Politics & Government
City Council Update: Family Park to open Sundays, Council approves fiber bond sale and more
Megan Wallgren | Lehi Free Press
In a March 18 Lehi City Council meeting, council members expressed unanimous support for a proposal to keep Lehi’s new Family Park open on Sundays and to fund additional staff to facilitate the increased hours. The city plans to use reserves to fund the additional staff for the remainder of the year, with plans for further staffing requests in future budget discussions.
The change in operating hours is in response to citizen outcry after the park opened in September with hours limited to Monday through Saturday until sunset. City leaders cited the need for park staff supervision and limited employee availability as the reason for Sunday closure.
Both Lehi Mayor Mark Johnson and Council Member Michelle Stallings expressed their belief that vandalism which occurred at the park resulted from frustration related to Sunday closures.
The council also unanimously approved the issuance and sale of up to $20,000,000 of franchise and sales tax and revenue bonds “to finance all or a portion of a fiber telecommunications system and any related improvements” as stated in the resolution.
Mayor Johnson said this bonding was always a part of the Lehi Fiber project plans. The bond rates will be locked on April 9.
Allocation of funding for several projects under the Community Development Block Grant program was tabled because of concerns about budget reductions from the federal government spurred by recent cuts to federal programs.
Considerations for the grant included infrastructure projects like sidewalks, and funding for community services such as the Curtis Center. The matter will be revisited during the April 22 city council meeting.
Matt Lee, an analyst with Lehi City, provided updates on the city’s active grant programs. The city currently has 20 active grants totaling $25.5 million, with an additional $159,000 in pending grants.
The bulk of the grant money, $23.5 million, is part of the program funding the city’s transition to secondary water meters. Thirteen grants are public safety related and support funding for personnel, police equipment, mental health programs, and substance abuse prevention efforts.
The city also received grants for non-public safety initiatives including parks, library materials, and senior services. The grants come from federal, county, and state sources.
To bring the city in line with state law, the city council unanimously approved a new privacy space compliance plan. The plan ensures that all city facility restrooms or changing rooms meet the state’s privacy space requirements.
The plan includes providing and marking unisex and family changing rooms to protect single sex restrooms and changing rooms as privacy spaces. The council’s approval of this plan helps protect the city from potential fines by the state auditor.
The council approved a zone change of .16 acres located at 610 East State Street from R2 to Commercial. Council members found it was in line with other zoning and commercial uses in the area. The owner proposes a small accounting office on the site.
An amendment to chapter 12 of the Lehi Development Code removing the requirement that property owners infringing on city property cannot purchase property from the city was unanimously approved to allow the city to negotiate with property owners for purchase in these situations.
Other development proposals were also addressed at the meeting including a redevelopment plan for the Morning Vista Community Reinvestment Project in the Traverse Mountain area.
The council denied an application for a zone change on 18 acres in the Holbrook Farms Area Plan from commercial to residential. “We need to be careful to not keep substituting residential from commercial because we’ve already lost a lot of commercial from what was originally planned,” said Mayor Johnson.
Another notable item discussed was the proposed Starter Home Attainability Residential (SHAR) Overlay which would prescribe guidelines and set a price limit for starter homes in some development areas. The proposal would also allow for increased density in these single-family dwelling areas. This item was tabled for further discussion because of questions about its viability. The mayor and council members, however, expressed their strong commitment to addressing housing affordability in Lehi.
