Council Meeting - August 25, 2015

Work Session
We discussed items that are presented in Council meeting, so all of my notes are below.

Council Meeting

Public Comment
Rhonda Bromley - Principal of Lone Peak High School. Thanks city for all that is done. Excited and proud of 95% graduation rate, which is above state and district average. Appreciates meeting with David and Greg on city programs. Feels partnership is formed with the city. Excited about the addition of a full-time social worker at the school to help with mental health issues students face. Started a Hope Squad at the school. Has 2600 students this year. New school being built will not affect Lone Peak's boundaries. Appreciates the partnership they have with AFPD.

Ken Cromar - Grateful for Lone Peak with regards to soccer. Has a hard time getting field time in the city so uses school property. Sign up sheet for public comment asks if they want to be contacted and he often says yes, but never hears back. Gratified by efforts made by Colleen with regards to elections. Feels ballot box was not 100% secure. September newsletter needs to have year by year tax payer subsidies of golf course so residents can use this data when voting.

Marisa Wright - Has every faith in the system and the voting process, in Colleen and Gretchen. Their integrity is of the upmost and for anyone to state that something is wrong is insulting. City has done an amazing job with honest elections. Most citizens believe in this process and know it is done in a fair way.

Review/Action Recognizing Cedar Hills Champion, Joseph Chou
From the press release issued - On August 25, 2015 the City Council recognized Joseph Chou for his commitment and dedication to the scouting program after receiving all 141 merit badges as well as all cub scout awards available. 

Joseph Chou, age 17, is the first scout in his family. A few of his favorite merit badges are aviation, nuclear science, animation, inventing, and game design. The most challenging ones for him were bugling, scuba diving, and water sports.

We are impressed with Joseph’s incredible accomplishment. Completing the requirements for an Eagle Scout is no easy task, but completing every merit badge requirement is impressive and commendable. To recognize him for his efforts, the City Council selected him as the most recent Cedar Hills Champion and declared August 26, 2015 as Joseph Chou Day in Cedar Hills.

Consent Agenda

The minute from the July 7, 2015 City Council meeting approved. Brent Aaron, David Driggs, and Mark Horne were appointed to the Golf Course Finance Committee. These were both approved.

City Reports
CM Rees - The Planning Commission met last week. They reviewed and approved the preliminary plans for the proposed congregate care facility located in the SC-1 commercial zone. Detailed notes are available on my blog. This will now come to the City Council for consideration. They also discussed the Levine property, which is located on the Cedar Hills/PG border. Mr. Levine would like to subdivide his property but is running into some issues with regards to the city's requirements for curb, gutter, and asphalt. Mr. Levine is asking for an exception as the cost to complete these requirements is very high due to the fact that telephone polls are located on that property and he would have to pay to have them relocated. The Planning Commission discussed, but this will need to to the the Board of Adjustments. Lastly, the PC agreed to hold a special meeting to discuss changes to the Design Guidelines.

As far as communications, we issued a press release regarding Joseph Chou. The State of the City files have been sent to each council member for review. We are still expecting to have this completed in September.

David Bunker - TSSD Board met last week. Amended budget due to an increase in legal fees and a settlement regarding the plant expansion project. Increase in legal fees is partly due to lawsuit Pleasant Grove has filed against TSSD. Regarding fire above Alpine, it is about 30 acres. LPPSD is not responding because it is not in their jurisdiction, but within the Forest Service jurisdiction. LPPSD has no authority in this area. Forest Service is watching it closely.

CM Zappala - Wants input from Council on giving residents the ability to provide public comments online. Mayor suggested he first discuss this with legal counsel.

Mayor Gygi - Disappointed with County Commissioner's and County Auditor's decision regarding voting this year on gas tax. They decided that they will not allow this ballot issue to be on any vote-by-mail ballots as they feel it gives an unfair advantage to those cities who do all vote-by-mail. This means Cedar Hills residents will have to vote twice, once on the mailed city ballot and once in person on the County ballot. Mayor feels this will cause confusion for us and other cities who are all vote-by-mail. Attended a meeting with the County officials and representatives from other cities to discuss concerns, but County is unwilling to budge. We will work to communicate this to residents.

CM Crawley - Golf Course Finance Committee has been meeting every week. Feels it has been helpful and more information is coming out. Discussing legal issues. Will meet again tomorrow night at 8pm.

CM Geddes - Parks & Trails committee met and will be requesting funds to start a design with a landscape architect for the roundabout on Cedar Hills Drive. Would like it to be more of a focal point. City breakfast was very successful, estimating just under 500 attendees. Will discuss Bayhill Park at their next meeting. Meeting with Utah Valley Dispatch tomorrow to discuss the proposed new dispatch center as the bids received were much higher than anticipated.

Review/Action on Canvass of Election Returns
Pursuant to state law, it is necessary for the City Council to act as the board of canvassers and to canvass the election returns by reviewing and verifying the total votes cast on election day, and to tally and add the total votes from the Provisional and late returning Mail-in Ballots (which will be opened and tallied at the meeting) so that the final totals for each candidate are shown.The city received 13 Provisional Ballots, 12 were verified as valid, and received 112 late returning Mail-in Ballots, 102 were verified as valid. It will be necessary for the City Council, by motion, to officially certify the results of the canvass and declare“nominated” those persons who had the highest number of votes.

Here are the final numbers:

Brian Miller - 284
Angela Johnson - 753
Paul Sorensen - 425
Jenney Rees - 803
Craig Clement - 283
Curt Crosby - 279
Chris Fowler - 175
Mike Geddes - 611
Ben Bailey - 444

The six candidates moving forward are Jenney Rees, Angela Johnson, Mike Geddes, Ben Bailey, Paul Sorensen, and Brian Miller.

Review/Action on Small Animal Rights
As part of the process of rezoning, moving large animal units into the R-1, 15,000 zone is essential to mitigating negative impacts of the proposed rezoning. The definition of large and small animal rights is as follows:

ANIMAL UNITS:

Large: One large animal unit shall be any of the following: two (2) cows, horses, donkeys, llamas or similar large animals; or eight (8) adult sheep; or sixteen (16) feeder lambs, or eight (8) goats, or two (2) pigs, or an equivalent combination of the above, together with the suckling offspring thereof. The maximum number of animal units allowed to be placed on any lot or parcel shall be two (2) large animal units. Each large animal unit requires ten thousand (10,000) square feet of livestock management area. Half of a large animal unit requires five thousand (5,000) square feet of livestock management area.

Small: Small animals or fowl shall be one of any of the following: rabbit, turkey, duck, chicken, pigeon, dove, turtle, quail, or similar small animals or fowl.

Residents that currently have large animal rights will be able to keep them as long as they don’t change their dedicated livestock management areas. Additionally, this amendment does not grant large animal rights to anyone who did not already have large animal rights prior to the proposed zone change. This change is being made so that those who are being moved from the R1-20,000 zone to the R1-15,000 zone won't lose any existing animal rights that they have. This was approved.

Review/Action on Rezoning of Certain Lands
Staff is recommending to the City Council amendments to the current zoning map. Sections of the zoning map to be amended include City of Cedar Hills properties found in the H-1 zone and P.R. 3.4 zone that are currently municipal parks, or listed in the Capital Improvements Plan to be developed as parks. It is recommended that these properties be moved from their respective current zones and be placed in the Public Facilities Zone (P.F. Zone) so that it is clear that these are city owned properties not available for residential development.

Additionally, staff is recommending that portions of the RR-1 20,000 zone be rezoned into the R-1 15,000 zone, as many of the lots found in area recommended for the rezoning meet the size requirements of the R-1 15,000 zone, and not the R.R. 1 -20,000 zone. There are currently some homes in this area that are smaller than 20,000, so are considered non-conforming lots. This occurred when the properties were annexed into the city. Making this change will make them conforming lots. After conversations with the Utah County Tax Assessors Office, there will be no change in the property tax assessment for the properties in question, as they will remain single family residential lots. The Planning Commission has reviewed the proposal, and made a recommendation to the City Council for approval. This was approved.

Discussion on Awarding Contract for Community Center Concessions
The City recently advertised the request for proposals (RFP) from qualified food vendors to provide and operate concessions and food services at the grill. The city received one proposal from Mr. Cameron Burr. He has been involved in the management of food services for over 8 years and currently operates a food truck called Genki Asian Street Food. Mr. Burr provided a proposed management and marketing plan, and general menu and pricing plan. Staff recommends the council review and consider the proposal from Mr. Burr to provide food and concession services. Staff opinion is that the contract will be beneficial and the sooner the city engages in a contract, the sooner services will be provided which will benefit the vendor and the City both short term and long term.

Mr. Burr answered questions from the Council. His family has been involved with the Hogi Yogi franchise for many years. They then began to deliver food to 50 or so charter schools. These meals were prepared and delivered to the schools. Moved to Kneaders and handled many wedding events. Would like to provide catering to those renting Vista Room, but would also like to provide food delivery and catering to those in the city. Looking to serve sandwiches, salads, soups, burgers, and kids meals. He currently has 5 employees with the food truck. If awarded this contract, he will increase to 10 employees. Mr. Burr feels this space takes someone who understands food. He feels that the benefit he's had is having to start his own business and planning menus based on season, which is where the industry is going. Needs a flexible menu. Being in the industry has helped him understand what works and he will apply that knowledge here. He will be a preferred vendor for our events that need catering.

Discussion on Bayhill Park
Following the recommendation of the Parks and Trails Committee, the new proposal for Bayhill Park was sent to Bowen Collins to give the city a cost estimate. The Bowen Collins study has come back, and they have provided an updated cost estimate for the original proposal, a cost estimate for the Parks and Trails Committee proposal, and cost estimate of a modified version of the Committee’s proposal. The Committee’s proposal includes the construction of large retaining walls that significantly raised the cost estimate for the construction of the Park. The Bowen Collins proposal took elements of the Committee’s proposal and tried to incorporate those ideas in a more cost effective manner.

Here is the original proposal, which is estimated to cost $307,593:

In this first arrangement, it had a large parking lot and a playground for kids ages 2-5, with a grass area down below. There was no pavilion.

Here is what the Parks & Trails Committee suggests, which is estimated to cost $616,204:

In this proposal there is more green space, a pavilion, and a swing set in addition to the playground equipment. There would need to be an additional access road for Metropolitan Water to get access to the aqueduct, which is shown with the dark gray squares. This also includes retaining walls so that the playground area and the pavilions are flat. 

Here is what Bowen & Collins has suggested, which is estimated to cost $446,224:

This plan eliminates the need for so many retaining walls. The access road is moved to the south and keeps the pavilion, playground areas, and restroom in the same area. Keeps the swing set and playground equipment. Lower green space could possibly be used for tot soccer. 

David (city manager) is working with finance director to identify funding options as costs for each are more than was originally budgeted.

Next step is to submit this to the Parks & Trails Committee as they haven't yet seen these plans, and staff will solidify funding sources. It will them come back to the Council. The Council preferred Option C.