Council Meeting
Public Comment
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Consent Agenda
The minutes from the November 12th, November 16th, and November 17th City Council meetings were approved. Appointments for city recorder (Colleen Mulvey) and treasurer (David Bunker), and new members of the Planning Commission (Brian Miller and Jared Anderson), Parks & Trails Committee (Ben Ellsworth and Chris Fowler), and Board of Adjustment (Darin Lowder) were made and approved 4-1.
City Reports
David Bunker - Jr Jazz has a big turnout once again. Natalie Scott has resigned so we will be looking for a new person to replace her. A new theater class begins next Thursday, which has 75 signups so far. TSSD has approved their final budget. They will also be looking at modifying the rate structure over the next few months.
Rob Crawley - Thanked Trent for his work on the Council over the past four years.
Mayor Gygi - Spoke with the mayors from Highland and Alpine about their thoughts on a community pool shared by all three cities. We are currently partnered with them through our Arts Committee with regards to theater productions. Highland and Alpine do not have city-sponsored recreation programs and refer residents to ours. The mayors all recognize that they cannot build a pool on their own, but were open to the idea of the three cities working together on this. A section of the Utah Developmental Center land is planned for a community facility of some sort, so it's a possibility it could go there. This would also allow LP students to use a pool nearby instead of going to American Fork. The mayors all felt this should come from residents, not from elected officials, but they are willing to look at any studies our staff has done. He also attended a meeting of the Utah State Developmental Center regarding new roads going through their development as part of the master plan, and one would connect to Harvey Blvd. If approved by the State Legislature this year, they hope to start construction later this year. The County would need to build this road as it will be considered a regional road that connects two state roads.
He also met with Highland recently. They are interested in joining with us in building a maintenance shed where we currently have our golf trailers. Both cities would use it and pay for it. This is an ongoing discussion.
CM Zappala - He is working on pulling together information for the rewriting of our commercial zones and encourages resident feedback.
CM Geddes - Utah County Dispatch has broken ground on their new building, though it's on hold right now due to weather.
Review/Action of Mayor Pro Tempore
Consistent with UCA 10-3b-302 and City Code 1-5-3, MAYOR AS MEMBER OF CITY COUNCIL; the terms and scope of the duties of Mayor Pro Tempore are defined. In summary, the mayor pro tempore shall have all of the powers and duties of the mayor during his absence, disability or refusal to act. The election of a mayor pro tempore shall be entered in the minutes of the meeting. This year, it will be Councilmember Rob Crawley. This was approved.
Review/Action on Assignments for Staff and Resident Committees
City Councilmembers, staff and residents act as resources, liaisons, and on some boards and committees may be voting members. The Mayor, with advice and consent of the City Council, makes assignments to various boards, committees and entities. The Council assignments are as follows:
Rob Crawley - North Pointe Solid Waste, General Plan Committee
Daniel Zappala - Lone Peak Public Safety, Planning Commission
Mike Geddes - Utah Valley Dispatch, Finance Committee
Jenney Rees - Media Relations, Family Festival Committee, Parks & Trails Committee
Ben Bailey - Finance Committee, Cultural Arts & Events Committee
Staff, Council, and resident assignments were all approved.
Discussion on Driving Range Fence
Public Comment
Jason Harr - Thanked the Council for considering their concerns. They are building a house near the driving range and are finding a large number of golf balls coming over the fence and into their yard, as well as Mesquite Park. He does not feel that cameras or staff onsite will solve the problem. Feels raising the nets is the most effective option. His neighbor said that since the nets nearer to his house were raised, he has seen a reduction in the number of golf balls in his yard. Feels if the operations of the driving range were shifted east further, that would also help. Says it's not just an issue for him, but those going to the park, walking the trail, and driving down the street in that area. Golf course next to BYU has raised their nets.
This issue has been discussed during previous City Council meetings. Options that have been considered are, 1) Installing cameras, 2) additional employees to monitor driving range, and 3) additional netting. The cost for two solar cameras would be $6400. Greg doesn't feel hiring someone would make sense due to cost. Staff asked West Coast Netting to give us a bid for the home owner to install netting on their property since they have purchased a lot knowing the driving range was already there and living on any golf course may create problems for potential property damage. It would cost the resident $8,100 to install three poles 15’ high x 60’ wide (including netting). If the City does the netting on the driving range, our cost would drop to $5,200 instead of the $8,100 because they will already be on site. To increase the poles and netting for the entire driving range would cost $61,000 through West Coast Netting. Another company is willing to do a trade where they get a two year corporate pass as part of payment and we pay about $33,350. This would add 20 feet to the existing netting.
My concern is the potential liability we face if a golf ball goes over the fence and hits someone at Mesquite Park or someones backyard, especially as we know how many golf balls are ending up over the fence. It could be quite costly to defend against a lawsuit of this nature. My recommendation is we find a way to reduce the cost of the proposed maintenance shed by $33,000 so we can use budgeted funds for that to raise the netting for the entire range. It makes sense to me to do what we can to reduce the liability and protect our residents.
Discussion on Code Related to Zoning and Development
We placed a moratorium on any new applications for development in our commercial zone while the Planning Commission and City Council review and possibly make changes to our Design Guidelines, General Plan, and Zoning laws. By law, we only have six months to complete this process, so must be done by May 17th. CM Zappala recommended the first step is determining if we want to have multiple zones in that area, and what should be allowed in those zones. I'm feeling a sense of urgency to get this completed and have started reviewing the code for other cities to get a feel for what they have done. We don't need to reinvent the wheel but can take from others what makes sense for our city. I'd like us to all be on board and ready to approve in April. Mayor Gygi suggested that he and two members of the Council meet each week to move this along, as well as having it as a regular agenda item for our Council meetings. He will rotate Councilmembers for this assignment. The first meeting will be with CM Bailey and Zappala. Mayor will also invite a member of the Planning Commission to attend.
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