Minutes of the
GRANITE COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEETING
March 7, 2012
Metropolitan Water District Offices Conference Room
3430 East Danish Road
Council Members in Attendance: Mary Young (District 3) Chair, Terry Wood
(District 1&2), Farah Crawford (District 5), Bryce John (District 4), Ted Bunk
(District 1 & 2), Josh Linker (District 5), and Pam Funk (District 1&2) Secretary.
Other Officials in Attendance & Guests: Alene Bentley, Rocky Mountain Power;
Tod Young and M. Ronald Vance - Salt Lake County (SLCo) Planning Commission;
John Shakula – Citizens for the Preservation of Dimple Dell Park (CPDDP)/Dimple
Dell Park Advisory Board (DDAB); Diana Van Uitert – CPDDP/DDAB; Rita Lund –
SLCo Community Council Liaison; Chad Evans, Michael Shea – SLCo Mayor’s Office;,
Christina Sears, Joshua Pacquing, Ron Bird, and Alan Longstaff.
1.
The Chair called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m., welcomed everyone in
attendance and asked them to join in the Pledge of Allegiance.
2.
The minutes for February 1, 2012 were approved as written.
3.
Electrical Energy Plan/Substation Placement: Alene Bentley, Rocky
Mountain Power (RMP) Company.
a. The time line for the power plan is through 2040, looking at population and
commercial/industry growth and RMP’s existing capability and current
ability to grow. Alene explained that residential power use has increased by
30% in the last 20 years. The plan identifies preferred general locations of
future facilities.
b. Attempts to get power lines buried have been made by municipalities and
RMP for future lines, but this is expensive and affected property owners
bear the cost. However, it is less expensive to bury the 12,500 volt lines
(service lines to residential homes) than the transmission lines with voltage
46,000 and up (commercial use).
c. The Public Service Commission requires that individuals pay to bury lines,
trenching, new cable and the connection fee. Developers may get an
allowance of the dollars required to do this as a credit which will be paid by
future purchasers of the property. However, a jurisdiction may require RMP
to bury all new lines. This is between the two entities to agree on.
d. Alene reported that there is no conclusive evidence (in over 1000 studies)
that electromagnetic radiation cause health problems.
e. Spacing of substations in a grid are determined by load requirements. All
attempts are made to incorporate substations in areas of least
environmental, esthetic, and residential impact. They avoid placing
substations near schools, rest homes and other high population areas due to
the “perceived” risk to health by the public.
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f. Alene asked for the Council’s support in approving the electrical plan and
advising SLCo Planning that it has done so and the Council agreed to this.
4.
Sheriff’s Report and Discussion: Detective Brooks Green was unable to attend
and provided the crime stats via email.
5.
Association of Community Councils Together (ACCT) Report: Mary
reported that SLCo Public Works is improving street light energy efficiency and
will be asking ACCT for feedback on street light designs. The county encourages
participation in the Wasatch Canyons Today Symposium to be held Monday,
March 26 from 8 AM – 4 PM at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center, 1355 W.
3100 S. West Valley City. (RSVP @ 385-468-7050 or tbutler@slco.org). The
County has also asked whether the community needs waste vouchers in spring
or fall (Council members and residents indicated that they appreciate the
vouchers both times of the year), and Michael Shea advised that we will get
some both times. He gave ten each bulk material and green waste vouchers to
Mary, who will coordinate their distribution to people in our community who
need them (they are usable throughout May). If anyone knows of residents who
need vouchers, please contact her. Michael can also provide more vouchers.
Unified Fire Authority (UFA) had reported that HB33 has made changes to
dates/times that fireworks are permitted and advised that residents can call
Steven Higgs (801-743-7220) to request changes to the No Fire Zone if they
want to restrict areas where fireworks are allowed to be lit. Also, if council
members or residents would like to become firefighters for a day, they can call
Steven to register for Fire School 101 on May 12. You would ride along and do
everything firefighters do in a day. The next ACCT training is scheduled for
January 9 of 2013 (mark your calendars).
6.
Salt Lake County Council Report: Rita Lund
a. A joint resolution written by Sen. Niederhauser supports the ski industry’s
ski connect proposal, but does require additional public input and extensive
study to this process.
b. The Utah Legislature has passed the Urban Farming bill, which allows the
use of 2 acres as agricultural tax base instead of the 5 acres in the past. This
is to encourage urban farming.
c. ACCT was interested in the bill regarding the open carry of weapons in
public spaces, which has gone into rules (i.e., action delayed).
d. The State is now required to provide additional reimbursement to the
County for State prisoners at the County jail. There was an attempt to move
some of the funding to the beer tax, which is much more stable, but that
failed. The County did not get reimbursed for funding that was owed them
from previous years.
e. HB502, Incorporation Amendment, was passed, which reduces the number
of signatures required to get incorporation on the ballot (e.g., Millcreek), but
was modified somewhat at least to put the feasibility study back in.
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7.
Mayor’s Office Report: Michael Shea provided invitations to the Wasatch
Canyons Today Symposium (above). Community councils can submit questions
for the Foothills and Canyons Overlay Zones (FCOZ) panel to Mike Shea. The
FCOZ ordinance covers development on property with slopes of 15% or greater
and is very controversial (environmentalists, developers, ski resorts, Save Our
Canyons, etc.). Michael indicated that a few speakers will start the symposium,
then the panel will address questions, and the afternoon will include breakout
sessions on transportation, land use, recreation, and another subject of interest.
Those interested in canyon traffic issues should also attend. Chad Evans said if
anyone has property they own in FCOZ, they may want to attend because it is
difficult to develop land and to get out of this overlay zone.
[For more info on proposed FCOZ changes, see frequently asked questions at
http://www.pw.slco.org/html/FCOZ_FAQs_2012.html.]
8.
Citizens for the Preservation of Dimple Dell Park – John Shakula and Diana
Van Uitert are both officers of the Citizens Committee and members of SLCo
Dimple Dell Advisory Board. The committee was formed by the Granite
Community Council in the 1990’s, when there was a plan to develop a golf
course in Dimple Dell Park. The Community Council is a member of Utah
Neighborhoods, which allows them and their committees to utilize their taxexempt status, and to accept donations and use their bulk mail permit as
needed. The Citizens Committee had collected thousands of dollars through
their fundraising activities to fight the golf course battle and have retained what
remains of that funding. They plan to use this either to support worthwhile
projects in Dimple Dell Park or to hold it as a war chest for future issues that
confront the park. In response to a question, John clarified that Dimple Dell Park
has been annexed into Sandy City, so it has some responsibilities for the park,
but the park is still owned and administered by Salt Lake County.
The Granite Community Council was asked by Utah Neighborhoods to clarify
the ongoing relationship with its committee and confirm that we continue to
support their work and have communication between the two organizations.
The Council asked the Committee to provide updates either every 6 months or
when any changes occur, either via email or at Council meetings. The Council
also invited the Committee to help in the update of the Granite Master Plan,
especially those parts that affect Dimple Dell Park, which they agreed to. The
Committee was also encouraged to advise the Council if they needed the
Council’s support in the future. The Council unanimously agreed to our
continuing relationship with the Citizens Committee and Mary will report this
agreement to Utah Neighborhoods.
Terry noted that he’s received official notification that he is now a member of
the DDAB and asked John for clarification of its role. John explained that the
DDAB was appointed by the County Mayor to advise Salt Lake County on
everything having to do with the park. The board was created in 1991 as a
means of providing public input and stewardship of the park. The board has
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membership by varied interests (horses, hikers, environmentalists, dog lovers,
etc.). The stewardship role and planning for future projects in the park have
transferred to the board.
Pam mentioned that REI has a volunteer day March 24, 1-3 p.m. at the Sandy
REI for signing up and Dimple Dell Regional Park is on their list. Rita noted that
this nonprofit aspect of Utah Neighborhoods is one of the reasons why it’s good
for Councils to continue to be part of them, since one doesn’t know when a
grass-roots committee such as the Citizens committee may need to be formed
and raise funds.
9.
Granite Master Plan: Mary reported that we currently have a small Granite
Master Plan committee and we need the committee to grow, to include noncouncil members, residents, and anyone who cares enough about the Granite
Community to help plan its future. We need active members from each of the
Council districts. Our updated master plan will be folded into the County’s
General Plan and we will need to use their format, including context (history,
population, etc.), best practices, and projects. SLCo Planner Todd Draper
recommended that we use the Millcreek Township General Plan as a model for
ours. He advised that they’re not using zoning designations (high, medium, low)
in the new plans but rather official maps and definitions of community areas
defined by their level of stability and intensity; see this plan at
http://www.pwpds.slco.org/zoning/pdf/MillcreekPlan/Millcreek_Adopted_Bo.
pdf. Mary advised that we’ll be using all the tools we can to solicit input from
the community, including surveys and community meetings, particularly about
controversial issues, such as extending Highland Dr./2000 E. across Dimple
Dell. Community members can get as involved as they want to in this effort.
People should start thinking about projects that they’d like to see happen in our
community, which might be additional improvements to Dimple Dell Park,
intersection improvements, etc. Please contact a council member or Mary if you
are interested in helping with the plan. Ron Bird, Christina Sears, and Diana Van
Uitert all agreed to help with updating the Granite Master Plan. Thanks!
10. Treasurer’s Report: Mary reported for Drew that two checks have cleared
since the last meeting: $10 to ACCT for annual membership and $120 to
Hawkart Design Services for our annual web hosting. Current balances are:
$3939.83 (checking) and $6593.87 (savings).
11. Other Business: Water Tank Removal: Granite has a concern about removal
of the old water tank on Wasatch Blvd, which was supposed to be removed after
completion of the new tank on Little Cottonwood Dr. Mary discussed this with
SLCo Planning and Sandy City Public Utilities (Scott Ellis) and got somewhat
conflicting perspectives. Scott advised that they wanted to let metal scavengers
remove the metal from the tank, but not to do any expensive landscaping.
Chad Evans reported that an agreement was made between Sandy City and the
Granite Water Company regarding removal of the tank. The Verizon tower
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placed on top of the water tank has not been moved, even though the tank is
rusting, and they had agreed to put it on a new pole. Verizon has to work with
the County, which requires landscaping ($60,000 worth). Sandy Public Works
will talk to the County within a few days to relook at this.
Josh commented that Verizon cell service has deteriorated significantly since
last summer and been advised by Verizon that they have no plans to correct this
(this extends from Millcreek Canyon to Little Cottonwood Canyon). Ron Vance
advised that the problem is due to accumulated rust on the tank.
Emergency Response Times: Mary and Drew have been communicating
through Rita to get more information about the problem on Ksel Dr. in which an
emergency vehicle took 8 minutes to arrive at the home of Drew’s neighbor,
who died from choking. This was discussed at the last meeting and the concerns
were that Sandy City and UFA both have GPS in their emergency vehicles (they
do); and that Ksel Dr., besides of its being separated into upper and lower Ksel,
which don’t connect, contributed to the problem. The travel time from the
Sandy fire station to the home should have been 2 minutes. Mary communicated with Sandy City Fire Dept. to get more information about this, in order to
define ways to avoid this sort of problem in the future, including ways we can
educate our residents as to how to help emergency responders get to our
homes faster. She will work with them to get them to our next meeting to
discuss this and we’d also like to have someone from UFA and UPD to discuss
this. Ron Bird noted that he’s called 9-1-1 from his home on Ksel to report a
burglary in progress, and been bounced back and forth between UPD and Sandy
City Police.
12. Public Comments: Alan Longstaff, 2627 E. 10000 S, asked the Council for
informal feedback regarding his coordination with SLCo Planning about trying
to legally use their converted barn as a guest house. He applied to the County
several years ago but was turned down then; the setback requirement is 15’ and
they only have 10’ from their neighbors’ properties to the north. He asked the
Council to make a recommendation to the Planning Commission to allow them
to complete the remodeling process so that they can live in it. Several
suggestions were offered, including rezoning, most of which were considered
unusable by Alan. Mary explained the formal process that Alan will still need to
go through, with the County, and that the Council will make its formal
recommendation then. Several potential problems were noted, including the
fire protection issue with using an accessory building for a residence. Alan was
asked to return to the Council next month to address these questions further.
[Update: Tod researched the County zoning ordinances further, found that
guest house size and use requirements indicate that the existing building does
not qualify as a guest house (Ch. 19.04.290 and Ch. 19.04.280). It was
recommended that he discuss his other options with a County planner.]
13. The meeting was adjourned at 9:25 p.m.
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