11 Aug Meeting Minutes Aug 1, 2018
Sugar House Community Council Trustee Meeting Minutes
Trustees Present: Mike Bagley, Sally Barraclough, Laurie Bray, Landon Clark, Melanie Heath, Deb Henry, Sue Ann Jones, Michael G. Kavanagh, Benny Keele, Steve Kirkegaard, Will Kocher, Susan Koelliker, Dayna McKee, Judi Short, Shane Stroud, George Sumner, Sue Watson, Adam Weinacker, Erika Wiggins, Rawlins Young
Trustees Excused: Mary Clark, Topher Horman, Dave Mulder, Benjamin Sessions, Jason Smurthwaite,
Trustees Unexcused: Camron Anderson, Tina Escobar-Taft, Eric Mcgill, Larry Migliaccio, Chris Sveiven
The meeting was called to order at 7:03 pm by Landon Clark, Chair SHCC
Motion to approve last month’s minutes was made by Will, seconded by Dayna. The motion passed unanimously with no corrections to the minutes.
Chair Announcements: Landon Clark
The SHCC is hosting a Night Out In Sugar House event on August 7th from 5:30-7:30 pm at Fairmont Park. SLC Detective Josh Ashdown and SHCC Chair, Landon Clark have been working on the event which will include activities such as Cops and Bobbers – Fish with a Cop, a bike rodeo, giant games, live birds, bike giveaway, book giveaway, live music, and zumba.
The Fairmont Aquatic Center is sponsoring some swim events for the National Transplant Games on Friday and Saturday, Aug 3-4.
The opening celebration for the Sego Lily sculpture was held this morning in Sugar House Park.
The Starbucks on 13th East will be opening in September.
Secretary Report: Sally Barraclough
There were no expiring petitions to consider. A new petition for an At- Large Trustee was presented by Andrew Dale from Howdy Homemade Ice Cream. Andrew is studying Information Systems and also helps manage the ice cream store. Sally moved to accept the petition, George seconded, and the motion was approved unanimously.
Treasurer Report: Mike Bagley
The account balance is $7189.54. The final payment of $2585 for Sites by Sara, who designed the new website, was made in June. The new website is live. The $45 monthly expense for Constant Contact, which is the newsletter provider, will be going down because we changed providers.
Community Announcements:
Sprague Library: Heather Hart
Heather announced that the library elevator passed inspection. Parts of the lower level of the library are now open.
They have signed a contract with the Arch Nexus architectural firm to provide designs for the renovation. The consulting firm, Margaret Sullivan Studios will be assisting the architects with input from the community. They will be meeting with the public on Thursday, Aug 9th all day at the library. There will be formal meetings in the evening.
Book Baby and Story Time meetings are still being held at Legacy Village because the library lower level is not ready to accommodate large groups.
Park Avenue (Shopko Block )Project Update: Mark Isaac
There will be a “steel topping off” event on Thursday, Aug 16th at 10am. The last beam to be placed on the University building will be available for members of the public to sign prior to its installation at the top of the building.
The construction team has worked very hard to keep the surrounding streets clean and uncluttered. If you see any issues you can contact Mark through Landon or Judi.
There are new partners that have been added to the group building the 3rd phase of the project. Cottonwood Residential and Sentinel Real Estate Group have joined the project for the multi-family unit that will be built on the west side of the parcel. There have been minor changes made to the layout of the building. Judi has provided the change document to the trustees.
SL County Democrats: Becky Moss
The organization is sponsoring a free pot luck BBQ on Saturday, August 18th from 4-7pm in Sugar House Park at the Fabian Lakeside Pavilion. Activities include lawn games, live bands and a water balloon fight. There will be free hot dogs. Bring your own pot luck. Everyone regardless of political affiliation is welcome to join the fun.
Highland High School News: Sue Ann Jones, Country Club Trustee
Highland High has 50% of their students on free or reduced lunch. There are 420 who receive English as a Second Language (ESL) training. That is about 25% of the student population. There are 115 refugees and 50 different languages spoken at the school.
The school has a food pantry to supply students with food for dinner or the weekend. Each low income student is allowed to take four items each day from the pantry, so the school has a great need to keep the pantry stocked. Donations of easy-to-prepare foods are appreciated.
They are also looking for volunteers to help the ESL students with reading. Volunteer hours are very flexible. Financial donations for this program are also welcome.
The football team is raising money for their sports program. Half of the players are on reduced lunch payments so they do not have money for their uniforms, shoes, etc. Please consider a company donation to purchase a banner or making a cash donation to the football team. They are holding their first annual Highland Ram Jam on Aug 16th at 6pm at the school. This is a celebration/fundraising event with food and activities for all ages.
Information for all donation/volunteer opportunities will be posted at www.highland.slc.schools.org.
Presentations:
SLC Transportation Bond – SLC Mayor Jackie Biskupski
In the past year the city has adopted the following plans to guide future actions in these areas.
- Transportation Master Plan
- Clean energy/clean air Master Plan
- Law Enforcement strategic plan
- Affordable Housing Plan
Of the people who responded to a survey on how to pay for the initiatives included in these plans, two-thirds responded positively to a small increase in sales tax. The city council adopted the sales tax increase. The city anticipates about a $28 million dollar return in the first partial year and $33 million in the full years that follow. The city website will soon have a dashboard that will allow constituents to track the funds as they come in and how the dollars are being spent in real time.
There is a legal analysis being conducted regarding the city’s recourse for the 20,000 acres of city-owned land in the northwest quadrant that the state has appropriated for an inland port project. The state has appointed a port authority board to oversee the inland port project.
Operation Rio Grande has caused an increase in calls from Sugar House to the police department regarding the homeless population who have relocated to this area. Mayor Biskupski encouraged citizens to call if there is troubling activity. She recognized Chief Brown and his strategic plan, and noted that crime is down in all districts of the city. There is a new graduating class of cadets that is 40% minority. The minority mix will help the law enforcement department look more like the city population they serve.
265 transitional housing units are being opened throughout the city to help those who are experiencing homelessness move through the system toward housing independence. They will receive help with health issues and job placement. Salt Lake Community College is providing workforce training. There are currently about 750 individuals using the Road Home which is scheduled to close in 2019.
A new multipurpose sports field will be opening soon in Pioneer Park at the request of the urban core who use this area.
Scooter companies Bird and Lime have signed a temporary a 30 day operating agreement with the city. They got business licenses and the program will be reviewed by the city at the end of the trial period. One of the rules that was applied was that they must provide mobility options for all three zones of the city not just downtown. They can have up to 500 scooters per company. The rules can be found at www.slc.gov/transportation/shared mobility. Questions and complaints can be sent by email to dockless@slcgov.com or by using the city mobile app on your smart phone.
General Obligation Bond for street reconstruction
Elizabeth Buehler -City Civic Engagement Officer
Matt Cassel – SL City Engineer
A consulting firm that was hired by the city to survey the city roads determined that the majority of the roads are in poor or failing condition. The city council will be deciding on August 14th if a $87 million bond that would go toward rebuilding our streets should be on the November ballot. There has been public process including open houses and a website survey to collect community feedback. Go to www.fundingourfutureslc.com for more information regarding the bond. After the council vote, as required by state law, the city can no longer take a position on the bond. A week before the mail in ballots arrive in the mail a voter information pamphlet will be mailed to voters to explain the bond and the city’s needs.
1300 East Construction Project
Holly Mullin – Communications and Outreach Manager for SLC Public Utilities
Natalie Moore – SLC Public Utilities Project Manager
Chelsea Herrin – Public Involvement Manager for S&L Inc.
Jenny Oman – Project Manager Attendant
Adam Carrillo – Civic Engagement Manager for SLC Engineering
The project kicked off on the 25th of July. It involves sewer main line and water main line upgrades from 1300 South to 2100 South on 13th East. This is the first of two phases and will be completed in early 2019.
The second phase is a complete rebuild of the street including new curb, gutter, sidewalks, and road. There will also be upgrades to the bus stops. This phase will start in the summer of 2019.
On August 15th the city will conduct an open house as part of a public engagement process to keep the neighborhood informed about the project. The website for more information is www.slc.gov/mystreet. The public can contact the city by email: 1300East@slcgov.com and by phone: (801) 483-6898.
Green Bike
Ben Bolte-Founder and Director
Green Bike is SLC’s bike share organization. It is a registered 501 (c) 3 non-profit and has a 12 member board made up of various public and private citizens. Their governing principles are:
- Ridership not revenue
- Safety as a priority in purchasing bikes (higher purchase price for better bikes)
- Safety and maintenance of the bikes (every bike is inspected twice a month)
- Community and behavioral changes toward transportation
They currently have 375 bikes, 685 docks at 34 stations. There are 30,000 unique users a year buying 32,000 passes.
The bikes every year, to date have removed 3.8 million vehicle miles which includes UTA bus rides where a green bike was used for the first or last miles of a commute. 70% of the rides come from commuters.
Riders remove 3.4 million pounds of CO2 per year and users collectively burn 55 million calories per year. All of these statistics can be found on their website.
Green bike has corporate sponsors who sponsor bike stations and provide bike passes for their employees. Starting next year, they will be adding more bikes and stations, the total of which will be a 92% increase from the previous years.
Ben conducted a survey of the trustees and audience regarding the various models of bike and scooter rental and docking station options. The models ranged from maximum flexibility for pick-up or drop-off to maximum reliability of location and repair.
Ben predicts that in the future there may be e-bike options but there are challenges with cost of these bikes and recharging bike batteries. Hopefully e-bikes / pedal assist bikes will be available within the next two years. At this time, Green Bike is not providing helmets. That responsibility is left to the riders.
Police Report: Detective Josh Ashdown
There is a new bike registration for Salt Lake residents. You can register your bike for free by going to www.slcpd.com. This will really help the police department track down owners of recovered bikes.
Josh will start doing a monthly crime report rather than weekly updates because it gives a more accurate trend of what’s going on in the district.
The Nextdoor App has good aspects and bad aspects in regard to crimes being posted on the site. The police department does not monitor the site for public privacy reasons so Josh strongly encouraged those who post a crime to also report it to the police. This insures that the police are in the loop and can handle the issues appropriately. Every report matters because the police allocate their resources according to the location of reported crimes.
Night Out in Sugar House is being held in conjunction with the national Night Out Against Crime program. Please plan to attend on August 7th 5:30-7:30 in Fairmont Park. There will be free food and lots of activities. Come meet our local law enforcement and fire department staff.
The department is still planning for an east-side precinct. The location has yet to be determined.
In order to shorten the wait time on calls, the Chief Brown has put detectives back in patrol cars on rotating two week intervals. By putting two officers in each car, they can send one car rather than two to respond to a call and hopefully catch up on the backlog of calls.
City Council Report: Amy Fowler, District 7
Amy thanked community members in Sugar House that have pushed projects to completion for their community. She specifically mentioned the Sego Lily project, the Fairmont Park Pond project, and the S-Line Bike and Pedestrian Trail (Parley’s Trail).
Today was the ground breaking for the sports field in Pioneer Park. The field will have lights, and the bathrooms will be rebuilt. This project will revitalize the park and surrounding area. The city will continue to work on the homeless situation in the area to insure they are not displaced.
Sugar House Fire Station #3 will open at the end of September or early October. The station will be big enough to hold a ladder truck but as of now that truck is not in the budget. Amy is pushing for a Medical Response Team vehicle which would allow the paramedics to respond without bringing out the big fire truck for medical calls. All of our fire fighters are EMTs and some are trained paramedics. 80-90% of the calls to Station #3 are medical calls.
The council funded two new positions for the fire department. One is a community outreach staff member and the other is a community fire education staff member.
Meeting Adjourned at 9:10 pm
