THE STATE OF UTAH
COUNTY OF SEVIER
CITY OF RICHFIELD
At the City Council
In and For Said City
September 13, 2022
Minutes of the Richfield City Council special meeting held on Tuesday, September 13, 2022, at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Richfield City office building located at 75 East Center, Richfield, Utah. Mayor Bryan L. Burrows presiding.
- ROLL CALL
- REVIEW AND DISCUSS UPDATE TO TRANSPORTATION MASTER PLAN
- MEETING ADJOURNED
- ROLL CALL. Present: Mayor Burrows, Todd Gleave, Elaine Street, Tanner Thompson, Michele Jolley, Tyson Hansen. Excused: Brayden Gardner, Kip Hansen.
- REVIEW AND DISCUSS UPDATE TO THE TRANSPORTATION MASTER PLAN. Micklane Farmer explained that we applied for and were awarded a grant to update the transportation master plan. The scope of the project was to get the transportation master plan to a point where we can plan for growth in the north and east parts of town and the south part of town.
They are evaluating the conditions of the roadways and getting some traffic counts on some of them and identifying which roads need to be repaired. We hold a public open house to receive public comments on a proposed plan.
UDOT is asking as part of this plan to come up with a plan for the bike paths through the County.
Once we have updated the plan, there will be a GIS component to use during meetings for developments, so the City could potentially purchase that right of way if that is the route the City wants to go.
The Council reviewed the existing transportation plan and the extensions of roads into the unincorporated area. The County has a plan to put a road on 1500 South that would connect to the Annabella Road. If that happens, then the City’s plan to extend 800 South to the Annabella Road would not be necessary, especially since the ground through that area is very swampy. We can incorporate the roads currently identified into the new plan, or we could add to them or take some away.
He asked the Council if there were any routes that they felt would be helpful to the City. Mr. Farmer explained that we can have this plan in place, but unless the City is willing to purchase the right of way up front when the developer comes in, then you cannot force them to put in that road. You can gently nudge them to try and get them to try and take the planned route, but you cannot hold them to it.
The Council discussed how far out they wanted to plan the roads. Mr. Farmer felt that the major collectors should run parallel with Main Street and the minor routes would run perpendicular to those routes.
Another element of the transportation master plan is also active transportation which includes the bike path. The existing bike path begins at Big Rock Candy Mountain and goes all the way into Central Valley on the south. The County plans to put the bike path from Central Valley to Annabella in a year from now when they have plans to reconstruct that road.
The County is trying to come up with a plan where it dead ends in Central Valley through Richfield to Salina.
Right now, there are alternatives. One would run the path down Central Valley’s north Main Street and turn left and go over Airport Road and follows Airport Road to 1300 South and then runs west to connect to the path on College Avenue. The other option would be to continue it north on the west side of the Highway and connect it to 1300 South. Mr. Farmer wanted input from the City to take back to the County and UDOT.
Mayor Burrows stated that if we run the path along the west side of the Highway, it would be competing with the ATVs that use that route and there is not a lot of room there. He wondered if this was a dedicated ATV trail currently and Councilmember Gleave thought that it was.
Councilmember Thompson liked the route along Airport Road better.
The Council talked about extending the north end of the existing path to the neighborhood in the North by Northeast Subdivision.
Another thought was to find a way to get them from the end of the exiting path to 300 North. At that point, it would go along 300 North and somehow connect Venice along Black Knolls Road and take it through Sigurd.
Mayor Burrows noted that we are planning a designated bike path along 500 North to Main Street. That may be an option to get it out to the Highway as well. The Council would like to avoid the highways for the bike path if possible.
They have completed most of the traffic counts they were planning. They do still have some to complete on the northeast and northwest side. He asked if there we any roads that they would like counted in these areas.
Safety concerns were discussed, noting that the 1500 South intersection is one. Another road that was discussed was 100 East which runs in front of Ace Hardware. Mr. Farmer stated that doing some striping along this road would do a lot of good for that road.
We need to put together a list of projects for the roads. The staff has suggested College Avenue and 400 West as roads that potentially need to be done next. Mr. Farmer asked the Council to think about the roads and any that need to be resurfaced.
Councilmember Thompson asked about the speed limit on 400 West and College Avenue and if this is something that this plan would address. Mr. Farmer stated that typically you can change the speed limit if the 75th percentile speed is met. If the 75th percentile speed is 30 mph then it can be changed to that if the Council wants to.
- MEETING ADJOURNED. At 6:51 p.m., Motion: Adjourn, Action: Adjourned, Moved by Tanner Thompson, Seconded by Todd Gleave. Vote: Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote (summary: Yes = 3). Yes: Elaine Street, Tanner Thompson, Todd Gleave. Excused: Brayden Gardner, Kip Hansen.
PASSED and APPROVED this 11th day of October 2022.