06 Jan SHCC Meeting Minutes – January 1999
SUGAR HOUSE COMMUNITY COUNCIL BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING MINUTES
January 6, 1999
Trustees: Helen Peters, Rawlins Young, Alice Edvalson, John Richards, Dorothy Tuddenham, Ruth Robbins, Sandy Hiskey, Su Armitage, Philip Carlson, Judi Short, Doris Williams, Rich Bennett, Sheila O’Driscoll, Ray Pugsley (14) Excused: Dolores Donohoo, Cheri Carleson City/State Representatives: Bill Allayaud, Kathy Daly, Barry Esham, Ron Bruno, Diane Olsen, Linda Ward, Randall Hendry, Kathy Black. Dan Andrus, (9) Others: Melissa Lichtenstien, LaMar O. Dew, L. Phillip Dew, Sam Gilligan V, Larry Wiley, Karen Wiley, Patricia Rickers, Doug Jackson, Gayen Wharton, John Sabodski, Marv Tuddenham, Paul Smith, Wendy Fisher, Melinda Mathiesen, Derek Payne, Charles E. Wellman, Tom Wharton, Richard Staughnesdy, Tony L. Martinez, Jerry Schmidt, Jack Lennon, Ty McCartney, Harvard Foulks, Jean Foulks, Richard Stewart, Rich Hendron, Sarah Carlson, James Huber, Bob Everson, Kevan Adams, Mark McGrath, Claudia J. Pack, Matthew Platt, Jim Platt, Mark Eggan, Rich Eggan, Jared Barnard, (37) Total- 60 Meeting called to order at 7:05 PM by Chair Helen Peters. The minutes for the December meeting were approved. · Chair Report: Helen reported that the city has set up a Housing Policy Sub-Committee. Anyone interested in serving on this committee should contact Helen. Helen again reminded those in attendance that the CAT teams are available to assist with neighborhood problems. The city is sponsoring a Neighborhood Law Class and anyone interested can contact Helen. Helen indicated that this year there was only 1 CDBG application within our area. It is from a Multi Ethnic Elderly Housing facility at 2673 Preston Place. They are asking for $55,000 for 7500 sq. ft. of additional parking. Any comments regarding this request can be directed to the CDBG office or to Helen. Helen asked those in attendance their feelings on the trustees sitting at the tables in the front with the name tags designating the neighborhood they represent or would they rather have them sitting in the audience. A few of the trustees would rather sit in the audience. Some like the trustees in the front since it does identify who they are. A straw vote was taken from all in attendance at the meeting with 3 in favor of sitting in the audience, 15 in favor of sitting in front, 2-3 don’t care. Treasurers Report: There has been no change in the last month, still a balance of $2,170.39.Public Input: Lynne Olson indicated that the Transportation Dept. has a new employee and that she would like to see us put more emphasis on the public transportation needs in our area. She indicated that the chair of the Transportation Advisory Board is Edie Trimmer. Sheila O’Driscoll thanked those responsible for getting the windows and doors boarded up in the old Herzog Service Station. She indicated that the vacant lot adjacent to this station on 15th East and Redondo is still a real eye sore and a public nuisance. Mayor’s Office Update: Barry Esham reminded those present that they should call him with problems in their neighborhood, like public nuisance issues etc. He can address them faster than if they call the City Council. He indicated that Michelle Hutchings works with the city boards and could give information on the Transportation Advisory Board if needed. He indicated it was his office that was instrumental in getting the Herzog building boarded up. A question was asked “Why the Lone Star Steak House still hasn’t opened up?” He indicated that the policy of the franchise requires that the cooks have 5 years of experience before they can, work in the restaurant and they are still working on getting a cook with that much experience to fill the position. They have franchises all over the country. Unit Legalization – 801 Simpson Ave.: LaMar O. Dew requested a unit legalization for an upstairs apartment located at this address. There had· been a fire in the home and he found that he had to legalize the upstairs apartment before the city would allow him to do the desired work to repair the home. He has met with the SLC Planning Dept. and has complied with all requirements necessary to do the work and legalize the apartment. There was very little discussion and no real opposition to this request. The motion was made to approve the request and the voting was 12 in favor, 1 opposed, and 1 abstaining. Olympic Paralympic Forum: Helen reported on a meeting she had attended and indicated there was much good information given. Questions regarding these activities can be addressed to John Bennett of the Futures Commission ~ 535-6212. Legislature Update: There were no representatives or senators in attendance. Helen briefly reported on municipal agenda items that will addressed including: 1) Jurisdictional Transfer, 2) Billboards, 3) Electrical Deregulation, 4) Impact Fees, 5) RDA, 6) Wireless Telecommunication, 7) Constitutional Revision Commission, 8) Airline Fly-over Tax, 9) Olympics, 10) Growth Management. Questions or comments on any of these issues can be directed to your state representative and/or senator. COP Update: Officer Ron Bruno introduced a new officer working in Dist. 7 and the Sugar House area, Randall Hendry. Ron also reported they are still working with Johanson/Thackeray on the COP office in the new Sugar House Commons. It was strongly suggested that they assure that all agreements with the developer be documented in writing. Hidden Hollow Conservation Easement: Wendy Fisher, executive director of Utah Lands Conservation indicated that the conservation easement draft has been completed and is ready for the SLC Council and the Planning Commission to review. This, easement covers 2.7 acres of the Hidden Hollow area.School Board Update: Kathy Black of the School Board indicated they will be asking for a bond election for $130 million for the purpose of completion of the retrofitting that is still needing to be done, the addition of air conditioning in the schools, and the replacement of several of the old school building as well as the building of 2-3 new school buildings. This would mean a tax increase of $6.50-7.00 per $100,000 home. Questions on this and a schedule of retrofitting and air conditioning can be directed to Kathy or the school board. Kathy reported on the upcoming truancy bill that will be before the legislature this session. Currently students that are found to be truant are taken to the Horizonte school. There are currently a lot of repeat offenders. It has been found that truancy is just the first step to worse problems. The proposed bill would put more “teeth” in the existing laws. There would be a fine after 3 offenses as well as Juvenile Court. Most of the problems are with the Jr. and Sr. High students. This bill would provide for a full time police office to assist in administering this program. She also spoke of legislation for Applied Technology Centers which would provide an alternative to high school for at least part of the time. Students could spend part of the school day at these centers to learn specific skills. Planning Dept Issues: Bill Allayaud reported on the proposed changes to the Commercial/Business (CB) and Neighborhood/Commercial (CN) zoning. The intent is to make the CN more neighborhood friendly and more pedestrian friendly. There are 6 areas in the city being recommended to change from CB to CN. Those in our area include areas around 27th South/20th East and 21st South/23rd East. The new CN zone will require smaller set backs. Gas stations will be a conditional use and any drive-thru business will not be allowed. The Planning Commission will be hearing this proposal tomorrow night. Park View Plaza II Proposal: Craig Mecham, the property owner made a presentation of the modified plans for this location. He explained that the Sugar House Master Plan called for mixed use on the block between Highland Drive/13th East/21st So./Wilmington Ave. He suggested that the Boyer project provided the retail, the Woodbury project provided the housing, and this project would provide office space. Previous plans had been opposed by the SHCC mainly because of the building size and material. The Planning Commission had also rejected the previous plans. The SH business community encouraged Mecham to not give up on plans to develop this area. As a result he has reduced the size of the building from 135,000 to 118,000 sq. ft. and has added more non-glass material to the outside of the building. He explained that he felt that they could not reduce the size any further because of the cost of the underground parking and the problems involved with that situated in the gully as it is. Mr. Mecham listed as the advantages of this project as: 1) eyes on the “Commons”, 2) elimination of an undesirable area, 3) providing 400+ additional parking places for the “Commons” area in the evening, 4) provide greater vitality for the whole of the Sugar House area with 3-4 hundred additional persons working in the area during the day. Comments included: 1) liked the more masonry structure rather than mainly glass, but would like even more masonry, 2) There are still many concerns with the traffic congestion, 3) local businesses would like to expand there and those business owners who were tenants of Mecham in the Granite block were in favor of the plan, 4) most of the neighbors still think the building is too large. Mecham had recruited a good representation from the business community to be in attendance at the meeting. There was also a large representation from the neighborhood interested in this development. Comments were heard from all desiring toaddress this issue. Those commenting were asked to state where they lived or did business. It is estimated thatthere were approximately 7 business owners plus Mr. Mecham and Fred Babcock and approximately 11 near neighbors (within a few blocks). After much discussion, a “straw” vote was taken from all in attendance at the meeting, including trustees and audience. The vote was 23 in favor, 16 opposed, and 6 abstaining. At least 9 of those in favor were the business owners and Mr. Mecham and Mr. Babcock, the architect. Those opposed were mostly the neighborhood. At least two of the neighborhood expressed the opinion that they knew that something would eventually be built on this location and felt that perhaps this was “as: good as it is going to get”. Bus/Rail Conceptual Plan: It was announced that UTA has written a conceptual plan for future bus/rail routes. Anyone interested could contact UTA for more information. Adjourned at 10:05 PM.
