Minutes of the Granite Community Council
Date:
Location:
November 4, 2015
Metropolitan Water District Offices Conference Room
3430 East Danish Road
Council Members Present:
Jeff Summerhays (District 1 & 2); Terry Wood, Vice-Chair (District 1 & 2); Mary Young,
Chair (District 3); Ryan Houmand (District 3); Drew Weaver, Treasurer (District 4); Katie
Clayton (Alternate, District 4); Susie Albertson (District 6); and Bill Clayton (District 6).
Council Members Absent:
Michael Braun (Alt. District 1 & 2); Bryce John (District 4); Josh Kanter (District 5);
Catherine Kanter (District 5); and Kelli Kammerer (Alt. District 6).
Guests Present:
Battalion Chief Brad Lynn, Unified Fire Authority (UFA)
Max Johnson, Salt Lake County (SLCo) Township Services Planning Department
Det. Brooks Green, Unified Police Department (UPD)
Rita Lund, SLCo Community Liaison
Tod Young and Ron Vance, SLCo Planning Commission
Agenda:
Call to Order
Mary Young, Chair of the Granite Community Council (Council) welcomed everyone, called
the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m., and led the Council and guests in reciting the Pledge of
Allegiance.
Prior Minutes
The minutes of the Oct. 7, 2015 Council meeting were discussed. Ryan made a motion to
approve the minutes and Katie seconded the motion. The motion passed
unanimously.
Unified Fire Authority
Brad Lynn, UFA Battalion Chief asked if Council members or residents had any
questions or issues for him.
Katie asked about fire buffer zones around houses in Foothill Canyon Overlay Zones
(FCOZ) areas. Brad wasn’t certain what the FCOZ ordinance says about this, nor
what the UFA rules, if any, are. He recommends a buffer zone. He also said that it’s
good to thin forested areas around homes to reduce ladder fuel. If you remove dead
wood and scrub brush from a forested area and you trim the lower branches off
mature trees, the fire hazard will be greatly reduced. Bill and Terry discussed the
pending FCOZ changes. Bill mentioned that the proposed revision of FCOZ
apparently allows a 30-foot zone around houses based on the presentation given at
the October meeting. Brad asked Bill to send him an email to remind him to find out
what the UFA rule is for buffer zones.
Salt Lake County Report
Rita reported that election results for the annexation vote won’t be final until Nov.
17th when all ballots will have been counted and confirmed by the Board of
Canvassers (required by Utah State Law).
Rita clarified that all voters registered to vote at addresses in unincorporated
islands should have received ballots for the community preservation election. Thus,
voting is not restricted to property owners in the islands.
Larger islands that stay unincorporated will continue to receive services from the
county. Services for micro-islands may be negotiated between the county and the
surrounding city.
Rita expects the new county budget to be approved in two weeks. About two-thirds
of the county budget goes to the county jail and associated facilities and services.
The county has contracted with several non-profit entities to provide certain
services for mental health, homelessness, drug addiction, etc. These entities have to
provide quantifiable results in order to receive continued funding under the new
“pay for success” program. Bill asked whether the county budget covers UPD
operations. Rita said that it does not. UPD has a separate budget, but the County
Sheriff’s budget is part of the county budget. The County Sheriff wears two hats. He,
as Sheriff, is in charge of the jail, but he is also the chief of UPD, which is a separate
entity.
Unified Police Department (UPD) Discussion
Det. Brooks Green provided the Granite crime report: there were 14 cases in West Granite
in October, including burglar alarms, traffic violations, domestic violence, a
residential burglary, and a vehicle burglary. The vehicle burglary was at the Temple
Quarry trail parking lot. The residential burglary was in Dimple Dell.
East Granite had 19 cases in the canyon up to Alta. Most were in the upper canyon.
The only one near Wasatch Resort was a smash and grab in a car parked along the
highway.
Planning and Zoning
Max Johnson of the County Township Services Planning Department briefed
attendees on the ordinances in Title 19 which are being revised, including the
chapter on planned unit developments (PUD). The proposed revision has its roots
in the Millcreek Township, where there had been substantial concern that PUDs
were having too intrusive an impact on existing neighborhoods, particularly with
regard to building heights and setbacks. The ordinance is being revised in an
attempt to reduce such impacts. The county used the Sandy PUD ordinance as a
starting point. Three working groups have been involved, and many drafts have
been made. The County Planning and Zoning Commission and county staff have
been involved.
Katie asked whether other things are affected by the proposed revisions besides
setback and height. Max said that the density equation is also being changed. Mixed
residential (RM) zoning allows a maximum height of 75 feet for office buildings. If
you’re doing a PUD in an RM-zoned area, the height for a house under the revised
ordinance is restricted to 28 feet on the perimeter and 35 if you’re on the interior.
Perimeter setback requirements for houses will be 15 feet. The revised ordinance is
intended to require more “street presence” for houses. The RM zoning rules will
also be revised.
Mary expressed the opinion that this is the best-written ordinance revision that she
has seen. She asked about the meaning of tandem spaces. A tandem space is a
tandem two-car garage that is one car in width. Mary also asked why wood is not
mentioned as an acceptable facing material. Max will ask about this and get back to
us.
Susie asked whether a sidewalk is considered open space under the revisions. Max
says that this is not allowed, unless the developer is using a permeable material for
the sidewalk. Permeable materials allow rainwater to soak into the ground,
reducing the need for storm-drain infrastructure. A walking track, unlike a
sidewalk, can be counted as an amenity.
Max expects that the ordinance will be adjusted in real time as applications start
coming in. In the future, individual townships will be able to create their own
ordinances. Once recommendations have been submitted by all community councils
and by township planning commissions and the County Planning Commission, it will
go to the County Council for a vote.
Katie asked about the purpose of PUDs. Is it simply a way to get higher density
(/profit)? Max said that this is sometimes the case. He also explained that intensity
of use is different from density.
The main benefit of a PUD, according to Max, is that it is a cohesive development
with large open spaces and denser housing, although the actual density bonus isn’t
very large. He explained that it’s hard to get financing to build new apartment
buildings right now, so there’s an incentive for developers to build PUDs instead of
apartments.
Terry suggested that we vote on the proposed changes in December in order to give
the Council a chance to do some homework. Council members are encouraged to
submit any questions about the proposed changes to Mary, who will send those
questions to Max in two weeks.
Dimple Dell Advisory Board (DDAB)
Terry chairs the DDAB and he reported that the Dimple Dell Advisory Board will be
submitting an application for County Zoo, Arts & Parks (ZAP) funds to create a
multi-interpretive center in Dimple Dell Park. Terry’s proposed generic (rather
than specific) letter in support of this application does not specify a location for the
center, but it has been suggested that a space near Granite Park would be optimal.
Katie objected to adding any new buildings to Dimple Dell Park. Terry agreed and
said that if there is a building it might be best to use it to replace the existing
amphitheater. Terry’s proposed letter does not specify a building.
The Council discussed possible concepts for an interpretive center. The main
consensus is that such a project should not include significant new buildings,
because the main attractiveness of Dimple Dell Park is its natural state. However,
several Council members expressed a desire to preserve the Muir Home without
turning it into a facility, as it is an historic building. Turning it into a visitor center
would cost a lot more than merely preserving the structure. It was also proposed
that the term “nature center” be used instead of “visitor center” in the letter.
A motion was made by Ryan to approve a generic letter of support for the concept of
a nature center in Dimple Dell Park. Susie seconded the motion, which then passed
unanimously.
Miscellaneous Items
The Little Cottonwood Canyon Council (LCCC) was discussed. Ryan is the
designated representative of the Granite Community Council on the LCCC. Josh and
Catherine have also attended LCCC meetings. LCCC is a private neighborhood
organization mainly centered in the Triangle area, but anyone from the Granite area
is welcome to participate. Craig Osterloh is the organizer of LCCC, and his major
concern is to prevent a railroad from being built in the canyon. Mayor Dolan of
Sandy, according to Craig, claims to believe that busses are a better solution than a
train. A number of people at the LCCC meetings believe that County Mayor Ben
McAdams and former Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker are the main proponents of
the train.
The results from the recent Granite Community Survey will be useful even for areas
that annex.
Tomorrow night is the Sandy Planning Commission meeting about the proposed
264-unit apartment complex south of Home Depot on Highland Dr. [Update:
Despite large turnout and many residents of Sandy and Granite writing letters and
speaking against this, the complex was approved. This was partly due to the zoning
having been approved for this usage back in the 90’s. It is an unfortunate reality that
once a particular zoning or usage is approved, neither a city nor county can
legitimately thwart that usage, no matter how many people speak or write against it.
Conditions can be placed on the usage that mitigate the impacts, which is a major
reason for asking the public to provide comments on potential impacts. One issue
that came out of this discussion was the possibility of changing ordinances to allow
a given zoning (such as for high-density or PUD) to stand for a set number of years,
e.g., 10, vs. forever, so as to allow for problems with the changing character of the
neighborhood making the zoning no longer appropriate. The recommendation is
that the zoning would revert to the previous zoning (prior to high-density or other
zoning change.]
Ivory Homes is changing its request for the proposed development on the south rim
of Dimple Dell to 15 homes on 7.85 acres. Their original request was for 30 homes.
They apparently are no longer requesting a rezone and are asking for a PUD instead.
About 3 acres of this total acreage will be undevelopable land on the hillside.
Hillsides and other non-buildable land can be counted as open space in a PUD.
[Update: Terry and many other residents wrote letters and spoke at the recent
Sandy City Council (SCC) meeting. Terry included the recommendation by Robert
Grow, Triangle resident/CEO of Envision Utah, which strongly suggested that
unbuildable land not be counted in a PUD housing density calculation. The SCC
voted 5 to 2 to deny the proposed PUD. Mary has forwarded Bob’s recommendation
to the County for consideration in their revised PUD ordinances.]
Treasurer’s Report
Drew reported that the Council has $372.19 in our checking account, $10,203.04 in
savings, for a total of $10,575.23.
The meeting was adjourned 8:45 p.m.