Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Recap: City Council 9.17.2019


This recap is certainly not going to do this meeting justice. Listen to the audio on this one. I have so much to say, but a recap being a recap, I'm gonna have to simplify.
We had another packed town hall. We had over 20 amazing comments. I would really, really like to summarize every single one, they were excellent. Please take some time to listen to them. Comments ranged on concerns about 2700 E and safety with cars parked on the street, concerns about South Bench Drive, citizens committee, definition of mixed use, and the general plan (and the delaying of the general plan). Many members volunteered to paint the curb red themselves.
Holly Williams, Vickie Christiansen and Tani Lynch all were honored for their work on country fair days and received a well-earned standing ovation. I love this city!
One comment in particular that I will note was from the developer of the Lofts, Joseph Cook. He asked the city to make sure they were being fair. He said a lot of our concerns are emotional reactions without merit. He felt that before the city should consider adding no parking to the road, we should have a traffic study and civil engineering done first.
There was a great discussion with staff and other council members about putting a no parking zone on 2700 E. City manager David Larson reached out to UDOT to see if there was any restrictions since this is their road. They didn't really have an opinion on it and left it to the city. There was a concern of starting a precedent with this road. City engineer Brandon Jones mentioned that we would need to adjust our code and look into it. After a good discussion of asking questions and answering them, it was decided that myself and another will meeting with the public safety committee soon to discuss what we can do and bring back considerations and suggestions to the council. I will call David tomorrow and get that set up.
The developer was given the chance to speak again. He said that the development will be high-end condos. He said he plans to sell them about $200/sq ft and things comparable in our area will be roughly $150.
They are planned for 2.3 parking stalls per unit but he can talk with his engineer about adding more.

Another great thing that happened was the council directed staff to putting on the agenda next week the discussion of mixed use and postponing the general plan and/or extending public comment until mixed use is defined. Council Member Windsor encouraged us to bring concerns and suggestions to public comment for that meeting. This is big news guys!
The council member comments covered a lot of different issues. (Mayor Jo was excused from tonight's meeting.) They discussed a citizen's committee, South Bench Drive, and had answered a couple of questions. Council member Taylor pointed out that whatever dirt is across the street from city hall has not been approved and Chris Tramea will be looking into and possibly citing them. He wanted it known there is NOTHING APPROVED for that area. Council member Windsor gave us some more information concerning South Bench Drive and 2014. I will look into it and update my post about it. I am pretty sure each council member said aloud they wanted it known that they are hearing/listening to us and appreciate us coming and getting involved.
The meeting was another long one and so much was discussed, so I just don't feel this does it justice. I would once again just really recommend everyone to listen to the audio when it's available.
Thanks to everyone who made it! #SWmorethan20

See audio for the meeting here.

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