02.11.20 Council Minutes Special

Published: February 26, 2020

THE STATE OF UTAH
COUNTY OF SEVIER
CITY OF RICHFIELD
At the City Council
In and For Said City
February 11, 2020
Minutes of the Richfield City Council special meeting held on Tuesday, February 11, 2020 at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Richfield City office building located at 75 East Center, Richfield, Utah. Mayor David C. Ogden presiding.
 
1. ROLL CALL
2. COUNTY’S DEVELOPMENT OF 1300 SOUTH DISCUSSED
3. RECONVENE & ADJOURN
 
1. ROLL CALL. Present: Bryan Burrows, Kathy Christensen, Todd Gleave, Kip Hansen, Mayor David Ogden (Not voting), Mike Langston (Not voting), Michele Jolley. Excused: Connie Nielson and Mike Langston.
 
2. COUNTY’S DEVELOPMENT OF 1300 SOUTH DISCUSSED. Lyndon Friant, representing Sevier County, was present to discuss the development of 1300 South, east to the Annabella Road. He explained the history behind the thought of making an access point to the Annabella Road. They looked at 1000 South, but there were too many property owners who were opposed to the project. The 1300 South road logistically makes perfect sense because traffic comes into a controlled intersection at the stop light and an access on and off the freeway relatively easy. As they looked at the project, most of the property was undeveloped except for a home owned by Marvin Bagley. They came up with a preliminary design for an 80-foot right of way for a road and a possible bike path and started the process of talking with the land owners.
Richfield City owns some property that would be affected by this project. A few years ago, the property owners were in favor and so they put together a basic cost.
One property owner, James Allen, was not in favor of this project because he wanted all of his land to be contiguous on one side or the other of the road. At one point they looked at getting the City to swap their property with Mr. Allen, but the City was not in favor of that.
The County paid for an appraisal on all of the parcels of land that would be affected, so they have market value at that time, prices and costs. The County does not want to use eminent domain. They wanted to know what the City’s thoughts were, at least to have the right-of-way procured.
Councilmember Christensen does not see why we need to have a road there. There is already a road from Annabella that comes in on the north side of Central Valley to the highway.
Councilmember Burrows wanted to know who would be maintaining that road once it is built. Commissioner Ogden stated that it would be a County road so the County would maintain it. Councilmember Burrows asked where Mr. Allen was at now.
Mr. Allen has leased all of his farm ground, sold all of his cows and he is just indifferent to the project. The property is set up to go to his son in just a few years and Kary Monroe stated that they met with him and his son. His son would like to see something done, but Mr. Allen said that his son does not have the say right now.
Councilmember Burrows asked how much the City owes the County for the 1500 South road. Mr. Monroe thought the City’s owed about $156,000. There was an original thought that the City could trade some of its land and it could go toward helping to reduce that debt. Dennis Larson stated that it would just be great if the City would provide the right-of-way through there. He stated that the access coming in from Annabella right now comes in at 400 South. This has been quite an access problem because of the bridge and coming up to Main Street and not being able to turn left. If they were coming in at 1300 South it would lessen the traffic coming in on 400 South.
Councilmember Burrows is okay with the road going the property as it is, but he is not wanting to trade or give up that property. The road would take approximately 1.22 acres. Kary Monroe stated that there is a major sewer trunk line that runs down along the east side of the property, so the City would maintain a 100-foot easement. The appraisal came back at $4,800 per acre, except the parcel closest to Wal-Mart.
Commissioner Ogden stated that the problem we are going to have is that if we don’t start having these discussions and working on our roads and infrastructure, we are going to end up like St. George, Salt Lake or Provo and maybe not to that magnitude, but we need more corridors to get people around. If we are not moving forward, we are going to be stuck. He is just looking at things long-range.
Dennis Larson stated that they would like to get started on this. They are looking at about 2 and half years and then let it sit for one year.
Councilmember Hansen felt that this is something that should be addressed some time, so we may as well address it now.
Where there is not a road there now, Kary Monroe stated that the plan would be to pay all of the property owners the fair value, plus accesses fences and gates. One of the good things is that every piece has a separate property owner, so we are not cutting any body in half except for a couple of pieces of property.
 
4. MEETING ADJOURNED. At 6:56 p.m., Motion: Adjourn, Action: Adjourned, Moved by Kathy Christensen, Seconded by Kip Hansen. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yea = 4). Yea: Bryan Burrows, Kathy Christensen, Todd Gleave, Kip Hansen.
PASSED and APPROVED this 25 day of February, 2020.