City Council

10000 Centennial Parkway Sandy City, Utah Sandy, UT 84070 Phone: 801-568-7141 Meeting Minutes City Council Brooke Christensen, District 1 Alison Stroud, District 2 Kristin Coleman-Nicholl, District 3 Monica Zoltanski, District 4 Marci Houseman, At-large Zach Robinson, At-large Cyndi Sharkey, At-large Tuesday, July 27, 2021 5:15 PM City Hall & Online City Council Meeting Minutes July 27, 2021 Work Session 5:15 Council Meeting Rollcall Present: 7- Council Member Alison Stroud Council Member Kris Nicholl Council Member Zach Robinson Council Member Monica Zoltanski Council Member Marci Houseman Council Member Cyndi Sharkey Council Member Brooke Christensen Sandy City, Utah Page 1 Printed on 8/18/2021 City Council Meeting Minutes July 27, 2021 Council Staff in Attendance: Mike Applegarth, Executive Director Dustin Fratto, Assistant Director Liz Theriault, Policy & Communications Analyst Christine Edwards, Council Clerk Administration in Attendance: Mayor Kurt Bradburn Matt Huish, CAO Lynn Pace, City Attorney Bruce Cline, Fire Chief Greg Severson, Police Chief Dan Medina, Parks & Recreation Director Tom Ward, Public Utilities Director Mike Gladbach, Public Works Director James Sorenson, Community Development Director Brian Kelley, Finance Director Nick Duerksen, Economic Development Director Prayer / Pledge of Allegiance Council Chair Alison Stroud welcomed those is attendance. Josh Platz with Good Shepherd Boy Scout Troop offered the prayer. Hyrum Hoover with Good Shepherd Boy Scout Troop led the Pledge. Work Session Items 1. 21-289 Centennial Village Zoning Amendment Discussion - CBD A&E Zone Attachments: 21-04-19 Cenntennial Village Retail. DOTArc Video.mp4 Nick Duerksen, Economic Development Director, introduced Dan Simons with SPC Group and his team who provided an overview of the Centennial Village project and discussed with the Council a zoning amendment which would allow for automotive sales at this project location. Mr. David Truong, SPC Group investor spoke about his commitment to the development of this project. Mr. Tom Buckley with Salt Lake City Motors spoke about the high end luxury auto dealership that he would like to locate in Sandy at the Centennial Village development and provided background information about the dealership. Mr. Jon Lee with Design of Tomorrow Architects presented a visual presentation of the project and provided project details. Council questions and comments occurred throughout the presentation. Council expressed support for a zoning amendment for this project development area. Following the presentation, Council moved to Standing Reports. Council Member Robinson requested that Item #4 be rescheduled. Sandy City, Utah Page 2 Printed on 8/18/2021 City Council Meeting Minutes July 27, 2021 2. 21-281 UDOT providing and update to the City Council on the Little Cottonwood Canyon Environmental Impact Statement. Attachments: LCC_EIS_Presentation.pptx Mr. Josh Vanjura with UDOT presented on the Little Cottonwood Canyon Environmental Impact Statement regarding S.R. 210/Wasatch Blvd to Alta. The project purpose is to substantially improve transportation-related safety, reliability and mobility on S.R. 210 from Fort Union Boulevard through the Town of Alta for all users on S.R. 210. Mr. Vanjura spoke about the two preferred transportation alternatives under consideration by UDOT: Enhanced bus service and Gondola service. He spoke about the costs, transit time, reliability and parking needs related to both options. UDOT has extended the public comment period to September 3, 2021 and Mr.Vanjura encouraged the community to comment on the LCC EIS. UDOT is planning on announcing a decision on the preferred alternative in the first quarter of 2022. Council questions and comments followed. Council provided feedback and expressed their concerns with the transportation options. The discussion included the use of electric buses, associated costs, parking structures, roadway tolls, ticket prices for the gondola, traffic, and the height and alignment of the gondola towers. Council thanked Mr. Vanjura for his presentation and encouraged the public to comment on the UDOT website. Sandy City, Utah Page 3 Printed on 8/18/2021 City Council Meeting Minutes July 27, 2021 3. 21-290 Council Member Houseman and Administration providing Central Wasatch Commission update and requesting Council discussion on Little Cottonwood Canyon transportation priorities. Attachments: CWC_ Mountain Transportation System Initiative Brief.pdf Pillars.pdf Council Member Houseman presented an update from the Central Wasatch Commission meeting. Ms. Houseman spoke about the Visitor Use study currently being conducted in partnership with US Forest Service which will help understand the actual capacity and visitor use in the canyons. Mr. Lance Kovel with the US Forest Service provided details on the visitor use study which is conducted every 5 years. Ms. Houseman also discussed the CWC Pillars document with the Council and next steps for the CWC. Mayor Bradburn outlined the purpose of this evening's discussion is to gather the Council's concerns and feedback with the transportation options under consideration. Administration will forward those concerns along with the staff's concerns to UDOT. This is an ongoing discussion and will continue to develop. All concerns are valid. Lynn Pace, City Attorney, acted as the facilitator for the discussion. He explained that there are two halves to the transportation discussion: one related to canyon transportation and the other related to the impact of getting to the canyon through Sandy City. The City has a powerful position to provide feedback to UDOT. Council Members provided feedback and addressed their concerns which included the following: efficient traffic management, parking structure, watershed issues, tax burden, additional buy-in from the ski resorts, the impact on Highland Drive, the permanency of the gondola towers, the greater flexibility of the bus option. Many members expressed the transportation option they supported. The Council provided a great deal of feedback and a lengthy discussion occurred. Council recessed for five minutes at approximately 8:49 pm. Council reconvened at 8:54 pm and moved to Item 5 on the Agenda. 4. 21-287 First Reading: Council Member Robinson proposing that the City pursue a biennial energy benchmarking program for all municipal buildings Sponsors: Robinson Attachments: Memo_Robinson July 27 2021.pdf Memo_Council Staff_July 27 2021.pdf SLC Elevate Buildings Website SLC Benchmarking Ordinance An Overview of Energy Star Portfolio Manager Item rescheduled. Sandy City, Utah Page 4 Printed on 8/18/2021 City Council Meeting Minutes July 27, 2021 5. 21-288 First Reading: Council Member Robinson recommending that the Council create a discussion timeline and implement an incremental decision making process as related to the future of Alta Canyon Sports Center Sponsors: Robinson Attachments: Robinson Alta Canyon Memorandum Council Member Zach Robinson introduced the item and asked the Council to take a systematic approach moving forward with respect to the discussions and decisions related to the Alta Canyon Recreation Center. He proposed a timeline/schedule for discussion items (Exhibit A) and he asked the Council for feedback. A lengthy discussion occurred related to the existing governing structure (ACSSD) of Alta Canyon, the impact of the consultant's study, the budget, and the need to address related legal issues. A procedural motion was made by Zach Robinson, seconded by Brooke Christensen to move this item forward to a second reading. The motion carried by a unanimous voice vote. Following the presentation, Council moved to Adjourn the meeting. Standing Reports Agenda Planning Calendar Review & Council Office Director's Report Mike Applegarth, Executive Director, mentioned that next week is Night Out Against Crime and there will be no City Council meeting that evening. The Council Office is participating with the Communications Department at the Canyons School District event to welcome new teachers to the district. The office is working to get the meeting agendas published two weeks in advance. Sandy City, Utah Page 5 Printed on 8/18/2021 City Council Meeting Minutes July 27, 2021 Council Member Business Council Member Houseman gave a shout out to the fire department, Station 31 firefighters who helped a mother whose vehicle had run out of gas in front of the fire station. The fire fighters helped push the car off the road and then gave the mother and her son a tour of the fire station. Ms. Houseman thanked the fire fighters for their help to the community. Council Member Robinson asked a question about the Night Out Against Crime event. Council Member Christensen thanked the city staff who helped with today's tour with the Boy Scout troop. Council Member Zoltanski thanked all the residents who have reached out to her with concerns about water conservation efforts implemented by the City and she directed them to the city website for resources and current information. Council Member Sharkey thanked the code enforcement team and Alison Stroud for meeting with her. She has reported more than 50 illegally installed campaign signs to code enforcement. Ms. Sharkey thinks it is wrong for the people who make the laws for the City to ignore those laws and she asked all candidates to follow the rules and not waste our code enforcers' time. She thanked the code enforcement staff for their efforts and help. She reviewed our city's regulations for sign installation and detailed what constitutes an illegal sign installation. Council Member Stroud encouraged the community to attend the Sandy Arts Guild upcoming production of Freaky Friday. You can go to the Sandy Arts Guild website for show dates, times and pricing. Mayor's Report Mayor Bradburn spoke about Covid restrictions and the President's recent announcements. Administration is watching the situation and will let the Council know if the County health guidelines change. At this year's Healing Fields event, the Utah Symphony will be playing. More details will be available soon. Volunteers will be needed to install the flags and take them down. CAO Report Matt Huish, CAO, thanked the fire department staff. The Balloon Festival takes place on the weekend of August 13th at Storm Mountain Park. Chief Cline provided information about his department's response to fireworks related calls during the month of July and he shared data detailing fireworks related calls, illegal fire works, citations issued and fires resulting from fireworks. This was a successful year and he thought the communication efforts helped in this effort. Council moved to Time Certain Items and heard General Citizen Comments. After 6:00 Time Certain Items Sandy City, Utah Page 6 Printed on 8/18/2021 City Council Meeting Minutes July 27, 2021 6. 21-291 General Citizen Comments Attachments: Click here to eComment on this item Council Chair Alison Stroud invited the public to participate in General Citizen Comments: Mr. John Winder spoke about the community coordinator program and community action program and other city committees and encouraged the Council to look at bringing back these programs. He hoped that the new Mayor in January will support these programs. He use to have season tickets at the Amphitheater and wondered why there is not an option to purchase season tickets any longer. He suggested forming a committee to help the newly elected Mayor select department heads. He would also like to see the Awards Banquet event brought back. Mr. Dave Fields, President and General Manager of Snowbird thanked the Council for their support. He spoke about the UDOT transportation options under consideration for Little Cottonwood Canyon. After much analysis, he believes the gondola is the best option and Snowbird Resort will be supporting the gondola transportation option. Less vehicles going up the canyon roads is a good thing and Snowbird currently provides transportation for it's employees to reduce the number of vehicles going up the canyon road. Snowbird has more than 1,000 acres of private land in the canyon and is committed to putting this land in to a conservation easement if UDOT selects the gondola transportation option. This is the only option to handle the current demand. The gondola option is good for skiiers/snowboarders, good for the watershed, wildlife and for air quality. Mark Ciullo has been coming for the last ten months seeking details on the Farnsworth Farms development project. He spoke about the lack of details and he reviewed past comments made by staff at a past council meeting: Darien Alcorn, Tracy Cowdell and James Sorenson. He shared his understanding of the process and he asked the Council for their help. He asked the Council to contact him if they had any questions. Mr. Jim Edwards spoke about the EIS study by UDOT and was concerned about the proposed parking structure at 9400 South and Highland. He believes it could turn into an eyesore and suggested that a traffic study be done for that area. Mr. Edwards spoke about earlier comments made regarding illegal campaign signs and how banners placed by the government/school district are allowable. He urged the Council to take another look at the ordinance. No harm is being done by installing signs on fences or in park strips. Mr. Carl Fisher with Save our Canyons shared his thoughts on the UDOT Little Cottonwood Canyon EIS study. One of the major constraints is the availability of parking. Both the gondola or bus option only moves about 1,000 people an hour. He thinks we can do better with the bus option which will avoid the crush of people trying to park by the gondola and feels the gondola will be intrusive to the canyons with a significant visual impact. He spoke about the transit transfers associated with the gondola option. He currently rides the buses up the canyons and thinks we just need more bus service. Parking by both Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons is an issue that needs to be addressed and he expressed a desire to further discuss this issue with the Council. Ms. Lindsey Butrum lives in Little Cottonwood Canyon and she and her neighbors are strongly opposed to the UDOT gondola transportation option which she feels will directly impact them. People riding the gondola will be able to see into her home and backyard. She will loose the privacy she currently enjoys and does not think this option will solve Sandy City, Utah Page 7 Printed on 8/18/2021 City Council Meeting Minutes July 27, 2021 the traffic problems in the area. Ms. Emily Pitsch expressed concerns with the UDOT EIS and thinks the EIS has not explored all the options. Little Cottonwood Canyons is used throughout the year, not just during the ski season. She emphasized that the EIS is a draft and feels changes can be made. She thinks tolling of the roads and improved bus service. The gondola is limited and requires many transit transfers to utilize. She expressed concerns for the protection of the watershed. Public comment closed. Council moved to Item 2 on the Agenda. Adjournment Council unanimously agreed to adjourn the meeting at approximately 9:18 pm. Sandy City, Utah Page 8 Printed on 8/18/2021