05.09.22 Council Minutes

THE STATE OF UTAH
COUNTY OF SEVIER
CITY OF RICHFIELD

At the City Council
In and For Said City
May 9, 2022

Minutes of the Richfield City Council meeting held on Tuesday, May 9, 2022,
at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Richfield City office building located at 75 East Center, Richfield, Utah. Mayor Bryan L. Burrows presiding.

1. OPENING REMARKS
2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
3. ROLL CALL
4. MINUTES
5. EXPENDITURES
6. INTRODUCTION OF TOOTER OGDEN
7. POTENTIAL FUNDING FROM THE COUNTY AND THE REQUIREMENTS DISCUSSED
8. PUBLIC HEARING – REZONE 1000 N 300 W
9. PUBLIC HEARING – REZONE 1000 N 500 W
10. PLANNING COMMISSION REPORT
11. LOT SPLIT FOR TRIPLE J, LLC APPROVED
12. LOT SPLIT FOR THE GOOD SHEPHERD LUTHERAN CHURCH APPROVED
13. FEES FOR FOOD TRUCKS AND FARMERS’ MARKETS APPROVED
14. MAYOR’S PROPOSED BUDGET PRESENTED
15. OTHER BUSINESS
16. EXECUTIVE SESSION
17. RECONVENE & ADJOURN
18. OPENING REMARKS were offered by Todd Gleave.
19. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE was led by Mayor Burrows.
20. ROLL CALL. Present: Mayor Burrows (Not voting), Todd Gleave, Kip Hansen, Elaine Street, Tanner Thompson, Michele Jolley (Not voting), Tyson Hansen (Not voting), Brayden Gardner.
21. MINUTES APPROVED. The Council reviewed the minutes of the meeting held on April 26, 2022, and made the following changes. Motion: Approve the minutes of the meeting house on April 26, 2022, Action: Approved, Moved by Elaine Street, and Seconded by Tanner Thompson. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 5). Yes: Brayden Gardner, Elaine Street, Kip Hansen, Tanner Thompson, Todd Gleave.
22. EXPENDITURES APPROVED. The Council reviewed the April 2022 Warrant Register. Councilmember Gardner asked about the expanse item on page 5 to Chadwick Booth and Company for $9,525. Mr. Hanson explained that we received a FIG Grant from the OHV committee to help with the promotion of the ATV Trails. Motion: Approve the warrants for April 2022, Action: Approved, Moved by Kip Hansen, Seconded by Elaine Street. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 5). Yes: Brayden Gardner, Elaine Street, Kip Hansen, Tanner Thompson, Todd Gleave.
23. TOOTER OGDEN INTRODUCED HIMSELF. Mr. Ogden stated that he was a business owner in our community for over 20 years. His roots are here and he has a background in agriculture. He has been very involved while he has been a commissioner. This is the only job that he has so he gives it his full attention. He is very passionate about it. He asked those in attendance for their continued support. He works closely with the cities in our County. The county is working on a transportation master plan and he is coordinating closing with the cities. He Has been working on the flat canyon detention dam. There is funding through the federal government and it would help Richfield City, its golf course, the housing developments, and the canals. They have also identified the Tank Canyon as having the potential for flooding and it would flow into the canal so that needs to be addressed. The landfill was successfully expanded with a purchase of land from the BLM land which they were able to obtain for $10 an acre. He currently sits on the CIB board and oversees mineral lease money. He was able to help the city with equipment for the fire department and radios for them and the police department.
24. POTENTIAL FUNDING FROM THE COUNTY AND THE REQUIREMENTS DISCUSSED. Mr. Nash explained that the County has partnered with the cities to build infrastructure for tourism. They have also been supportive of the black hawk arena in Salina City. The Commissioners would like to spread the funds around. They would like to encourage more participation in all of the cities and towns. If the City has a project that falls into the category of providing infrastructure for tourism-related facilities, they would look at providing some funding for such a project. It is not for repairs or maintenance necessarily; they are things that were not there before but are there now. The mountain bike trails are a good example of what they have spent funds on. Some of the funds they have spent were for the Black Hawk Arena.

The application process is simple and the goal is to help the Commissioners understand how this project would be tourism-related.

Councilmember Hanson asked if this is funded partly or totally by the transient room tax. Mr. Nash stated the funds come from the transient room tax, recreation tax, and a special transportation tax.

Councilmember Street wondered if an outdoor theater would qualify for the funding and Mr. Nash suggested that they get together and talk about it. Mayor Burrows asked about the pump track and if this is something that they would participate in. If it is a size or large enough that it would attract people from outside the area.

Councilmember Thompson asked if there is a price range for the project. Mr. Nash stated that it is a matching program. They are one-time purchases because they want to avoid getting into ongoing maintenance issues.

8. PUBLIC HEARING – REZONE 1000 N 300 W. At 4 p.m., Mayor Burrows opened a public hearing to receive comments on a proposal to rezone property located at approximately 1000 N 300 W from single-family to multi-family residential.

Joe Betar stated that he lives at ground zero. He is opposed to rezoning the property for high density. His reasons were safety, fundamental fairness, and incompatibility with the makeup of the surrounding neighborhood. He addressed each one of these points separately. The limited access into this subdivision was discussed including the narrowing of the road on the bridge over the canal. He believed that this development would increase the level of traffic on 300 West by 4 times. At the Planning Commission meeting last week, the developer stated that he needed to rezone the property in order to because of the limitations with the current zoning, lack of a secondary point of access, and the partial inclusion in a FEMA floodplain along with the fact that the current fire code that would limit the number of homes he could build to approximately 11 homes. Mr. Betar said the developer should have known the limitations of the parcel prior to agreeing to purchase it. He did not feel that it is the responsibility of the City nor is it fair to the individuals who did their due diligence to resolve these kinds of dilemmas. This area comprises medium and large-sized single-family homes. allowing high-density residential in this neighborhood would reduce its appeal and the value of homes within it. Mr. Betar would be in favor of Rezoning the property to a single-family zone that allows the smallest Lots and the most modest home size. He believes this will strike a balance and maintain the fundamental character and safety of the neighborhood and To address the shortage of affordable housing in our community.

Richard Chamberlain stated that the traffic in this area affects his property because of the limited access to this area. He has been grateful that the past city councils are not willing to rezone for high density unless there’s been a change in the character of the neighborhood. There are appropriate situations where neighborhoods get to be so old that people start renting their basements and a lot of the homes so the character of the neighborhood changes. Canyon, almost all the homes in this neighborhood are still owner-occupied and not rented. The basements are not even rented. He said that this neighborhood has not changed in over 40 years and that the character of this neighborhood is the same as it was 40 years ago. The reason there is so much pushback and you try to increase the density of the property close to those neighborhoods is because when people purchased those lots, they had expectations that the character of the neighborhood was going to stay the same. This is a reasonable expectation. They are tremendously concerned about the traffic problem, but he thinks it is unfair to mess with people’s reasonable expectations.

Scott Hyatt stated that if there is an approval of more dense housing there, the approval has to consider the impact it is going to have on the sewer system because he does not believe this is Not adequate. He indicated it has been dug up 4 or 5 times on his Street. The bridge over the canal is also another issue that needs to be considered. Safety and infrastructure and both things that need to be considered. a lot of times the city is caught unaware and then the city what’s the bill for things.

Keith Waters is opposed to any more houses. He gave the example of the Townhomes by Centennial Park which he thinks are a huge mess. There is no parking there.

Rick Harper spends time south so he has an understanding of high-density housing. The infrastructure has him concerned as well. If there are future expenses that need to happen, the cost ought to be borne by the developer. We are not in a landlocked area so he believes there is other land that would be more suitable for this type of development Like the landlocked piece to the north of this neighborhood. 300 West is a feeder Street and never has he had such a hard time backing out of his driveway anywhere he’s lived but here.

Deon Kelsey stated that he is adamantly opposed to high density in this area. Safety is his biggest concern.

Devon Burton is opposed to the change in zoning. One of the things that have not been addressed is that there is nowhere else in Richfield that has one access point for 99 houses.

Jake Black was one of the purchasers of the property. He noted that there are constraints with the fire code and floodplain. He stated that the way the fire code reads you can have 30 Family units on a single point of access but you can have up to a hundred if it’s a multi-family development. More of a distance thing than an access thing so you could fit roughly three times the amount of units in the same given area if it is multi-family as opposed to single-family. The consultant hired by the city has been working on an update to the general plan and the future zoning map shows this property with the future zoning of high-density residential. they’re just asking for their own change, not a unit count and the concept that was presented to the Planning Commission was just a way to look at a wide range of affordable housing units. that included some single bedroom, 2 bedroom, and three-bedroom condos at the top of the parcel with the majority of the parcel being townhomes with three and four bedrooms. that would give a full variety of products in that affordable range.

Mayor Burrows closed The Hearing at 8:21 p.m.

9. PUBLIC HEARING – REZONE 1000 N 500 W. Mayor Burrows opened a public hearing at 8:22 p.m. to receive comments on a proposal to rezone property located at approximately 1000 N 500 W from single-family to multi-family residential.

Mr. Black stated that he has been working with Mr. Nay who owns this parcel and has also requested a zone change.

Joe Betar was also opposed to this rezoning. Mayor Burrows closed to hearing at 8:23 p.m.

10. PLANNING COMMISSION REPORT. Kendrick Thomas was present to discuss the Planning Commission meeting held on May 4th, 2022. He indicated that the commission has been working on a proposal to reduce the front setback from 30 ft to 25 ft for garages and even down to 20 ft for any other portion of the home. There is some reservation by some members of the commission To do this, Mr. ThomasPointing out that this change will not allow for more houses Because it does not change the density of the zones. There are still ongoing discussions about setbacks, and they have noted some potential problems with Corner Lots and cite for driveways. They also addressed guest houses or Casitas and the possibility of adopting an adjustment to our ordinance to allow for guest houses. most likely on larger lots.

Lisa White brought up the idea of including more information on Landscaping requirements into our ordinance to be better users of water, and they will be discussing this further.

a lot split 4 triple J creating a lot on the north portion of the property for commercial use and the south portion as RM-24. This was recommended by the commission for approval of this subdivision

A lot-split for the Good ShepherdLutheran church was discussed. This will create a flag-shaped lot and the commission voted to recommend this subdivision for approval.

Both of the hearings That were held here tonight were also on the planning commission agenda for public hearings. The Planning Commission recommended that neither of these rezones be approved. Mayor Burroughs stated that he does not believe the city can change the fire code. Mr. Thomas noted that that is correct and that the city has already adopted the international fire code. Mayor Burroughs stated that he would rather see a plan for the property be rezoned than rezone the property and then see a plan. Councilmember Thompson asked what the reasons were behind those who voted against the rezone. Mr. Thomas stated that there was not a lot of discussion about this. As he recalled, most of the discussion was about traffic and for him personally that was one of the biggest reasons he opposed the rezone. As they have discussed areas where high-density zones should be considered, the majority of the discussion has centered around adequate transportation and infrastructure so it would not cause an undue burden on the infrastructure.

Member Thompson noted that this street is a feeder and it is a wide street so he wondered if it was designed to be a feeder Street and why the bridge across the canal was so narrow. Mayor Burroughs pointed out that that bridge has been there for a long time.

Mr. Mogan was asked 2 Speak to the claim about the sewer lines. He stated that in his opinion the sewer is adequate, but the waterline has some issues. The digging Mr. Hyatt spoke about was because of the water line, not the sewer line.

mayor Burrows indicated that a couple of the homes on Horseshoe Drive sank after they were built. he asked Mr. Black if he had done any soil samples of the property he is proposing to develop. Mr. Black stated that there has been a geotechnical report done on this property.

Councilmember Gleave questioned the fire code and wondered if the developer was confident that he was interpreting that correctly. Mr. Black is confident that he is interpreting that correctly. He talked with several Fire Marshals about this. mister Chamberlain stated that they are interpreting this code incorrectly.

Mr. Thomas stated that they had another short-term rental to prove but the individual requesting this did not attend the meeting so they did not address it. They did approve conditional use for the Salon Spa at 44 South Main. A conditional use permit for a landscaping business as a home occupation was approved.

11. LOT SPLIT FOR TRIPLE J, LLC APPROVED. Mayor Burrows explained that this property is located to the west of Home Depot and we have had I’m good when is there discussed this before Council has discussed. Councilmember Gardner declared a conflict of interest. Motion: Approve a lot split subdivision for Triple J, LLC, Action: Approved, Moved by Kip Hansen, Seconded by Elaine Street. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 5). Yes: Brayden Gardner, Elaine Street, Kip Hansen, Tanner Thompson, Todd Gleave.
12. LOT SPLIT FOR THE GOOD SHEPHERD LUTHERAN CHURCH APPROVED. The Council reviewed the plat for the property located at 1310 W 1800 S across from the golf course. Motion: approve the lock split subdivision for the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Action: Approved, Moved by Tanner Thompson, Seconded by Brayden Gardner. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 5). Yes: Brayden Gardner, Elaine Street, Kip Hansen, Tanner Thompson, Todd Gleave.
13. FEES FOR FOOD TRUCKS AND FARMERS’ MARKETS APPROVED. Mr. Edwards explained that the organizer of the Food Truck rally and Farmers Market has approached the City to ask for some guidance and help with these events. in the past, we have charged that event $200 end of the last year or so they have struggled to collect those fees. so we have been looking at different ways to collect those fees if we the city feel like that’s an event we want to continue to have at our city park. It does cost us time with staff clean up and the maintenance crew has to put up barricades, etc. Suggested a couple of options. One option which was presented to Monroe as well as us, was to have the city correct $25 a truck Upfront for any of the food trucks that come to the food rally.

Councilmember Gleave stated that we have had this discussion over and over and he asked if the 400 North along the north side of the park is part of the park. As a food truck parking on the street in the parking Lane On 400 North whether that is our place to charge There because he feels it is getting into a gray area. as a citizen, he can park in front of his house on the street and so can others and he can’t stop them. How can the city stop food trucks from parking on the street and charge them to park there?

Esther Edwards set that Charlene Rasband is going to take over the Farmers Market and she is willing to pay the fee upfront for each of the eight events they have scheduled so far.

Councilmember Thompson stated that this is such a public good that he is irked. He feels like this is something that should grow and become a bigger and better thing, but it feels like we ARe trying to squeeze the people and make them question whether It is really worth it. It is a good thing for the community so he would rather see it put in a position to succeed and flourish rather than worrying about who’s going to clean the bathrooms.

Councilmember Gleave asked if she is charging the vendors and Mr. Edwards said that no she is just doing this to see it succeed. There was some discussion about this event being held in the park in its entirety. One of the reasons the Council charged for this event in the past was because we had complaints from our business people who had brick-and-mortar stores. They did not feel like it was fair that the food trucks didn’t have to get a business license or pay taxes and could just show up and park wherever they wanted and compete with those businesses.

Councilmember Gleave has just had a hard time charging food trucks for parking on a city street. He does not see a problem with him parking on the grass. He thinks we should give the food trucks the option of coming onto the park and charging them a fee but if they want to park on 400 North then we should not charge them.

Mr. Edwards said that right now we charge anyone who wants to rent a pavilion $25. If they want to come inside the park and do the Farmers Market on the grass then we will charge him but if they are out on the street we will not.

Motion: Approve charging events That want to be on the park the regular fees and for those on the street we will not charge anything, Action: Approved, Moved by Kip Hansen, Seconded by Todd Gleave. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 5). Yes: Brayden Gardner, Elaine Street, Kip Hansen, Tanner Thompson, Todd Gleave.

14. MAYOR’S PROPOSED BUDGET PRESENTED. Mayor Burrows presented his proposed budget for the fiscal year 2022-23. He went over a few of the major changes in the budget. We have $794,000 in the budget from the American Rescue Plan Act that we are going to use for a match to replace our water lines. He is proposing a $2 per hour increase for the full-time employees and he is proposing a $3 per hour increase for the officers in the police department.

We are losing a lot of officers because they are looking to go somewhere else they can receive higher pay. We do not compare well with what other agencies are paying, even with agencies’ size. The employees will still receive their step and grade in addition to the hourly increase. We are trying to make us more competitive so they can survive. We have 2 part-time secretaries in the police department and one of them is retiring in June. That budget will be increased slightly in the full-time wage line item to cover the cost of bringing the other part-time secretary on full-time, but that also reduces the part-time salary line item. The fuel budget for the police department has been increased to $25,000 which is almost double and we all understand why.

We will have an apron expansion on the airport which is included in the budget. The FAA grant will pay $1,163,850 and we will have to pay $61,000 of that.

There is about $900,000 in a capital improvement fund for a park and we have applied for a grant to help offset the cost of this. It will include pavilions, restrooms, pickleball courts, paths, and we have already purchased the playground equipment.

In the water fund, we are going to need to consider another rate increase. Mr. Hansen stated that we just did this about a year ago, but the water fund is just not making any money.

The capital improvement fund also has the money to finish the bike trails and we are still working on a pump track.

In the public works department, we have 3 employees that will be retiring in the next 2 to 5 years. The employees who are retiring have certifications that take up to 4 years for someone to receive. We are working on getting another employee certified, but it will still be 4 years before he is considered certified.

The Council decided to hold a study session on Tuesday, May 17th at 6:00 p.m. to review and discuss the budget.

15. OTHER BUSINESS. Mr. Hansen stated that because we have a women’s shelter, we are able to apply for $80,000 so that Debbie Mayo who oversees the shelter to hire someone as a caseworker for her clients. This caseworker may also be able to help with the clients that are staying at the motels.

Our water conservation plan is due for an update this year. It has to be updated every 5 years and Jones and DeMille is helping us with this.

The City is with Text My Gov and it just hasn’t worked as well as we were hoping. It’s been difficult to get people to sign up to receive notifications. Mr. Hanson has been looking at the program called Yapa fi. There is a grant program that we can apply for that would pay 80% 4 3 years for a mass communication program that deals with water conservation. If the mass communication program is tied to a utility, then we have the legal right to text the residents and that opts them in. it will send the residents notifications about there water usage and how it compares with others near them. It can also do geofencing that would allow us could you just give certain areas notification if a project is going to be done that will affect them. after 3 years, the City’s cost would be $2,500 a year which is what we’re paying for Text My Gov.

Mr. Hansen asked if the Council would like to see a presentation or if we should just apply for the grant and go from there. Councilmember Gleave stated that if Mr. Hansen likes the program, he should just get it.

Councilmember Thompson wondered about the vandalism we have held in the parks and if we had caught anyone that is responsible for it. He understood that someone set fire to a slide also. He wondered how they could have done that. Chief Lloyd stated that we have caught people and they are all juveniles.

Councilmember Gleave discussed an email from UDOT for a meeting like we had last year to discuss long-range planning goals throughout the region. He wondered who should go to this. Should we assign a couple of council members to go there? The meeting will be held in Ephraim, Utah.3

Amy Myers from the Chamber of Commerce told the Council that the light parade had been rescheduled for December 3, 2022.

Mr. Morgan was contacted by Anthony Julander who works at Ashman Elementary. He indicated that they were written up for liability issues with the sidewalk because the trees are lifting them and creating trip hazards. We could go and grind good the sidewalk, but the trees will continue to grow. They would like the city to remove those trees. The trees were planted as part of a project the School did.

18. EXECUTIVE SESSION. At 9:31 p.m., Motion: Adjourn and convene a closed session to discuss the sale of property, Action: Adjourned. Moved by Tanner Thompson, Seconded by Kip Hansen. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 5). Yes: Brayden Gardner, Elaine Street, Kip Hansen, Tanner Thompson, Todd Gleave.
19. RECONVENE AND ADJOURN. At 10:03 p.m., Motion: Reconvene and adjourn, Action: Adjourned, Moved by Kip Hansen, Seconded by Tanner Thompson. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 5). Yes: Brayden Gardner, Elaine Street, Kip Hansen, Tanner Thompson, Todd Gleave.

PASSED and APPROVED this 24th day of May 2022.