City Council

Minutes of the Millcreek City Council January 19, 2021 6:00 p.m. Special Meeting The City Council of Millcreek, Utah, met in a special public on January 19, 2021 at City Hall, located at 3330 S. 1300 E., Millcreek, UT 84106. The meeting was conducted electronically per Millcreek State of Local Emergency Directive No. 2 of 2020 and live streamed via the City's website with an option for online public comment. PRESENT: Council Members City Staff Jeff Silvestrini, Mayor John Brems, City Attorney (electronic) Silvia Catten, District 1 (electronic) Elyse Sullivan, City Recorder Dwight Marchant, District 2 (electronic) Francis Lilly, Planning and Zoning Director Cheri Jackson, District 3 (electronic) Kurt Hansen, Legislative Policy Director Bev Uipi, District 4 (electronic) Rita Lund, Coinmunications Director John Miller, Public Works Director (electronic) Mike Winder, Asst. City Manager (electronic) Josie Showalter, Economic Development Asst. Attendees: Peggy McDonough, Darrah Appelfeller, Benj Becker, Amanda Dillon, Ryan Wallace SPECIAL MEETING - 6:00 p.m. TIME COMMENCED: 6:03 p.m. Mayor Silvestrini called the special meeting to order. 1. Future Millcreek City Hall Open House Mayor Silvestrini said there was a need to replace the building city hall was housed in within the next three years. The City incorporated at the end of 2016, and in 20171eased that office space for a favorable lease rate at $8 per square foot. The space was built out over two fiscal years. He said there was less than three years le'ft on the lease. The Council had recently commissioned a survey of Millcreek residents from Y2 Analytics to get significant statistic results about a future city hall. They lean'ied tliat residents wanted the Council to be prudent, own the space that city hall was to be located in, and they were favorable to some kind of public-private partnership in the acquired space. The Mayor pointed out that the survey was mailed to some residents and was available on the City's website and in the electronic newsletter. He said the Council had also comi'nissioned a consultant, MHTN Architects, Inc., to advise them on the features of a city hall though no decisions had yet been made. The Mayor invited Millcreek residents to comment during the meeting via the website form, phone call, or in person during the open house. Millcreek City Council Meeting Minutes 19 January 2021 Page 2 of 4 Ryan Wallace, MHTN, highlighted the timeline for the city hall project until 2023. He said the final design would not be decided that night. Peggy McDonough, MHTN, said the key project drivers were: 1) Inviting and welcoming coinmunity resource. The Millcreek City Hall will be a welcoming and inviting resource for the community by providing space that supports the civic engagement of constituents and visitors. 2) Leverage private partnerships to create a vibrant ground floor. As an anchor within the new Millcreek Common, the goals of the Millcreek City Hall Building will be achieved through collaboration with public and private entities. 3) Embrace being connected by nature. Shaped by natural light and views, the new Millcreek City Hall will encourage active movement throughout the building as well as Millcreek Common, embracing the abundant opportunities for outdoor recreation and being connected by nature. 4) Enhance and support the local arts and business communities. As a beacon for the cornrnunity, the Millcreek City Hall will enhance and support the vibrancy of the community by facilitating activities and gatherings that showcase local artists and entrepreneurs. 5) Woven into the fabric of Millcreek Common. Millcreek City Hall is embedded within a dynamic zone of activity, woven into the fabric of Millcreek Common, surrounded by a variety of compatible businesses including shopping, dining, and entertainment options. 6) Enhance police-community relationships. Millcreek City Hall will be co-located, visible partners with police, actively connecting with neighbors, promoting public safety through community-focused policing. Mayor Silvestrini said Unified Police Department (UPD) occupied an office building on 3900 S. He said the city owed it to the officers to have decent office space at city hall. Francis Lilly said from the plaru'iers' perspective, the General Plan identified the ideal place for a city hall to be in the city center (Millcreek Common). As a legacy space, it was great way to create a wonderful sense of place and kickstart new development. Wallace said having a highly visible city hall in Millcreek Common was a unique opportunity to set the stage for the quality of development in the city center. He said MHTN identified potential sites with the basic assumption that it was to be in Millcreek Common and compatible with the City Center Master Plan. A project steering committee composed of Millcreek and MHTN staff came up with 10 criteria for evaluating the sites based on location, parcel characteristics, and economic considerations. A point system of 1, 3, or 5 was assigned to the criteria based on the importance from the committee. Mayor Silvestrini pointed out that residents wanted city hall to be in the center of the city. Wallace said the potential city hall sites were titled, Crown Block, Millcreek Common West Chambers, Millcreek Common West 3300, and Millcreek Common East. MHTN recommended Millcreek Common West Chambers Mike Winder illustrated the phases with a public-private partnership with the infrastructure of the city hall. The phases were planning, financing, designing, building, operating, and maintaining. He said Millcreek was currently in the planning phase. He pointed out that Millcreek City Council Meeting Minutes 19 January 2021 Page 3 of 4 Millcreek could leverage tax dollars in a public-private partnership and mentioned that Millcreek Common was being paid for with the tax increment from development there. Amanda Dillon, MHTN, showed images and explained the benefits of public-private partnerships from real examples with Lenexa City Hall, Long Beach Civic Center, Redmond City Hall, and Orange County Civic Center. Benj Becker, Zions Public Finance, said the goal of a public-private partnership was to maximize tax dollars. This could happen in four different scenarios. The first was a sale/leaseback scenario where the city owns land and sells to a developer at discount and the developer leases office space to the City for below market rent. The second was a ground lease scenario where the City owns land and creates a ground lease to a developer and the developer leases office space to the city for a duration of the ground lease. The improvements would go back to the city at the end of the lease. The third was a ground lease scenario where the city leases land, constructs and occupies a building, and leases the remaining space to other entities. Additional revenue generated from renting corninercial office and retail spaces would go back to the city. The fourth was a condominium scenario where the city owns land, agrees with a developer to construct a building. The developer does not pay for the land, and the city is given the opportunity to buy a condominium unit at a reduced price commensurate with the land value. Additional revenue generated from renting/selling corni'nercial spaces could go to the developer and/or the city. Council Member Marchant asked if the condominium option could avoid the city having to bond to pay for it. Becker said it would just be the cost for the condominium and not the construction if the city owned or leased the land to developers, so the city would be less likely to bond based on the cost of the condominium. Dillon delved further into the example of Lenexa City Hall. She said the civic center came out of a city center vision plan and the public space was constantly being programmed with events. The city operated a public market that was a business incubator and a job creation space with an aim to female and minority owned businesses. There are rich and active ground floor experiences and lots of windows for interaction between inside and outside. Mayor Silvestrini said their civic center was in the heart of the redevelopment area that has attracted offices and other uses to it. Darrah Appelfeller, MHTN, said she had interviewed the Millcreek city department directors to understand how the current space was functioning or not functioning and how new space could support their work in the future. The preliminary space breakdown included public-shared, administration, comi'nunications, planning and zoning, public works and GIS, economic development, police, corni'nercial, and building support in 68,806 square feet. She said the new city hall should be a resource for the corni'nunity with a building incorporated into a mixed-use development. She highlighted a draft design of city hall on Chambers Avenue in Millcreek Coinmon. Winder said there would not be a lot of square footage taken away from other development based on the stacked design of the city hall. Appelfeller said the location of the building would promote sustainability with connectivity to Millcreek Common, solar panels on the roof, and ground source heating. Wallace said the earlier visioning of the city hall drove the site plan. Winder highlighted the block site plan which illustrated mixed uses with comi'nercial, city office, residential, and parking in the City Center. Millcreek City Council Meeting Minutes 19 January 2021 Page 4 of 4 Council Member Marchant asked about the ice ribbon during the sumn'ier in the city center. Winder said the @iard rails corild be removed and the plaza would be flat for other programming. Council Member Catten asked about the continued outreach to the public before a decision was made on the city hall. Lilly said the presentation was of an architectural program of spaces that might be needed and how they could be configured. He said it would not be the design of the city hall. He anticipated much more public input throughout the process. Council Member Marchant asked if the presentation would be given to the community councils and Plaru'iing Cornrnission for review and coinment. Winder said they could be given a summary of the presentation. Mayor Silvestrini said there was opportunity for public comment at all the phases of the process. He said this presentation was open to the public for cornrnent though there had not been any received that night. Council Member Jackson asked for the comtnents from the survey. Rita Lund said the few comments from the survey were that the City should be purchasing city hall property and not leasing it. Lilly thanked MHTN for giving the City a good basis for future discussions. Mayor Silvestrini asked about the next step in the process. Winder asked the Council if staff was heading in the right direction with what had been presented. Council Me'inber Marchant said he liked the functionality and mixed uses of what had been proposed. Council Member Uipi echoed Council Member Marchant's comments. She asked about how the Council could meet expectations for public comment. Mayor Silvestrini mentioned that UPD was involved in the space planning. Council Member Marchant asked how much Cottonwood Development had been involved. Winder said staff had had a couple of meetings with them as a private p:mtner for this collaboration. Council Member Jackson said the presented scenario showed favoritism for that scenario and asked for another option to show the public. Wallace said the programming needs would be documented at other sites too. Lilly said MHTN would help staff evaluate each of the sites. Winder reminded the Council that Millcreek Common West Chambers was ready for development since city hall needed to be built in the next three years. Council Member Catten expressed concern for the perception of pushing the issue along during the pandemic while residents were not paying attention. She suggested putting something about the future city hall in the electronic newsletter for the foreseeable future. Council Member Marchant asked about the Crown Block on the site map. Winder pointed out that it would be in phase 2 of Millcreek Common. Mayor Silvestrini said Millcreek Common East was not ready for development. Wallace said he would be meeting with the steering coinmittee later in the week and have a draft document and projected cost at the end of the first week in February. The final program document would be available later in February. ADJOURNED: Council Member Jackson moved to adjourn the meeting at 7:32 p.m. Council Member Catten seconded. Mayor Silvestrini called for the vote. All Council Members voted yes. The motion passed unanimously. APPROVED: 7$ Jfflilvestrinx, Mayor na,,zt-lb" Attest: E'amn, City Recorder