely be an affordable housing development. There will be a public process prior to developing the property. Susan was invited to present at a future Land Use and Zoning Committee meeting.
City Council and Mayor’s Office Report: Amy Fowler – City Council District 7
Nate Salazar SLC Mayor’s Associate Director of Community Empowerment
Amy stated that there have been challenges for the city and the council regarding the state legislative push to pass a bill that would give the state control of Salt Lake City’s northwest quadrant. This undeveloped portion of the city is 24,000 acres. Previously the city has been working with all the stake holders, including private property owners and the RDA, to develop a plan for this area.
The intention is to make the area an inland port. The state wants a port authority board consisting of nine members, only three of which would be appointed by the mayor. The port authority would decide how and where taxes generated from the port can be spent. It would also give the board land use authority over this area of the city. If the bill passes it would set a precedent for the state to take control of a municipality property.
The city has worked very hard to develop a compromise with the state legislature but the bill (SB234) will probably pass with very little consideration for the city’s concerns and priorities. We were encouraged to reach out to members of the legislature to voice our opinions.
Nate added that the city has been working on a master plan for the northwest quadrant inland port for over two years. The city’s plan included environmental guidelines that reflected the values of the citizens of SLC as well as the northwest quadrant property owners. The legislature has worked on the bill for two weeks and leaves those decisions up to the board authority.
The “Watch Utah Legislature Bills” app is a good way to follow any bills that are moving through the legislature.
Mike Noel’s bill regarding the water rights for canyon waterways is also working it’s way through the legislature. It would severely effect SLC’s ability to control water rights on waterways in our canyons that provide culinary water for the city.
SLC will be holding public meetings regarding a proposed sales tax increase to fund public projects. A recent street analysis showed that 63% of our streets fell in the “poor” or “very poor” category. On March 16th SLC will present “Funding Our Future SLC” to discuss the proposed tax increase. There will be a public hearing at the city council on March 20th and April 3rd. There will be a public workshop in early April.
Nate said that the proposed increase will generate 35 million dollars annually that would be used for streets, affordable housing, air quality, transit, and public safety. The increased sales tax would also tax the large population that comes into the city to work or visit everyday put who do not currently contribute to our tax base. The city council will be voting on this proposal on April 17th.
They are also looking at 2 general obligation bonds. There are 2 bonds expiring this year, so these bonds would replace those.
Meeting Adjourned at 9:15pm
