City Council

Minutes of the Millcreek City Council January 4, 2024 MILLCREEI< 8:00 a.m. Special Meeting The City Council of Millcreek, Utah, met in a special public work meeting on January 4, 2023, at City Hall, located at 1330 E Chambers Ave, Millcreek, UT 84106. PRESENT: Council Members City Staff Jeff Silvestrini, Mayor Mike Winder, City Manager Silvia Catten, District 1 Alexander Wendt, Deputy Recorder Thom DeSirant, District 2 Kurt Hansen, Facilities Director Cheri Jackson, District 3 Francis Lilly, Assistant City Manager Bev Uipi, District 4 (excused) Rita Lund, Communications Director Collyn Mosquito, Promise Economic Wellbeing Attendees: Dave Spatafore, Representative Doug Owen, Representative Carol Spackman Moss, Representative Sahara Hayes, Senator Nate Blouin. WORK MEETING - 8:00 a.m. TIME COMMENCED - 8:10 a.m. Mayor Silvestrini called the work meeting to order at 8:10 a.m. 1. Millcreek Report Mayor Silvestrini spoke about Millcreek concerns. Millcreek is especially concerned with overturning local zoning control of mining operations. This is something to keep eyes on. It is very easy to start a small mining operation and then convert it into a larger mining operation. Given the air quality for air challenges that the state faces it is bad for the health of all valley residents so adding more mining operations is very problematic. Utah can only control a percentage of Utah air quality, adding mining operations that add particulates to the air could even threaten Federal Highway funding if Utah does not meet Federal air quality standards. Senator Blouin said that the Olympics coming to Utah is helpful because people will not want to see a mine in Parley's Canyon as they drive through it. Mayor Silvestrini said that Parley's Canyon is largely neglected and should be protected more. There are a lot of recreation opportunities there. Representative Moss said the canyon is also historic. Council Member DeSirant said that state legislators complain about the federal government coming to Utah when they don't understand Utah. It is the same at the local level. Local government governs best. Millcreek City Council Meeting Minutes 4 January 2024 Page 2 of 4 Mayor Silvestrini spoke about housing problems in Utah. The Governor is supportive of the construction of new stai1er homes so the legislature will be working on that issue. There is still the problem of local control here. Millcreek is supportive of affordable housing, and missing middle housing. A lot of Millcreek development is infill, there is not space for 200 lot subdivisions. The concern that Millcreek has is that development will sometimes tear down affordable housing to create new development. Millcreek has reduced regulations regarding parking where it makes sense to do that. Mayor Silvestrini asked the legislators to work on solutions for affordable housing that work with a minimum of unintended consequences. Representative Moss spoke with a Millcreek resident who asked why not remodel older housing stock instead of building more homes. Mayor Silvestrini said that he spoke with the Governor on this, and the justification of the Governor said he would like to put dollars towards new housing because Utah is growing so fast. New construction does help the housing stock deficit. People ask Mayor Silvestrini why Millcreek allows higher density housing. It is because the market is moving that way and Millcreek does not have space to expand into empty fields. Land is more expensive and the room to grow is up. Phoenix and Los Angeles are sprawling. Millcreek itself does not build housing but they allow higher density to address infrastructure needs. Council Member Jackson keeps seeing that schools in the center of the valley are closing because people move to the edges of the valley where homes are more affordable. Affordable housing in the center of the valley would help. Representative Hayes asked about affordable housing mandates for cities. Planning Director, Francis Lilly said that he has heard from his Planning colleagues that developers do not want to build Condos due to the risk of liability issues if there are problems with the building later. Lenders do not like to finance condos for a variety of reasons. Mr. Lilly says the affordability issue raises questions that some in the legislature are not comfortable worth having. Rules are in place for affordable housing, but these rules are not taken advantage of. Mr. Winder said that one issue that influences affordable housing is that low-income deals for housing are running out. Those people are then being displaced and the apartments are being turned into higher cost housing. Mr. Winder spoke about making some RDA tweaks that encourage more affordable housing. Mayor Silvestrini spoke about housing and unsheltered populations, there needs to be more subsidization, but cities do not have the money to do this. Representative Moss spoke about one of her bills that will tie funds received from the sale of alcohol to subsidizing housing costs. Mayor Silvestrini then spoke about entitling smaller lots, this would help affordability. Representative Hayes spoke about problems in Salt Lake City with hedge funds buying housing stock. Mayor Silvestrini said this is a problem all over Utah. Institutional investors are building homes to only rent them, not sell them. The more transient a population is the less involved they will be in civic affairs. Mr. Lilly spoke about how Short­ Term Rentals negatively influence the housing market. Millcreek is losing 130 units at Holladay Hills but is gaining 150 units in west Millcreek but that project costs $50 million. It is far cheaper to keep housing stock than build new homes. Representative Moss spoke about her constituents in Murray who live in a condo development where so many of the units are owned by investors that there are not enough people to vote to make improvements to the building. Senator Blouin said that Murray City is redeveloping their old city hall building and will turn those into units for ownership. Mr. Spatafore spoke about important bills to watch out for. HB 13 is a financing infrastructure bill that would help developers build infrastructure like sewer lines in a development and then get their money back. This would incentivize new home builds where infrastructure does not Millcreek City Council Meeting Minutes 4 January 2024 Page 3 of 4 already exist. Mayor Silvestrini said the best structure for these things is that when the lot sells then developers could get their costs back there. This works for the development community. Infrastructure built needs to be built to city standards and code before it is dedicated to cities. HB 12 helps change RDA's. It does not create controversy but cleans things up. Some cities have kept their affordable housing money for one reason or another. This bill puts a limit of five years for affordable housing money to be used, the money cannot sit there forever. The 5- year limit would start on May 1st after the bill is passed. This is a good bill supported by many people throughout the state. Mayor Silvestrini spoke about another bill that would affect UPD. Last year the legislature determined that the Salt Lake County Sheriff shall no longer be the CEO ofUPD. UPD communities do not want to go back to the Salt Lake County Sheriff. Millcreek residents like that they are served by the Unified Police Department. The Salt Lake County Townships want to stay with UPD. Millcreek, Holladay, and Midvale want to stay with UPD. HB 35 would tum townships into cities or towns based on their population size. They should have that self­ determination. This would help the townships generate revenue to pay for their services. The way state law works the townships would not be allowed to levy a property tax to help pay for services for an extra year. Millcreek wants Magna and Keams to be able to pay for the policing they want or need. Mr. Spatafore spoke about a meeting with Kearns and Magna. 2. Capstone Strategies Report Mr. Spatafore spoke about HB 84. This deals with school security. This is a good bill but has issues that need to be dealt with. One issue is a school security officer that is a law enforcement officer, but they cannot maintain their certification without being part of a law enforcement agency. Other options include other armed security or armed volunteers. The bill does not address what entity would pay for this. Administrative control of school security would also go to the county not the city that the school is in. This is incredibly problematic. There are not enough sworn police officers to have one in every school. This bill needs changes, consequently law enforcement, and city officials will be proposing changes. Representative Moss said that school resource officers in Holladay have been very successful. Council Member Uipi arrived at 9:17 a.m. Representative Hayes asked if this bill is a sure thing. Mr. Spatafore said this bill is very important for many people, but changes need to be made for the next steps for school security. Millcreek wants an opportunity for engagement between UPD officers and the community. In schools in Millcreek SRO officers are very important, these officers are a great resource. Mr. Spatafore believes that they can help get the bill to a better place. 3. Legislator Reports Mr. Winder asked how Millcreek can be helpful. Senator Blouin said his top priority is the geothern1al energy bill. PacifiCorp has paused their acquisition of new energy and investing in geothermal energy could help the Community Energy Agency Board. Representative Hayes said she does not have city-oriented bills on her list at the time, but more will pop up. Mayor Silvestrini said that when Millcreek incorporated the Council talked about having a city owned internet service, but it didn't make sense for Millcreek. Right now, Millcreek does have city subsidized internet through Comcast. Representative Owens is working on the rock quarry issue. He is trying to get 150 signatures from tech executives to oppose the quarry so there is an economic component to the pushback. Mayor Mendenhall and Mayor Silvestrini have sent a letter to a construction company to talk about the mine issues. Mayor Silvestrini Millcreek City Council Meeting Minutes 4 January 2024 Page 4 of 4 said that someone wants to buy the property to keep it in public use. UDOT has approved a road near the proposed mine because it is an existing frontage road. Representative Moss is working on a low-income housing and HOA bill, and a bill to help teachers get graduate degrees. 4. Questions, Comments, and Closing Remarks Mr. Winder said that he and Mayor Silvestrini will be at the Capitol building weekly during the session. January 17th is the Utah League of Cities and Towns Day during the session. February 23 rd is Millcreek Business Council Day on the Hill. Please come visit during these meetings. The Millcreek newsletter is going to be monthly instead of only seven times a year. ADJOURNED: Council Member Jackson moved to adjourn the meeting at 9:44 a.m. Council Member Uipi seconded. Mayor Silvestrini called for the vote. All Council Members 17 1-,0L\ voted yes. The motion passed unanimously. APPROVED, Date� i:>s�]tMayor Attest: �IW_i= Alex Wendt, Deputy City Recorder