SHCC Meeting Minutes June 4, 2014

26 Jun SHCC Meeting Minutes June 4, 2014

Sugar House Community Council Board of Trustees Meeting
Meeting Minutes – June 4, 2014

Trustees Present: Teddy Anderson, Sally Barraclough, Laurie Bray, Ed Dieringer, Deb Henry, Topher Horman, Michael G Kavanagh, Joedy Lister, David Mulder, Maggie Shaw, Judi Short, Christopher Thomas, Rawlins Young
Trustees Excused Absent: Amy Barry, Robin Bastar, Scott Kisling, Larry Migliaccio, Carole Straughn
Trustees Absent:Benny Keele, Jack Perry

Meeting called to order at 7:00 by Maggie Shaw, SHCC Chair
Approval of the May minutes: Michael G moved to approve, Judi seconded. The motion passed with no corrections to the May meeting minutes.

Secretary Report: Sally Barraclough
Topher Horman presented his petition for renewal. He has represented the Fairmont area for the past three years. This is his first renewal. He was thanked for his service to the community. Judi moved to accept the petition, Deb seconded and the motion passed unanimously.
A new petition was presented to the council by Steve Kirkegaard from the Dilworth area of Sugar House.
Steve is Matt Kirkegaard’s father. Matt resigned from the council last month to pursue community development opportunities overseas. Steve has lived in Sugar House since 1986 and works at the Huntsman Cancer Institute as a pharmacist. Through Matt’s experience on the council, Steve has become familiar with our activities and looks forward to serving on the council. Sally moved to approve the petition. Judi seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

Treasurers Report: Robin Bastar
Absent

Chair Report: Maggie Shaw
The website for the council is in the process of being moved. The new address is www.sugarhousecouncil.org. and is supported by WordPress instead of Joomla. Work is continuing to add things to the new website, which is more professional looking than the old website.
Maggie will send a notice if we are going to meet on Sugarmont Plaza for the July meeting. It is depend on an audio system being available, and if there are any presentations that require audio-visual equipment. Maggie will be in contact with Mark Morris and will notify us by email and the website as to the location of the July 2nd meeting.

Fire Department Report: Ty Shephard
Station 3 fire department responded to 160+ calls in May, which puts them at approximately 800 calls so far this year for fire and EMS combined.

There is a new fire and police department museum at the Public Safety Building located on 300 East across from the library. It contains items and information about the history of the fire and police departments. It is open to the public during regular business hours.

The Salt Lake City website for the fire department is www.slcfire.com. There is information including monthly fire safety tips, and signups for CPR training. There is also information regarding fireworks. Class “C” fireworks are now legal in Utah. You can use them July 1st -7th from 11am to 11pm and until midnight on the 4th of July. For the Pioneer Holiday you can have fireworks July 21-27 from 11am to 11pm and until midnight on the 24th of July. If someone is abusing the fireworks rules, you can call the dispatch center of the fire department for assistance.

An audience member asked how high a “C” class firework can go up in the air. There was no clear consensus on the height restriction.
Maggie asked about areas in our neighborhoods that are dry and weedy. At this time, the fire department has not posted any restricted areas for fireworks but they will be doing that in the near future. Judi said that information regarding weeds and dry yards can be found in the Salt Lake City Good Neighbor Guide. Any lawn or weeds over 6” in height constitutes a violation. Enforcement is from April to October. You can call 801 535-7225 to file a complaint. There are extra guides on the back table in the library meeting room.
Teddy asked how close a neighbor’s bonfire can be to her property/fence line. Fires are to be a minimum of 20 ft away from any vertical structures. You can report nuisance fire issues including smoke and flying embers by calling 801 799-3000.
Audience member asked if the nuisance ordinance is online. It is currently not online.

• Rawlins asked about particulate levels produced by the large public fireworks displays. You can call the Department for Environmental Quality, Division of Air Quality for information regarding this matter.
• Deb asked if embers can really travel 1 mile away from the point of a fire. There are too many variables to be able to predict how far an ember will travel. It depends on the size of the ember, height, and wind conditions in the area of the fire.
• Sally thanked the Fire Department in advance for agreeing to bring a fire truck to the Music Stroll on Saturday June 14th.

Police Report: Detective Yvette Zayas
DUI and Vandalism were the only categories of crime that were up in May of 2014 vs May of 2013. There were no homicides in May either year. Robbery, Assault, Burglary, Larceny /Theft, and Motor Vehicle Thefts were all down this year.

We were thanked for our efforts to reduce burglaries from 22 last year to 9 this year by keeping our doors locked, cars locked, not leaving valuables in cars, and not leaving spare keys hidden in cars. We were again asked to report any suspicious activity in our area.

A photo was circulated of a suspect caught painting walls by standing on the roof of a building located at 1045 East 2100 South. If you see him or know who he is please call Detective Van Scoy at 801 799-3748 and reference case #14-801174.

The bike squads have been spending extra time in the Sugar House/ Fairmont park area. Patrol officers have been requested to write their reports while parked in the Fairmont parking areas to increase police presence in the area.

• An audience member reported that several years ago the bike squad apprehended some youths who were attempting to burglarize his home.
• Topher asked how likely it is that we will lose our bike squad to the Pioneer Park area of downtown. Detective Zayas said that Detective Mourtgos is working with Metro Support to retain our bike squad and he will know more next week. He will give us a report next month.
• Judi commented that Lisa Adams is working hard to retain and expand the bike patrol in Sugar House because of the population growth in Sugar House and the opening of the Draw.

Public Comments for items not on the agenda:
An audience member who lives on Elm Ave expressed concern about the increased traffic in his neighborhood due to all the new housing units. Traffic is already backing up on 21 South because of the light on Highland Drive.

• Maggie responded that we need to have Robin Hutchison from the Transportation Department come and address the SHCC regarding the expected increase in traffic in Sugar House. Deb who chairs the SHCC Transportation Committee has had discussions with the city Transportation Department. The feeling is that not everyone who is moving into these complexes will have a car and will instead prefer to use public transportation. There is simply not enough space in the city for everyone to own a car. Maggie pointed out that before the buildings are built they must meet the required parking standards for the tenants. The problem is not places to park but rather too many cars driving on the streets. Topher pointed out that we are all concerned about the traffic in Sugar House and that we have approached the city on numerous occasions regarding this issue.
• Judi referred to the Sugar House Circulation and Mobility Study which can be found online at the SLC Transportation website. It discusses alternative modes of transportation options including building more bike lanes and the extension of the S-Line. Deb asked that we all support efforts to get UTA to extend their hours for the S-Line and southern tracks routes which at this time stop at 9:00pm. The last bus comes down 9th east into Sugar House at 10:30pm which is also not late enough.
• The audience member does not feel that public transportation is going to solve the problem. It has been his experience in other cities that people still choose to drive their cars. It was also mentioned that UTA should provide free passes to kids who use public transportation.

An audience member asked about a sign announcing the opening for the greenway on June 13th. This is a separate event from the ribbon cutting for the Draw and will take place between 8th and 9th on the S-Line.

Land Use and Zoning: Judi Short
At their last meeting they talked about form-based code. At this time the city council has sent the proposal back to the Planning Commission to be reworked. John Anderson from planning came and spoke about
the small neighborhood business zone. When the city did a rezone around 1992, there were a number of parcels that were designated as “non-conforming residential”. Those were commercial buildings located in a residential area. Those will now be rezoned as “small neighborhood business zones”.

The planning commission approved a garage for a property on 2568 S. Filmore/Stratford where there is currently a single car garage. The proposal is to add two more car bays, making it a three car garage with living space located above the garage. Ed and Judi, and several neighbors wrote letters opposing the scale of the new construction. The planning commission approved the plans.

Legacy Assisted Living Building developers asked for three variances, that were presented to and approved by the SHCC.
1) increase height of the southwest corner by 10 feet to make the parking level
2) a variance for the retail spaces for the west side of the building
3) setback changes to the second level to accommodate the covered parking and provide space for outdoor
patios.
#1 and #2 were approved. The setback change was not approved.

At the next planning commission meeting there will be discussion about a tutor home located at 1707 South 2400 East that is for sale for approx. $500,000. A developer wants to tear it down to build something else on this parcel.

Parks, Open Space, and Trails: Sally Barraclough
This committee did not meet in May. Sally made two announcements about upcoming events in Sugar House.

The first is the ribbon cutting for the opening of the Draw taking place on Friday, June 6th at 10:30 at Sugar House Park. Parking is available in the park.

The second was a reminder about the Music Stroll taking place on Saturday, June 14th at the site of the new Imperial Park. Construction for the park will start in August. The music festival, located at 2700 South 1530 East, will involve 30 bands playing on 12 different driveways in the neighborhood. There will be food trucks and activities for the kids. The event is free to the public.

Transportation Committee: Deb Henry
Deb noted that participation in this committee has been down and asked if there may be a better way to communicate about transportation issues. She has started a Facebook page for the SHCC Transportation Committee. It has 30 “likes” so far. If you want to communicate with Deb regarding transportation concerns you can email her or talk to her after the meeting.

Deb asked for the council’s support for a letter she is writing to UTA asking them to provide public transit on the 4th of July. After Deb read the letter, a motion to support the letter was made by Ed. Topher seconded, and the motion passed unanimously. Maggie requested a copy for her records.

Lisa Adams, District 7 Councilman, commented that she has contacted UTA concerning transportation on the 4th of July. She was told that they can not provide coverage on this short of notice. She pointed out to UTA that ridership would go up on the S-Line if they would provide more service and extended hours.

Arts and Cultural: Laurie Bray
The Sugar House Art Walk is happening on Friday, July 11th will be held in conjunction with Smart Trips. Some of the venues will be giving out gift certificates to Smart Trips people who ride their bikes to the event. Look at the Facebook page for more details. The event is from 6-9pm.

The Sugarmont Plaza is now open on Monday nights with live music and food trucks. The Farmers Mini Market is on Fridays from 4-8pm. The full Farmer’s Market will start in July.

Communications and Outreach: Christopher Thomas
The committee did not meet in May but Chris did meet with the Executive Committee to give them training on WordPress. The new website is up and you can find it at www.sugarhousecouncil.org. The minutes going back to January 2013 have been added to the site by Amy. Many of our other important documents have also been added to the site. If you have comments about the new site feel free to contact Christopher.

Ed made a request that we have materials about the SHCC available to hand out at the 4th of July booth.
Judi noted that we do have a flyer and map that can be distributed.

An audience member requested that links be added to our website connecting to city departments and to SLC Council members.

Community Groups and SLC Network: Judi Short
They spent time reviewing the budget issues.

Sugar House Chamber of Commerce: Laurie Bray
They discussed the ribbon cutting for the Draw. Deb asked the Chamber to also write a letter to UTA regarding public transit on the 4th of July. Laurie said she would follow up on that.

Announcement Regarding Household Hazardous Waste Disposal: Sally Barraclough
Amy wanted to remind us that there will be a household hazardous waste disposal day this Thursday and also on the first Thursday of July and August at Sugar House Park at the Mt Olympus Pavilion. The event runs from 7-10am. This location is in jeopardy of being discontinued because residents continue to dump waste after the hours of operation. City staff spent the entire day following each waste disposal day cleaning up the mess. If this trend continues, the event will most likely be moved. The event is free to SLC residents and involves electronics, medications, and hazardous waste. At tomorrow’s event only there will be a document shredder available. Maggie pointed out that there are other locations and times for hazardous waste disposal.

Announcement Regarding the 4th of July Booth: Dave Mulder
Dave announced that all the time slots to man the booth have been filled. He is looking for someone to work the last two hours with Sally. As of now she will be working alone from 4-6pm. He thanked those who signed up to help.

Presentations:
Small Neighborhood Business Zone:
John Anderson
Excused

Tiger Grant Funding for the Streetcar Extension:
Julieanne Sabula SLC Transportation Division

The city has submitted a grant to obtain funding from the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program. The grant is for a package of projects involving all modes of transportation including the streetcar extension. Individual aspects include:

1. S-Line extension up Highland Dr. to 2100 South
2. Midblock crossings on Wilmington and on Elm Ave
3. Two new Hawk Signals, one on Sugarmont and one on Highland Dr.
4. A bi-directional bikeway on McClelland
5. Runoff mitigation and erosion control in the Hidden Hollow riparian corridor
6. Pathway improvements for Fairmont Park
7. A Road Diet on Highland Dr. (this would take place at the same time as the S-Line construction, and underground utility work by the city to prevent the street from being torn-up multiple times) This would include a center turn lane and bike lanes.

Questions:

• Dave wanted clarification on the southeast routing of the streetcar.
• Maggie spoke regarding the finality of the grant funding and not being able to make changes to the plan once the funds are awarded. If the funding is awarded it must be spent exactly as the grant specified.
• Rawlins and Michael reiterated that Sugar House is two words. Rawlins expressed concern that the new concrete work over the Draw has Sugar House spelled as one word. That was the work of Salt Lake County and they will be notified of the mistake.
• An audience member asked if the 11th East route for the S-Line is firm. Julieanne said that it was adopted by council about a year ago. When the Transit Master Plan is redone, if there are major reasons to readdress the route they will do that then, but for now the plan is to extend north on 11th East.
• Topher asked when they might hear if we are getting the Tiger Grant funds. Representatives from the regional office of the Federal Transit Department in Denver were in SLC about two weeks ago and they were uncertain when we might hear about the funding. Julieanne feels that based on experience with previous grants, we might know by July or August. It might take until October before any work could begin if we get the funding. Topher expressed concern that more Hawk lights were not planned for 21st South. They are not included in this grant because they are already funded through local matching funds and they will be built regardless of whether we get the Tiger Grant funds. Judi pointed out that Amy did an application for a Hawk light at McClelland and 21st, which is funded and should be installed in July.
• Dave asked if this Tiger Grant will pay for the S-Line extension all the way the 17th South. It will not.
• Teddy asked if there is a plan for a better connection for bicycles and pedestrians from the current termination of the S-Line at Fairmont Park to Hidden Hollow. The Transportation Division has identified some of the route in the circulation plan which is online. It will be incorporated with some of the new development taking place on Wilmington.
• Rawlins expressed concern about the S-Line on the travel lanes of Highland Dr. and asked if it could run in the center lane. It is not likely to run up the middle of the street because that would involve a single track and the streetcar would not be able to meet the 15min frequency standard required by the federal government. Also, there are large underground utilities that run up the middle of Highland Dr that they do not want to relocate.
• Deb asked if Phase 1 of the S-Line is now running on 15min intervals. It does not because UTA prioritized cars over the S-Line. The crossings at State St and at 7th East slow the streetcar because there are not crossing arms at those locations. Deb also asked if the S-Line will ever meet the 15min standard and the answer was yes. If we get these grants we will have to meet that standard. They currently have an exception because we run more trains overall. They run at 20 min intervals all the time, but they still of the the goal of all trains running at 15 min intervals. If we do not get the grant to build the extension, the Transportation Division will wait and look for funding from other sources.

Council Report: Lisa Ramsey Adams District 7
The Draw will open on Friday. It was paid for almost exclusively with county money not city money.

The Sugar House rezone is still being looked at by the SLC Council and at this time they have slowed the process to carefully consider the implications of the planned rezone. The Council will be taking two walking tours of Sugar House in the next three weeks looking at building heights and setbacks. For example, the new Mecham building (Sugar House Crossings) is 75 ft tall. They will be looking at proposed zoning from both the neighborhood proposal map and, the planning and zoning map. They will also be looking at height vs setback which is two feet for every one foot of height. Therefore, a 75 ft building has a greater setback than a 30 ft building.

The development of the tennis court property on Sugarmont is on hold for the time being. They are looking at multiple options including active open space as opposed to passive open space. Lisa does not think that it will come to a vote before August. She feels that at this time we have plenty of density in Sugar House and that we need to have a mix of single family housing and multifamily structures to provide a variety of living opportunities. That is what makes us unique from the downtown area of Salt Lake City.

Lisa is also looking for pocket parks in our area that have sandboxes. She would like to pursue using some of her budget to buy sand toys for these parks. In other parks around the city it has been proven that the toys do not get stolen and the children really enjoy them. If you know of any small parks with sandboxes, please contact her with location information.

The reports in the newspapers and on the TV did not reflect what happened in last night’s city council meeting. Nowhere was it reported that they voted twice to not raise property taxes this year. They were also able to add funding to the budget to extend the hours of the homeless shelter and restored funding to a project in conjunction with the Downtown Alliance that provides jobs for the homeless. They also voted to put $100,000 in the budget for west side youth programs to bring them closer in similarity to the programs that are available on the east side of the city.

The council passed a balanced city budget for the next year.

In regards to the fireworks, they are looking at air quality issues and big firework displays. They may pass an ordinance that restricts fireworks on bad air quality days.

Lisa is a member of the golf course committee. The three courses that are safe from being closed are Mountain Dell, Bonneville, and Nibbly. All other courses are being looked at because their costs are exceeding their revenues. One thing that would help their budgets would be to quit watering with culinary water, but that conversion would be expensive. If the city has to close golf courses they will not be sold for development, but rather maintained in the open space inventory but in a manner that is less expensive than a golf course.

Judi asked about the bike patrol for Sugar House. At this time we do not have an answer but we are hoping for more police presence when we get the new fire station.

Joedy wanted to remind Lisa to use the Sugar House Vision Statement when she conducts the council tours of Sugar House. It has some specific guidelines of what we want Sugar House to look like in the future.

Christopher asked how District 7 did in the BeeHive pass sales. We did not do too well in getting people signed up, but Lisa feels thats due to our restricted bus service and the short S-Line hours. If those would improve, and after high school is back in session more people might buy passes. Also when the air quality is bad more people sign up for the passes. She is hopeful they will extend the program for at least six more months.

Spotlight on Business: Michael G Kavanough
Trolley Wing Company
Jeff Krie co-owner and general manager
2148 South 900 East
11:00 am-11:00 pm
The Wing Company opened in 1999 at Trolley Square in the old trolley car. During the Trolley Square remodel, the trolley car was removed and the restaurant was moved inside the building. Jeff started working in the restaurant after it moved into the building. During that time he became a co-owner. He and his partner waited 4 yrs for a better location within the mall, and in the end, they had to move out of Trolley Square. They found their new location in Sugar House and opened in January. They have been very busy since and are very happy to be in Sugar House.

Major’s Office Report: Shawn McDonough
SLC made the national news this week as Mayor Becker was invited to Washington to meet with First Lady Michelle Obama and to speak at a press conference regarding our veterans and homelessness. He was asked to come because of the great progress that he has made working on our homeless veteran issue. He has been in a friendly competition with the mayor of Phoenix to see who could reach the goal of getting 100% of the veterans into housing first. At this time we are at 75% of that goal. First Lady Obama noted in her speech that we should never see any of our veterans living homeless, and that they should always have their needs met.

There was a groundbreaking for the new George S. and Dolores Dore’ Eccles Theater. Mayor Becker, along with county and city officials, and the designers of the building participated in the event. The Eccles gave 15 million dollars toward the project. Other donors included Delta Airlines, the Miller Family, and the LDS Church.

Mayor Becker met with Gina McCarthy, US Environmental Protection Administrator and presented the mayor’s Sky Line Challenge to city businesses and institutions. The challenge is to cut energy waste, and air pollution from their operations. It is a multi-year competition and the goal is to cut 15% by 2020.

Twilight Concert Series is starting in Pioneer Park. The cost is $5.00 per concert or $35.00 for the whole series. They have an amazing lineup.

Open air movies are being presented by the city. Friday Night Flicks are being held in various parks around the city. Fairmont Park is on the schedule to have Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on July 18th.

Don’t forget to access the Open City Hall to make comments about current issues with the city.

Christopher Thomas found that when he approached the Transportation Division regarding getting a sticker for his Chevy Volt to allow him to drive in the HOV lanes and get parking downtown, his car was not on the list of environmentally clean cars. He was told to contact Julieanna with the Transportation Division. It was felt that the list of cars that qualify has not been updated in some time.

Sprague Library: Dolly Rauh
The summer reading program is in full swing. They have a reading program for toddlers, preschool age, school age, teens, and adults. You get a free book for signing up, and all you have to do is read one book per month and attend one program at the library per month. SHCC meeting counts as an activity. The theme this year for all ages is Science and for adults, literary elements. They will however, accept any books that you are reading including audio books. They got a grant this year to get the free books. For the first time the Sprague Library signed up more adults than kids for the summer reading program.

There is a teen program activity planned for Friday, June 13th. It is an action painting session where teens get to throw paint at a canvas to create art Jackson Pollock style. It’s from 3-5 pm, outside the library.

Meeting adjourned
Judi moved to adjourn, Dave seconded.
Meeting adjourned at 8:50pm