The City Council met in Work Session on Tuesday, March 17, 2015, at 4:00 p.m. in Room 326, Committee Room, City County Building, 451 South State Street.
In Attendance: Council Members James Rogers, Luke Garrott, Erin Mendenhall, Lisa Adams, Charlie Luke, Kyle LaMalfa, and Stan Penfold.
Staff in Attendance: Cindy Gust-Jenson, Executive Council Director; Jennifer Bruno, Executive Council Deputy Director; David Everitt, Mayor’s Chief of Staff; Margaret Plane, City Attorney; Lynn Pace, Mayor’s Senior Advisor; Russell Weeks, Council Senior Policy Analyst; Robin Hutcheson, Transportation Director; Jan Aramaki, Council Policy Analyst; Rick Graham, Public Services Director; Nick Tarbet, Council Policy Analyst; Jaysen Oldroyd, Senior City Attorney; Jill Love, Community and Economic Development Director; Angela Dunn, Economic Development Facilitator; Brian Roberts, Senior City Attorney; Cris Jones, Transportation Planner; Stephanie Duer, Water Conservation Program Manager; Laura Briefer, Water Resource Manager; and Scott Crandall, Deputy City Recorder.
Guests in Attendance: Mike Reberg, Salt Lake County Animal Control Services Director.
Councilmember Garrott presided at and conducted the meeting.
The meeting was called to order at 4:21 p.m.
AGENDA ITEMS
#1. 4:21:09 PM CONSIDER POLICY OPTIONS AND NEXT STEPS FOR NEW DOG OFF-LEASH AREAS. The options are based on recommendations from the Off-Leash Community Working Group and comply with the Council’s policy goal, to expand opportunities for residents to enjoy outdoor activities with their off-leash dogs while minimizing impacts on other people, on health and safety, on parks and open space, on nature and wildlife, and on Salt Lake City’s budget. View Attachments
Jan Aramaki and Rick Graham briefed the Council with attachments. Comments included policy preferences, how to enhance current/future off leash areas, expand off-leash areas in current parks, enforcement options, should existing policy goals be modified, define role of community involvement, education versus enforcement, potential for park specific groups/partnerships, identify/enhance City resources, pet owners should manage/self police, letter of intent with community partners, promote sponsorships, expand Adopt-a-Spot program, lack of County-wide dog parks, user conflicts, financial impact to change park uses, community needs predictability, diverse open space, and create neighborhood recreation opportunities. Councilmember Garrott asked if Council Members supported the Council’s existing off-leash policy statement/goals. A majority of the Council was in support.
Councilmember Penfold said he was interested in pursuing the concept of having the City work with local dog groups (partnership opportunities) to help correct bad behavior of other dog owners. He said resources would have to be allocated but felt this type of model would provide opportunities for better compliance/good behavior than just relying on enforcement through tickets/warnings.
Councilmember Mendenhall said she was concerned the proposal intended to eliminate opportunities for dog park sponsorships. She said instead, the City should encourage individuals/groups/companies to sponsor/install/manage parks rather than enhance enforcement measures.
Councilmember Penfold requested information from Mr. Graham about hiring a position(park manager/ranger) to manage a system similar to the Adopt-a-Spot program (including funding sources)
Councilmember Luke suggested creating a formal committee/board (current community working group could be expanded/formalized) that would have authority/oversight to address dog/animal policy issues, provide education, and work with community groups like Friends Interested in Dogs and Open Spaces (FIDOS) to better manage/regulate off-leash areas.
Councilmember Garrott said he sensed the Council was interested in significant involvement of community groups in rule making/governance, education, enforcement, maintenance, and identifying gaps/needs relating to development/creation/funding of new areas.
Discussion was held on potential resources needed to facilitate community involvement. A majority of the Council supported the idea of funding an employee to work with community groups. Councilmember LaMalfa expressed concern that some areas/dog parks in the City did not have community interest/support.
Discussion was held on the concept of creating an advisory/action committee that could ensure dog parks were sufficiently covered by community groups. Council Members felt the board needed to have a balanced membership and address all animal related issues, not just dogs. Councilmember LaMalfa said he did not think there were enough community groups to cover all City dog parks and was reluctant to support a policy that did not provide some accommodations for parks that lacked a community group to perform maintenance, education, and fund raising. Councilmember Penfold thought organizations like FIDOS might be willing to look at some sort of dog park rotation on a Citywide basis.
Councilmember Penfold said it was difficult to create new dog parks or add/change uses because the process required an official ordinance change. He said a more user friendly process needed to be explored.
Straw Polls:
•Support for pilot programs for morning and evening dog off-lease times in neighborhood parks. (one per Council district, test period length to be determined, prohibit dogs from play areas). All Council Members were in support except Councilmember LaMalfa who was opposed. Councilmember LaMalfa expressed concern about how success/failure would be evaluated. Councilmember Luke expressed concern about the City’s ability to terminate a test program early in the event difficult problems occurred.
•Support to explore pilot projects for off-leash areas in Wasatch Hollow, Rotary Glen, Jordan River Par-3, and Bonneville Shoreline Trail. All Council Members were in support. Mr. Graham said there were opportunities with the Bonneville Shoreline Trail but the Administration wanted to understand the full scale of ecological issues before any decisions were made. Councilmember Rogers expressed concerns about potential impacts to disc golfers at Jordan River Par-3 property. Mr. Graham said those details would be explored during the re-purposing process.
•Support to establish (ordinance limitations apply) off-leash areas in Fairmont Park, Rosewood Park, and Jordan Park? All Council Members were in support. Discussion was held on issues relating to Jordan Park. Mr. Graham said the Administration would support the Council’s recommendation of putting that on the priority list for new parks/off-leash areas.
•Support to pursue discussion with Salt Lake County regarding potential partnerships for new dog off-leash areas and shared funding. All Council Members were in support.
•Support to consider winter shifts/uses in the location of some off-leash parks. All Council Members were in support.
•Support for the Administration to maintain a regular inventory of all parks and open space. All Council Members were in support.
•Support to explore off-leash use during off-hours at golf courses. All Council Members were in support.
Councilmember Garrott said additional discussion would be scheduled to refine the proposal.
#2. 5:49:26 PM RECEIVE A BRIEFING ON AN INTERLOCAL COOPERATION AGREEMENT WITH THE COUNTY TO PROVIDE ANIMAL CONTROL SERVICES TO SALT LAKE CITY. The City has contracted with the County for animal control services since 1991. View Attachments
Jan Aramaki, Rick Graham, Jaysen Oldroyd, and Mike Reberg briefed the Council with attachments. Comments included stable relationship with County, no-kill philosophy, live release rate, severity of attacks, vicious dog/behavioral issues, evaluation team, partnering with community groups, create additional off-leash opportunities, ongoing conflict issues, balanced approach between enforcement/education, pest control, feral cats/raccoon issues, and defunct federal raccoon disposal program.
Discussion was held on dealing with raccoons. Councilmember Rogers requested cost analysis to implement a disposal program (potentially with Sandy City). Councilmember Penfold said he wanted to explore the potential to re-implement the defunct federal raccoon disposal program Countywide through the Council of Governments (COG) or other agencies (Salt Lake County) and felt costs could be shared across multiple jurisdictions. A Straw Poll was held to request that Mr. Graham explore a raccoon program with the County and provide Council follow-up. All Council Members were in support. Councilmember Mendenhall suggested contacting COG to find potential participants. Councilmember LaMalfa said he served on the committee and would approach them.
#3. 6:54:50 PM RECEIVE A BRIEFING ON THE CITY’S ROLE IN A REQUEST BY TWO BUSINESSES, OEMETA AND RED WING SHOES, TO OBTAIN FOREIGN TRADE ZONE STATUS FOR PROPERTIES LOCATED OUTSIDE THE CURRENT DESIGNATED PARCEL. Foreign Trade Zones are locations throughout the United States where there are delayed or reduced duty payments on foreign merchandise to incentivize importers, manufacturers and distributors to locate in the U.S. instead of outsourcing internationally. Salt Lake City’s Foreign Trade Zone 30 is a 55-acre parcel located at 1105 South 4800 West. Salt Lake City would need to sponsor the companies’ applications, which will be submitted to the Foreign Trade Zone Board in Washington D.C. View Attachments
Jill Love, Angela Dunn, and Russell Weeks briefed the Council with attachments. Comments included incentivizing companies to locate in Salt Lake, tools to help develop manufacturing areas, no action required, creation of sub-zones, duty deferral/elimination, tax benefits, Red Wing Shoes/Oemeta subzone applications, operator’s agreement, cost recovery collection, federal restrictions, and market/leverage opportunities.
Ms. Love said the Administration could come back to the Council with additional information about workloads/fee schedules following a monitoring phase. Councilmember Luke asked if this could be utilized as an economic development tool to incentivize companies to move their operations to the City. Ms. Love said they could explore that issue with the Attorney’s Office.
#4. 7:07:48 PM RECEIVE A BRIEFING ON THE TRANSIT MASTER PLAN PROCESS, WHICH THE ADMINISTRATION IS UNDERTAKING TO CREATE A LONG-TERM PLAN FOR TRANSIT AND TRANSIT DEVELOPMENT IN THE CITY. The briefing will focus on the goals of the Transit Master Plan and a schedule outline. View Attachments
Cris Jones, Robin Hutchison, and Russell Weeks briefed the Council with a PowerPoint Presentation/attachments. Comments included historic street car routes, continuing Council involvement, develop/evaluate comprehensive plan, gather community input, identify criteria, identify transit corridors, utilize Open City Hall, on-line surveys, Jingle Bus/mobile workshop, non-City partner to assist with language barriers, public outreach strategy, community notification/involvement, transit master plan work shop/retreat with Council, Boulder fact-finding trip, City lead transit plan, website launch, and interview community leaders.
Councilmember Adams asked the Administration to find ways to contact/involve people who did not own a computer, lacked computer skills, or were disabled/home bound. Councilmember LaMalfa expressed concerns about community outreach for people with language barriers. Ms. Hutcheson said the plan included detailed outreach goals to involve low-income residents, people with disabilities/language barriers, other adult/youth groups, etc. She said this was an important component of the process and the department would continue to pursue ways to involve everyone.
Discussion was held on adding the following elements/ideas to the list of transit goals.
•Councilmember LaMalfa - amenities related to bus routes such as bus shelters, cement pads, benches, etc.
•Councilmember Penfold - convenient transfers/transit needed to connect all parts of the City that were not currently being served (difficult to get across town)
•Councilmember Garrott - geographic equity (ensure all parts of the City are served)
•Council Members wanted transit connection between University of Utah and Salt Lake Airport.
Councilmember LaMalfa said other data that might be useful to the master planning process included 1)recently adopted Westside Master Plan, 2)University of Utah study called the “Fair Housing Equity Assessment”, 3)City’s housing plan, 4)“Historic Street Car Routes”, 5) Redwood Road as a possible “Bus Rapid Transit” (BRT) alignment, 6)investigate Rose Park industrial areas(Centennial Industrial Park), and 7)utilize Police Department’s security knowledge about the City.
Ms. Hutcheson asked if Council was comfortable with the department updating the transit goals list from this discussion and using it as a beginning point for further discussions with the community. Councilmember Garrott said yes.
Discussion was held on two pending transit studies relating to locally preferred alternatives for South Davis transit corridor (BRT) and a downtown streetcar line. A Straw Poll was taken on moving ahead with the Davis County/Salt Lake City piece of BRT. All Council Members were in favor.
Mr. Jones said community input would be utilized to identify and evaluate criteria for every aspect of the plan. He said that information would be presented to Council at a future point in the process. He said other milestones where Council Members would be requested to participate included: consultant interviews, providing feedback on “existing conditions report”, helping to refine development goals, and receiving an update on initial findings/draft recommendations.
#5. 7:39:23 PM HOLD A DISCUSSION AND RECEIVE A BRIEFING REGARDING MATTERS OF INTEREST TO THE CITY THAT ARISE DURING THE 2015 STATE LEGISLATIVE SESSION.
Lynn Pace summarized the following topics addressed during the legislative session: transportation/transit funding, quarter-to-quarter funds, new-growth formula (bill failed), drive-through regulations (passed), apartment inspections, good landlord program, historic districts, and ground transportation (passed). He said a local option sales tax was one component of the transportation bill which needed to be approved by voters. He said the County was in charge of putting initiatives on the ballot and thought it would behoove local cities to encourage the County to put it on the ballot this fall rather than waiting until 2016. He said $50 million would be lost every year the City waited.
Mr. Pace said additional follow-up was needed on City ordinances relating to apartment inspections, drive-thru’s, and ground transportation. He said the City should anticipate a bill next year regarding historic districts and thought the Council might want to proactively revisit the issue to address potential concerns. Councilmember Penfold requested additional information on “towing regulations” due to local issues and the State’s inability to regulate that industry. Mr. Pace said he would provide the Council a detailed summary of the session.
#6. 7:36:29 PM RECEIVE A BRIEFING ABOUT A PROPOSED FRANCHISE AGREEMENT FOR ZAYO GROUP, LLC, A TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANY. The agreement would allow the company to place and maintain its facilities within the City rights of way. The company would be governed by certain conditions, would need to secure appropriate permits and pay the telecommunications tax under state law. View Attachments
Brian Roberts and Nick Tarbet briefed the Council with attachments. Councilmember LaMalfa asked about requiring the applicant to provide an inventory of their facilities in a Geographic Information System (GIS) format and what the nature of their infrastructure was, i.e. utility boxes, poles, etc. Mr. Roberts said they were required to provide information to the City regarding their assets but their facilities consisted mainly of underground conduit. No additional concerns were raised by the Council.
#7. 7:59:48 PM RECEIVE A BRIEFING ABOUT FUNDING FOR A PROPOSED PARTNERSHIP WITH THE SALT LAKE CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT TO DEVELOP A WATER CONSERVATION PLAN FOR THE DISTRICT. The City’s Public Utilities department has applied for a grant from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation that the district would use to identify how it can further reduce water usage in its schools and on its grounds. Under the proposal, the City would provide matching in-kind funds (through staff line) in the event the grant is awarded. View Attachments
Stephanie Duer and Laura Briefer briefed the Council with attachments. Comments included direct/indirect benefits, increase water efficiencies/eliminate waste, garden-wise website, long-term capital infrastructure investments, modify landscape systems, 50/50 split, total in-kind contribution by City, and Council resolution required.
No concerns were raised by the Council.
#8. 8:05:17 PM REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INCLUDING A REVIEW OF COUNCIL INFORMATION ITEMS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS. The Council may give feedback or staff direction on any item related to City Council business. View Attachments
See file M 15-5 for announcements.
#9. REPORT OF THE CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR.
No discussion was held.
#10. CONSIDER A MOTION TO ENTER INTO CLOSED SESSION, IN KEEPING WITH UTAH CODE § 52-4-205, FOR ANY ALLOWED PURPOSE.
Item not held.
The meeting adjourned at 8:10 p.m.
This document is not intended to serve as a full transcript as other items may have been discussed; please refer to the audio or video for entire content.
This document along with the digital recording constitute the official minutes of the City Council Work Session meeting held March 17, 2015.
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