Town Council

MINUTES ALTA TOWN COUNCIL VIRTUAL MEETING Wednesday, October 12, 2022, 4:00 PM Alta Community Center (virtual), 10351 E. Highway 210, Alta, Utah PRESENT: Mayor Bourke Councilmember Carolyn Anctil Councilmember John Byrne Councilmember Sheridan Davis Councilmember Elise Morgan STAFF PRESENT: John Guldner, Town Administrator Mike Morey, Town Marshal Chris Cawley, Assistant Town Administrator Jen Clancy, Town Clerk Molly Austin, Deputy Clerk ALSO PRESENT: Polly McLean, Legal Counsel Cameron Platt, Legal Counsel Craig Heimark, Treasurer TOWN COUNCIL MEETING 1. CALL THE REGULAR TOWN COUNCIL MEETING TO ORDER AND DECLARATION 00:00:00 Mayor Bourke welcomed everyone to the town council meeting of October 12 at 4:00 pm. Pursuant to his September 29, 2022 determination Mayor Bourke said that it is in the community’s best interest to hold this meeting virtually without an anchor location. 2. CITIZEN INPUT 00:02:35 Jen Clancy said that for this meeting written comments had been received by Karen Travis and Mike Katz; the comments have been shared with the council and will be part of the meeting minutes. There was no other public comment made during the meeting. 3. SLC PUBLIC UTILITIES, LAURA BRIEFER 00:03:50 Mayor Bourke introduced Laura Briefer as a member of the Alta community and reflected on her time working for the Town of Alta. Laura informed the council that she has been the Director of Salt Lake City Public Utilities for 6 years and has been with the department for 14. Laura reflected on the severe Alta Town Council Meeting October 12, 2022 1 drought conditions and the resulting impacts over the last couple decades in the west. Laura provided an overview of the following subjects: water supply and demand planning, water management, water conservation planning (sustained conservation), emerging issues such as the UDOT EIS for LCC, new regulations, and infrastructure. She indicated that water supply, demand, and conservation plans were updated about every 3 years with a 40 year horizon. Laura offered in light of climate change, one of the most important things they can do is monitor the watershed and region on a continual basis so they can adapt and include what they see in the next round of iterative planning. She highlighted monitoring wildfires and changes in land use. Laura indicated she didn’t foresee any changes to the 1976 water supply agreement between the Town of Alta and SLC Public Utilities or for the snowmaking agreement. Upon review Laura said that previous decade’s reports accurately projected current population trends, but what’s more challenging is the changes in land use. When asked about growth rates Laura indicated they think about “smart growth” and have been passing zoning policies that allow for various types of land use but consider constraints. 4. UDOT PROJECT OVERVIEW, LITTLE COTTONWOOD CANYON ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT, JOSH VAN JURA 00:37:00 Josh Van Jura explained that he needed to do more research regarding a discrepancy between what he stated at the previous week’s Central Wasatch Commission and information in the final EIS document regarding the potential prohibition of single occupancy vehicles past a toll booth when tolling was in effect. Josh then explained gondola B as the preferred alternative in the LCC EIS and relayed there needed to be a phased approach. Phased approaches could include improved and increased bus service with more parking for bus patrons, tolling, and limits on single occupancy vehicles. Growth rates were discussed related to transportation and future transportation demand planning. It was noted that there is no proposal to widen the road during phase 1 of the bussing plan. The recent changes in the merge lanes was also discussed. Lance Kovel of the USFS noted they felt the solutions were adequate because people would be delivered to the ski areas which are areas managed for high use. He acknowledged they were not proposing additional access to any of the developed trailheads or campgrounds below the ski areas and so it was an inadequate proposal for the visitors coming into the canyon. It was also noted that the proposal includes a decrease in parking stalls in the canyon. When asked about a carrying capacity for people, Lance responded that based on their monitoring, the canyon could hold more people. He didn’t know how many more but based on current monitoring they are not seeing the need to limit people or go to a permit system in the canyon. 5. AFFORDABLE HOUSING, SHERIDAN DAVIS 01:23:05 Sheridan said her thinking on this matter had been informed by several resources and information presented at conferences that have been shared on the town’s website. She suggested different metrics when reviewing community success and affordable housing. She requested everyone suspend thinking about all the reasons it can’t be done and consider what might be possible. She pointed out that having people that work here year-round builds community and gets people off the road. Alta Town Council Meeting October 12, 2022 2  6. ALTA SKI AREA UPDATE, MIKE MAUGHAN 01:41:15 Mike Maughan was unavailable and so Alan Orr stepped in. He thanked everyone for their collaborative and hard work on the noise ordinance. Pre-season pass sales are about the same as last year. The ski area has changed its partnership position with the ICON network. ICON base passes will not be valid at Alta this coming season; Alta estimates this will reduce ICON visits by 10-15%. Due to delays in some of the component parts for the new Sunnyside lift, it will not be operational by Thanksgiving. They are working on a revised schedule and will keep the town apprised of the time frame and any closures needed for the area. Pre-season parking reservations will launch next week. 7. APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA 01:49:40 MOTION: Sheridan Davis moved to accept the consent agenda and minutes from the September 14, 2022 meeting and Elise Morgan seconded the motion. VOTE: All were in favor. The minutes from September 14, 2022 were approved. 8. QUESTIONS REGARDING DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS 01:52:20 John Byrne asked about parking revenue budgeted and received. Later in the meeting, Jen Clancy responded $12,500 in parking revenue was received during FY22 and the information could be found in licenses and permit 10-32-220. 9. MAYOR’S REPORT 01:52:30 Mayor Bourke reported that the summer road is closed for the season. He commented we are trying to work through the reduced UTA bus service. The Mayor and Chris Cawley had a meeting with the new fire chief, Dominic Burchett and included Mike Maughan and Dave Fields. The conversation centered around wildfires. The Mayor encouraged everyone to comment on the LLL EIS by the deadline of October 17. He said the Town would be submitting a comment on the LCC EIS based on the position previously established by the Town in earlier comment periods. He reported we are hopefully completing a water line connection to the Grizzly Gulch water tank. The Mayor commented that Howizers on Peruvian Ridge are being retired in a year or so, and that we was making application to the Army to see if the town could acquire one as a historical artifact. He went to the Utah League of Cities and Town’s convention last week and commented that each session he attended discussed growth and that’s it’s a really big deal for all communities. He also recently attended the Alta School, and they had requested a swing in the town park. He reported on meeting with the SL Tribune with other Mayors and Laura Briefer and the result was an editorial in the Tribune. The Mayor is scheduled for an interview with the USFS to discuss an upcoming regional trail master plan. Alta Town Council Meeting October 12, 2022 3  10. TREASURER’S REPORT, CRAIG HEIMARK 02:05:30 Craig Heimark said he sent a report around for everyone to read. He introduced the major change as being one to focus the budgeting process on different areas of responsibility spread across the calendar so we have different topics to discuss at various points. He said the three areas of focus would be staff payroll, external vendor contracts, and projects. 11. DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION ON 2022-O-5 NOISE ORDINANCE 02:14:40 MOTION: The mayor moved to adopted ordinance 2022-O-5 and John Byrne seconded the motion. Elise Morgan asked a clarifying question about who gets cited, whether it be the business or patrons. She wanted to provide discretion to the marshal’s office to make that decision and was curious if that discretion was granted as written. Cameron Platt clarified that the marshal’s office had that discretion. MOTION AMENDMENT: Carolyn Anctil motioned for the noise ordinance curfew to be10pm for Sunday through Thursday to leave it at 11pm on Friday and Saturday. The Mayor seconded the motion. AMENDMENT VOTE: Carolyn Anctil voted I in favor of the amendment. The Mayor, John Byrne, Sheridan Davis, and Elise Morgan voted nay to the amendment. The amendment was not approved. VOTE: The Mayor, John Byrne, Sheridan Davis, and Elise Morgan voted I in favor of the ordinance. Carolyn Anctil voted nay. Noise ordinance 2022-O-5 was adopted as written. 12. DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION ON 2022-R-18 FEE SCHEDULE 02:24:20 Jen Clancy explained with the adoption of the noise ordinance we need to update the fee schedule as presented. Jen added that she had also presented a housekeeping item. She informed the council that the sewer fee in the fee schedule was not updated when the council passed its sewer rate resolution in June. John Byrne commented that the proposed civil penalty fine for the noise ordinance was $1,000 which he felt was disproportionate to the rest of the Town’s fee schedule. MOTION: The Mayor motioned to adopt the 2022-R-18 fee schedule and Sheridan Davis seconded. MOTION AMENDMENT: The Mayor motioned that the fee schedule update also include the revised sewer rate change from 375 per ECU to 627.52 per ECU, and Sheridan Davis seconded. Alta Town Council Meeting October 12, 2022 4  AMENDMENT VOTE: All in favor. The amendment passes. VOTE: The Mayor, Carolyn Anctil, and Sheridan Davis voted I in favor. John Byrne and Elise Morgan voted nay. Resolution 2022-R-18 as amended passes 3:2. 13. COMMUNITY RENEWABLE ENERGY PROGRAM UPDATE AND REVIEW OF DRAFT ORDINANCE 02:39:20 Chris Cawley explained that the council doesn’t have to take action today. The agency board is working to submit an application by the end of December to the Utah Public Service Commission, per the legislation that created the program. In that program application with be a couple documents germane to the Town that were included in the council’s packet for this meeting; they include a model ordinance that every community would need to adopt to finalize our participation and a low-income assistance program. It was noted that individuals could opt-out. 14. CAPITAL PROJECTS REPORT UPDATE, CHRIS CAWLEY 02:46:15 Chris Cawley had included a report in the meeting packet, he summarized it by saying one project had recently been completed and two more were on the schedule before winter. Jen Clancy informed the council that when they approved the final budget for FY2022, that they had approved a transfer from the general fund to the capital projects fund in an amount up to $405,000. She was circling back around after working with Steve Rowley to make sure she had the support of the council to transfer $100,000. Craig Heimark offered his support. There were no concerns raised by the council to transfer $100,000 amount. 15. NEW BUSINESS Craig Heimark reported on the need for a salary benchmarking study. The Mayor commented he thought it would be below the threshold to require bids. John Byrne commented that the council meeting times would change from 4pm to 2pm in December. Alta Town Council Meeting October 12, 2022 5  16. MOTION TO ADJOURN 02:57:20 MOTION: Sheridan Davis motioned to adjourn, and John Byrne seconded. VOTE: All in favor. The meeting was adjourned. Passed this 9th day of November, 2022 _____________________ Jen Clancy, Town Clerk Alta Town Council Meeting October 12, 2022 6