The City Council of Salt Lake City, Utah met in Regular Session on Tuesday, February 18, 1997, at 6:00 p.m., in Room 315, City County Building, 451 South State Street.
The following Council Members were present:
Stuart Reid Deeda Seed Bryce Jolley
Joanne Milner Tom Godfrey Keith Christensen
The following Councilmember was absent:
Sam Souvall
Cindy Gust-Jenson, Executive Council Director; Roger Cutler, City Attorney; and Beverly Jones, Deputy City Recorder were present.
Councilmember Seed presided at and conducted the meeting.
#1. The Council led the Pledge of Allegiance.
#2. Councilmember Godfrey moved and Councilmember Jolley seconded to approve the minutes of the Salt Lake City Council meeting held February 11, 1997, which motion carried, all members present voted aye.
(M 97-1)
CONSENT AGENDA
ACTION: Councilmember Godfrey moved and Councilmember Jolley seconded to approve the Consent Agenda, which motion carried, all members present voted aye.
#1. RE: Approving the appointment of L. Barton Summerhays to the Golf Enterprise Fund Advisory Board for a term extending through July 19, 1999.
(I 97-7)
#2. RE: Approving the appointment of Juan A. Mejia to the Salt Lake City Arts Council for a term extending through July 1, 1998.
(I 97-13)
#3. RE: Adopting Resolution 9 of 1997 authorizing the approval of an interlocal cooperation agreement between Salt Lake City Corporation and the Utah State Office of Energy regarding a grant for the Clean Cities Program for the hiring of a Clean Cities Coordinator to promote the use of alternative fuels.
(C 97-61)
#4. RE: Setting the date of March 4, 1997 at 6:00 p.m. to accept public comment and consider adopting an ordinance amending Salt Lake City Ordinance 45 of 1996 which approved the Compensation Plan for Executive Employees and Elected Officials of Salt Lake City.
(O 96-19)
#5. RE. Setting the date of March 11, 1997 at 6:00 p.m. to accept public comment and consider adopting an ordinance amending Section 12.96.025, Salt Lake City Code, relating to vehicle immobilization and immobilization release fees. (An ordinance change and fee schedule which would allow the City to immobilize vehicles which would otherwise be towed, and establishing for vehicle immobilization release, towing, impound and related fees).
(O 97-4)
PUBLIC HEARINGS
#1. RE: Accept public comment and consider adopting an ordinance closing a portion of an alley located between Kelsey Avenue and 1300 South and between Main and Major Streets pursuant to Petition No. 400-96-94.
ACTION: Councilmember Godfrey moved and Councilmember Christensen seconded to close the public hearing, which motion carried, all members present voted aye.
Councilmember Godfrey moved and Councilmember Christensen seconded to adopt Ordinance 6 of 1997 as written, which motion carried, all members present voted aye.
DISCUSSION: Katia Pace, Assistant Planner, said the petitioner was Nate Wade. She said two of the properties in the alley were not owned by Nate Wade. She said Mr. Wade had originally petitioned the City to vacate the entire alley, but during the review process the City found the first property on the south owned by Humphries at 1222 South Major Street had parking on the rear of the property. Ms. Pace said the Humphries were willing to enter into a private right-of-way agreement with Mr. Wade.
She said Mr. Wade would have to enter into a second right-of-way agreement with the property owner at 1210 South Major Street because the Fire Department required a fire exit on the alley. She said when Mr. Wade was contacted about this right-of-way agreement, he choose to pursue the south end of the alley. She said staff recommended that the southern portion of the alley be closed.
Councilmember Jolley asked how fair market value was determined. Ms. Pace said Property Management looked into other sales in the area and then gave a value to the petitioner. She said if the petitioner did not agree with the City's fair market value, they could have another appraisal done on the property at their expense.
Nate Wade, 1207 South Main, said he had been at this location for 40 years and had maintained the alley the whole time. He said occasionally the City would come and patch the alley. He said there were problems with transients, graffiti and people breaking into businesses. He said he had wanted to close the whole alley until he found out that if the alley was private it was given to the residents, but if the property was commercial there was a charge.
Mr. Wade said the City had looked at the property, but he did not think the City was aware of all the power lines, the telephone lines, and the sewer line which ran down the middle of the alley. He said the property could not be developed or built on. He said he was willing to take over the responsibility and pave the alley.
Mr. Wade said for the record there was no public necessity for the alley. He said the alley could be vacated subject to a judicial determination of whether the City was entitled to compensation as if selling some proprietary interest.
Councilmember Seed asked Mr. Wade if he was willing to compensate the City for the alley. Mr. Wade said he was willing to compensate the City, but the City said fair market value was approximately $13,500 for the southern part of the alley.
Councilmember Christensen said he was concerned that the petition before the Council only closed a small part of the alley. He said if Mr. Wade disagreed with fair market value, he did not have to proceed with the alley closure. He said in some cases vacated commercial properties had substantial value because the property could be built on. He said if this was going to remain an alley, Mr. Wade would maintain and care for the alley and relieve the City of that responsibility. He said that was a net benefit to Salt Lake City.
Councilmember Christensen said although the policy stated that Mr. Wade pay for the property, the appraisal should give consideration to the fact that the alley was full of utilities and other rights-of-way which precluded Nate Wade's business from expanding and utilizing the real estate for a substantial value. He said alleys had problems and the Council's policy was to get rid of alleys whenever possible. Councilmember Christensen said he wanted the City to look at a favorable indication that the balance of the alley closed if cross rights-of-way were in place.
Councilmember Reid said he wanted Mr. Wade treated fairly under the policy. He said he was interested in looking at the Council's policy. He said if the City was not interested in owning the alleys and there was someone who was willing to take the alleys over and maintain them, maybe the policy should reflect that position more aggressively. He asked staff if the Council could have a discussion in a Committee of the Whole to discuss the policy.
Ms. Gust-Jenson said the stated value may or may not take into consideration the items which Councilmember Christensen had stated. She said staff would get the information clarified and get back to the Council. She said if Council adopted the ordinance, it would be in keeping with the current ordinances and current policy. She said the petitioner would have an option to wait until the policy was reconsidered or move forward.
Councilmember Milner said she concurred with the fact that the whole ordinance needed to be reviewed and reassessed. She said this needed to be done for people interested in closing and vacating alleys to make the neighborhoods more safe.
Councilmember Seed said regardless of the condition of alleys, they were publicly owned pieces of property. She said she did not want to set a precedence by giving away publicly owned alleys.
(P 97-8)
#2. RE: Accept public comment and consider adopting an ordinance extending the corporate limits of Salt Lake City to include the Nadine F. Gillmor annexation, located in Study Area 1 of the City's master annexation policy declaration, and amending the Salt Lake City zoning map to zone and designate the area as Residential R-1-7000 upon its annexation to the City pursuant to Petition No. 400-96-60.
ACTION: Councilmember Reid moved and Councilmember Jolley seconded to close the public hearing, which motion carried, all members present voted aye.
Councilmember Reid moved and Councilmember Jolley seconded to adopt Ordinance 7 of 1997, which motion carried, all members present voted aye.
DISCUSSION: Michael Brodsky, 470 East 3900 South, said he was President of Hamlet Development and the petitioner. He said staff had previously presented the petition to the Council. He said recommendations were based on the compatible use of the proposed community to the surrounding neighborhoods as well as the local community council's review and unanimous approval of the requested annexation.
(P 97-7)(P 96-444)(P 96-354)
#3. RE: Accept public comment and consider adopting an ordinance amending Chapter 21A.24.160 of the Salt Lake City Code regarding the RB Residential Business zoning district pursuant to Petition No. 400-96-60.
ACTION: Councilmember Christensen moved and Councilmember Godfrey seconded to close the public hearing, which motion carried, all members present voted aye.
Councilmember Godfrey moved and Councilmember Christensen seconded to adopt Ordinance 8 of 1997 amending the text of the City's zoning ordinance Residential Business RB zone and further move that the Council request the Administration to include an analysis of housing mitigation, the proposed comprehensive housing plan, and provide recommendation for changes to the housing mitigation ordinance, City Code Section 18.97, which motion carried, all members present voted aye.
DISCUSSION: Ronald Reaveley, 1515 South 1100 East, said in December of 1995, he contacted the City Planning Division to receive permission to expand his engineering office. He said he had been to many meetings and approximately five months into the process, the planning staff had discovered the RB zoning ordinance was flawed. He said the City Planning Division subsequently held public hearings and proposed amending the residential business zoning ordinance to give staff more options as zoning applications were considered.
Cheri Carleson, 2163 Wellington Street, did not wish to speak, but submitted a hearing card in opposition to the RB text change.
(P 97-1)
The meeting adjourned at 6:40 p.m.
bj