City Council Study Meeting - ARCHIVED

SOUTH JORDAN CITY CITY COUNCIL ELECTRONIC STUDY MEETING January 17, 2023 Present: Mayor Dawn Ramsey, Council Member Tamara Zander, Council Member Patrick Harris, Council Member Don Shelton, Council Member Brad Marlor, Council Member Jason McGuire, Deputy City Manager Dustin Lewis, CFO Sunil Naidu, Director of Strategy & Budget Don Tingey, Director of Commerce Brian Preece, Director of Public Works Jason Rasmussen, Director of Administrative Services Melinda Seager, City Attorney Ryan Loose, City Recorder Anna Crookston, IT Director Jon Day, GIS Coordinator Matt Jarman, Senior IS Tech Phill Brown, IS Systems Administrator Ken Roberts, Director of Planning Steven Schaefermeyer, City Engineer Brad Klavano, Battalion Chief Michael Richards, Police Chief Jeff Carr, Communications Manager Rachael Van Cleave, Associate Director of Parks Colby Hill, Director of Recreation Janell Payne, Meeting Transcriptionist Diana Baun, Strategy & Budget Analyst Abagail Patonai Absent: Others: Sam Bishop, Mark Morris, Bryan Flamm, bfarnsworth 4:41 PM STUDY MEETING A. Welcome, Roll Call, and Introduction: By Mayor Dawn R. Ramsey Mayor Dawn Ramsey welcomed everyone present and introduced the electronic meeting. B. Invocation: By Director of City Commerce Brian Preece Director Preece offered the invocation. C. Mayor and Council Coordination Mayor Ramsey discussed Local Officials Day tomorrow at the Capitol for the Youth Council and City Council. D. Discussion/Review of Regular Council Meeting Presentations: - Proclamation Herriman High Cross Country Team - Herriman High School Chinese New Year Celebration - UTA Microtransit on demand service Action Item: South Jordan City 2 City Council Study Meeting January 17, 2023 Resolution R2023-02, Adopting Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP) Public Hearing Items: - Resolution R2023-03, Moderate Income Housing Plan Amendment - Resolution R2023-04, Mid-Year Amended Budget Rise Development Land Use Items: - Presentation on Resolution R2023-06, Resolution R2023-07, and Zoning Ordinance 2023-01-Z - Resolution R2023-07 Public Hearing - Zoning Ordinance 2023-01-Z Public Hearing - Resolution R2023-06, Development Agreement - Resolution R2023-07, Amending the Future Land Use Plan Map - Zoning Ordinance 2023-01-Z, Rezoning property located at 10657 South 1055 West CFO Sunil Naidu noted he received the questions on the amended budget from Council Member Shelton and they will be addressed during the regular council meeting. Council Member Zander asked if there will be a presentation for the public during the council meeting regarding the traffic study related to the Rise Development. Director Klavano said the presentation at the last meeting was the only presentation planned. The information on the traffic study is also in tonight’s packet for the public to see. Council Member Zander would like to see at least part of that study shared during the council meeting with the public in attendance, so they can get the information as well. Director Schaefermeyer discussed with the council when they would like that information shared and that will be done during the regular meeting. Mayor Ramsey noted that there was a video posted by the city about an hour ago regarding the announcement of the Bees’ Stadium moving to South Jordan. Council Member Harris said he has heard some comments, he thinks many people like the idea of the ballpark but there have been a lot of questions about the streets and how much the state will be involved in it. Mayor Ramsey said she wants everyone to know that traffic was very seriously discussed leading up to the ballpark announcement, and that is something everyone is mindful of. The council and staff discussed the incident with the snow plow driver who recognized there was a child in a snow cave where he was headed to plow, and that he was able to get the child out of the snow cave before anyone was hurt. That driver also took a picture of the cave to share with city staff and leadership to help with training in the future. South Jordan City 3 City Council Study Meeting January 17, 2023 E. Discussion Item: E.1. Discussion of Streetscape Master Plan (By Associate Director of Parks, Colby Hill & VODA Landscape & Planning, Mark Morris). Associate Director of Parks Colby Hill gave a brief introduction and explained a little bit about the Streetscape Plan. He also noted that this plan today only applies to park strips and other areas that the city owns and maintains, it does not apply to anything residential. Mark Morris introduced himself and began reviewing his prepared presentation (Attachment A). Council Member Zander said that she and her husband used to own a landscaping business, but she has never seen any watering system like this and she loves it. She asked if any other cities have adopted a system like this. Mr. Morris gave some examples of other places, including Research Park with the University of Utah. Associate Director Hill added that the city already has this system in some of the newer parks, and it’s in our Engineering Standards and Specifications for any new builds. Council Member Shelton asked if this watering system for the trees has any impact on keeping the roots from damaging the adjacent sidewalks. Mr. Morris responded no, that usually has more to do with the type of tree in the park strip. He continued reviewing his prepared presentation (Attachment A). Mayor Ramsey asked if this plan goes further west than 4000 West, specifically whether it includes any portion of Daybreak as the map seems to stop around that area. Mr. Morris said this is only a screen shot of the map, the full map is included in the plan and it does go further west than 4000 West. The plan itself goes to the city limit on the west side, but there isn’t much maintained by the city out in that area. Associate Director Hill said there are very few park strips or streetscapes the city maintains in Daybreak. Mr. Morris continued reviewing his prepared presentation (Attachment A). Council Member Zander asked about the city maintaining park strips in front of homes in the red areas on the map in Attachment A, and whether the homeowners’ sprinklers are going to those areas. Associate Director Hill said most of those cases are places where the city has purchased right of way and has agreed to maintain the area with the city’s irrigation system. South Jordan City 4 City Council Study Meeting January 17, 2023 Mr. Morris said that on the last map the red areas are where, per city code, it is implied that the property owner should be maintaining the park strip. Some of those areas the city may continue to maintain, this was just to help staff identify where the code indicates the property owner should be doing the maintenance and start that conversation. Director Klavano said some of those areas were set up that way because the property owners didn’t have irrigation systems, and city maintenance was the only way to maintain those park strips. Mr. Morris said the intent of this project was to analyze and decide whether or not they should be approaching the property owners in those red areas to pass off maintenance to them. Associate Director Hill said they don’t anticipate going to the property owners and telling them they are now in charge of the park strip maintenance, this was done to allow staff to review everything as a part of the process and have a good understanding of what it all means. Council Member Marlor wanted to make sure that this department is coordinating with Director Klavano’s team, ensuring they don’t complete a re-landscaping project and then have a road widened or have another project that requires them to undo all that work. He asked about possible changes on 10600 South and Redwood. Director Klavano said they will be coordinating that as UDOT does have it in their plan at some point to widen Redwood to Bangerter. Director of Public Works Jason Rasmussen noted that Deputy City Engineer Jeremy Nielson has been a part of the working group, and before any changes are made they will be working together on a schedule for future projects. Council Member Marlor also brought up 2200 West where there are areas with nothing but rock and asked for more information on the plans for those spaces. Director Rasmussen said they have bid jobs to remove that rock, add plants and irrigation, then replace that rock. However, in that process there were a lot of residents complaining that they shouldn’t be planting new plants because of the drought. City Manager Whatcott directed them to put the irrigation pipes in but to change the contract and not plant the plants. Associate Director Hill said their intent is to re-landscape those areas, but they did not plant some of the plants. They had already taken possession of the trees and those were moved to other locations throughout the city, knowing that at some future point they would put trees back in at those locations on the plans. They will still continue to move forward with 2200 West, but they don’t know when that will happen. Council Member Shelton noted that he actually only like’s one out of 10 of these conversions. Even if the conversion is to just rocks, there are still weeds that break through and they won’t be able to just use a lawn mower, someone will have to go along and pull those weeds out. South Jordan City 5 City Council Study Meeting January 17, 2023 Mr. Morris said the hopes are for minimal weeds with plans for weed barrier and rock mulch. Council Member Harris added that trimming the bushes is an enormous task even for homeowners, and they do look great when they are trimmed. From a maintenance perspective, what will the shrubbery look like. Associate Director Hill said from his many years of experience, there is no such thing as a zero maintenance landscape. Currently, park strip maintenance is contracted out to a third party who does a great job, and he anticipates continuing with that, just with changes to the scope of work. They will still be required weekly, but they will pull weeds rather than mowing, and that will be accounted for in the agreement. Park strips are a harsh environment for any type of landscape, as they are generally next to a road that gets very hot with radiant heat and salt is not kind to any plants, along with watering being very difficult on a park strip. This design puts the water where it needs to be and introduces more salt tolerant plants. South Jordan is known for their park strips being an identifying feature, and they don’t want to lose that. Mr. Morris added that the plants that were pulled from all the plant lists were focused on ones that would require someone out there once a week to maintain, rather than requiring once a year maintenance. Council Member Harris said that’s the thing with bushes and shrubs, they only look good when they are well maintained, otherwise they start to look messy. Council Member Zander noted that she has some of the plants from slide 14 on Attachment A in her yard, and the one that she has only requires her to trim it once every 3-5 years. Mr. Morris said they tried to choose plants that would look great, regardless of how much time was being devoted to them. Council Member Zander noted that these also grow at a very low rate because of the lack of water, and they don’t require much attention. Mr. Morris noted that with Xeriscape, the first two years are considered establishment years and require a significant amount of water to get things established. Once the plant has a larger root system, the water can be turned down significantly and still have the lush look they are after. Mayor Ramsey likes this plan and agreed that they want to maintain the look and feel that people expect in the city. Mr. Morris added that if you can tell its Xeriscape, it’s usually not done right. A lot has to do with the density while planting and with the modular system discussed they are planting it densely enough that someone won’t drive by and say it looks like the city is just putting in gravel. South Jordan City 6 City Council Study Meeting January 17, 2023 Council Member Zander asked if there are any city ordinances that state the ground cover needs to be rock or bark. Director Rasmussen said that what is being proposed here complies with the city code, which allows for either rock or bark. Associate Director Hill said the process from here will include staff going back for a final draft based on tonight’s discussion, and that will be taken to the planning commission. After that, they will come back during a regular council meeting for adoption. Once adopted they will start putting budget numbers together, and they already have some money in the water conservation funds to start doing things now. Mayor Ramsey asked about a timeline. Director Rasmussen said he thinks it will be about 5-7 years, but there are grants available that they will be going after to try and help accelerate that. Mr. Morris added that many of the goals for this plan were pulled from the city’s existing general plan, where there were some pretty specific things said about streetscape and how that lines up with the community’s expectation. This will be a very visible project, so as the city continues to encourage people to use water more efficiently, this can be used to share what the city is using in the city maintained park strip and recommending those plants to residents and business owners. Council Member Zander asked about updates on the Annual Report. Communications Manager Rachael Van Cleave said final edits are going in, they will be sent over to a printer Friday. At that point it will be about a week or two before they hit homes and businesses. These have to be sent out based on zip codes, so if someone lives in another city but happens to be in the same zip code they will get a copy as well. ADJOURNMENT Council Member Shelton motioned to adjourn the January 17, 2023 City Council Study Meeting. Council Member Marlor seconded the motion; vote was unanimous in favor. The January 17, 2023 City Council Study meeting adjourned at 5:43 p.m. This is a true and correct copy of the January 17, 2023 City Council Study Meeting Minutes, which were approved on February 7, 2023. South Jordan City Recorder SOUTH JORDAN STREETSCAPE MASTER PLAN JANUARY 2023 SOUTH JORDAN STAFF Colby Hill, Public Works, Associate Director of Parks Geoffrey Burlew, Park Strip Supervisor Greg Schindler, City Planner Jeremy Nielson, Deputy City Engineer Jason Rasmussen, Public Works Director Matt Jarman, GIS Coordinator Kevin Ball, Urban Forester Jason Miller, Parks Foreman GOALS & OBJECTIVES Goal 1: Reduce water use in park strips and medians maintained by South Jordan City. Objective 1: Install new low water use, drought tolerant plants in all park strips and medians which are maintained by the city. Objective 2: Install new, more efficient irrigation systems that can be adjusted to current conditions. Goal 2: Reduce maintenance resources required for park strips and medians maintained by South Jordan City. Objective 1: Explore feasibility of transfering park strip maintenance to adjacent property owners where city is not required to maintain the park strip. Objective 2: Minimize plant and irrigation system maintenance tasks to seasonal and/or annual maintenance requirements. Objective 3: Eliminate turf grass from all park strips and medians which are maintained by the city. Goal 3: Create attractive landscaped park strips along South Jordan’s key travel corridors. Objective 1: Use only low-water and low-maintenance plants that will thrive in the city’s climate. Objective 2: Use plants that will beautify and improve the experience and perception of the city. HOW MUCH WATER DOES XERISCAPE SAVE? Most agree that effective xeriscape design can reduce anywhere from 50-75% of water needs over conventional landscapes. Plant Selection Criteria 1. Low water 2. Simple/annual maintenance 3. Wide spread/lush look 4. Salt tolerance 6.1 CORRIDOR PRIORITIZATION During development of this master plan, it was determined that highly visible corridors in South Jordan would be a higher priority than other corridors. The map on the following page outlines first, second, and third priority corridors. Some of these corridors are quite lengthy, and should be split into smaller, phased projects within themselves: 1. First Priority Corridors (a) 10600 South (b) 11400 South (c) 1300 West (d) 2700 West (north segment) as pilot project 2. Second Priority Corridors (a) 4800 West (b) 10200 South (c) 2200 West 3. Third Priority Corridors (a) Redwood Road (coordinate with Google Fiber updates) (b) 10000/Shields Lane (c) 2700 West (south segment) (d) 3200 West (e) 4000 West Thank you