City Council

Minutes of the Millcreek City Council August 21, 2023 6:00 p.m. Special Meeting The City Council of Millcreek, Utah, met in a special meeting with the City Council of Murray, Utah on August 21, 2023, at Murray City Hall, located at 10 E 4800 S, Murray, Utali 84107. PRESENT: Council Members City Staff Jeff Silvestrini, Mayor Mike Winder, City Manager Silvia Catten, District 1 Elyse Sullivan, City Recorder Thom DeSirant, District 2 Robert May, Long Range Planning Manager Cheri Jackson, District 3 Bev Uipi, District 4 Attendees: Phil Markham, Brenda Moove, Paul Pickett, Tamrny K., Doug Hill, Elvon Farrell, Lawrence H., Clark Bullen, Dave Carr, Jacob Richardson, Kristy Chambers, Janice Strobell, Pattie Johnson, Jennifer Kennedy, Murray Council Member Pam Cotter, Murray Council Member Rosalba Dominguez, Murray Council Member Garry Hrechkosy, Murray Council Member Diane Turner, David Rodgers, Christine Richinan, Jason Claunch, Tim Sullivan, Shawn LaMar, Erika Chmielewski, G. L. Critchfield, Murray Mayor Brett Hales, Zack Smallwood TIME COMMENCED - 6:00 p.m. Murray Council Chair Garry Hrechkosy called the meeting to order. The city councils did introdrictions. 1. Discussion on Preliminary Concepts/Directions and Implementation Steps for the Murray North Station Area Plan; GSBS Consulting Christine Richman gave an overview of the work the consultants had completed. She showed a map of the Murray North Station Area with the city boundaries and a planning area of 1/2 mile around the TRAX station. She said 4500 S and the heavy rail line acted as barriers through the area. Mayor Silvestrini said Millcreek had a similar boundary abutting South Salt Lake and the Meadowbrook Station. The statutory requirements for station area plans required plaru'iing for the H mile radius around the transit hub. The purpose of the planning was to deten'nine a shared vision that is informed by existing uses and how the community perceives its future. The plan itself needs to identi'Jy opportunities and constraints within the station area, opportunities for affordable housing, preferred visions shared by the coinrnunity within and around the station area and provide strategic recommendations that may be pursued by UTA and the respective local governrnent to help facilitate implementation. She presented the schedule of what the cities had, Millcreek City Councn Meeting Minutes 21 August 2023 Page 2 of 5 needed, and how to get there. The cities had an existing conditions analysis, economic opportunities analysis, phase 1 engagement, and a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis. The cities needed to think about livability, connectivity, safety/security, missing services and amenities, alternatives, and a preferred approach. To get there, the cities needed a land use map for the area, design considerations for streetscape and buildings, and identify funding oppoitunities and implementation steps. The consultants planned to deliver a final plan draft for consideration in late fall. Richi'nan said the consultants had completed a series of maps on land use, transportation, crime, safety, environment, housing, economic opportunity, and coi'nununity assets. They heard in public engagement tl'iat there is a lot of housing but not a lot of services and amenities for the households in those areas. Gathering places and grocery stores were identified as needs. A website was created for the plaru'iing project, www.murraynorthstationarea.org, for the public to use which included infornnation about the process, an interactive map to collect ideas and identify community priorities, hosts an online survey, and provides a list of upcoming planning events. There would be an open house on September 12 from 6-8pm at Birkhill Park. The coinmunity outreach so far had included an open house, tabling events, and a UTA Platform pop- up event. The stakeholder interview process included a technical advisory committee, community advisory coinrnittee, business owners, developers, homeowners, residents, city councils, planning coinmissions, and regional and technical experts. Richman reviewed various map depictions of the area identifying land use, housing, environment, crime, coru'iectivity, and parking. She mentioned the area was in transition with legacy industrial uses, but housing was coming in. There was also commercial in the area, and she wanted to make smooth transitions between varying uses and restore the grid network to support multimodal connections. The housing in the area ranged from post-WWII boom (2940- 70s) to post-TRAX development (2000s) and consisted of 426 rental-assisted units and 644 low- rent units. There were limited opportunities for home ownership. Some properties have environmental issues related to former industrial uses. There is a less than adequate tree canopy cover and parks access. The crime map ran a crime analysis and created a heat map of where the crimes occurred and the type. Of the crime instances, there were issues with public ordinance, public peace, traffic, family offenses, larceny, and assault. Mayor Silvestrini asked about collecting crime data from UPD. Richman said the data from both departments was comparable, but the crime categories were different. Erika Chmielewski said they classified violent crime as every crime that involved bodily harm to a victim. Some of the crimes could be mitigated through urban design strategies. There were issues related to access control, maintenance, and VaCanCles. Tim Sullivan said the idea with transit oriented development is that people are not using cars. Things need to be directed and connected. Walking is the fundamental foundation of transit oriented development. The station area has significant connections and baiers with I-15, 4500 S, State Street, Union Pacific rail, TRAX rail, and Big Cottonwood Creek. Things to consider were sidewalk gaps, crossings, bus connections, bicycling and micro-mobility, and urban design and placemaking. He felt there was potential to connect downtown Murray to the station area. He noted parking was needed but needed to be designed to be pedestrian focused. Parking counts over two days iridicated that an average of 42% of the UTA parking spaces were occupied midday, and on-street parking was less than half utilized. The parking is generally well-utilized but not full. There was a desire for more parking options. Shared parking was a potential strategy Millcreek City Council Meeting Minutes 21 August 2023 Page 3 of 5 that had not been tried much in the area. The newer developments were doing well with parking. Mayor Silvestrini said Millcreek entitles parking and requires parking with units. If parking costs extra for residents, they will park on the street. Sullivan said there were cost incentives for residents to use the train and not use a parking spot. Richrnan said the strategy was to increase opportunities for internal capture so there was an environment where people did not have to use their car, such as for going to the grocery store. A Murray council member asked about helping with multiple families living in the same unit. Richman said rooftops brought commercial, so they needed to diversify socioeconomics for the neighborhood to increase its buying power for more services and amenities. Sullivan said a strategy was needed to address parking in the area because parking was needed. UTA was open to discussion on helping to solve the parking problem. Jason Claunch said the market assessment analysis showed a demand of total capacity for 170,000 square feet of additional retail, 118 owner-occupied units annually, and 248 multifamily units annually. There were opportunities to create an anchor to support infill of existing, vacant retail space and support additional activity generation, continue to improve the public realm to support ground-level cornrnercial/retail, leverage development that preserves and enhances open- space within the station area, incorporate additional job-creation in the area to support daytime activity and balance residential, and expand housing options by incorporating additional owner- occupied housing. Some things to consider were that retail may naturally gravitate to State Street due to higher traffic counts, co-tenancy, and visibility, the limited walkability and connectivity hinders cross-shopping benefits, and existing uses conflict with future goals. Claunch said there was need for balance with a range of affordable and non-affordable housing. Richrnan said there was a green space/tree challenge in the area. It was acknowledged that the lack of crosswalks was also a problem. She presented three concept form examples with renderings and images to illustrate; options A, B, and C. Option A extends the station area core grid southward into the UTA mobility center area, builds out UTA sites with primarily complementary non-residential land uses, seeks an anchor use in the north end of the current UTA parking lot which activates the south end, the foam factory redevelops to build a shared parking structure available to station users, anchor use visitors, and residents of the Avida/Brickgate, create Edison active transportation improvements, and extend Main Street bike lanes where feasible. Option B had an activity focus on Main Street, which would extend the open space trail corridor through the station and south along TRAX and looped to connect with Main Street at the 4500 S crossing, would integrate a grass oval at Main/4500 S intersection into trail/open space corridor, provide Main Street link to Hanauer, provide for a quieter node around the station area, and provide for continued residential and some retail infill development. The mobility center could develop as multifamily in the long term, and they could find a way to retrofit Avida/Brickgate parking. It was asked where a grocery store could be located in option B. Richman highlighted in any of the red on the map as being commercial. Nothing in the plan would force any use transitions, this was a plan for when transition may happen. Mayor Silvestrini noted Millcreek had been trying to create biking opportunities for Main Street, and Main Street should be improved regardless of the plan. Richrnan presented option C. The vision was for a larger sub-regional hub, the area between the two tracks having urban design improvements, the existing station area core grid be expanded, a Millcreek City Council Meeting Minutes 21 August 2023 Page 4 of 5 major open space system developed along Big Cottonwood Creek including a trail connection to the west, active retail/recreational frontage along Big Cottonwood Creek, have Fireclay Avenue as the main station area cottidor/center of activity, increase bus coru'iections to the station, add a bus/mobility hub along Fireclay Avenue, could consider additional street connection across TRAX between the station and 4500 S, an open space corridor link north along TRAX to redeveloped walkable Central Avenue corridor, and a major investment to push Fireclay Avenue west across the Union Pacific line. A sub/regional hub would be similar to Sugarhouse. Mayor Silvestrini noted that other station areas in the valley would have the same impediments with the rail lines. Richi'nan said this area was better than some other stations, cities needed to find the right balance with headways on the rail and helping people get across it. She said the city could close two rail crossings to get one new crossing on the Union Pacific Line. She said they could work to improve the Central Avenue underpass. Richman said the plan was for twenty years out; opportunities arise as the coinrnunity grows. A Murray council member asked how this area plan fits with Murray's General Plan. Zack Smallwood, Murray planner, said the General Plan looked to improve the station areas. The station area plan had the same vision going forward, like an appendix to the General Plan; nothing was contrary to the Murray General Plan. Robert May, Millcreek plaru'ier, noted these options were in alignment with Millcreek's General Plan, too. It was noted there was not a lot of green space. Council Member Catten pointed out that the Seven Canyons Trust was actively trying to preserve waterways as green space. Richrnan said all three options could be improved by adding usable green space. Mayor Silvestrini pointed out that all of the options were to improve the north of 4500 S. Richt'nan said one example of a barrier crossing was Klyde Warren Park over a freeway in Texas, which could be considered as a possible option for 4500 S. Richrnan said the two cities shared a vision for the area. She said there were opportunities for coordination with land use, design approach, and funding. Mayor Silvestrini said Millcreek had a community redevelopment area on the west side of the city to provide tax increment. Murray acknowledged they had one too, Fireclay. Richrnan said grant applications would be strengthened by having two cities jointly apply for funding. The plan would include the future land use map, consider the market-rate residential development distribution, distribution of parks, public ainenities, and services, coinrnercial/retail development, and connectivity improvements. Mayor Silvestrini said the city could benefit from a mix of income and green space in the area. Owner occupancy would be key to building that community. A Murray council member said they should consider having developers install community centers if they do not include green space in their developments. She said there were a lot of children that had nowhere to go. Both cities acknowledged they had park impact fees that could be used. A Murray council member asked about underground connectivity conversations. Richinan had not heard about an appetite for that. Richman said with design approach, creating an entryway and identity indicators would go a long way, as well as continuing the streetscape and building form. There would be a matrix of funding opportunities in the plan that would include the existing tax increment funding producing areas, grants, and housing, transit, reinvestment zone (HTRZ). Claunch said the cities should be comfortable with density in the area at a level that made sense. Richinan said the team was focused on how to continue to make this area stay exciting as well as having access to services and amenities. A Murray council member said a grocery store would help to achieve a lot of these goals. Millcreek City Council Meeting Minutes 21 August 2023 Page 5 of 5 Chair Garry Hrechkosy adjourned the meeting at 8:00 pm ngSt-1,s'2D23 Jeff Silve-strini, Mayor Attest: ElbLity Recorder