THE STATE OF UTAH
COUNTY OF SEVIER
CITY OF RICHFIELD
COUNTY OF SEVIER
CITY OF RICHFIELD
At the City Council
In and For Said City
March 12, 2019
In and For Said City
March 12, 2019
Minutes of the Richfield City Council meeting held on Tuesday, March 12, 2019
at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Richfield City office building located at 75 East Center, Richfield, Utah. Mayor David C. Ogden presiding.
at 7:00 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. OPENING REMARKS
2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
3. ROLL CALL
4. MINUTES APPROVED
5. EXPENDITURES APPROVED
6. SERVICE PROJECTS DISCUSSED BY ELIZA STEELE
7. PLANNING COMMISSION REPORT
8. 3-UNIT TOWNHOME PROJECT APPROVED
9. CONDOMINIUM AT 860 NORTH MAIN FOR SOUTHWEST PAIN AND SPINE APPROVED
10. PURCHASE OF NEW PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT FOR THE ROTARY PARK APPROVED
11. FAA GRANT APPLICATION APPROVED
12. PROPOSED WATER TRADE APPROVED
13. OTHER BUSINESS
14. MEETING ADJOURNED
2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
3. ROLL CALL
4. MINUTES APPROVED
5. EXPENDITURES APPROVED
6. SERVICE PROJECTS DISCUSSED BY ELIZA STEELE
7. PLANNING COMMISSION REPORT
8. 3-UNIT TOWNHOME PROJECT APPROVED
9. CONDOMINIUM AT 860 NORTH MAIN FOR SOUTHWEST PAIN AND SPINE APPROVED
10. PURCHASE OF NEW PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT FOR THE ROTARY PARK APPROVED
11. FAA GRANT APPLICATION APPROVED
12. PROPOSED WATER TRADE APPROVED
13. OTHER BUSINESS
14. MEETING ADJOURNED
1. OPENING REMARKS were offered by Mayor Ogden.
2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE was led by Councilmember Christensen.
3. ROLL CALL. Present: Mayor David Ogden (Not voting), Kevin Arrington, Richard Barnett, Kathy Christensen, Matt Creamer (Not voting), Mike Langston (Not voting), Michele Jolley (Not voting). Excused: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielson.
4. MINUTES APPROVED. The Council reviewed the minutes of the meeting held February 26, 2019. Motion: Approve the minutes of the meeting held February 26, 2019, Action: Approved, Moved by Kathy Christensen, Seconded by Richard Barnett. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yea = 3). Yea: Kevin Arrington, Richard Barnett, Kathy Christensen. Excused: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielson.
5. EXPENDITURES APPROVED. The Council reviewed the warrants and cash disbursements for February 2019. The gas bill for the swimming pool was discussed. Mr. Creamer reported that Mr. Langston was able to get a better deal going directly to a supplier. Mr. Langston stated that it is supposed to be a significant savings, but the last bill was quite high although he is not sure why. Mr. Creamer stated that Summit Energy projected tens or thousands of dollars that the city would save over the course of the years. Motion: Approve the warrants and cash disbursements for February 2019, Action: Approved, Moved by Richard Barnett, Seconded by Kathy Christensen. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yea = 3). Yea: Kevin Arrington, Richard Barnett, Kathy Christensen. Excused: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielson.
6. SERVICE PROJECTS DISCUSSED BY ELIZA STEELE. Eliza Steele told the Council that she is a junior at Richfield High School. She proposed a city-wide spring clean up by doing some small projects throughout the community that maybe have not been done in awhile.
Some of the projects that she suggested were painting over the graffiti at the Lion’s Park, trash on the side of the bike path, plant flowers at the welcome sign, and highway clean up at all four of the entrances to the City. Some of the groups that could be recruited to do this included church youth groups, scout groups, high school clubs, and community groups like the Lion’s Club, the Rotary Club and the Elk’s club.
Ms. Steele anticipated that there would be a need from some donations to be able to do some of these projects like paint and brushes, trash bags to clean up the parks and bike path along with gloves, hand sanitizer and water bottles.
She would also like to see a Youth City Council to help with understanding what goes on in the community.
Mr. Creamer stated that the City would like to have someone spear head these projects. The Council felt that Ms. Steele’s ideas were good ones and the City would be able to supply the necessary items to complete these projects.
Over the years, the City has had a very active Youth City Council, but the past few years it has kind of dwindled, so Mr. Creamer was excited to know that there is some interest in starting that up again.
Mayor Ogden stated that there are a couple of ladies who are going to plan what flowers should be planted around the welcome sign. They want to use some natural plants that would have been here with the pioneers came planted around the sign.
Mr. Creamer asked if Ms. Steele was shooting for a specific date to have a big event where all of these projects happen. She was thinking it could be held on a Saturday early around 9:00 or 10:00 a.m. and have flyers around the City stating that a spring clean up will be held. They could be handed out to the different clubs and church groups. Mr. Creamer stated that it could be advertised in the City’s water bill along with the City spring clean up. He will be getting with White’s Sanitation to set a date for that cleanup. Mr. Creamer asked if she would want to make the contacts to some of the groups that she had talked about. Ms. Steele stated that she would be able to contact the groups because she has access to most of them. Mr. Creamer stated that she should check with him to see what some of the dates are that White’s has available. Mayor Ogden said that she could have it on a different date if she chose. Councilmember Christensen stated that the Lion’s Club takes care of the freeway entrances. One of the other items Ms. Steele had on her list was to paint the light poles on Main Street. Councilmember Christensen thought that would be quite difficult, but she thought it would be good if someone could take some goo gone to the poles and get some of the tape residue off from them. Mayor Ogden told Ms. Steele that she had a very ambitious list and that the City was willing to help and happy that she has this interest.
7. PLANNING COMMISSION REPORT. Greg Bean was present to discuss the Planning Commission meeting held March 6, 2019. The Planning Commission held 3 public hearings. One hearing was to discuss a rezone of the old Kmart property, a hearing for a 3-unit townhome project and a hearing for a condominium project for a medical plaza.
Mr. Bean explained that the hearing for the Kmart property was to consider a zone change from commercial shopping to general commercial. There is a proposal to put in a U-Haul facility that would include indoor and outdoor storage units. Outdoor storage is not allowed in the commercial shopping zone, so the zoning would need to be changed. Because all of the property owners in the area would have to agree to the zone change, the Planning Commission determined to limit the zone change to just the strip mall. It is still contiguous with the general commercial zone across the street, so we would not be spot zoning.
Councilmember Christensen asked if the proposal is to use the whole Kmart building. Mr. Bean noted that the proposal is to use the whole building. Councilmember Christensen felt that it was too bad that we cannot get some retail in there, but with retail dying, there is no way we are going to get retail in there. Mr. Bean stated the Planning Commission felt the same way. We have had years to try to do that and it just has not worked out. There will be some retail there. They plan about 5,000 to 6,000 square feet to sell packing materials, boxes, etc. The Planning Commission felt that this was a pretty good compromise.
The townhome project was approved with as a conditional use to be constructed in the RM-11 zone. One of Commission’s sticking points was what do they do if there are problems in the building. The engineer stated that he had looked into it and that an agreement would be made with the owners that they would share in the costs.
The condominium project would split a recently built commercial building into 3 units. The Planning Commission approved that.
The condominium project would split a recently built commercial building into 3 units. The Planning Commission approved that.
The Planning Commission had a discussion on short-term rentals and Jim Holt and his wife came in to discuss the possibility of changing the code to allow short-term rentals in the RM-11 zone. The Planning Commission had considered a similar item before hand, and approved a limited application of this that did not extend to the RM-11 zone. People want to advertise their homes on Air B&B and other similar websites. The Planning Commission was concerned that it would degrade the neighbor and there would be parking problems, so they limited those facilities to not more that 3 tenants in any one of those homes.
This time the Planning Commission considered extending this to the RM-11 zone. In the discussion we learned that there had been several requests made about this and all of them were in the RM-11 zone. The Planning Commission agreed to recommend that we go ahead and try this and see how this works out.
Mr. Bean stated that this is a gray area and there have been problems with this in other communities, but other communities are into this, like Moab. The Planning Commission thinks that Richfield is probably a good place to get our feet wet because there won’t be a whole lot of demand for it. Having something like this allows the owner and the tenant to be critiqued on the websites and if the owners or the renters get too many bad reviews, they are banned from using the facilities.
Councilmember Barnett thought that when this was addressed before, the Council was concerned about parking in the RM-11 zones, which is why the Council decided against all this in that zone. Mr. Bean recalled that the Planning Commission reasoning was that they wanted to go slow with it.
The gentleman who wanted to discuss low income housing at the old Topsfield Lodge property did not come in. The Planning Commission is not thinking they will be very favorable to this because they see this as commercial property and they are only wanted to use part of the building for this. That would require a rezone for residential use for just part of the building.
8. 3-UNIT TOWNHOME PROJECT APPROVED. The Planning Commission approved a conditional use for a 3-unit townhome at 595 South 200 West. The request was filed by Kendrick Thomas and Tyler Olsen. Mr. Olsen discussed the project, noting that it would be divided into 3 townhomes. All of the units will have separate entrances and the middle unit will have a right of way along the back of unit 1 for an access. The units will provide some low income housing and will all the units will be one level and wheelchair accessible. They will have 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a 2 car garage. Motion: Approve a 3-unit townhome at 595 South 200 West, Action: Approved, Moved by Kathy Christensen, Seconded by Kevin Arrington. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yea = 3). Yea: Kevin Arrington, Richard Barnett, Kathy Christensen. Excused: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielson.
9. CONDOMINIUM AT 860 NORTH MAIN FOR SOUTHWEST PAIN AND SPINE APPROVED. Cole Robinson, Matthew Barney and John Spendlove discussed the recently built building to be subdivided into 3 different units to be owned by 3 separate entities with 3 separate entrances. Motion: Approve the condominium at 860 North Main for Southwest Pain and Spine, Action: Approved, Moved by Kevin Arrington, Seconded by Kathy Christensen. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yea = 3). Yea: Kevin Arrington, Richard Barnett, Kathy Christensen. Excused: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielson.
10. PURCHASE OF NEW PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT FOR THE ROTARY PARK APPROVED. Mr. Creamer stated that some of the playground equipment is in pretty bad shape. One of the slides has breaks in the plastic and was installed over 15 years ago. Mrs. Christensen got a quote from our supplier to replace all of the equipment, which includes swings, independent slides, etc. for almost $75,000. After looking closer, the swings and the independent slides are really in good shape, maybe just need a little touch-up paint. If we just look at the central structure the quote is just shy of $50,000, which includes delivery and installation. Mr. Langston indicated that there would be PAR tax money for this if the Council wanted to make this a priority and move ahead with it. Mrs. Christensen also told Mr. Creamer that we need to do a little work at the Centennial Park. With the settling, some of the slides have almost a 4-foot drop off the bottom. The unit is still pretty good, so we could just install some fill and some soft fall. It is not as used as some of the other parks, but there are kids who come over from the condos and with the visitor’s center, it will be used more. Motion: Approve the purchase of playground equipment for the Rotary Park for $50,000, Action: Approved, Moved by Kevin Arrington, Seconded by Richard Barnett. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yea = 3). Yea: Kevin Arrington, Richard Barnett, Kathy Christensen. Excused: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielson.
11. FAA GRANT APPLICATION APPROVED. Mr. Creamer reported that these are the items that we were not able to get done with the overall Airport project. The items left to be completed include the security fence, SRE building driveway and an airport layout plan for the airport. Mr. Robinson is very concerned about the security fence because not only can people drive in where they are not supposed to, it is also wide open for deer, dogs, etc. FAA is on board with this. They will fund almost 91% of the project, the State will fund 4.5% and that leaves the City with 4.5% of the project. The City’s share would amount to less than $10,000. Motion: Approve the FAA grant application to complete the security fence, SRE building driveway and the airport layout plan for the Airport, Action: Approve, Moved by Kathy Christensen, Seconded by Richard Barnett. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yea = 3). Yea: Kevin Arrington, Richard Barnett, Kathy Christensen. Excused: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielson.
12. PROPOSED WATER TRADE APPROVED. Mr. Creamer stated that the proposed trade would be 32 shares of Sevier Valley Canal for 10-acre feet of underground water rights. Mayor Ogden reported that he had talked with Councilmember Burrows who wanted to be on the record in favor of this trade. As for the value, Mr. Creamer stated that we would be giving 32 shares at about $2,500 a share and getting underground valued at $8,000 per acre feet. We did use our full allotment last year because of the unprecedented bad year that it was for water. Looking back at the records for the past 15 years, we had never used our allotment. The other thing is that typically when people annex into the City they give Sevier Valley shares. So the City has the opportunity to get more Sevier Valley shares back. The location of the underground water would not require a shrink for the exchange. Motion: Approve the trade of 32 shares of Sevier Valley shares for 10-acre feet of underground water rights, subject to proofing of underground rights, Action: Approved, Moved by Richard Barnett, Seconded by Kathy Christensen. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yea = 3). Yea: Kevin Arrington, Richard Barnett, Kathy Christensen. Excused: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielson.
13. OTHER BUSINESS. Councilmember Barnett gave a legislative update. The bill addressing the makeup of the CIB Board has been raised again, but they have dropped all language about changing the composition of the CIB Board. Now the bill seeks to appropriate 1% of all deposits made to the mineral lease account to the 7-County infrastructure Coalition, which Sevier County is a member, to be used for activities carried on by the coalition to address and alleviate the social, economic and public financing packs from the development of natural resources in the State. The Utah Association of Counties has given a neutral recommendation about taking a position on this. Mr. Creamer knows that Commissioner Odgen sits on that 7-County board and he actually testified in favor of the bill last Friday. The State Treasurer testified vigorously against the bill raising questions in terms of the past performance of the 7-County Board. If the newspaper is accurate, it would mean about $750,000 a year going to the 7-County and $750,000 less going to the Community Impact Board. Councilmember Barnett is not sure what they are trying to do, but he is not in favor of having someone trying to slice out their own piece of the pie without having to jump through the same hoops that the rest of us have to jump through to get the money that is available. However, the biggest concern was the proposed restructuring of the CIB Board in the original bill.
Councilmember Barnett does not believe that the proposed sales tax initiative on services is dead. From what he understands, it will be coming back. There will be some major restructuring of the tax code for the State. One way or another, this will affect the budgets of the cities. The whole reason they are doing this is because they feel that the revenues streams are out of balance and we are becoming a service-based economy so we need to broaden the base of the sales tax. What they are really saying is that income tax is growing faster than the sales tax. Sales tax is not shrinking; it just is not growing at the same rate as the income tax. So they want to shift the way the monies are gather so that more is coming from sales tax and they can then give an income tax relief. The UEA is upset about this because income tax revenue has to be spent on education.
SB151 dealing with referenda which the League and Association of Counties has worked on has passed. Right now if we pass a law and someone wants to redact that law via referendum, the Mayor and Council are not allowed to say anything about it; even as to why they had passed it.
Jr. Miss Richfield will be held March 25 at the Sevier Valley Center.
14. MEETING ADJOURNED. At 8:22 p.m., Motion: Adjourn, Action: Approved, Moved by Kathy Christensen, Seconded by Kevin Arrington. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yea = 3). Yea: Kevin Arrington, Richard Barnett, Kathy Christensen. Excused: Bryan Burrows, Connie Nielson.
PASSED and APPROVED this 26 day of March, 2019.