Feb. 1, 2011 City Council

MINUTES - HIGHLAND CITY COUNCIL MEETING - February 1, 2011
Regular Session at 7:00 p.m.
Highland City Council Chambers
5400 West Civic Center Drive, Highland Utah 84003

7:00 P.M. REGULAR SESSION – CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS
CALL TO ORDER – Mayor Lynn Ritchie


INVOCATION – Tom Butler


PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE – Larry Mendenhall


APPEARANCES


1. Time has been set aside for the public to express their ideas,
concerns, and comments.


• Tim Garlick
Tim owns an Ice SnowShack and wanted to see if the seasonal permit
term could be extended from 90 to 120 days. He also wanted approval to
put a “Shack” in the parking lot of LPHS. He has been talking with ASD
about this but needs city approval due to zoning issues.
Both items will be considered once a new city planner is in place


• Jane Dalling (?)
She expressed polite but firm concerns about the proposed changes to
the housing ordinance which change the regulations regarding
“accessory” apartments. She had a number of issues from the
possibility that there would be too many cars to making sure that the
requirements for owner occupancy remain in place. She compared what
could happen to Highland to what happened in Provo. Also, voiced a
concern for general safety issues.


• Richard Sudwick (?) (officer of The Library Foundation)
Expressed support for the agenda item that would create a separate
bank account for the library in library fees and fines would be put.
This money with CC approval would be used to fund future library
budgets.


• Jenny Thacker
Asked for partial funding for a N. County pageant tied into the Miss
America program. She will seek funding from businesses, Cedar Hills,
and Alpine. Pageant date is tentatively set for Aug 13. She provided
info and the matter will be considered at a future date.


2. Planning Commission Appointments
• Trixie Williams (Alternate) approved


3. Minutes
• Minutes from the previous council meeting approved with minor
corrections


4. RESOLUTION – Declaring Surplus Property (Equipment) for the
Purposes of Disposal


BACKGROUND: (Presentation by John Park, City Administrator) The City
Council recently approved a Building Use Policy for the new Community
Center (formerly the City Hall) located at 5378 W 10400 North. In
preparation for getting the building ready for public use there are
some items that need to be removed that remain from when the building
was used as the former City Hall. Pursuant to Highland City Municipal
Code 2.44 the City Council shall hold a public hearing prior to
declaring City property/equipment surplus.


RESOLVED: The file cabinets, desks, counters will be sold via KSL.com
(unanimously approved)


5. ORDINANCE – Amending the Highland City FY2011 Budget.


BACKGROUND: (Presentation by Lynn Ruff, Finance Director) It is
necessary to amend the budget to adjust for additional revenues
collected and various unanticipated expenditures in the various funds
of the City. Some of the proposed amendments deal with the Library
funds, pressurized irrigation funds, sidewalk repairs, the Community
Center remodel and other items. The City Council held a public hearing
on the budget amendments on January 18, 2011. No public comment was
received.


City councilman had a number of questions on the budget amendment; at
one point the discussion devolved to comments around an impending $10
per month rate hike for pressurized irrigation. However, the
resolution seemed to be mostly about reallocating existing funds to
cover expenses already incurred (i.e. putting the money in the right
bucket).


RESOLVED: The amended budget was approved 4 to 1 with Kathryn being
the sole negative vote.


6. ORDINANCE – Amending the Highland City Development Code Chapter 10
Definitions relating to the definition of a family.


BACKGROUND: (Presentation by Nathan Crane, Community Development
Director) Councilmember Butler has requested the definition of family
be amended to make it easier for property owners to rent their
basements. The proposed amendment would allow a homeowner to rent a
portion of a home to one or two families. The proposed amendment does
not address parking or other requirements. This item reviewed at the
February 18, 2011 City Council meeting and staff was directed to
revise the definition to be consistent with State Statute and address
public safety issues.


Lots of discussion on this item. The proposed language would allow a
homeowner to rent an accessory apartment to two adults (unrelated to
the owners) and their children. The language could be interpreted as
two single adults and their respective children or two adults (a
couple) and their children. Brian thought that the new language would
permit only owner occupied rentals whereas the city attorney said no.
Because of the second family definition (4 unrelated adults living in
the same home). This definition of a family was put into law by our
state legislature. Jane again spoke before the council and reiterated
her concerns regarding the new language. Scott, Kathryn, Tom, and
Brian all expressed their opinions as well.


One of the concerns about the current language was that in order to
rent out part of your home there must be a common area (i.e. you can’t
rent out a basement apartment it is separate from the rest of the
house – it has a separate entrance, its own bathroom and kitchen).


Tom went into a long speech on property rights quoting everyone from
Bastiat to President David O Mckay. The quotes were interesting but
I’m not sure how they applied to the issue at hand. Tom did mention
that Alpine has a very loose ordinance around accessory apartments
which has been in effect for 16 yrs and only 4% of the home owners
have chosen to avail themselves of it.
Brian said the he could not support the ordinance as he was
uncomfortable with risks associated with unintended consequences.


RESOLVED: The ordinance changes were adopted by a 3 to 2 vote. Brian
and Larry were opposed while Scott, Kathryn, and Tom approved.


Note, this is probably not the end of this discussion given the amount
of issues that were raised.
Below is the existing and new language that was approved with respect
definition of a family as related to single family homes:


Existing Definition:


“Family - A individual or two or more persons related by blood,
marriage, or adoption, living together in a single dwelling unit and
maintaining a common household. A family may include two, but not more
than two, non-related persons living with the residing family. The
term family shall not be constructed to mean a group of non-related
individuals, a fraternity, club or institutional group.”


Proposed (and adopted) Definition:


“Family:
(1) One or more persons related by blood, marriage, adoption or legal
guardianship, including foster children, and no more than two adults
and their children who are unrelated to the residing family; or
(2) A group of not more than four persons not related by blood,
marriage, adoption or legal guardianship, including foster children
living together as a common household.”


7. ORDINANCE – Amending the Highland City Development Code Section
5-4-300: Major Subdivision Option and Chapter 5-10: Amending a
Recorded Plat to remove the public hearing requirements for
preliminary plats and modifying the review process for final plats.


BACKGROUND: (Presentation by Nathan Crane, Community Development
Director) The proposed amendment modifies the review process for
preliminary and final plats for major subdivisions. The primary
objectives of this amendment are to streamline the review process and
to amend the process to be consistent with the new legislation and to
clarify the review process. The City Council considered this item on
January 18, 2011 and directed staff to revise the amendment to include
a public hearing before the Planning Commission for all preliminary
plats.


After a lot of discussion and back and forth it this amendment was
adopted with the provision that the City Council entertain comments
from the community when considering preliminary plats. The planning
commission and community dev director felt it was important that
public comment be received as soon in the process as possible but the
city council wanted to sure that they were being a transparent as
possible as well. The reason that the term public hearing was not used
for the City Council meeting was that there are specific communication
requirements that need to be performed for a hearing versus simply
public comment.


The city manager pointed out that the new city website (coming soon)
will allow city members to sign up to receive notices on a range of
subjects so that they can be as involved as they want.


RESOLVED: Amendment adopted with the proviso for allowing public
comments at City Council meetings as discussed above. The vote was
unanimous.


COMMUNICATION ITEMS BY MAYOR, CITY COUNCIL & STAFF
These items are for information purposes only and do not require
action or discussion by the City Council.
8. DISCUSSION – Utah County Metro Fire Agency – John Park, City
Administrator
9. FINANCIAL REPORT – Lynn Ruff, Finance Director
10. REPORT – North Pointe Solid Waste Special Service District –
Kathryn Schramm