Angela Johnson - Asked the Council to not start a municipal court and to not build a civic center. She feels that the money that has been saved up for a civic center should be used for something else and that the Fire Department does not need use of the entire Public Safety building.
Temporary Vendors - Discussion Item
The Council had asked the Planning Commission to make changes to the current code that will allow temporary vendors to do business in Cedar Hills (such as shaved ice, farmers markets, fireworks stands, Christmas tree lots, etc.). The Planning Commission has made changes and presented for approval. Some of the key points:
- Maximum duration is 6 months
- Approval through Zoning Administrator
- Only allowed in commercially zoned areas
Assisted Living Group Homes - Discussion Item
Jared Osmond had come to the Council previously requesting changes in the code that would allow for assisted living homes in residential areas. These facilities would house elderly people who needed full-time onsite care. Some of the key points:
- Homes cannot house more than 8 individuals unless approval is received by the zoning official. Even then, no more than 16 individuals can occupy the facility and having more than 8 requires additional personal and common space.
- The facility will only be occupied by individuals 60 years of age and older as well as paid professional staff.
- At least 3 off-street parking stalls are required and more may be necessary depending upon occupancy and visitors.
- Facilities must be at least 1/4 mile away from each other.
- Potential impact fees if the city will incur infrastructure costs to support these facilities.
- Signage regulations
- Calculation for more than 3 off-street parking stalls, if needed.
- Regulations on house pets.
CARE Tax Funds for Community Recreation Center
The Community Recreation Center is scheduled to be open in 2012 and staff plan on offering a variety of recreational classes immediately. The Council was asked to approve the use of up to $20,000 of CARE tax funds to purchase equipment needed for these classes. Equipment would include things such as floor mats, yoga mats, exercise balls, hand weights, aerobic steps, etc. There is currently approximately $70,000 of CARE tax funds available and these funds are for parks and recreation. Staff plan on adding additional types of equipment, such as treadmills and spinning cycles once the basement of the rec center is completed. The Council approved the request for up to $20,000 to be spent on equipment.
Other items related to the rec center were discussed as well. Instructors are currently being interviewed and the plan is that all instructors will be contracted by the City to offer classes, they will not be hired on as city employees. The rec center will offer the space and some equipment, but all other equipment that may be needed for a class will need to be provided by the instructor. The Council made it clear that the classes offered needed to cover not only the cost of the instructor but also the cost of equipment purchased by the City. While the City will cover the upfront purchasing, the revenue generated needs to cover the equipment costs over the lifetime of the equipment.
Dissolution of Manila Water Company
The Manila Water Company is a small privately held company that has been providing water services to some residents in both Cedar Hills and Pleasant Grove. This company wants to dissolve and wants CH and PG to provide necessary services to their respective residents. This process has been going on for many years and CH and PG have not yet been able to come to an agreement. The concern is that PG currently operates Manila Water Company and so the longer this drags on, the more CH has lost over the years. A new agreement has been presented by PG and some of the key points are:
- Cash assets will first be used to make necessary changes to the water system to allow each city to have an independent system and complete to each City's comparable service system, including meters.
- After the systems are made independent, PG will be reimbursed $134,022 for costs they incurred while maintaining Manila Water System.
- Any cash balance left after that will be split per number of users on the system, which will be PG getting 92.7% and CH getting 7.3%.
- PG will be given the water tank and 2 water wells with CH being compensated 7.3% of the value of the wells, which PG has determined to be $149,259 (CH portion would then be $10,895).
- Water rights associated with each property will be acquired by the City in which that resident resides.
- There are a handful of residents in both CH and PG that are hooked up to the other City's water lines. These residents will continue to be provided water as is, yet will be billed by the city in which they reside.
With all fire stations within Lone Peak Public Safety (LPPSD) now fully staffed the costs have risen and the Board decided to revisit how this would be funded and how each city (Cedar Hills, Alpine, and Highland) would be represented. A new agreement between the cities was created and contain the following:
1) The original agreement stated that the funding was based on population for EMS services and by property values for fire services. The new agreement assigns each city a 10% base fee, then 45% based on population and 45% based on Equivalent Residential Units (ERU's) for schools and commercial areas. 10,000 square feet equals 1 ERU.
2) The Board will consist of 7 representatives - 3 from Highland, 2 from Alpine, and 2 from Cedar Hills.
3) This new funding setup will go into effect on July 1, 2012.
This new agreement will result in an increase of $122,000 for Cedar Hills. This is a big jump for the City, but if we had not come to some sort of agreement with Highland and Alpine then the LPPSD could potentially be dissolved, leaving us with a bigger financial burden if we needed to create our own fire and EMS departments. Concessions were made by all so as to keep the LPPSD together. The new agreement was approved by the Council.
2012 Council Meeting Schedule
The meeting schedule for 2012 was approved with one change. I will post the meeting schedule in a separate entry.
Appointments to Planning Commission and Board of Adjustment
There are some openings that need to be filled on both groups. Mayor Richardson is still working on this so this item has been moved to January.
Civic Center and Splash Pad - Discussion Item
Both of these items have been approved in the 2012 budget, but the Council wanted to just mention a few points on each.
The Splash Pad will be funded by recreation impact fees, and $350,000 has been approved for this. However, nothing further has yet been done. There has not been a decision on where this will be located.
Building a new Civic Center would allow the Fire Department to have the entire Public Safety building for their use. According to Chief Freeman the FD does need additional space. Currently, they do not have any separate female facilities so cannot house and female firefighters (LPPSD does have female firefighters). They also do not have a physical training room, though each firefighter is required by law to engage in physical training every day on the job. Moving city employees out of the Public Safety building would allow the FD to create the space they need. However, the Council has not yet determined when or where to build a new Civic Center. There is the potential that employees could be moved to the Public Works building and the current plan is that City Council meetings could occur at the Community Recreation Center.
Discussion on these two items will be ongoing and no plans for either are currently in the works.
Audio files for council meetings are generally available one week after the meeting and can be found at www.cedarhills.org.
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