Meeting Minutes Dec 6, 2017

Meeting Minutes Dec 6, 2017

Sugar House Community Council Trustee Meeting Minutes

Trustees Present:   Mike Bagley, Sally Barraclough, Amy Barry, Landon Clark, Mary Clark,  Tina Escobar-Taft, Melanie Heath, Deb Henry, Topher Horman, Michael G. Kavanagh, Benny Keele, Steve Kirkegaard, Will Kocher, Susan Koelliker,  Dayna McKee,  Benjamin Sessions, Judi Short, Jason Smurthwaite, Shane Stroud, George Sumner, Chris Sveiven, Rawlins Young

Trustees Excused:  Camron Anderson, Laurie Bray, Lucy Hawes,

Trustees Unexcused: Tina Escobar-Taft, Sue Ann Jones, Eric Mcgill, Larry Migliaccio, Dave Mulder

The meeting was called to order at 7:02 pm by  Landon Clark, Chair SHCC.

Motion to approve last month’s minutes was made by Ben Sessions, seconded by                Mike Bagley.  The motion passed unanimously with no corrections to the minutes.

Chair Announcements:  Landon Clark

Landon thanked Legacy Village for letting us use their facility for our meetings.  He introduced the director who stated that they have 130 independent living apartments, 90 assisted living units, and 48 memory care units.  They have been open since May and the building is about 25% occupied.  They expect to be completely occupied by 2019.  They have hosted several community events including the recent Winter Carnival, and look forward to more events in the future.

Landon welcomed the Boy Scouts from Troop #51.  They attend Hillside Middle School.

Cherie Kofoed, Sprague Library acting branch manager was excused. Landon reported that the parts for the library elevator will be delivered in December, with repairs taking 1-2 months.  After the repairs are done they will be re-opening a children’s area and the restrooms in the basement.  Once the total costs for renovations have been determined, the Library Board will decide if there are funds available or if they have to look at other options. One option would be a capital fund raising campaign.

Dayna announced that Amy Fowler, the new District 7 City Council member, sent her regrets that she could not attend tonight’s meeting.  She had a speaking engagement at Westminster College but looks forward to attending next month.

Jason brought a ballot petition for people to sign if they are in favor of seeing a Medical Cannabis initiative put on the Utah ballot for the next election.

Melo FloresSugar House Winter Carnival  

About 1000-1200 people attended the event which was organized by SweetishSLC.  Melo thanked the following organizations and individuals who made the Winter Carnival possible.

  • Legacy Village of Sugar House
  • Google Fiber
  • The Sugar House Farmers Market
  • Colmena Group
  • The Ruin
  • Gardiner Properties
  • AlphaGraphics of South Salt Lake
  • Carol’s Bakery
  • Chick-fil-A of Sugar House
  • Photography by Laurie
  • RideUTA
  • Traeger Grills

He also thanked Julie, David, Elaine, and Summer from Legacy Village, Laurie Bray and the collaboration with the Santa Shack, and the Fire Dept who delivered Santa and Elsa to the event.

Secretary Report:  Sally Barraclough

There were no new trustee petitions to consider.  Susan Koelliker submitted a petition to renew as a trustee from the Country Club area.  Sally moved to accept the petition, Landon seconded and the motion was approved unanimously.

Sally’s petition was also submitted for renewal.  George moved to accept the petition, Judi seconded and the motion was approved unanimously.

Sue Ann Jones will be renewing her petition from the Country Club area next month.   Lucy Hawes from the Country Club area and Amy Barry from the Westminster area have decided not to renew as trustees.  Lucy was excused from the meeting.

Amy Barry was recognized for her many years of volunteer service to the community council.  She served as Chair from 2014-2016, several terms as Vice-Chair, and started on the council as the council secretary.  Amy worked tirelessly to forward the causes and public outreach of the Sugar House Community Council and she will be deeply missed.  She was presented with a certificate of service and a gift card to Even Stephens restaurant.

Treasurer Report: Benjamin Sessions

There is a $6,354.04 balance in the account.  There is discussion regarding moving the account from the US Bank to a credit union or another bank because US Bank charges for copies of statements and other services.

SLC Police Report: Detective Josh Ashdown

YTD crime stats were down in 2017 as compared to 2016.

  • Business robberies ↓ 55%
  • Weapon assaults (non-family) ↓ 61%
  • Home burglaries ↓ 2.7%
  • Car burglaries ↓ 17%
  • Stolen vehicles ↓ 3.5%

The squad is evaluating a new “stolen package” deterrence program.  They will be placing decoy packages that contain a tracking device on porches to see if they can apprehend people who are stealing packages.  This is a new program that has not been tried by any other local police departments.

Josh is taking time off in January and February while his wife has a baby.  Detective Smith will be filling in for Josh.

Josh introduced his supervisor, Assistant Chief Josh Sharmon and the Community Programs Manager, Officer Dustin Parks.

There has been a small increase in people experiencing homelessness who have relocated from the Rio Grande area to Sugar House.  Josh makes contact with them and offers services through the HOST officers and Volunteers of America.  He is aware that there are camps scattered in the area and after offering assistance, the camps are usually cleaned up.

Assistant Chief Sharmon reported that they are having success utilizing a co-responder model for working with the homeless.  That involves a licensed social worker who works for the police department responding with a police officer to assist the homeless in accessing services.

He also reported that the city council and mayor’s office has budgeted for additional officers to cover all areas of the city.  The new officers will be trained and hired in 2018 and they should be working shifts by the fall.  This will put more officers on the streets and make them more visible in the neighborhoods.  The city is using a new computer program to predict when and where crimes are going to occur.  The predictions are based on data provided to the department regarding previously committed crimes, so it is important that every crime be reported. The department is looking at the feasibility of locating a police substation in Sugar House. It will take time to locate a property and build or retrofit an existing building, so the location has yet to be determined.

Officer Parks reported that the Mayor’s Office has released a climate report for Salt Lake City on line at http://www.slcgreen.com/climatepositive.  The web site also has the mayor’s initiative for clean environment goals through 2040.

Sugar House Park Authority – George Sumner and Chad Anderson

The park authority has a long range goal to replace one pavilion a year if they get funding through the city and county CIP programs.  The first one to be replaced will be the Fabian Lakeside pavilion located near the sled hill.

The playground redesign has been completed.  This was a joint effort between the park authority and SL County parks department staff.  It was funded with ZAP (Zoo, Arts, and Parks) tax and SH Park Authority funds.

The board has a new member.  Holly Nichols has a background in design and architecture and community involvement.  She lives just east of Sugar House Park.

The Sego Lily Plaza is nearing completion.  The plantings and the trail extending from the plaza will be completed in the spring.  The Draw will reopen in the next month.

The pond will be dredged this winter.  This project was also funded with ZAP tax money.

There is currently no one identified to be the promoter/sponsor for the 4th of July Fireworks.  The city and county have been informed that the fireworks do not have a sponsor.  The total cost of the event is approximately $40,000 and the timeline for organizing and getting the permit is very short.

13th East Sewer and Water Line Project – Paul Dowler, Project Manager SLC Engineering   Josh Thompson, Engineer  Holly Mullen, Public Relations

The first phase of the project involves replacing the water lines and sewer line under 13th East from 1300 South to 2100 South starting in spring of 2018.

The second phase is road rehabilitation including storm drain elevations, street elevation adjustments, and new surface which will be laid in 2019.  There are 6.7 million dollars in federal funds and additional city funds that will pay for this phase.  The design process will be carried out by UDOT because the project is federally funded.  They are looking at a variety of options for the surface, including concrete, concrete blends or asphalt and asphalt blends.  There will be a public process including a cost analysis for each option prior to making a final decision.

Sugar House Rotary Club – Errol EerNisse, President

The Rotary Club is a group of business professionals who meet every Thursday at 12 noon at the Forest Dale Golf Clubhouse.

They are once again holding their Chili Open fundraiser on Feb 10th at Little America from 5-9pm.  It is an evening event that includes a silent auction and dinner.  They no longer hold the golf tournament in the snow at Wheeler Farm.  The tournament provided little toward the actual dollars raised for the charities, so they cancelled that part of the event several years ago.  The Rotary Club has raised a total of over $4.3 million dollars over the past 26 years.

This years event will raise between $200,000 to $400,000 which is then given to five small charities that do not have the resources to do their own fundraising.  This years benefit charities are; People Helping People, the Carmen B Pingree Autism Center of Learning, the Cancer Wellness Center, The Sharing Place, and Teen Challenge: 180 Ministries for Girls.

The charities donate silent auction items, and get to keep 100% of the money raised for each of their charities.  Tickets for the event are $95 per seat and that includes one drink coupon.  Money raised from ticket sales and donations is divided among the charities.

Committee Reports

Land Use and Zoning – Judi Short

The city council recently approved a City Housing Plan and the Transit Master Plan. Both plans have been in the works for at least three years.  The 21st and 21st small area plan was also approved. The accessory dwelling unit ordinance was  not finalized and has gone back to the drawing board.

The city planning department informed Judi that the design guidelines that are in the master plans have not been codified so they are unable to enforce them.  They are going to start working on making the codes match the master plan guidelines.

There are two town home projects that will be presented at the next Land Use meeting.  The first is located at 2965 Richmond St and the second is at 2473 South 7th East.  The individual units will be bigger than an apartment but smaller than a house.  Benny and Topher will delivering flyers in neighborhoods inviting people to the next Land Use meeting.

Because of the Christmas holiday, the Land Use meeting will be held in the Cottage Room in Legacy Village on Dec 11th.

The Transportation Committee and Park, Open Space and Trail Committee meetings have been cancelled for December.

Transportation Committee – Landon Clark for Larry Migliaccio

John Larsen, the new SLC Transportation Department Director has been invited to the January meeting.  They will be discussing the new Transit Master Plan.

Parks, Open Space, and Trails Committee- Sally Barraclough

The POST Committee met in November and discussed two park improvement CIP applications.  The committee approved letters of support for a stream improvement project for Fairmont Park, and shade structures for the playground area in Imperial Neighborhood Park.

There are eight citizen sponsored CIP applications for park projects throughout the city but these two are the only ones in the Sugar House area.  The citizens board for CIP projects will be meeting sometime in January.

Arts and Cultural Committee – Landon Clark for Laurie Bray

Laurie could not attend this meeting because she was working at the Santa Shack.  Landon announced that the December Art Walk is scheduled for the 8th from 6-9pm.  It is being held in conjunction with the holiday shopping in Sugar House.  Many businesses will be staying open late and offering sales.  More information can be found on the Sugar House Art Walk Facebook page.

Community Outreach – Ben Sessions

There will be a Christmas Party on Tues, December 19th from 6-8pm at Wasatch Brew Pub.  The trustees, community members and the new city council member, Amy Fowler are invited to attend.

Melanie Heath led a discussion regarding three new logo options for the community council.  The first option is a simple line drawing of some notable Sugar House landmark signs.  The second option is a stylized rendering of a sugar beet.  The third option is similar to the first but also has a tree and a commercial business district in addition to the landmark signs. A vote was taken for various options.  18 people voted for the third option, 6 voted for the sugar beet, and 5 voted for the first option.  It was generally felt that the words Sugar House should be capitalized regardless of which logo is used.

Deb Henry talked about the possibility of the SHCC going through a new website design for better community outreach.  A committee made up of Melanie, Deb, Benjamin, Dayna and Landon gathered bids from various website designers.  They want to update the website to make it more user friendly and to give the site more functionality.  They settled on a local designer who is familiar with Sugar House.  Her company is called Sites by Sarah. There will be more discussion regarding this expenditure prior to making a final decision.

Special Presentation – Judi Short

Judi made a presentation to Lisa Adams, outgoing District 7 City Council member thanking her for her service to our community.  Lisa was given a certificate of service and a gift card to the Dodo restaurant. Lisa thanked the council for their support during her term.

City Council Update – Lisa Adams

In addition to the update on the Accessory Dwelling Unit plan and the 21st and 21st Area Plan, Lisa announced that the council funded the hiring of more police officers and they hope that some of those will be assigned to a bike squad for Sugar House.  The police department is actively looking for a location for a District 7 precinct.

The council appropriated 21 million dollars in RDA funds to provide affordable housing for the community.  The RDA will be building a development at Sugarmont.

Spotlight on Business – Michael G Kavanaugh

Orange Theory Fitness – Julie Gerac, Assistant Studio Manager

This business is located on the lower level of the Legacy Village 1202 East Wilmington Ave.  It is a fitness studio that offers 1hr total body workout classes.  The classes are heart rate based interval training which has been proven to burn more calories post work out than other types of exercise.  The classes focus on endurance, strength, and power and are changed regularly so you never do the exact class twice.  Memberships are paid month-to-month and costs are based on how frequently you attend classes.

Meeting Adjourned at 8:40pm

Landon Clark
minnesotaute76@gmail.com