Salt Lake City

Council District 5

Ballpark, Central Ninth, East Liberty Park, Liberty Wells

Mano’s Meeting Thoughts: September 14, 2021

Redevelopment Agency (RDA) Board Meeting

RICHMOND FLATS LOAN AMENDMENT: This is an update on a project the RDA Board has been talking about for a while in the Sugarhouse area. This project is 55 units, 100% of which are between 25-50% AMI. CDCU (the non-profit developer) needs an amendment in the language of the loan to comply with some of their tax-credit application requirements. The board approved this amendment unanimously with one absence.

RDA BUDGET AMENDMENT NO.1 FOR FY 21-22: This budget amendment includes 3 items. $116k to provide relocation expenses to tenants in the Utah Theater, $105k for a technical analysis study for daylighting the City Creek along the Folsom Trail, and an accounting adjustment to the North Temple Strategic Intervention Fund. This item will have a public hearing next month and we can vote on it after such a hearing is held. I commented that in the future I believe tenant relocation costs, if necessary, should be noted as a developer responsibility part of the negotiation if a land write down is approved. This is all of course in a vacuum and each contract must be considered individually.

RDA PROJECT AREA EXTENSIONS: This was a discussion about possibly extending some of our RDA project areas for 2 years as allowed under a state law that was passed. This is for areas that can demonstrate that they were impacted by the Coronavirus Pandemic. The 4 areas they discussed today are Depot District, Granary District, North Temple, and the Central Business District.

ALIGNMENT OF RDA VALUES AND RESOURCES: Tammy Hunsaker, RDA Deputy Director, presented a list of 11 initiatives and policy revisions the RDA plans to work on over the next year. Two of which are the next to items on our agenda (Equitable and Inclusive Development Work Plan, and Westside Community Initiative).

RDA EQUITABLE AND INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT WORK PLAN: This is the beginning of a living document that will guide the Agency’s actions with an eye toward equity. Within this plan, there are 10 goals including things like anti-displacement, wealth building, access to opportunity, diversity of projects and applicants, etc.

WESTSIDE COMMUNITY INITIATIVE: This is a plan for use of the funds the RDA is receiving from the inland port. The board has already agreed that these funds should be dedicated to investment on the westside. This includes the use of a community land trust to help lower-income families obtain homeownership but maintain affordability for the long term.

SPARK! PROJECT UPDATE (1500 W. NORTH TEMPLE, FORMER OVERNIGHTER MOTEL): This is an update on the project to transform the former overnighter motel into a building with 200 residential units, 4,000 square feet of retail, and additional amenities. The developer for this project is Brinshore who has been a partner with the RDA on other affordable housing projects. The range of affordability will be from 80% down to 20%. Half of the units are 70 or 80% and the remainder is 50% or below.

NORTH TEMPLE IMPLEMENTATION PLANS: This is an update on work the RDA has done and plans for future work in the North Temple project area. This is one of the most important areas the city is working in. Some of the exciting projects include Folsom Trail, City Creek Daylighting, and the Fairpark Redevelopment Master Plan. Completed projects in the area include Red Iguana 2, Fairpark Market Study, North Temple i-15 Underpass Improvements, and North Temple Marketing and Branding.

Council Work Session Meeting

ADMINISTRATIVE UPDATES:

  • COVID: SLC School District is seeing 99.8% compliance. We are seeing all numbers and metrics increase again. Almost 1,500 kids have tested positive in a week. 84101, 84104, and 84116 are SLC’s hardest hit areas.
  • HOMELESSNESS: We are at an average of 91% capacity in our shelters. The next resource fair is at Madsen Park on September 23. The next Kayak Court is on the September 27, exact location T.B.D. There is a High Utilizer court day on the September 24.

UPDATES ON RACIAL EQUITY AND POLICING: The first meeting of the new, formalized REP commission should be on September 29th. More information is forthcoming.

BUDGET AMENDMENT NO. 2 FOR FISCAL YEAR 2021-2022: This is a total budget amendment of $2.38 Million. This includes many different items. Some of the things included in this amendment are: continued funding for the Downtown Ambassador program, moving some funding sources around, a pilot program to help individuals living in vehicles and RV’s, and several other items.

SALES AND EXCISE TAX REVENUE BONDS: This is our second briefing on a forthcoming sales and excise tax bond. This would bring in funding for 16 capital projects for about $58 million. This is basically the city taking out a big loan to complete some big projects and then pay back the loan with future Sale and Excise taxes. 47% of the funding would go to Parks and Public Lands, 34% would be for city buildings and facilities, and 19% will go to transportation and streets. Some of the notable projects included are Fisher Mansion, Warm Springs Structure, Smith’s Ballpark improvements, a new Urban Wood Reutilization facility, Road Repairs at the Cemetery, 600 N Corridor Transformation, Glendale Water Park, Pioneer Park Improvements, Foothills Trailheads, Westside Park Improvements, Improvement of Allen Park Structures, and Multilingual Signs on Public Lands. Because an old $80M bond was recently paid off we can do this and still reduce the city’s annual debt service payments. It is also good timing given current interest rates for the city to issue such bonds.

LEGISLATIVE INTENTS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2021-2022: This was our first of 3 planned discussions about our Legislative Intents which we adopted when we adopted our annual budget. Each year when we adopt the annual budget we also give some direction to the administration of the direction we would like them to move. This year we adopted 7 intents, 5 for the city and 2 for the RDA. In general, I think the Council is still supportive of the legislative intents we adopted earlier in the year.

COVID LOCAL EMERGENCY DECLARATION: This was our discussion about extending the Mayor’s local emergency orders. We talked about extending it for 30 days to give us time to consult with Dr. Angela Dunn, Executive Director at Salt Lake County Health Department, or other health experts. This decision should be based on the advice of experts, not a political body and I am looking forward to hearing from them to help us understand when and how we should end the state of emergency.

Special Limited Formal Meeting

LOCAL COVID EMERGENCY DECLARATION EXTENSION: The council passed an extension of the Mayor’s declaration of emergency for 30 additional days starting today with a 6-1 vote.

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