Council Work Session Meeting

ADMINISTRATIVE UPDATES:

• COVID: SLC is still in the high transmission level, case counts are up and ICU usage is slightly down. Throughout the state, school cases are about 20% of total cases. Dr. Dunn is speaking later in our meeting with more details about COVID-19 and our school mask mandate effects. Citywide we are just under 65% vaccinated.

• HOMELESSNESS: Total HRC usage is at about 95% capacity. This is up and likely due to the colder weather. Andrew also gave us some information about plans for services as we move into the winter including the final kayak court and the upcoming abatements and resource fairs. He also brought up a tension between our goals of moving services outside of the city and the advantage for clients of having services centralized. Finally, there was an update and some additional information about Car/RV camping.

• POLICING: Chief Brown talked to us about the OICI (Officer Involved Critical Incident) which happened on Saturday. There is still an open investigation. This was a car pursuit which ended in one fatality around 1200 West and 500 North. This happened at a time when there were over 30% more calls for service than typical. Because of this it was a hard day for SLCPD who had to work overtime and or come into work on their days off. I also asked Chief Brown about some hateful graffiti on the Japanese Pavilion at the International Peace Gardens.

UPDATES ON RACIAL EQUITY AND POLICING: The REP Commission has been working but there was not a major update today. Allison Rowland from Council Staff mentioned that there will be a more substantial update at our next meeting in November.

REZONE AT 1945 SOUTH 1300 EAST: This project is at 1945 S. 1300 East in Sugarhouse. The proposal is to rezone from RMF-35 to RMF-45 to allow an old apartment building to be rebuilt. This is already a bit of an island of RMF zoning surrounded on 3 sides by low density residential and Residential Office zoning to the South. There are currently 24 residential units in the project. The proposed rezone is in line with the future land use map so this request does not require a master plan amendment. The major differences would be that RMF-45 would allow more units (31 instead of 20) and it could go up to 45’ tall. Our Staff and the Planning Commission have recommended approval of this request.

MOSQUITO ABATEMENT DISCUSSION: Today the council heard a presentation from Utah Physicians for Healthy Environment (UPHE) related to their concerns about the effect of aerial pesticides for mosquito abatement. They drew a connection between aerial pesticides with problems such as childhood autism or reduced IQ. This has become an issue of discussion because SLC MAD (Mosquito Abatement District) is planning a major property tax increase. We also heard about the mosquito management program in Boulder Colorado which is viewed as much more cognizant of public health concerns. The groups asked the council for 3 things: support a 2 year moratorium on aerial pesticides, oppose the proposed tax increase, and consider an ordinance requiring health experts to provide oversight on SLC MAD practices.

SORENSON IMPACT CENTER SOCIAL INVESTMENT STUDY: This discussion is about $10M of the City’s ARPA money which the mayor is interested in using for a social impact program. The Sorenson Impact Center at the U of U was contracted to answer the question of what would make the biggest difference for the city’s West Side. They have been looking at the city’s goals of equity and inclusion over the past year. The mayor and this group are proposing that we invest in programs that invest in individuals and communities in the west side. There are 4 specific programs proposed for this investment: Workforce Development, PreK Education for low to medium income 3 and 4 year-olds, PreK Education for at risk 3 and 4 year-olds, and a Nurse Home Visiting program.

SLCO HEALTH DEPARTMENT UPDATE (COVID): Dr. Dunn came to our meeting to provide a COVID update. A year ago we had our largest surge and luckily vaccinations have helped us stay lower than last year. However, school aged children are seeing much higher rates than last year. All Salt Lake County ICU’s are at capacity and have been for several weeks. Booster doses are expected to be approved by Friday for Moderna and J&J. We also expect kids as young as 5 to become eligible for vaccines in November. Dr. Dunn mentioned that all indications say that the mask mandate is helping reduce the spread but it is not a silver bullet. We have about 127,000 5-11 year-olds in SLCO and our first shipment will be around 20,000 doses.

BOARD APPOINTMENT: Nathan Manuel was unable to join us today. He has been proposed by the mayor for appointment to the PNUT board which stands for the Parks, Natural Lands, Urban Forestry, and Trails Advisory Board.

TEMPORARY LAND USE REGULATION – OVERFLOW HOMELESS SHELTER @ 235 S. RIO GRANDE STREET: The Weigand Center which has operated as a day shelter for people experiencing homelessness for years is identified as the potential temporary overflow shelter for this winter. They had submitted a conditional use permit application for this use. There may be some confusion on this. The mayor put a moratorium on permanent homeless resource centers. However, for a couple reasons, this project is not relevant to the Mayor’s Action. This is a temporary shelter and the mayor explicitly indicated that her action did not prevent temporary shelter. Also, the VOA applied for a conditional use permit for this site prior to the mayor’s action so their application would have been vested even if it were permanent. However, the submission date of this application and the timing of Planning Commission meetings meant that it would take them at least until December in order to get through the entire application process. Our action today allows it to start operating for this sooner than December.

Formal Meeting

PUBLIC HEARINGS:

• STREET VACATION NEAR 538 E 14TH AVENUE: There were no comments on this item. Closed and deferred.

• BUDGET AMENDMENT NO. 3 FOR FY 21-22: Two comments were received on this item. Closed and adopted.

• GENERAL COMMENTS: We had around 30 commenters address us today related to a variety of items. 3 spoke about the mosquito abatement practices, 1 about the inland port, 1 spoke about affordable housing, 1 expressed gratitude for our funding of the tennis courts, 1 spoke about homelessness, 1 spoke about several things in one comment, 1 spoke about complete streets, and many many people came to speak to us about Salt Lake City taking a leadership role in preserving the health of the Great Salt Lake. I care deeply about the health of the Great Salt Lake. I too listened to that Radio West episode and was shocked. I am doing everything I can to learn about this issue and Salt Lake City’s role in it. I have a meeting scheduled with scientists from the Great Salt Lake Institute for later this week and have been in touch with Senator Kitchen who has taken interest in the lake.

ACTION ITEMS:

• REZONE AND MASTER PLAN AMENDMENT AT 554/560 S. 300 EAST: Adopted Unanimously.

• REZONE AND MASTER PLAN AMENDMENT AT 461 S. 400 EAST: Adopted Unanimously.

• REZONE AND MASTER PLAN AMENDMENT NEAR 200 EAST AND 2100 SOUTH: Adopted Unanimously with a parking requirement added. This is something I coordinated with staff and the developer to balance resident concerns (Shout out to Danielle and Chris) with the goals of the applicant (also Chris).

• ELM AVENUE ALLEY VACATION: Approved Unanimously. I made a short comment about how we need to start looking at alleys as the public and neighborhood assets they can become. I’m so excited about the Adopt an Alleyway project and what that can become.

• ALIGNING CITY CODE TO STATE LAW RE: LOCAL SALES AND USE TAXES: Adopted Unanimously.

• TEMPORARY LAND USE REGULATION – OVERFLOW HOMELESS SHELTER @ 235 S. RIO GRANDE STREET: Adopted Unanimously with CM Faris recused (because he works for the VOA).

• GRANT HOLDING ACCOUNT ITEMS RELATED TO BUDGET AMENDMENT NO. 3: Adopted Unanimously.