Council Meetings - 21 April 2020

Last week's meeting was pushed back a week because of Spring Break, so now we have two sets of meetings just a week apart. It feels like we just finished the last meeting and here we are gearing up for the next one.

PROVO MUNICIPAL COUNCIL
Work Meeting Agenda

12:00 pm, Tuesday, April 21, 2020

Work Meetings are designed to be a less formal venue for discussion among Council Members. Generally, no public input is taken during the meeting.

Business

1. A discussion regarding gathering neighborhood feedback on land use applications. (20-078)
   Provo’s Neighborhood Program has been in place for the past 50 years to gather feedback from residents on land use applications and the General Plan. Most of the feedback is gathered in neighborhood meetings and then reported by the Neighborhood Chair to the Planning Commission and City Council. With the current pandemic restrictions in place, neighborhood meetings have been put on hold. In order to be fair to both the applicant and the neighborhood residents, the Council office would like to use the Open City Hall online public engagement platform as a way to gather that input on applications that will be coming before the Council. I think this is a good addition to collect feedback, even if in-person meetings weren't taboo. I wonder if we need to update any code to facilitate this change. A motion to authorize staff to exempt planning proposals from the policy for Council approval of Open City Hall topics, to post these planning topics as they arrive, and to report back to the Council with the results as usual, was approved 7:0. This will allow will facilitate the collection of public input on proposed land use applications using Open City Hall. This is yet another avenue to provide your opinion on items before the Council.



Policy Items Referred from the Planning Commission

2. A discussion regarding updates to an ordinance amending Provo City Code to establish a Critical Hillside Overlay (CH) Zone. Citywide application. (PLOTA20200077)
   This item was continued from the Council Meeting on April 14, 2020.
   
   Following discussions after complications with the gravel pit, the Foothills Protection Committee and Planning staff prepared a proposed set of hillside requirements and development standards to help protect hillside areas of Provo City. Staff felt that an overlay zone approach was best for adding hillside requirements. The proposed requirements and standards would overlay the existing zoning of a property; in other words, this proposal would add additional zoning requirements for a given parcel in addition to the requirements of the underlying zone. Feedback from multiple City departments was considered in the drafting of this proposal. The proposal includes, among other things, requirements related to limits of disturbance or LOD (identification of the limited area of a lot that can be encroached upon by development activity), slope protection and stability, detention basin design, ridgelines, trails, streets and access, fences, vegetation protection, stream corridor and wetlands protection, design standards, and development clustering. Multiple graphical illustrations of requirements are included in the proposal for the sake of facilitating comprehension of the requirements. Further, this proposal has a companion zone map amendment application. With the zone map amendment application, staff has proposed the inclusion of certain properties in the CH Zone. Included in the proposal is an amendment to Chapter 14.01, Provo City Code, to limit development east of the proposed CH Zone. With only one week between our last set of meetings and the upcoming set of meetings, there has been less time to work through the requested changes to the proposal. I have seen a working draft and I feel it addresses my concerns about the "clustering" provisions well enough.
   
   I have not been closely involved in this issue. I know some have raised concerns about the additional requirements to develop. I'm interested to see how this is addressed on Tuesday. Presentation only. Due to a noticing mistake, this item will need to be pushed back to a later date. There is an upcoming Townhall to on Thursday for more information and to ask questions. See more details on Open City Hall.
3. A discussion regarding the FY 2020-2021 budget. (20-007)
   Given recent economic shifts, Mayor Kaufusi and the Administration have met with each department head to discuss the budget for next year. The Administration will discuss the budget with the Council and hopes that the Council will give an indication of their priorities that the Administration can take into consideration as they prepare the budget. I wonder if we can pass a bare-bones budget that is near "worst-case" but then have plans to reverse some of the more draconian measures if the economy rebounds quickly. Presentation only. Uncertainty is the predominant theme. The Administration will develop a budget with some "first-in" and "first-out" items so we can rapidly respond to changing economic conditions in the coming fiscal year.
4. An Administrative update. (20-079)
   This is an open time for the Administration to discuss any items they would like to bring up with the Council. If needed, it can also serve as a buffer time if any other discussion items run over time. Presentation only. The update focused on the various impacts of COVID-19 on the City, the budget, and the community.



Closed Meeting

Closed meetings (aka executive meetings) are held without the public present and must meet one of the conditions listed in Utah State Code (§ 52-4-204 and 52-4-205 et. seq.). If a closed meeting is needed, it will be announced at that time. None requested.

Adjournment

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PROVO MUNICIPAL COUNCIL
Regular Meeting Agenda

5:30 PM, Tuesday, April 21, 2020

Opening Ceremony

Items in this category do not involve legislative action.


Public Comment

• This public comment period is intended to allow comment on matters that do not appear on the agenda. Each speaker will generally be limited to two minutes. Fifteen minutes has been set aside for this comment period.
• For items on the agenda requiring a public hearing, time to comment will be provided, after the item is presented, for all those who wish to speak.
• For items not requiring a public hearing, public comment will still be taken following presentation of the item, but will be limited to a ten minute total comment period.




Action Agenda

1. A resolution appropriating $4,900,526 in the Airport Fund for the acquisition of land near the airport and authorizing an interfund loan from the Energy Fund as a funding source, applying to fiscal year ending June 30, 2020. (20-067)
   
The Administration recommends the purchase of 29.64 acres of property adjacent to the airport. The property is located immediately east of Duncan Aviation and shares the property line with the Airport on the east, west, and south. The purchase price for the property is $165,000 per acre (appraised value) with a total purchase price including closing costs $4,900,526 to be appropriated in the Airport. The funding will come from an interfund loan from the Energy Fund. The current owner of the property has a number of agricultural leases on the property and suspects that there are people living on the property. There have been reports of illegal activities occurring on the property including actions that violate the standards of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The proposed purchase of the property will qualify to be used as a match for future FAA airport projects. The land currently owned by the City that is available to be used as a match for future projects is $400,000, and it is expected it would be used very quickly with the terminal and other airport expansion projects on the horizon. If the proposed property purchase is not approved, the City would need to provide a cash match for future FAA airport projects once the $400,000 is used. This is an example of an expense that I think would be foolish to put off. We need to make some tough cuts to be prepared for the uncertainty that we are facing, but we shouldn't make cuts that will have long term negative impacts. Approved 7:0 This resolves several issues and positions the airport well for the future.
2. A resolution adding the structure known as Amanda Knight Hall, located at 42 E 800 N, to the Provo Landmarks Register. (PLLN20200115)
   
The applicant has nominated the structure known as Amanda Knight Hall located at 42 E 800 N to be placed on the Provo Landmark Register. The Landmarks Commission reviews the nomination for compliance with “Criteria for Designating Properties to the Landmarks Register” in Section 16.05.020 of the Provo City Code and makes a recommendation to the Municipal Council. Landmarks Commission gave a positive recommendation. Regular readers of this blog will know how long the community has been working towards this moment and how I feel this is a great example of how community advocates, the city government, large institutions, and private interests can all work together to accomplish the seemingly impossible. Approved 7:0 This will be a gem on the inside and out.
3. A discussion regarding updates to an ordinance amending Provo City Code to establish a Critical Hillside Overlay (CH) Zone. Citywide application. (PLOTA20200077)
   
This was item 2 on the work meeting agenda. See my preview for work meeting agenda item 2.
4. An ordinance amending the Zone Map classification of multiple East Bench properties to include them in the Critical Hillside Overlay (CH) Zone. Citywide application. (PLRZ20200078)
   
This is related to item 3 on the meeting agenda and was continued from the April 14 meeting. See my preview for work meeting agenda item 2.


Adjournment