[0:00] Y'all set?
[0:01] Okay.
[0:03] 5:00 somewhere. Welcome to the
[0:05] Springdale Town Council regular meeting.
[0:07] Today is Wednesday, April 8th, 2026.
[0:11] We are at the Canyon Community Center in
[0:13] Springdale, Utah. With us from the town
[0:16] we have Kendal Sagers, Nile Connolly,
[0:19] Tom Dansie, and Robin Romero. And on the
[0:22] dais from council we have Pat Campbell,
[0:25] Randy Aton, Barbara Bruno, Jack Burns,
[0:28] and Kyla Topham. And the time is 5:00.
[0:31] We'll start by reciting the Pledge of
[0:33] Allegiance.
[0:38] I
[0:38] >> I pledge allegiance to the flag
[0:41] of the United States of America
[0:43] and to the republic for which it stands,
[0:46] one nation under God,
[0:48] indivisible, with liberty and justice
[0:51] for all.
[0:54] I'll next entertain a motion to approve
[0:57] the regular meeting agenda.
[0:59] I would like to amend the agenda to
[1:01] strike item four, Natalie Britt's
[1:03] presentation from Zion Forever.
[1:06] Thank you. Which yeah, which one was
[1:08] that, Kyla? I'm sorry. Uh number four,
[1:10] the presentation from Zion Forever. Got
[1:12] it. Thank you. She cannot make it and
[1:14] may be here next month instead. Do we
[1:17] have a second on the motion?
[1:19] I'll second. Motion by Kyla, second by
[1:21] Randy.
[1:23] Kyla, oh, who are we starting with?
[1:25] Which way?
[1:25] You start, Pat.
[1:26] >> Pat, I. Randy, I. Barbara, I. Jack, I.
[1:29] Kyla, I. Okay. And we'll start with any
[1:32] general announcements.
[1:35] Uh yeah, I think Ryan is going to make a
[1:37] few announcements on behalf of the town.
[1:43] Yes, I've got quite a few things.
[1:45] April's kind of a busy month for us.
[1:47] So, after uh
[1:49] talking about for a long time, uh it's
[1:50] now April, so we have Zion Chautauqua
[1:52] Fest coming up. That'll be held on April
[1:54] 18th and 19th, and that's a Saturday,
[1:56] Sunday.
[1:57] And we want to make sure it that we're
[1:59] as clear as possible. This is going to
[2:00] be held here at the town field for the
[2:02] first time. The last few years it's been
[2:04] held down at um
[2:06] Zion Canyon Village at the entrance to
[2:07] the park. Not this year. It's going to
[2:09] be here. So, don't go there.
[2:12] Um both days of the event will start at
[2:15] 10:00 a.m. and end at 8:00 p.m. Uh it
[2:17] will feature chalk art, live
[2:19] entertainment, food, a beer garden, and
[2:21] then we'll have vendors both educational
[2:23] and commercial vendors. So, it's it's
[2:24] the same as years past. It's always a
[2:26] good time.
[2:27] We are still looking for volunteers. So,
[2:28] if anybody is interested in
[2:29] volunteering, uh they can reach out to
[2:31] Robin Sanders and we'll we'll put you to
[2:33] work. So.
[2:35] Um this next one, this is on behalf of
[2:36] the park, so I wrote it down so I didn't
[2:38] mess up. Jeff's back there, he'd
[2:40] probably smack me or something. So.
[2:42] on April 20th, Zion National Park
[2:44] will host Navy Day as part of the
[2:46] America 250 anniversary and as an
[2:48] outreach effort led by the Navy Office
[2:50] of Community Outreach. As part of this,
[2:53] the Navy Brass Band will be performing
[2:55] at the OC Tanner Amphitheater on Monday,
[2:57] April 20th at 6:00 p.m.
[2:59] This concert is for all ages and is
[3:01] completely free to attend.
[3:03] And then, as an addition to that, the
[3:04] following day on Tuesday, April 21st,
[3:06] that same Navy Brass Band will be
[3:08] performing down at the Town Plaza
[3:10] located at 680 Zion Park Boulevard. This
[3:13] performance will also be free and will
[3:14] also begin at 6:00 p.m. And just worth
[3:16] noting, there will be no event parking
[3:19] at this time for the performance at the
[3:21] plaza. So,
[3:22] take your bike or walk or whatever.
[3:25] Uh and then last, uh as part of the
[3:27] America 250 anniversary, the town will
[3:29] be hosting country singer Eric Dodge for
[3:31] a free community concert just here at
[3:33] the town park out by the gazebo. Uh that
[3:35] will be held on Friday, April 24th. Uh
[3:38] it will start at 6:00 p.m. and there
[3:39] will be a food truck. So, it should be a
[3:41] lot of fun. So, if you
[3:43] have people in town, bring them out. Be
[3:45] a
[3:46] good time. So.
[3:48] Any questions for me?
[3:51] Okay. Thanks,
[3:53] Any other announcements?
[3:57] Lisa Um
[3:59] I wanted to let make sure everyone know
[4:01] that in conjunction with
[4:03] excuse me with Earth Day the Z Arts will
[4:06] be doing the
[4:09] Wild and Scenic Film Festival
[4:12] on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. for a
[4:15] feature length film.
[4:17] Um I think it's
[4:19] American Southwest and then there'll be
[4:21] on a Saturday at 11:00 and Saturday at 7:00
[4:28] will be shorts 2 hours of shorts of each
[4:32] at a time period. This is being
[4:34] supported by the town wrap tax so we
[4:36] very much appreciate it. We want to make
[4:38] sure you guys come. It's I've already
[4:40] seen some of the films and they're
[4:41] fabulous. So please if you if you need
[4:43] to know the schedule it is out on the
[4:45] zarts.org website. Thank you.
[4:47] >> And the location Lisa?
[4:48] >> Oh thank you very much. It's at the
[4:49] Boberry this time. So you can bike or
[4:52] ride there maybe find a parking spot
[4:53] downtown.
[4:55] Um but for all three times and Z Arts is
[4:57] also looking for some few volunteers to
[4:59] help us at the event during those times.
[5:02] Um so if anybody wants to help us out
[5:04] with just getting people there that
[5:05] would be great. Thank you so much. Thank
[5:07] you.
[5:08] And not to compete with Lisa's request
[5:10] for volunteers I know that Robin Sanders
[5:12] is still looking for volunteers for the
[5:14] Chalk Fest with um
[5:17] parking and
[5:20] stuff like that right? Okay.
[5:23] Any other announcements?
[5:26] Okay. Superintendent Brady Bud do you
[5:28] want to give us an update on Zion
[5:29] National Park?
[5:37] Good afternoon.
[5:39] Uh to build on on Ryan's announcement
[5:41] relative to Navy Day there will be um
[5:44] some activities in the park as well.
[5:47] All of them will be at the human history
[5:50] museum area.
[5:52] Um, starting at 10:00 a.m. there'll be a
[5:55] formal flag raising
[5:58] um,
[5:59] including sailors from the historic ship
[6:02] the USS Constitution.
[6:05] And there will be a flag lowering at
[6:08] 3:00 p.m.
[6:10] And in between there'll be several other
[6:13] activities going on. We'll have some uh
[6:16] sailors from the USS Utah here as well as a rear admiral from the
[6:22] Pacific Fleet, so
[6:25] looking forward to those events.
[6:27] Watch our social media pages. That's
[6:29] where we'll have all the activities
[6:31] listed.
[6:34] Um, busy busy out there as you see and
[6:38] uh
[6:39] um At least there are no bikes.
[6:43] >> [laughter]
[6:44] >> I was counting the bikes as I drove
[6:46] over. I you know
[6:48] >> Did you see any real bikes or were they
[6:49] mostly
[6:50] bikes?
[6:51] >> No. Okay.
[6:52] >> [laughter]
[6:53] >> No, lots of lots of folks out um
[6:56] enjoying the area.
[6:59] Um, building on from March when we're up
[7:02] over 8% compared to March of 2025
[7:07] uh or February 2025, sorry.
[7:10] Uh March was also very busy. We're up uh
[7:14] 15%
[7:17] compared to March of 2025.
[7:22] And uh year to date through March 31st
[7:26] we're up uh 10.9%.
[7:30] Uh obviously that's carrying into
[7:33] to April, so we'll see how that goes
[7:36] going forward. Um, a few other things of
[7:40] note, uh the pedestrian entrance at
[7:42] Springdale
[7:44] um
[7:45] was the busiest that it's ever been in
[7:48] five the last 5 years at least.
[7:51] Um up 23.4%
[7:54] um so a lot of people
[7:56] uh coming in through the pedestrian
[7:58] entrance using the shuttle system and those sorts of things.
[8:03] Backcountry campers actually doubled
[8:06] between uh March last year and March
[8:09] this year.
[8:11] Again, the weather's been super uh so
[8:14] folks have been getting out and camping
[8:16] and those kinds of things.
[8:18] Um just few other notes um
[8:21] continuing to wrap up the
[8:24] construction project in South
[8:26] Campground. A few uh things yet to clean
[8:28] up.
[8:30] Probably won't open till uh mid-May uh
[8:33] to the public but um
[8:36] trying to get everything uh finished
[8:38] off. So.
[8:40] Happy to answer any questions folks may
[8:42] have.
[8:45] I have a question about Navy Day. Is
[8:47] admission free on Navy Day?
[8:50] Um with your park entrance fee, of
[8:52] course. Okay.
[8:53] >> [laughter]
[8:56] » The events are free.
[8:58] But yes, uh So you pay to get in the
[9:00] park but the events are free. Yeah. And
[9:02] all of those events are open to the
[9:03] public, I presume.
[9:04] >> They are at the Human History Museum,
[9:06] yep. Okay. Can you save us a parking
[9:08] spot?
[9:09] Um we're encouraging the use of your
[9:11] bicycle and your uh
[9:14] walking on the Pa'rus Trail to get
[9:16] there.
[9:19] Parking is a challenge.
[9:22] Thank you.
[9:23] Okay, thanks.
[9:26] Are there any questions or comments
[9:28] about the council reports?
[9:33] Okay, your next item is presentation by
[9:35] Nancy Cousins and Ava Pecora regarding
[9:38] Zion Canyon fiber optics.
[9:41] I think they are both with Kim Lee Horn.
[9:43] Is that correct? Okay.
[9:48] Thank you for letting us be with you
[9:50] this evening. I'm I'm Nancy. This is Ava
[9:53] and you'll hear a little bit from both
[9:55] of us. Just wanted to give you a
[9:57] high-level overview of this project and
[9:59] that it's coming. We have yet to choose
[10:03] a contractor. Uh bids closed on Monday
[10:06] or Tuesday this week. So, give us
[10:09] another week or so and we will have a
[10:12] contractor. Once we have a contractor,
[10:14] then we will have a schedule that we'll
[10:16] be able to come back and tell you when
[10:18] construction is going to start.
[10:20] Um
[10:21] we have
[10:23] worked with the park through all of the
[10:25] environmental clearance. Everything is
[10:28] good and ready to go as far as the
[10:30] design elements and we've been able to
[10:32] factor in a lot of specific things for
[10:35] the communities along the corridor to
[10:38] help the construction be as easy and
[10:40] simple as possible even though we're
[10:42] going to be with you all summer.
[10:45] So, with that I'll turn some time over
[10:47] to Ava.
[10:50] So, this is just a general project area
[10:53] map. Um it spans from just a little bit
[10:56] west of Hurricane over to the Mount
[10:58] Carmel Junction. And you'll see that
[11:00] there are several gaps between the
[11:02] actual highlighted work zones um between
[11:05] the towns. Those are where there's
[11:07] actually existing fiber conduit. So,
[11:09] part of the mission of this project is
[11:11] to just fill in the gaps between um
[11:13] these areas along SR-9 and the Mount
[11:15] Carmel Highway. So, we'll start a little
[11:18] bit west of Hurricane. Um there's a UDot
[11:20] maintenance facility um located there.
[11:23] We'll pause once we cross SR-7 and then
[11:25] we'll pick up just a little bit east of
[11:27] Virgin and heading into Rockville,
[11:30] Springdale, and then the south entrance
[11:32] of the park.
[11:34] Um we'll finish the project by exiting
[11:35] out the East entrance um along SR-9 and
[11:38] we'll hook up to another UDot
[11:40] maintenance facility that's located
[11:42] um on along US-89 um just south of the
[11:46] Mount Carmel Junction. Ava, can you back
[11:48] up just a little bit and talk about what
[11:50] the project is? I think I think some of
[11:52] us know and some of us don't what the
[11:54] purpose is.
[11:55] >> So, it's um the fiber installation
[11:57] project. It's part of a broader UDot
[11:59] initiative to bring fiber optic
[12:01] connectivity to rural parts of the
[12:03] state. Um the fiber that will be
[12:06] installed will be supporting intelligent
[12:08] transportation systems devices. So,
[12:09] traffic cameras, um emergency management
[12:12] systems. So, for UDot?
[12:14] >> Yes. Yes.
[12:18] And this is just a little highlighted
[12:19] piece of the work that will be going on
[12:21] in Rockville and Springdale as well. Um
[12:24] I want to take a minute just to talk
[12:25] about specifically what types of work
[12:27] you'll be anticipating to see once we
[12:30] arrive in Springdale. We'll be limiting
[12:32] our work zones um to 1,500 ft, which is
[12:35] a little hard to visualize, but that's
[12:37] roughly the equivalent of just over four
[12:39] football fields if that gives you an
[12:40] idea.
[12:41] Um we'll also be um remaining in the
[12:44] shoulder um as much as we can, um but
[12:46] when we do have work in the roadways,
[12:48] we'll have flagger staff in and
[12:50] directing traffic out on site. Um we'll
[12:53] also be having mobile equipment that is
[12:55] kind of moving along the roadway. It's
[12:57] not going to be stationary. So, kind of
[12:59] a recurring um
[13:01] theme of our outreach that we've done
[13:02] actually to a lot of the businesses in
[13:03] this area today has been, you know, you
[13:06] won't see equipment parked outside your
[13:07] business for
[13:09] you know, hours um or for days at a time
[13:12] rather. You only really see them outside
[13:14] of your business for hours. So, it's
[13:15] going to be moving very fast as we
[13:17] progress into the park and then back
[13:20] along SR-9.
[13:24] And then I'm actually going to play a
[13:25] short video here. Um this was a result
[13:28] of collaboration between U Dot Central
[13:30] Communications Department
[13:32] and the park. We just wanted to nail
[13:34] down our messaging about what the
[13:36] impacts and benefits of the project
[13:38] would be, what people could expect to
[13:39] see. So, without further ado,
[13:44] U Dot presents, Our Future Runs on
[13:48] Fiber.
[13:49] Amid towering canyons shaped by the
[13:51] Virgin River, State Route 9 and the
[13:53] Zion-Mount Carmel Highway connect iconic
[13:56] landscapes with millions of visitors and
[13:58] link together thousands of full-time
[14:00] residents in nearby communities.
[14:04] To meet growing connectivity needs and
[14:06] prepare for future demand, U Dot, in
[14:08] partnership with the National Park
[14:10] Service and South Central
[14:11] Communications, is installing over 50
[14:14] miles of high-speed fiber optic cable
[14:17] along State Route 9 and the Zion-Mount
[14:19] Carmel Highway.
[14:22] This project strengthens
[14:29] » [laughter]
[14:44] » Any questions so far?
[14:45] >> Yes, a quick question.
[14:46] >> [laughter]
[14:47] >> And maybe you said that, so I might have
[14:48] missed it, but when will this start?
[14:51] Uh, so we don't have an exact
[14:53] construction start date yet. We're
[14:54] anticipating May, early June. Okay. And
[14:58] you this
[14:59] your notes say you anticipate completing
[15:02] December? Yes, end of end of December, 31st.
[15:06] >> So, you will be
[15:11] May, early June,
[15:14] etc. You you realize that's going to be
[15:17] Yes, absolutely.
[15:19] >> traffic.
[15:20] Not that it isn't right now, but
[15:24] relatively unusual for it to be this
[15:26] crazy but right right and and we'll touch on that. We have our next
[15:30] section is just about the construction
[15:32] notifications that will be deploying and
[15:34] I'll talk a little bit more about some
[15:35] of the Outreach work that we've been
[15:37] doing in the town today to get people in
[15:39] the loop about what's coming maybe if
[15:41] you could just mention the fund source
[15:43] and and
[15:45] when it ends which kind of is driving.
[15:48] Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So due to some
[15:52] unanticipated delays with the government
[15:53] shutdown and the environmental
[15:55] assessment getting past
[15:57] that kind of pushed our construction
[15:59] time like back a little bit.
[16:01] Not sure.
[16:04] So if I could
[16:07] I mean we've already got
[16:09] some fiber optic in Springdale. Mhm.
[16:13] Did you say you're going to fill in the
[16:14] void?
[16:17] Yes. So the I can go back to the project
[16:20] area map too, but you'll see kind of
[16:22] some of the gaps between the areas that
[16:25] we're doing in Hurricane Rockville
[16:26] Springdale.
[16:27] So we're installing I like to liken it
[16:29] to a backbone of conduit and fiber optic
[16:32] cables and then it's up to kind of the
[16:35] internet service providers to connect
[16:37] into that and further provide that
[16:38] connection to locations. But this is
[16:41] being done for UDOT specifically for
[16:43] their own use and then they'll my
[16:45] understanding is that they'll lease the
[16:46] conduit to other providers as well, but
[16:48] this is not for residents. This is for
[16:50] UDOT.
[16:52] And they own the road, so
[16:54] they get to do it.
[16:57] But I mean it is going up Zion Canyon,
[16:59] right? Yes. Yes. And But they want the
[17:02] fiber in the they don't have it in the
[17:03] park. So but this is being driven by
[17:05] UDOT and federal funds that were
[17:08] available to do this kind of project. So
[17:11] nationwide there are a lot of fiber
[17:13] projects taking place and this is to
[17:16] provide the backbone. So, we're getting
[17:19] your basic trunk line in and then that
[17:22] last mile connectivity will be up to
[17:25] individual communities and residents and
[17:27] businesses. Whatever
[17:30] businesses are
[17:32] available in your area to do that last
[17:34] mile connection, you will get to have
[17:36] that choice. So, UDOT's job is to get
[17:39] that initial backbone structure in
[17:42] throughout the whole corridor and it
[17:44] benefits UDOT for a lot of reasons.
[17:47] That ITS networking system,
[17:49] traffic signals, messaging boards. It'll
[17:52] also benefit buses and
[17:56] safety
[17:57] transportation type things and
[18:00] ambulances, things things like that that
[18:03] we need to have in place. So, the whole
[18:06] purpose is that this big long trunk line
[18:09] corridor and the the federal funds that
[18:12] are available to do to do this expire at
[18:15] the end of the year. So, there are a lot
[18:17] of fiber projects taking place all over
[18:20] the state.
[18:25] Um so, as I mentioned, we've already
[18:27] been doing a lot of in-person outreach
[18:29] today with business owners letting them
[18:31] know what will be coming up in May,
[18:34] potentially early June. But once
[18:36] construction starts, we fully intend to
[18:38] make full use of our website, email, and
[18:41] hotline. We'll be pushing out weekly
[18:43] updates through our email address to
[18:45] folks that are signed up for our email
[18:47] list and then also reposting those on
[18:49] our website. Our hotline is available
[18:51] for residents, businesses, visitors of
[18:54] the area to contact 24/7. Um a member of
[18:58] the public involvement team will be
[18:59] answering that hotline and getting
[19:01] information for any questions that
[19:03] people may have.
[19:04] Um this is just an example of one of the
[19:06] handouts that we've deployed in our
[19:09] outreach. But once we have that
[19:11] construction start date with a
[19:12] contractor signed on, we'll be sending
[19:14] out another mailer. It'll be going to
[19:16] kind of the entire city limits of
[19:18] Springdale, Rockville, the entire length
[19:20] of the project area
[19:23] to let them know this work will be
[19:24] starting you know, May 10th 15th, you
[19:27] know, what have you once we have that
[19:29] date set in stone.
[19:34] You mentioned that the project is like
[19:36] it's a moving project. So does that mean
[19:40] you don't really have to open up
[19:42] holes in the ground or are you
[19:46] We'll still be trenching.
[19:47] So Nancy can speak to the filling
[19:49] process a little bit in more in detail
[19:51] than I could, but um
[19:54] There are several procedures that we're
[19:56] going to have in place and once we have
[19:58] the contractor on board because of our
[20:01] tight schedule, we anticipate that they
[20:03] could have multiple crews working all at
[20:05] the same time. So we likely will have
[20:08] someone in Hurricane. We may have
[20:10] someone here. We may have another crew
[20:12] in the park. One of the
[20:16] ways that they can do the trench quickly
[20:18] is like a giant wheel and that wheel
[20:21] comes in, it digs a trench, it vacuums
[20:23] out that trench at the same time. The
[20:25] fiber lays in right behind it and then
[20:28] concrete goes on top of that. So the
[20:30] moving operation can happen really quick
[20:33] especially with that with that kind of
[20:35] equipment and the contractor will need
[20:38] to have
[20:40] a close batch plant. Right now the
[20:42] closest one is down in Hurricane and the
[20:45] type of concrete we need to use, the
[20:47] high early rapid set concrete, it won't
[20:50] make it that far. Um so they will be
[20:55] approaching different areas to lease
[20:57] land for them to put a a batch plant and
[20:59] that will be up to the contractor to
[21:01] negotiate. Once we know where those
[21:03] locations are, we'll share that with you
[21:04] as well, but they will be mixing and
[21:08] batching on site so that we can get out
[21:11] of your way as quick as possible. Do you
[21:13] expect this to be a daylight only or you going to be
[21:17] working 24 hours?
[21:18] >> They have permission to work day and
[21:20] night, weekend.
[21:21] >> Okay.
[21:22] We won't know exactly how they're going
[21:24] to do that until we get their schedule.
[21:27] And again, once we have that, we will
[21:30] let you know well in advance of of
[21:32] what's going to take place. There's give
[21:35] and take of
[21:37] um how to work best with the with the
[21:39] park. And so there's some specific
[21:42] limitations of when and where we will be
[21:45] in the park for both the bridges and the
[21:47] tunnels. So, one of the things that we
[21:51] have been able to coordinate is doing a shutdown to protect the the bats
[21:57] nesting. So, that will take place doing
[22:00] a during a full shutdown
[22:02] just to help protect the endangered
[22:04] species that are up there. So, all of
[22:06] those things have been factored in to
[22:08] when and where and how it all fits into
[22:11] the timeline. And once we have that
[22:13] secured, part of our job is to come back
[22:15] and let you know what that looks like
[22:17] from now and and through the end of the
[22:19] year.
[22:21] You had mentioned earlier today that um
[22:24] one lane traffic would remain open.
[22:28] I'm trying to
[22:29] help us realize really what this is
[22:31] going to start to look like in
[22:33] Springdale.
[22:34] Um especially with all of the traffic
[22:36] that we're you everyone's going to have
[22:38] to deal with. And and you had mentioned
[22:41] that it would be helpful if the town
[22:43] could share some information
[22:45] such as parking park parking meter data
[22:49] to help
[22:50] inform expectations.
[22:52] That will help a lot because it is going
[22:55] to be congested. And even though it's
[22:57] moving operations, when you've got
[22:59] equipment in one place, we're going to
[23:02] have to take single single lanes around
[23:04] it wherever they're working. So, there
[23:07] will be delays and that'll be part of
[23:09] our job to message as everywhere we can
[23:13] anticipate delays as you're driving
[23:15] through SR 9. Um but knowing where those
[23:19] hot spots are is going to be really
[23:22] helpful for us to get the contractor on
[23:25] board to watch out for those areas and
[23:28] make sure we're thinking ahead of the
[23:30] best ways to utilize them. We with all
[23:33] the businesses we've been talking to
[23:35] today, there's street parking. There are
[23:38] so many things that are going to have to
[23:39] shift when the crews are coming through
[23:42] a certain area. And I think people will
[23:45] get frustrated cuz they're going to see
[23:47] barrels and they're not going to see
[23:48] anything, but we can't let anybody park
[23:50] there because it's going to come
[23:52] through. So, we're trying to think ahead
[23:55] of how to say that message. Um
[24:00] There's There's going to be some
[24:02] learning curves and some Good luck.
[24:04] >> frustration as we go, but we're going to
[24:07] do our best to be in front of it
[24:09] wherever we can. And your input of
[24:12] things that you might see that we don't,
[24:14] that's invaluable to us.
[24:17] How long do you anticipate the
[24:19] Springdale only section to take? Do you
[24:21] have a feel for that?
[24:26] Uh to echo Nancy, once we have a
[24:28] contractor kind of on deck, we'll be
[24:30] able to We'll be attending um all of
[24:32] their weekly kind of look ahead
[24:33] meetings. And so, they can look at their
[24:35] schedule or we can look at their
[24:36] schedule up to 3 weeks in advance. Um
[24:39] so, it's just a matter too of what
[24:41] number of crews will have working at the
[24:43] same time, um time of year, what's going
[24:46] on in other sections of the project, but
[24:48] all those factors will filter into
[24:50] exactly how long.
[24:51] >> Okay. We'll look forward to hearing more
[24:53] as it goes then. Yeah, absolutely. Will
[24:55] it also affect the sidewalks and the
[24:57] road? Because like you said concrete, so
[24:59] it's going under the side.
[25:01] Yes. Okay.
[25:04] We We know that there are areas where
[25:06] we're going to be able to utilize your
[25:08] trail system on the side of the road for
[25:11] some of the trenching. Some will be on
[25:13] the shoulder of the road. I know UDot
[25:16] worked with I'm not sure who at the city
[25:18] to try to preserve your beautiful new
[25:22] asphalt as much as possible and not have
[25:25] to dig things up again. So, you're going
[25:27] to see sometimes they're going to be on
[25:29] one side of the road, not particularly
[25:31] in Springdale. I think we'll all be on
[25:33] the east side of the road for what we're
[25:34] doing here.
[25:35] But, we're trying to move the design to
[25:38] protect as much of the area as possible
[25:41] and disturb the least amount possible.
[25:47] It really does seem like night time
[25:49] operations are probably going to be
[25:52] best.
[25:54] As much as possible. That would be That
[25:55] would be really Yeah.
[25:58] helpful for everybody involved, I
[26:01] Yeah, and and correct me if I'm wrong,
[26:02] too. But, um night time operations will
[26:06] we plan to make full utilization of when
[26:08] we are especially working in the Mount
[26:09] Carmel Tunnel um just to minimize those
[26:12] environmental impacts, but we can also
[26:13] plan some work just outside and uh on
[26:16] the other side of that tunnel while we
[26:18] do that work as well.
[26:21] And I I think I think we all have
[26:23] concerns on when we see how quickly
[26:26] traffic backs up. Mhm.
[26:36] Well,
[26:37] there's nowhere for anybody to go.
[26:39] It's just
[26:40] >> [snorts]
[26:42] >> Yeah. Yeah.
[26:43] bad real fast.
[26:49] Yes, so we're we're working closely and
[26:51] we've already had a couple of meetings
[26:53] with UDOT's Roads to Recreation. Um so,
[26:56] we've been working with them closely to
[26:57] communicate where exactly the work will
[26:59] be taking place.
[27:01] Um our plan currently is once we get
[27:04] inside of the park, we'll be working
[27:05] very closely, and we already have with
[27:08] the park to message those impacts, those
[27:10] larger scale um traffic shifts that are
[27:13] going to be taking place. But, outside
[27:15] of the park, Roads to Recreation is
[27:16] going to kind of be our main go-to point
[27:18] of contact um as far as how we message
[27:21] where traffic impacts will be happening.
[27:23] Um we'll also be when our contractor is
[27:26] uh signed on, we'll also be working with
[27:28] a traffic management app. It's called
[27:30] One Network. Um so, our public
[27:32] involvement staff is trained and briefed
[27:34] in how to uh
[27:36] kind of put up those updates. It's a
[27:38] traffic management software um that will
[27:40] work directly with the contractor to
[27:42] implement. Um they'll be able to kind of
[27:45] on-site label where the closures will be
[27:48] um in real time. So, that's another just
[27:51] tool that people will have to use to
[27:53] learn more about what the traffic
[27:54] impacts will be.
[27:55] Trying to reach every driver and visitor
[27:58] is really a challenge. So, we have put
[28:02] together a a large
[28:05] database of uh
[28:07] all throughout the Salt Lake Valley and
[28:11] Southern Utah, every recreation outlet,
[28:14] every
[28:15] fishing group, guide, every recreation
[28:18] business that we can find, we are adding
[28:21] them to our list as well as Convention
[28:25] and Visitors Bureau. Every outlet that
[28:27] we can think of to get the message out
[28:29] in advance, we're trying to do that. And
[28:32] then, we're relying on all of our
[28:33] partners once we have social media or an
[28:36] update, please share that broadly with
[28:40] everyone that you can think of because
[28:42] if we can really plant the seed that it
[28:46] is going to be impactful this summer.
[28:52] I don't know if it'll help or not.
[28:53] >> It's It's sounds to me like you've covered as many bases as you can.
[28:57] Yeah. Probably gone above and beyond.
[29:00] And in my estimation, coming from places
[29:02] where this kind of thing happens all the
[29:04] time, this is the price of doing
[29:05] business.
[29:06] I think we're just going to have to grin
[29:07] and bear it.
[29:09] Thank you. And yes, we have, but we may
[29:11] have missed something, so feel free to
[29:13] share.
[29:20] Any additional questions, things we can
[29:22] speak to?
[29:24] Okay.
[29:26] Sounds like we're good, and we'll look
[29:27] forward to hearing more. Thank you.
[29:29] Absolutely. Thank you guys all so much.
[29:34] We'll We'll leave some of these info
[29:36] cards for you, too. Okay. That'd be
[29:39] great.
[29:40] Thanks again.
[29:41] And the next item on the agenda is
[29:43] community comments. Um if you have a
[29:45] comment, please step up to the
[29:47] microphone, state your name, and we'll
[29:49] time the comments for 3 minutes. So,
[29:52] um
[29:53] we will not be taking questions. We've
[29:55] made a change in our policy, and it's
[29:57] too much like deliberating to be
[30:01] answering questions. So, if you have
[30:02] questions, we look forward to answering
[30:05] those one-on-one outside of the meeting,
[30:06] or you're welcome to contact staff. But
[30:09] you're welcome to make any comments
[30:10] you'd like now.
[30:15] Looks like there are none. We'll go to
[30:17] the consent agenda. Entertain a motion
[30:19] to approve the consent agenda, which
[30:21] includes a review of the monthly
[30:23] purchasing report,
[30:25] minutes of January 28th and February
[30:27] 11th, 2026,
[30:29] proclamation 2026-01,
[30:32] a proclamation designating April 24th,
[30:35] 2026 as Arbor Day in the town of
[30:38] Springdale,
[30:39] proclamation 2026-02,
[30:42] a proclamation designating April 13th to
[30:45] April 20th, 2026 as Dark Sky Week in the
[30:47] town of Springdale,
[30:49] proclamation 2026-3
[30:52] proclaiming April 2026 as National Child
[30:55] Abuse Prevention Month in Springdale,
[30:57] Utah,
[30:58] and proclamation 2026-04
[31:02] proclaiming April 20th, 2026 as Navy
[31:05] Day.
[31:07] I move to approve the consent agenda.
[31:10] Second it. Motion by Jack and second by
[31:12] Pat. Pat, I. Randy, I. Robert, I. Jack,
[31:15] I. Kyla, I.
[31:17] Okay, our next item is in legislative
[31:19] item. It's ordinance 2026-11,
[31:22] an ordinance enacting the Utah Community
[31:25] Clean Energy Program in the town of
[31:27] Springdale. And I think this will be a
[31:29] joint presentation by Tom Dansie and
[31:31] Randy Eaton.
[31:33] And Kyla is on the committee, also.
[31:37] That's correct. And and my portion of
[31:39] this presentation is saying
[31:42] Randy and Kyla
[31:43] >> Take it, Randy.
[31:44] >> to be giving the presentation. So, go
[31:46] ahead. Okay.
[31:48] I
[31:50] We've got some slides uh that the Utah
[31:52] Renewable Communities
[31:55] put together. There's a [clears throat]
[31:56] lot of
[31:58] information in these slides.
[32:00] And as we go through these slides,
[32:02] you're
[32:03] you might have some questions.
[32:05] I would suggest that you wait till the
[32:08] end because some of the questions you
[32:10] might come up with
[32:12] could be answered by some of the later slides. So, if we can go
[32:17] through it, if you can kind of
[32:19] remember your questions, if your memory
[32:21] is better than me, write them down if
[32:24] you're like me,
[32:25] uh and then we'll try to answer them at
[32:27] the end.
[32:30] Okay. So,
[32:33] the Utah Communities Renewable
[32:34] Communities
[32:36] is an organization of 19 different
[32:38] communities that have come together to
[32:42] um
[32:44] to address
[32:45] uh statute passed by the state in 2019,
[32:49] which allows these communities to come
[32:52] together with
[32:53] our local uh provider, which is Rocky
[32:56] Mountain Power,
[32:58] and
[33:00] uh
[33:01] create renewable energy so that in those
[33:05] 19 communities
[33:07] >> [snorts]
[33:07] >> uh
[33:09] we will put it we will
[33:11] contract with renewable developers
[33:15] to create enough energy so that all the
[33:17] energy in Springdale
[33:20] will be coming from renewable sources.
[33:24] Uh so uh
[33:26] this has kind of jumped
[33:29] uh to different names and in 2024, the
[33:32] legislature decided that they like the
[33:35] name Community Clean Energy Program.
[33:39] Uh so that's what it is. We still
[33:42] uh will still be talking about maybe the
[33:44] renewable
[33:46] the Utah Renewable Community Program.
[33:49] They're they're sort of interchangeable,
[33:50] but that is what the state legislature
[33:53] 2024 came up with.
[33:56] Uh we will be
[33:58] um
[34:00] hopefully approving an ordinance
[34:02] tonight.
[34:03] And that ordinance name and number is
[34:06] the ordinance number is 2026-11.
[34:11] It's an ordinance of the town of
[34:12] Springdale enacting title and chapter 7,
[34:15] title 8, and chapter 7 to the Springdale
[34:18] Town Code. Community Clean Energy
[34:22] Program.
[34:24] So this these
[34:27] slides hopefully will uh educate
[34:30] everybody on that program, answers
[34:33] questions that you might have about that
[34:35] program.
[34:36] Uh Kyla and I have been
[34:38] uh on
[34:40] all of the meetings. We uh
[34:43] Springdale had decided early on there
[34:45] were three different committees that we
[34:47] set up with the uh
[34:49] with the Utah renewable communities.
[34:53] Uh one was a program design, one was low
[34:56] income, and the other one was
[34:57] communications. I kind of felt like the
[35:00] best input I could have and we could
[35:02] have was be in the program design. So,
[35:05] we've been attending all the program
[35:07] design except and also all the the board
[35:10] meetings, which are
[35:11] once a month. The program design
[35:13] meetings are twice a month.
[35:16] Except Well, that's pretty recent. We
[35:18] were meeting weekly for a while.
[35:21] Cuz I feel like you deserve that credit.
[35:23] Yeah, we have
[35:24] >> that for 7 years, every week. Yeah, so 7
[35:27] days, yeah.
[35:28] So, we've earned our money.
[35:31] All right, next slide, please.
[35:34] Okay, so this is kind of an outline of
[35:37] what I'm going to go through. The rest
[35:38] of the slides are going to cover this.
[35:40] Uh
[35:40] what is a community clean energy
[35:43] program?
[35:44] Uh
[35:45] PSC is the Public Service Commission.
[35:49] We had to get this program approved by
[35:51] them and we did.
[35:53] Um
[35:54] and it was a combination of Rocky
[35:56] Mountain Power and us presenting that
[35:59] program to the PSC.
[36:02] Uh
[36:03] I'll talk about the uh anticipated
[36:05] timeline.
[36:06] Uh the program ordinance
[36:09] uh we'll discuss that and then
[36:12] um
[36:14] we will
[36:15] as a council discuss and whether this is
[36:18] the right thing for Springdale to do.
[36:20] There as it says, there are 19
[36:22] communities involved in this.
[36:24] Uh Uh this statute was passed in 2019.
[36:29] >> [clears throat]
[36:29] >> Originally, 23 communities expressed an
[36:33] interest in doing and being part of this
[36:35] program.
[36:36] Uh
[36:37] and then when it came time to adopt the
[36:42] utility agreement,
[36:44] uh there were only 18 communities that
[36:46] stayed in it.
[36:48] And the statute read that the program
[36:52] was going to close at a certain time.
[36:55] And then in 2024,
[36:58] they decided to open it up again. So,
[37:00] one more community, Midvale, joined.
[37:04] Next slide.
[37:06] All right.
[37:07] It's It is a brand new program.
[37:11] Uh it's giving Utah an stability to
[37:13] choose clean energy, clean, reliable,
[37:16] and affordable energy through our
[37:19] electricity provider. This is Rocky
[37:20] Mountain Power.
[37:22] It is a partnership between Rocky
[37:26] Mountain Power and the Utah
[37:29] renewable community.
[37:31] And we have been working together with
[37:33] them
[37:34] all 7 years. We've been having
[37:36] uh
[37:38] frequent meetings with them
[37:40] uh to to get this program put together.
[37:43] Uh we finally
[37:46] felt like we had the program right. We
[37:49] uh we took it to the Public Service
[37:50] Commission on
[37:52] in March.
[37:54] And on March 4th, they approved it, the
[37:57] program.
[37:59] Um so,
[38:01] the way this program works
[38:03] is in all these 19 communities, what we
[38:06] decided to do was have an opt-out
[38:09] program.
[38:12] What happens is once we sign this
[38:16] ordinance,
[38:17] every resident and business in the the
[38:21] is automatically going to be opt in to
[38:23] this program.
[38:26] And I will talk about you will have
[38:28] opportunities to opt out.
[38:30] Uh I'll talk about that, but that's an
[38:32] important part of this is uh everybody
[38:36] in these communities once each community
[38:39] signs this final ordinance will be opted
[38:42] in to the program automatically.
[38:46] Um so
[38:48] clean energy uh Utah is
[38:53] I mean the whole country probably, but
[38:54] Utah specifically is uh their their
[38:57] energy needs are growing.
[38:59] And Rocky Mountain Power has a portfolio
[39:02] now
[39:03] that's uh a combination of fossil fuel
[39:07] uh power stations and renewable sources.
[39:12] Uh renewable sources could be solar,
[39:14] could be wind, could be hydro. Uh there
[39:18] are a number of new renewable sources,
[39:19] but
[39:20] uh the um
[39:22] their portfolio
[39:25] uh
[39:26] and I will talk a little bit later about
[39:28] what that is, but it's a combination of
[39:30] those two things, fossil and renewable.
[39:34] Next slide.
[39:37] Okay.
[39:39] So
[39:41] uh our goal is
[39:44] uh to develop clean energy
[39:48] uh and still keep the program accessible
[39:53] to our residents and businesses.
[39:56] And we need to build enough resources,
[40:00] renewable resources so that we can cover
[40:03] our part of the energy
[40:06] uh that is not
[40:07] uh being covered by renewable sources
[40:11] that Rocky Mountain Power already has in
[40:13] their program.
[40:16] So
[40:18] when you look at this graph and you look
[40:21] over at year number one, is going to be 2027.
[40:28] That's when the program um starts, when
[40:32] ratepayers are going to start seeing
[40:34] uh a charge on their bill for this.
[40:38] So, in year one,
[40:40] we're we're basically looking at
[40:44] uh this the portfolio that Rocky Mountain Power
[40:48] now has.
[40:50] Uh you can see the traditional sources
[40:52] there are again fossil plants,
[40:55] coal-fired, oil, gas,
[40:58] that sort of thing.
[41:00] Uh the renewable
[41:02] uh
[41:03] in the grid, that's approximately what
[41:06] they have right now, and then we're
[41:08] going to add
[41:09] this little bit of renewable and we're
[41:11] going to increase,
[41:13] as you can see in the green, we're going
[41:14] to be increasing
[41:16] uh because we won't the whole idea is
[41:20] that the the rate
[41:22] uh the extra charge that we are going to
[41:25] be uh charging all of our customers
[41:29] is [clears throat] going to help us pay
[41:32] uh for these developers
[41:34] to build these uh renewable plants,
[41:37] whether they're
[41:39] solar, wind, whatever.
[41:42] And because our program will be be new
[41:45] in 2027, we're only going to be uh
[41:48] collecting a certain amount that uh it
[41:50] will be indicative of the amount of
[41:53] renewable that we will be able to bring
[41:54] online that year. And then, as you can
[41:57] see, we will be increasing each year,
[42:00] we'll be increasing the amount of
[42:02] renewable energy we will be adding to
[42:05] this.
[42:06] Uh the goal is by year four, which is
[42:08] 2030,
[42:10] that we will have uh in Springdale and
[42:14] in all the 19 communities that are part
[42:16] of this program uh, we will be putting
[42:19] enough uh, renewable in the system to
[42:22] cover our energy that's not already
[42:25] covered by what Rocky Mountain Power
[42:27] uh, has in their system already.
[42:30] Can I Can I clarify two things, right?
[42:32] >> Yeah.
[42:33] Um,
[42:34] even though the amount of energy that we
[42:37] are going to be procuring is going to
[42:41] increase, the bill
[42:43] will not increase.
[42:45] The rate on that we pay as residents is
[42:48] not going to increase. It's going to
[42:49] stay stable. At $4, if anything, we
[42:51] might see it go down after a while.
[42:53] Yeah, and we'll get there. But But you
[42:56] said something that kind of
[42:57] increase It doesn't increase the bill.
[43:00] It
[43:00] >> It doesn't increase That's a good point.
[43:01] That's a good clarification.
[43:02] >> being seen the um the what what
[43:04] resources we can um get. And then the
[43:07] second thing that I don't want people to
[43:09] be mistaken about is
[43:11] there are not solar or wind farms coming
[43:14] to Springdale.
[43:15] These These uh,
[43:17] resources are not located in Springdale.
[43:21] Yeah, yeah, they probably generally
[43:23] won't be in any of these 19 communities.
[43:25] They will be on the West Desert. Uh,
[43:28] places like that where solar and wind
[43:31] were where there's land available, where
[43:33] there's um sun and wind available.
[43:38] Okay, next slide.
[43:42] Okay, so right now, Rocky Mountain Power
[43:45] does have some has some renewable energy
[43:50] uh, options. Uh, one of them is Blue
[43:53] Sky.
[43:54] Uh, and Blue Sky allows participants to
[43:58] voluntarily contribute $1.95 per 100 kW
[44:03] hour block
[44:05] uh, to support renewable energy. And the
[44:08] way they do this is
[44:10] uh that goes to grants to help
[44:12] organization
[44:14] offset the cost for rooftop solar.
[44:18] Uh
[44:18] and it also funds the purchase of
[44:21] renewable energy credits. Now, RECs are
[44:24] something that are
[44:26] I don't want to get into that cuz that's
[44:27] very complicated and they could be
[44:30] buying these RECs from Missouri
[44:33] or some other state.
[44:36] Uh but that's what Blue Sky does.
[44:39] Subscribe Solar is another renewable
[44:42] option that Rocky Mountain Power has
[44:44] right now.
[44:45] Uh and [clears throat] it's specifically
[44:47] for one 20-MW solar farm in southern
[44:50] Utah.
[44:51] Uh and right now the
[44:53] participation is capped in that.
[44:57] Um so,
[44:59] if you're somebody who wants to do
[45:02] renewable, who wants to support this,
[45:05] what can you do? Well, you do what I did
[45:08] back in 2013. I bought solar panels and
[45:12] I got on their program at that point,
[45:15] but for a lot of people, that's very
[45:18] uh
[45:19] financially prohibitive to do. Even if
[45:22] you want to
[45:24] uh if you wanted uh support renewable,
[45:26] it's it's expensive to go down that
[45:29] route.
[45:30] Um
[45:31] so, what this program does, it allows
[45:35] you for a very
[45:37] small price to support renewable energy.
[45:42] And and I'll talk more about the price.
[45:45] Uh we're going to get to that in one of
[45:46] the other slides, so you'll have some
[45:48] idea of what that is.
[45:52] Okay, next slide.
[45:55] Okay, this is kind of the process that
[45:58] we've been going through as
[46:00] uh as this got started, uh, number one was
[46:05] uh, the Utah State Legislature in 2019
[46:09] passing this
[46:11] uh, program, the statute that allows
[46:15] communities to get together with uh,
[46:17] with Rocky Mountain Power and put some
[46:19] sort of program together.
[46:21] Uh, a good friend of mine used to live
[46:23] around here.
[46:25] Um,
[46:29] Julie Haddock. Sorry.
[46:31] Uh, she she called me and told me about
[46:34] this program and I went, "Wow." And I
[46:36] looked at it and uh, I thought this was
[46:40] perfect for Springdale. So, I brought it
[46:42] to the council in December of 2019
[46:46] and uh, the council decided this was a
[46:50] good idea, so we passed a resolution in
[46:53] 2019
[46:55] signaling that we wanted to be part of
[46:57] this program.
[47:00] So, that's how we kind of got into this
[47:02] and how I got started for us.
[47:05] Um, so that was
[47:07] item number two.
[47:09] Uh, then we got to uh, the point where
[47:12] we were signing a governance agreement
[47:15] and the utility agreements.
[47:17] And this was another serious step to
[47:20] take.
[47:22] And uh, there obviously was some time
[47:25] involved in this and you know, as we
[47:29] know uh, councils change personnel and
[47:35] uh, it's very possible of these
[47:38] uh, 23 communities and the five
[47:40] communities of those 23 that originally
[47:43] didn't want to be a a part of this
[47:45] uh, the council might have changed or
[47:47] they might have looked at it a little
[47:48] bit more and gotten feedback.
[47:50] And those communities did not sign the
[47:54] governance agreement and the utility
[47:55] agreement. We did.
[47:58] Uh we signed the utility agreement
[48:02] in 2021,
[48:05] I believe.
[48:12] May May 12th, 2021. Thank you.
[48:16] I did tell you that number. I just
[48:18] couldn't remember it that day.
[48:20] So,
[48:21] 2029, we signed the utility agreement
[48:23] saying, "Yep, Springdale wants to be
[48:26] part of this."
[48:27] Uh
[48:28] and then
[48:29] the uh URC, I'm just going to cuz that's
[48:33] easier than Utah Renewable Communities
[48:35] for me. URC uh
[48:39] then sat down and really started
[48:43] going through uh the detail of uh
[48:47] figuring out how this program's going to
[48:49] work.
[48:51] And anybody that's ever dealt with a
[48:53] utility before knows that there is
[48:58] a lot of
[49:00] crossing t's and dotting i's and
[49:05] commas and semicolons and
[49:08] exclamation parts points involved. So,
[49:11] uh it was it was a lot of work.
[49:14] But finally, we both
[49:18] uh URC and Rocky Mountain Power both
[49:21] felt like we had a good program that we
[49:25] could bring back to the Public uh
[49:27] Utility Commission
[49:28] or Public Service Commission, excuse me.
[49:30] So, we finally in March uh we brought it
[49:34] to or we
[49:36] uh excuse me, and it
[49:40] in
[49:41] 2025, we we filed it with the RMP
[49:45] or excuse me, filed RMP and us filed it
[49:50] with the Public Service Commission. And
[49:53] they, of course,
[49:55] uh went through a lot of rigmarole, but
[49:59] finally on March 4th, uh the Public
[50:02] Service Commission
[50:03] uh
[50:04] signed and approved the agreement, and
[50:08] that started the clock.
[50:12] Each of the 19 communities now have 90
[50:16] days, or by June 2nd, in which they
[50:20] finally they have to approve this final
[50:22] ordinance.
[50:23] Uh we're
[50:25] we could be the very If we pass this
[50:27] tonight, we'll be the first community uh
[50:30] to pass this ordinance.
[50:31] Others are scheduled, some of them this
[50:34] month, some of them next month.
[50:36] Uh but we could be the first one to pass
[50:38] this.
[50:40] So, that's where we are at uh step
[50:41] number seven right now. Next slide,
[50:43] please.
[50:49] Okay, that's kind of what I've been
[50:52] saying.
[50:54] Um
[50:55] uh they approved the order on March 4th.
[50:58] It
[50:59] went through all the details of how this
[51:02] program's going to work. It set a rate
[51:05] uh
[51:06] of how much
[51:08] uh or is going to be charged both
[51:10] residents and non-residents. I'll talk
[51:13] about that in a in a few minutes.
[51:16] Uh
[51:17] and um
[51:25] So,
[51:29] we are at the point right now where
[51:31] um
[51:32] we have um
[51:34] as the Utah Renewable Communities
[51:38] our part of this was to go out and
[51:43] uh create an RFP to get
[51:47] um
[51:48] developers
[51:49] to bid
[51:50] for this program to be to supply energy
[51:53] for this program.
[51:56] Next slide.
[52:00] So, here's the timeline I've kind of
[52:02] been talking about.
[52:04] Ordinance adoption.
[52:06] Um
[52:08] we've got we've got some bids. Uh we've
[52:11] gone through a process of weeding those
[52:13] bids down us and Rocky Mountain Power.
[52:16] Uh
[52:17] so
[52:18] uh
[52:19] the
[52:21] implementation date that they're talking
[52:23] about here right now.
[52:28] All of us, as I said, are going to be
[52:31] opted into this program.
[52:34] Uh
[52:34] probably starting November 2nd.
[52:38] All of us
[52:40] as residents in these communities are
[52:42] going to bill get a bill from Rocky
[52:44] Mountain Power
[52:46] and it's going to say
[52:48] uh
[52:48] >> [snorts]
[52:49] >> this
[52:51] URC program
[52:53] uh is starting at going to be starting
[52:55] up at in the first of next year.
[52:58] Uh it's going to cost this much extra
[53:00] for you.
[53:02] Uh
[53:03] if you don't want to do it,
[53:05] you can opt out.
[53:07] And at that point, you can opt out for
[53:09] free. So, you're going to get a notice
[53:11] on your November
[53:13] uh bill. You're going to get a notice on
[53:15] your December bill from Rocky Mountain
[53:17] Power.
[53:18] Two notices
[53:20] that
[53:22] uh let everybody give everybody
[53:25] a the
[53:27] possibility to opt out if they don't
[53:28] want to be part of this program.
[53:31] And there will be no
[53:33] uh
[53:34] termination charge.
[53:36] In addition to that,
[53:38] once the
[53:40] uh
[53:40] January 1st, your next bill then will
[53:44] have the rate on it.
[53:46] And your next bill will include that
[53:48] rate.
[53:50] And so,
[53:52] for the four months after that,
[53:57] if you start
[53:58] um
[53:59] and you're paying this and you decide,
[54:01] you know, I'm just not comfortable with
[54:02] this,
[54:04] then you can still opt out for free.
[54:09] After that four months,
[54:11] you can opt out, but there's a
[54:13] termination fee and we'll talk about
[54:15] that.
[54:17] Okay, next slide.
[54:22] Here's the meat of it. What's this going
[54:25] to cost?
[54:27] So,
[54:29] uh
[54:31] the Public Service Commission
[54:34] has decided that they want a flat rate
[54:37] for residential customers in these 19
[54:40] communities.
[54:41] And that flat rate is going to be $4 a
[54:45] month
[54:46] above your normal fee. And what what is
[54:49] that How they get that $4? Well, $3.88
[54:54] of that
[54:56] goes toward the program, goes toward
[55:00] uh
[55:01] getting renewable sources, uh solar power, wind power, whatever we decide.
[55:10] 12 cents of that is a surcharge
[55:13] for the low-income
[55:16] customers.
[55:17] And what's that mean?
[55:19] So, in all of our communities,
[55:22] there are certain people that are part
[55:24] of heat or or here It's help.
[55:28] Heat and help. Heat and help to
[55:31] low-income
[55:33] for utility customers that help them
[55:35] with their bills to be able to pay their
[55:37] bills.
[55:39] We don't want those low-income customers
[55:42] to have an additional $4 on their bill.
[55:46] So, what we have said and what the
[55:48] Public Service Commission has said is
[55:50] that all the eligible customers
[55:53] uh who are not in one of these
[55:55] low-income programs,
[55:57] you will help pay their bill so that
[56:00] they don't see any income in or any
[56:03] increase in their bill.
[56:06] So,
[56:07] they can be part of this program for
[56:09] nothing.
[56:10] And we want the we want the more people
[56:12] we can we want in this program.
[56:17] Okay, next slide.
[56:25] And this just talks about who the
[56:28] low-income
[56:30] uh
[56:30] people are and what what programs they
[56:32] might be in.
[56:34] And how they qualified uh
[56:36] to be low-income. And if they're not in
[56:38] one of those programs right now, you can
[56:41] as Skyler said, you can apply directly
[56:42] to Rocky Mountain Power
[56:44] uh in their help program
[56:46] and get into it.
[56:49] Next slide.
[56:52] All right, how about businesses?
[56:55] Non-residential customers. This is what
[56:58] they're going to be paying.
[57:01] Um
[57:02] less than
[57:04] a cent a kilowatt hour.
[57:07] Uh
[57:09] plus
[57:10] well, actually
[57:11] more than a cent. A cent plus point
[57:14] 0.0069.
[57:16] So, if they put their
[57:18] uh low income in.
[57:20] And and this this is just gives kind of
[57:23] an example scenario of what that means
[57:27] for a business. Say medium office
[57:29] building using
[57:31] uh 6880 kilowatts
[57:34] uh
[57:34] per month.
[57:36] Um without their program, their bill
[57:38] would normally be 847.39.
[57:41] With the program, they would have to pay
[57:43] an extra $42 for the program for being
[57:46] in the program.
[57:48] And that's approximately a 5% increase
[57:50] from what they're paying right now.
[57:54] Next slide.
[58:02] Now, I want to
[58:04] I'm going to talk a little bit and it's
[58:06] not quite on this.
[58:08] Um
[58:10] but I'm going to talk a little bit about
[58:11] this
[58:12] program rate.
[58:15] Um
[58:17] Rocky Mountain Power and uh the Public
[58:21] Service Commission and the Utah
[58:23] renewable communities
[58:25] recognize
[58:27] that as that one
[58:30] slide showed with we're going to build
[58:32] up be building up resources
[58:34] uh that at some point we will have all
[58:37] the resources we need.
[58:39] So, we don't need a lot of money
[58:42] in the program rate
[58:44] uh to get more resources cuz we got
[58:46] them. We still will need some money to
[58:49] keep the program running.
[58:51] Um so
[58:55] this is what the P Public Service
[58:57] Commission's order said. I'm going to
[58:58] read this. While further program rates
[59:01] may diverge from those under a Rocky
[59:03] Mountain Power's
[59:05] proposed proposal contingent
[59:10] under as proposed against later
[59:12] determinations
[59:14] regarding resource valuation and changes
[59:17] to other and underlying program. This is
[59:19] the
[59:20] important. No evidence in the records
[59:22] suggests that the program rates are
[59:25] likely to meaningfully increase from the
[59:29] initial rates the $4
[59:32] that's approved by this order.
[59:34] Instead, under Rockingham Power's
[59:36] proposal, they would decrease rather
[59:40] significantly after the first two and I
[59:43] would add maybe three years depending
[59:46] on what we had to do for resources.
[59:49] So,
[59:51] we have one of the costs that
[59:54] or one of the things that we've done as
[59:56] a
[59:56] um
[59:57] the URC has done, we hired two
[1:00:02] entities that kind of help us cuz one
[1:00:05] was a law firm to help us through the
[1:00:07] intricacies of getting this thing drawn
[1:00:10] up. The other one is was called uh
[1:00:14] Energy Strategies, is that
[1:00:16] And these are the guys that got down
[1:00:19] with the nuts and bolts and said,
[1:00:22] "This is
[1:00:23] what your program's going to cost. This
[1:00:25] is how much per month is probably going
[1:00:28] to cost to do and and to get these
[1:00:30] resources, this is what you're going to
[1:00:32] cost." So, when Energy Resources
[1:00:36] kind of ran through the numbers
[1:00:38] of
[1:00:39] uh and and
[1:00:41] you know, these these rates are kind of
[1:00:43] determined on one of the things that uh
[1:00:46] that Energy Strategies
[1:00:50] found uh with similar programs is they
[1:00:54] said,
[1:00:55] "We think that you can expect an 80%
[1:00:58] residential
[1:01:00] um
[1:01:03] participation participation. Thank you.
[1:01:05] Looking for the word. Participation in
[1:01:07] this program. 20% won't for one reason
[1:01:09] or the other.
[1:01:11] Um
[1:01:12] and there was like a 5% or something
[1:01:16] five if it was a small
[1:01:17] smaller percentage of businesses and and
[1:01:20] industry that would be staying this
[1:01:23] program, but
[1:01:24] um
[1:01:25] so
[1:01:27] Energy Strategies then took those
[1:01:29] numbers and took the the $4
[1:01:32] and kind of figured out, "Okay,
[1:01:34] by
[1:01:35] 2 years, maybe 3 at the most,
[1:01:38] uh we will be done
[1:01:41] for the majority of this, and that $4
[1:01:44] they say will probably go down to 25
[1:01:46] cents a month to stay in this program."
[1:01:51] Uh Public Service Commission is not
[1:01:53] saying that
[1:01:55] uh officially. I'm not saying that's
[1:01:57] exactly where they're going to happen.
[1:01:59] I'm just telling you that's what our
[1:02:01] consultant, when they looked at
[1:02:02] everything, that's what they thought
[1:02:05] that residents would be looking at after
[1:02:07] two, maybe three years of dropping down
[1:02:10] to that kind of thing. So
[1:02:13] if you want to support renewable energy,
[1:02:16] you know, I put solar panels on. I paid
[1:02:18] thousands of dollars put those solar
[1:02:20] panels on cuz I was committed to new
[1:02:23] renewable energy. It would cost most of
[1:02:26] the other people in Springdale,
[1:02:28] uh if you want to stay in this program,
[1:02:31] 150 bucks
[1:02:34] to be part of this program.
[1:02:37] I think that is a a small amount um
[1:02:41] to do what we can to uh offset climate
[1:02:46] change.
[1:02:48] Next.
[1:02:49] Stop.
[1:02:54] So, I've gone over this one, the the
[1:02:56] opt-out.
[1:02:58] Um
[1:02:59] two months, first two months billing
[1:03:00] cycles, November, December,
[1:03:02] you can opt out for nothing. The four
[1:03:04] months, once the bills start coming in
[1:03:07] with the rate increase on them, you'll
[1:03:09] have four billing cycles uh where you
[1:03:12] still can opt out
[1:03:14] and not have a charge. After that,
[1:03:17] uh the cancel to cancel
[1:03:20] there will be a $30 termination fee for residential customers.
[1:03:29] And the termination fee for businesses
[1:03:31] kind of depend on on their rate
[1:03:33] schedule.
[1:03:37] What if you move? Or what if a new
[1:03:39] customer comes in?
[1:03:41] Uh
[1:03:43] you know, you're not going to get if you
[1:03:44] move, you're not going to get a
[1:03:46] termination fee.
[1:03:54] Okay, next slide.
[1:04:00] Okay, our ordinance,
[1:04:03] as I said,
[1:04:06] is each community has to has to pass
[1:04:09] this ordinance and and we have one on
[1:04:12] the books tonight. And what we're going
[1:04:14] to be discussing and what we want to
[1:04:16] pass is ordinance 2026-11.
[1:04:22] Um and hopefully the other communities
[1:04:24] will
[1:04:25] have theirs by June 2nd. Next slide.
[1:04:33] Uh I talked about
[1:04:35] uh our attorney, the attorney we've been
[1:04:38] using Dodge Russell and
[1:04:43] something we started out with.
[1:04:45] Uh
[1:04:47] I can't remember Dodge's first name, but
[1:04:49] he was very experienced in uh energy
[1:04:53] related matters and then his uh one of
[1:04:56] his
[1:04:57] um
[1:04:59] partners, Phil Russell, has been the one
[1:05:00] that we've been working with on this.
[1:05:03] URC has been working with and and he's
[1:05:06] handled all the drafting of the
[1:05:07] ordinance.
[1:05:08] Uh and
[1:05:10] uh all the different municipal attorneys
[1:05:12] have have looked over these ordinance.
[1:05:14] Our attorney was on one of the meetings
[1:05:17] when we finally had an ordinance uh that
[1:05:19] was sort of finalized. They looked over
[1:05:22] the ordinance. They've approved it. It's
[1:05:24] gone through them.
[1:05:26] Uh they're fine with us
[1:05:27] uh doing this tonight.
[1:05:37] Okay, next slide.
[1:05:43] So, this is just kind of the details of
[1:05:44] the ordinance of the
[1:05:46] you know, anybody that's looked at
[1:05:47] ordinances before
[1:05:49] um
[1:05:52] it it this ordinance has a bunch of
[1:05:54] whereases.
[1:05:56] And these whereases
[1:05:58] it tells you all this. Tells you about
[1:06:00] HB 411 that the state's passed in 2019
[1:06:05] which allowed us to come together and do
[1:06:07] this.
[1:06:08] Uh
[1:06:10] it told the different things steps that
[1:06:12] we had to do to stay in this. The
[1:06:15] utility agreement which we we passed uh
[1:06:19] 2021.
[1:06:20] And um
[1:06:22] and then some other details about what
[1:06:24] we feel that this program is doing for
[1:06:27] the communities health, safety, and
[1:06:29] welfare. Certainly the environmental
[1:06:31] stewardship
[1:06:32] aspect of this of this program should be
[1:06:35] pretty obvious.
[1:06:38] Next slide.
[1:06:45] The one um
[1:06:47] thing that
[1:06:49] uh first thing I'll point out on this is
[1:06:51] some of the details
[1:06:53] in exhibit A of this ordinance says that
[1:06:56] all customers
[1:06:59] in Springdale are eligible for this
[1:07:02] except people on schedule 135 which
[1:07:07] is me.
[1:07:08] That's the
[1:07:10] you know, and other people in
[1:07:11] Springdale, but that's the net metering.
[1:07:14] So, I think people have heard of net
[1:07:16] metering. That's what schedule 135 is.
[1:07:19] It's the net metering program.
[1:07:23] As I said, I I um
[1:07:27] I put my first panels on in 2013.
[1:07:31] And I added some more uh couple years
[1:07:33] ago.
[1:07:39] Again, the ordinance kind of goes
[1:07:40] through these details of what I've been
[1:07:42] talking about. Um
[1:07:45] and
[1:07:54] I'm not sure that there's uh
[1:07:57] anything else that we have to
[1:08:00] talk about in this one.
[1:08:02] Okay, next slide.
[1:08:05] But, here's some more details, just in
[1:08:07] case you
[1:08:08] didn't get them all.
[1:08:10] So, we have signed the utility
[1:08:12] agreement.
[1:08:13] Um
[1:08:14] we have
[1:08:16] by state statute
[1:08:19] we
[1:08:20] not only had to
[1:08:23] uh we our communities set up a fund
[1:08:29] and paid for a fund to to hire our
[1:08:32] attorneys, to to hire energy strategies,
[1:08:35] to do some work with Rocky Mountain
[1:08:37] Power, but we also, by state statute
[1:08:42] when Rocky Mountain Power sends out
[1:08:44] these two notices
[1:08:46] to customers
[1:08:48] we have to
[1:08:50] all the communities have to pay for
[1:08:51] that.
[1:08:52] This is something we haven't paid yet.
[1:08:53] We've paid the other cost already, but
[1:08:56] we will have to pay approximately
[1:08:59] uh 900 little under $970.
[1:09:03] Uh so,
[1:09:04] sometime
[1:09:06] this year we probably will
[1:09:08] uh
[1:09:09] get billed for that since those notices
[1:09:11] will go out in January and December and
[1:09:15] maybe they'll send a bill for that at the end
[1:09:17] of the year. But, um
[1:09:21] we
[1:09:23] the amount that
[1:09:25] uh each community is pay paying into
[1:09:27] this is dependent on the number of
[1:09:30] customers that they have. So, we we are
[1:09:33] contributing a very small percentage of
[1:09:36] the money that's going to these
[1:09:37] different things. The original $700,000
[1:09:42] uh for
[1:09:44] uh
[1:09:44] our attorneys and energy strategies and
[1:09:47] other
[1:09:48] like I said, we paid $910
[1:09:52] $42, I think, was our part of it.
[1:09:56] So, and that's already been paid.
[1:10:11] Okay, next slide.
[1:10:19] Okay.
[1:10:20] Um we are in
[1:10:22] Rockingham Power & Energy District.
[1:10:24] Uh our community
[1:10:28] options for supporting clean energy. We
[1:10:30] have I've talked about that. There's the
[1:10:31] Blue Sky.
[1:10:33] Uh there's subscribed solar, which is
[1:10:36] been
[1:10:37] um
[1:10:38] uh is not open anymore.
[1:10:40] Uh there is
[1:10:42] uh getting on the net metering program,
[1:10:44] which costs thousands of dollars
[1:10:46] to do. Just as an example, I put $15,000
[1:10:50] into this
[1:10:51] uh for my
[1:10:53] uh panels.
[1:10:55] And I don't have a very big house.
[1:10:59] So this is a very cheap option for our
[1:11:02] residence to support renewable energy
[1:11:05] and clean energy.
[1:11:08] And and and that's what this program is
[1:11:11] all about. It's allowing everybody to be a part of this.
[1:11:18] And we feel like this program is the
[1:11:21] best choice for our communities
[1:11:23] to be part of
[1:11:26] providing renewable energy.
[1:11:30] And and uh
[1:11:32] just looking at our general plan,
[1:11:34] looking at
[1:11:35] in general this community I think has
[1:11:38] always been because
[1:11:41] Jeff's little organization surrounds us
[1:11:44] on three sides. We've always been I
[1:11:48] think a community that's been very um
[1:11:52] oriented to the park and and their
[1:11:54] philosophy on
[1:11:57] resource protection.
[1:11:59] And I just think that we have uh
[1:12:01] this is something that really aligns
[1:12:03] with what we've done with our general
[1:12:06] plan
[1:12:07] and what most of our
[1:12:08] residents feel. Next slide.
[1:12:17] Okay, this is the
[1:12:22] getting down to it. This is our our
[1:12:25] choice tonight whether we we pass this
[1:12:28] ordinance.
[1:12:29] Um
[1:12:30] it's going to sign our
[1:12:33] residents and businesses.
[1:12:36] Um it'll allow them to be part of
[1:12:39] a renewable energy program.
[1:12:41] Um we've got until June 2nd to do it.
[1:12:45] Uh I think it's it'd be good to to get
[1:12:47] it done tonight.
[1:12:49] And um
[1:12:57] Next slide.
[1:13:03] That's the organization that we're part
[1:13:05] of.
[1:13:06] Now,
[1:13:08] all those questions you had.
[1:13:11] You answered all of them.
[1:13:12] No, I have some.
[1:13:14] I knew. I knew. No, he didn't. Jack and
[1:13:18] Pat would have questions.
[1:13:19] >> Are they coming from the community? How
[1:13:21] are And either one. We'll we'll start.
[1:13:22] Either one. We but we I would start with
[1:13:24] you and the council. I think it's
[1:13:26] probably the best way to start. Fire
[1:13:27] away. Jack, rock, paper, scissors, who
[1:13:29] goes first?
[1:13:31] Go for it.
[1:13:33] Um
[1:13:34] five things.
[1:13:35] What if
[1:13:37] you
[1:13:38] RMP estimates 80% initial participation.
[1:13:41] What if it drops below that?
[1:13:44] How far down does it go before the
[1:13:46] program collapses? If that even happens.
[1:13:48] In other words,
[1:13:50] say 80% of the people do sign on, but in
[1:13:53] a year only 50% are on. Or more people
[1:13:56] opt out of it, pay that 30 bucks and opt
[1:13:58] out. What happens then?
[1:14:01] Do do do do the rates go up for the
[1:14:03] people that are in the program?
[1:14:05] No.
[1:14:06] The the Public Service Commission has
[1:14:09] said this is the rate.
[1:14:11] So, the rates do not go up. It means
[1:14:14] what it means possibly is that the it
[1:14:17] will take us longer to
[1:14:20] uh
[1:14:21] get the amount of renewable energy that
[1:14:23] we need to satisfy our 100%. So, if
[1:14:26] initially only
[1:14:27] This is crazy, but if initially only 20%
[1:14:30] of the people sign up, it's going to be
[1:14:31] the rates we saw here.
[1:14:34] Yeah, but the reality is, I mean, if 20%
[1:14:38] of all the communities sign up, the
[1:14:41] program won't work. Okay. And the Public
[1:14:43] Service Commission would probably
[1:14:46] and and and URC would probably pull the
[1:14:48] plug on the program. Also, in the slides
[1:14:50] it talked about we get the first notice
[1:14:53] in the bill in November and the next
[1:14:54] notice the bill in December.
[1:14:57] But the ordinance
[1:14:58] currently shows that there's 15 days
[1:15:00] between the first and second notice. So,
[1:15:02] how does that How does that
[1:15:04] reconcile?
[1:15:07] Well, I think
[1:15:10] Yeah, I'm not sure why the ordinance is
[1:15:13] 15 days because First opt-out
[1:15:16] >> It's when your bill is
[1:15:17] >> notice
[1:15:18] Uh
[1:15:20] Where did you see that? It's in
[1:15:23] 872
[1:15:25] C
[1:15:27] one and two.
[1:15:29] In the ordinance.
[1:15:31] You see it up here.
[1:15:35] Can you pull the ordinance up?
[1:15:39] Section 87-2
[1:15:48] Should be at the Yeah, the beginning of
[1:15:50] this.
[1:15:52] All right, where
[1:15:54] What page is it on? Let's start with it.
[1:15:56] Oh, you're you're down into the that
[1:15:59] into the exhibit.
[1:16:00] >> It says that the first opt-out notice
[1:16:03] shall in all material respects
[1:16:06] da da da
[1:16:07] No, that's not the right one, Tom. Go
[1:16:09] down one.
[1:16:10] Is that Is that Is that 872 or 871?
[1:16:15] Uh
[1:16:16] Go go up. 872, okay.
[1:16:18] This paragraph talks about the first
[1:16:20] opt-out
[1:16:20] >> I see what you're talking about.
[1:16:21] Paragraph second notice is 15 days after
[1:16:24] the first opt-out notice. Separate from
[1:16:26] the bill. At least 15 days. Separate
[1:16:29] from the bill. It says it's separate
[1:16:30] from the standard monthly bill.
[1:16:31] >> one in the bill in November, one in the
[1:16:33] bill in
[1:16:34] November, one in December, and you get
[1:16:37] other notices that are 15 days apart?
[1:16:40] I mean, I'm sure the notice
[1:16:40] >> No, I
[1:16:42] the same thing.
[1:16:43] >> Well, the first of all it says
[1:16:46] to each eligible customer within
[1:16:48] Springdale at least 15 days after the
[1:16:51] first opt-out notice
[1:16:53] uh was provided or at least 7 days
[1:16:55] before the customer
[1:16:57] But it specifically says these
[1:16:58] >> the second. So, that
[1:17:03] But these notices are separate from the
[1:17:05] bills. They're not tied to bills. They
[1:17:07] specifically say separate from standard
[1:17:09] monthly bills. So, they go out as a
[1:17:11] standalone item 15 days apart, sounds
[1:17:15] like. At least 15 days apart.
[1:17:18] I'm sorry, at least, yeah.
[1:17:19] At least, right. At least 15 days.
[1:17:22] And so, also, you will everybody will
[1:17:26] receive a mailer even if they only do
[1:17:30] electronic billing.
[1:17:31] Everybody will receive a paper And
[1:17:33] that's part of the $970 that we're going
[1:17:36] to be paying for. And then their
[1:17:39] additional notice will be sent to you in
[1:17:41] your preferred
[1:17:44] method. If so, if you prefer paper,
[1:17:46] you're going to get another paper. And
[1:17:47] if you prefer electronic, then it will
[1:17:49] be electronic.
[1:17:51] And is there a specific reason why
[1:17:53] schedule 135 is out, like why you can't
[1:17:55] do it? Is it just Because I think what
[1:17:58] they did is they looked at how much
[1:18:00] money that people have
[1:18:02] uh spent on this.
[1:18:04] And that's why.
[1:18:06] And and I don't know um
[1:18:08] I heard some talk about eventually they
[1:18:11] might let
[1:18:13] uh schedule 135 in, but at this point,
[1:18:15] no. And I think this is going to be
[1:18:18] listed as schedule 100. Is what this
[1:18:21] will which you'll see on your bill,
[1:18:23] schedule 100. And my last question is is the town keeping track of who's in
[1:18:27] and who's out? Will we know
[1:18:31] like Pat Campbell was in and Pat
[1:18:33] Campbell opted out in February or I I
[1:18:35] don't know that we will uh individual I
[1:18:38] doubt it because we don't send the bills
[1:18:41] out. Rocky Mountain Power does.
[1:18:43] Absolutely. So your your bill we don't
[1:18:45] » [music]
[1:18:45] >> we might be able to call Rocky Mountain
[1:18:47] Power and say how many people Okay. uh
[1:18:50] from Springdale are in and how many are
[1:18:53] you know what kind of participation but
[1:18:54] at this point
[1:18:55] >> concerned about what the
[1:18:56] how we verify our participation. Yeah
[1:18:58] and uh I'm I'm assuming we will be able
[1:19:02] to call Rocky Mountain Power and just
[1:19:03] say
[1:19:04] you know I would I would say probably
[1:19:06] after the
[1:19:08] you know once it starts in 2027
[1:19:11] uh we would wait until that four months
[1:19:14] is up because people can still opt out
[1:19:16] without a termination charge and and at
[1:19:18] that point I think everybody will be
[1:19:21] sort of committed to the program and at
[1:19:23] that point it we could
[1:19:25] get a hold of Rocky Mountain Power and
[1:19:27] ask.
[1:19:28] And I think the URC would do that. I
[1:19:30] mean I don't I don't see the town
[1:19:32] specifically doing that. I maybe we
[1:19:34] could or maybe we couldn't. But I do
[1:19:37] think that URC is invested enough to
[1:19:39] kind of know okay
[1:19:41] we've done all this legwork where did
[1:19:43] the cards fall and giving us that data
[1:19:47] because I imagine that we're going to be
[1:19:49] aboard for quite a while as we make
[1:19:51] decisions about resources that we're
[1:19:53] obtaining and power purchase agreements
[1:19:56] and all that good stuff.
[1:20:00] Maybe if the opt-in is too low they'd
[1:20:02] open it up to schedule 135. Who knows?
[1:20:05] But Jack you had some questions.
[1:20:07] >> Yeah I think uh
[1:20:10] Pat covered my questions. Good job Pat.
[1:20:13] You know I think my one
[1:20:16] um I know that this is is not the first
[1:20:18] time we've heard this. I think the
[1:20:19] biggest hit on this will be for business
[1:20:21] owners. And I think Well I think the
[1:20:23] only question I've got is
[1:20:26] um
[1:20:27] uh
[1:20:28] do we really feel like we've given
[1:20:30] adequate notice to residents that by
[1:20:33] passing this ordinance, if you're not
[1:20:36] paying attention, you know, we just
[1:20:38] increased your
[1:20:40] power bill.
[1:20:41] Well, but we're not increasing. We're
[1:20:44] Well, I guess we are.
[1:20:45] >> No, we are.
[1:20:47] I you know, Jack
[1:20:51] No, I'm just asking that question.
[1:20:52] >> It's a It's a good question and it's one
[1:20:54] of the reasons
[1:20:56] that we have
[1:20:59] made an attempt
[1:21:01] uh
[1:21:01] and what I've made an attempt
[1:21:04] at every meeting of
[1:21:06] We've got a
[1:21:07] um a report on this on where we are on
[1:21:10] this.
[1:21:11] And
[1:21:12] uh I couldn't really fill much in
[1:21:15] because we were still kind of putting
[1:21:17] the program together. And until
[1:21:20] uh
[1:21:21] for instance, as far as the program rate
[1:21:23] until the Public Service Commission said
[1:21:26] on March 4th of this year that this is
[1:21:29] going to be the program rate and they
[1:21:31] decide cuz we we heard
[1:21:33] uh we were hearing from Energy
[1:21:34] Strategies that would probably be
[1:21:37] somewhere between two to five dollars.
[1:21:40] And but we our two to seven dollars. We
[1:21:43] didn't know where it was going to fall
[1:21:44] in there. Public Service Commission said
[1:21:46] flat rate four dollars until you
[1:21:51] have enough
[1:21:53] uh a reserve built up to then have uh
[1:21:56] paid for enough to get this program
[1:21:58] going.
[1:21:59] And I I think, you know, if we put this
[1:22:01] out in the town newsletter, we have it
[1:22:03] on the website.
[1:22:06] Um
[1:22:07] then I think, you know, we put
[1:22:08] >> Well, and and yeah, and I think that um
[1:22:11] what you we should be doing with maybe
[1:22:13] the town newsletter every time is just
[1:22:16] put a little blurb in there and giving a
[1:22:19] link to the URC website because that has
[1:22:23] a lot of detail and a a of uh good
[1:22:26] information on it. This is a lot of information, but
[1:22:31] there's a lot more
[1:22:32] on there.
[1:22:33] Uh so,
[1:22:35] that in my opinion
[1:22:37] I hear you, and it's what we are challenged by with
[1:22:42] everything that we do
[1:22:44] is trying to get the information out to
[1:22:46] the residents that
[1:22:48] "Hey, we're passing an ordinance
[1:22:50] tonight."
[1:22:51] And uh I don't other than
[1:22:56] putting big red signs up and shooting
[1:22:59] fireworks off and
[1:23:01] I I like the number of opportunities
[1:23:03] >> Exactly. You have.
[1:23:06] termination fee is more than reasonable.
[1:23:08] If you miss, you know,
[1:23:11] don't get the memo. Um so, Yeah.
[1:23:13] >> And the low-income option that that
[1:23:16] doesn't charge. I think I think there's
[1:23:18] every opportunity for someone who just
[1:23:20] can't do this to not do this. But
[1:23:22] >> And and Yeah. the the other thing that I
[1:23:25] think was on there, but uh for the
[1:23:27] low-income customers, you know, maybe
[1:23:30] uh
[1:23:31] you know, they're a couple of years into
[1:23:33] the program and they read something they
[1:23:35] don't all of a sudden they don't like
[1:23:37] renewable energy. They can opt out
[1:23:39] without any termination fee.
[1:23:41] Um
[1:23:43] so, that's that's really for the people
[1:23:45] who
[1:23:46] uh
[1:23:49] you know, have been
[1:23:51] There's a lot of work, I guess, for
[1:23:53] Rocky Mountain Power to take people
[1:23:56] There's work to put them into the
[1:23:57] program, and there's work to take them
[1:23:59] out, and that's what that
[1:24:01] $30 covers.
[1:24:06] It's good questions. I mean,
[1:24:08] it's important, and and
[1:24:11] you all have any questions, please ask.
[1:24:14] Um
[1:24:15] Yeah, if any of you out there want to
[1:24:17] ask questions, follow the same
[1:24:18] procedure.
[1:24:19] >> Yeah.
[1:24:20] If anybody has questions this program
[1:24:24] Looks like not. So, do we want to
[1:24:26] discuss or do we feel ready to make a
[1:24:28] motion?
[1:24:30] I will just add that, you know,
[1:24:36] kind of to your concerns, Jack, if we say no to the program, then nobody
[1:24:43] has the opportunity.
[1:24:45] There's no individual
[1:24:47] choice if we make the choice tonight to
[1:24:50] say no.
[1:24:52] The only way anybody gets individual
[1:24:54] choices if we say yes.
[1:24:56] That's a good point.
[1:25:00] And inevitably, but there will be the
[1:25:02] people who are caught off guard because
[1:25:03] their bill is on auto pay or or however
[1:25:06] it works for individual house individual
[1:25:08] households.
[1:25:10] Um
[1:25:11] and it is a shame that we've been
[1:25:12] working on this program for so long and
[1:25:14] it's coming out of time at a time where
[1:25:16] everybody's feeling
[1:25:18] tight, you know, and like and everything
[1:25:20] is increasing, right? That's
[1:25:22] really unfortunate, but we do know
[1:25:26] just within the last couple months that,
[1:25:29] you know, gas prices are going up.
[1:25:32] Fuel is an issue.
[1:25:34] This is a way for us as a community to
[1:25:36] say, well, we have sunshine and we have
[1:25:39] wind and we're willing to put forth a
[1:25:41] little bit of investment to maybe um
[1:25:45] gain some
[1:25:47] reliable, sustainable
[1:25:50] choices that aren't dependent on the ups
[1:25:52] and downs of coal and fuel prices.
[1:25:56] Um and and so for those few reasons, I
[1:26:00] beside the point that I've been working
[1:26:02] with Randy on this for quite a while, um
[1:26:04] I'm supportive of the program and
[1:26:08] wish that it were free, but it's not and
[1:26:10] that's just the way that good things
[1:26:12] are. We have to put forth a little bit
[1:26:13] of investment in hopes that we do get
[1:26:16] that 80% uh or maybe more.
[1:26:19] Um, you know, as a as the group of
[1:26:23] communities, we're 25%
[1:26:25] give or take a little bit
[1:26:28] of the grid's capacity or you know,
[1:26:30] we're 25% of the users. That's a chunk.
[1:26:34] That's a For the state, you mean?
[1:26:36] >> state.
[1:26:36] yeah. We're we're a considerable
[1:26:39] amount of energy and people who are
[1:26:42] getting together who are saying this is
[1:26:44] important to us.
[1:26:46] Um,
[1:26:47] so
[1:26:49] I think signing on is sending a message
[1:26:52] to the people who
[1:26:55] you know, with Project Gigawatt and all
[1:26:57] of the things that are kind of happening
[1:26:59] in our state.
[1:27:00] Uh,
[1:27:01] sending a message that people want clean
[1:27:03] reliable energy and I think Springdale
[1:27:07] is uniquely
[1:27:09] positioned to kind of support that
[1:27:12] endeavor.
[1:27:14] Yeah, and I
[1:27:15] we are very small player
[1:27:17] in this whole thing. It's Salt Lake, County, Ogden,
[1:27:22] uh, Park City, Moab, Summit County,
[1:27:26] you know, we're we're a a small little
[1:27:28] player in all this and and we are the
[1:27:31] only community in Southern Utah
[1:27:33] that's signing up for this program,
[1:27:35] which I'm
[1:27:36] uh, I'm pretty
[1:27:37] proud of us for making that step. I
[1:27:39] think that's a it's a huge
[1:27:42] uh, step, so
[1:27:44] uh, I I very much want us to
[1:27:49] be a part of this and to pass this
[1:27:50] ordinance tonight. Well, the thing about
[1:27:53] it is is
[1:27:54] nobody's in a headlock
[1:27:56] to to sign No, no. No. If you don't want
[1:27:58] to do it, you don't do it. If you want
[1:27:59] to do it, you do it. If you later you
[1:28:01] want out, you can get out. If you want
[1:28:02] to get in later, you can get in. I mean,
[1:28:04] this is not
[1:28:05] nobody's being pressured to do anything.
[1:28:07] The only concern I had and you've
[1:28:09] answered that question is noticed. Yeah.
[1:28:13] Unless you
[1:28:15] change the banner and the sign over
[1:28:16] there.
[1:28:17] >> [laughter]
[1:28:18] >> And Carla mentioned that this will go
[1:28:20] out by a US mail, Yeah. not just an
[1:28:23] email that you might miss, so I feel
[1:28:25] comfortable passing this resolution.
[1:28:29] Does anyone want to make the motion? I
[1:28:31] would like to.
[1:28:32] Really? Yeah, because I've brought this
[1:28:34] same program up. After all this, you're
[1:28:36] going to make the motion?
[1:28:38] >> Please.
[1:28:40] I move we approve ordinance 2026-11, an
[1:28:43] ordinance exacting
[1:28:45] uh enacting title eight, chapter seven
[1:28:48] to the Springdale Town Code, Community
[1:28:51] Clean Energy Program, and direct the
[1:28:53] mayor to sign.
[1:28:55] Can I add some findings?
[1:28:57] Yes.
[1:29:02] Um that our town general plan
[1:29:07] has several um supporting lines that I
[1:29:12] will mention.
[1:29:14] Um
[1:29:16] public and municipal I'm sorry,
[1:29:18] municipal and public services, the
[1:29:21] general goal states that either directly
[1:29:24] or through partnerships, the town will
[1:29:27] ensure excellence in utilities such as
[1:29:30] power.
[1:29:32] Then we have sub goal D, encourage the
[1:29:35] implementation of renewable energy and
[1:29:37] conservation, use reduction, and the
[1:29:40] practice of sustainability in power
[1:29:43] utilities,
[1:29:44] which is supported by D1.
[1:29:47] It says the town will adopt policies and
[1:29:49] participate in programs that promote the
[1:29:52] use and development of renewable and
[1:29:55] sustainable alternative resources as
[1:29:58] solar such as solar, wind, and
[1:30:01] geothermal.
[1:30:02] Um and then our natural and cultural
[1:30:04] resources general goal talks about the
[1:30:07] natural resources in and around
[1:30:10] Springdale, such as the dark night sky,
[1:30:13] clean air and water,
[1:30:15] um will be protected and conserved, will
[1:30:19] be healthy, and will enhance the quality
[1:30:23] and life or the quality of life and of
[1:30:26] residents and visitors.
[1:30:29] I will second I accept it those. Thank
[1:30:31] you.
[1:30:31] >> Thank you.
[1:30:33] Do we have a second?
[1:30:35] I'll second.
[1:30:36] Motion by Randy second by Kyla,
[1:30:38] appropriately.
[1:30:39] And I. Randy, I. Barbara, I. Jack, I.
[1:30:43] Kyla, I.
[1:30:46] After all that work, you finally get to
[1:30:49] put it to rest. No, I don't. And we're
[1:30:52] first.
[1:30:52] >> We have a lot more meetings and we have
[1:30:54] a lot more
[1:30:55] to do, but this is this is awesome.
[1:30:57] Good.
[1:30:59] Next item is invasive species removal
[1:31:01] project, Utah Conservation Corps
[1:31:04] Services Agreement, and this is Kindle.
[1:31:08] Yes, thank you. So, with the town is
[1:31:10] continuing the work on the invasive
[1:31:11] species removal project, removing
[1:31:14] invasive Russian olive and tamarisk
[1:31:16] trees from the Virgin River watershed in
[1:31:18] Springdale and Trees Ranch.
[1:31:20] Most of the work has been accomplished
[1:31:21] in the 2025 season. The specialized
[1:31:24] services agreement will allow the Utah
[1:31:27] Conservation Corps, the UCC crews, to
[1:31:30] perform 5 weeks of treatment,
[1:31:32] re-treatment, and revegetation in
[1:31:34] Springdale and Trees Ranch.
[1:31:36] The UCC charges $5,750
[1:31:40] per week for a technical treatment crew
[1:31:42] and $5,500 per week for a non-technical
[1:31:46] crew.
[1:31:47] The total for 5 weeks of treatment is
[1:31:48] $28,250.
[1:31:51] Funding for this project is coming
[1:31:53] through the landscape scale restoration
[1:31:55] grant from the US Forest Service
[1:31:58] that Springdale was subawarded in 2024.
[1:32:02] The town attorney has reviewed the
[1:32:03] agreement and he has approved the form.
[1:32:06] So, staff recommends that town council
[1:32:08] approve the specialized services
[1:32:09] agreement with UCC and authorize the
[1:32:12] mayor to sign the document.
[1:32:15] Questions for Kendall? Yeah, a question.
[1:32:17] I noticed that um
[1:32:19] there was matching fund contributions
[1:32:22] from Trees Ranch property and from the
[1:32:25] Nature Conservancy and some other
[1:32:27] partners. Is the Springdale is the town
[1:32:31] uh
[1:32:32] have any financial input into this
[1:32:36] other than getting the grant
[1:32:38] and your time for doing that?
[1:32:41] Um yes. So, the
[1:32:44] >> 28,000?
[1:32:46] So, so the 28,000 it's it's easiest to
[1:32:49] think of this as as a project as a whole
[1:32:51] and not the specifics of the 28,000. So,
[1:32:54] the at the project as a whole, the grant
[1:32:56] is about a $609,000
[1:32:58] project.
[1:32:59] Um so, we we that's that's the total
[1:33:03] bucket of funds. Of that $609,000
[1:33:07] um the uh State Forestry Fire and State
[1:33:10] Land, we we we were awarded 50% of that
[1:33:13] in in grant funding. So, $300,000. Of
[1:33:16] that, the Forestry Fire and State Lands
[1:33:19] took $60,000 for their administration of
[1:33:22] the grant. They the Forestry Fire and
[1:33:24] State Lands is actually the grant
[1:33:26] recipient. As Kendall mentioned, we are
[1:33:27] the subrecipient.
[1:33:29] So, right off the top, Forestry Fire and
[1:33:31] State Lands took 60,000.
[1:33:33] That means that we have $240,000
[1:33:36] in cash from the grant,
[1:33:39] but we also have to match that grant
[1:33:40] 50/50. So, we need to provide about
[1:33:42] $300,000 in matching funds.
[1:33:45] Those are coming um from Trees Ranch
[1:33:48] who's um
[1:33:50] providing about $150,000 in matching
[1:33:52] funds.
[1:33:53] The Nature Conservancy, which is
[1:33:55] providing about $20,000 Well, not about,
[1:33:57] exactly $20,000 in matching funds.
[1:34:00] Um, the town of Springdale has committed
[1:34:01] $10,000 in cash matching funds. The
[1:34:04] remainder of the match comes from
[1:34:07] um
[1:34:07] soft match. So, that is the town's labor
[1:34:12] that we put in on the on the um grant.
[1:34:15] Um, Lisa Zumpf is here and she's she's
[1:34:18] our our volunteer, what started as our
[1:34:20] council representative on this grant and
[1:34:21] now is our volunteer head volunteer on
[1:34:23] the grant and her time counts as match.
[1:34:25] Um, and another big chunk comes from the
[1:34:27] Hurricane Valley Fire Protection
[1:34:28] District. They're the ones that are
[1:34:30] helping us dispose of the slash piles
[1:34:32] through chipping and burning. All that
[1:34:34] goes towards the grant matching funds,
[1:34:35] as well.
[1:34:36] So, this $28,000
[1:34:38] comes out of that
[1:34:40] bigger, larger project where we have all
[1:34:42] this cash.
[1:34:44] Um
[1:34:45] and and so, that's where that money
[1:34:47] comes from. That is matched
[1:34:49] as a whole by these other sources I've
[1:34:52] talked about. So, we don't really need
[1:34:53] to worry about how is this particular
[1:34:55] $28,000 being matched because it's all
[1:34:57] part of the larger project.
[1:34:59] Does that make sense?
[1:35:04] And it's all funded. It's all fully
[1:35:06] funded.
[1:35:07] Correct.
[1:35:09] I have a question for you, Kenda. You
[1:35:11] said that the majority of the work has
[1:35:12] been completed. So, does that imply
[1:35:14] there's still some work that will be
[1:35:17] completed? Yes, there's some parcels
[1:35:19] within the Springdale town that needs to
[1:35:22] be completed. Yeah, I just wanted to
[1:35:24] mention, I noticed um
[1:35:26] down at the river park the other day
[1:35:28] where they where they did work on the
[1:35:31] east end of it, or I mean the I guess
[1:35:33] the north end. Is that right?
[1:35:36] Upriver.
[1:35:38] Where they had to go back and
[1:35:40] gather up the scattered material.
[1:35:42] There's Russian olive from that point up
[1:35:44] to Canyon Springs.
[1:35:47] Yes. So, anyway, yeah, there's
[1:35:48] definitely still some pockets.
[1:35:52] There's a little bit of tamarisk in the
[1:35:54] dry wash up above Anasazi, but I think
[1:35:56] you I think we've reported all of that
[1:35:58] to you.
[1:36:00] That's what remains.
[1:36:03] Yes, so having the UCC crews come back
[1:36:05] and take care of all of that and then
[1:36:07] also do some retreatment on some of the
[1:36:09] sprouts that have come up in Springdale
[1:36:12] and Trees Ranch is is why we need them
[1:36:15] to come back up.
[1:36:20] Questions? Want to make a motion?
[1:36:23] I have a motion ready. Okay.
[1:36:26] I move to approve the specialized
[1:36:27] service agreement with Utah Conservation
[1:36:29] Corps in regards to invasive species and
[1:36:33] direct the mayor to sign.
[1:36:35] Second. Motion by Kayla, second by Jack.
[1:36:37] Pat, aye. Brenda, aye. Barbara, aye.
[1:36:41] Jack, aye. Kayla, aye.
[1:36:44] Next item is review and possible
[1:36:47] selection of Bike Utah as a partner with
[1:36:50] the town of Springdale for community
[1:36:51] engagement services regarding trails in
[1:36:53] Springdale. Contact is Ryan Gubler and I
[1:36:56] see that Stan Pleasure is here
[1:36:59] um
[1:37:00] maybe participating as well.
[1:37:03] Thank you, Mayor.
[1:37:05] Sorry.
[1:37:07] Um so as the staff report
[1:37:11] Okay. Sorry. Let me know when I'm ready
[1:37:13] to go.
[1:37:14] As the staff report says, back in 2025
[1:37:16] we were awarded an outdoor recreation
[1:37:18] planning assistance grant for $20,000
[1:37:21] from the Utah Division of Outdoor
[1:37:22] Recreation.
[1:37:23] Um as part of our application, uh we
[1:37:26] were very specific that we wanted this
[1:37:27] money to cover two phases of this
[1:37:30] effort. The first phase to be really
[1:37:32] healthy, robust community engagement
[1:37:34] process, public involvement to
[1:37:37] help us understand um the feelings
[1:37:39] surrounding our current trail network
[1:37:41] and the community's appetite for the
[1:37:42] potential for more trails in town.
[1:37:45] Um and then once that phase was
[1:37:47] completed, that would help guide us uh
[1:37:50] into the next phase of master planning
[1:37:52] and planning of specific trail projects.
[1:37:55] Um, and so we issued the RFP and we were
[1:37:57] lucky to receive three proposals. All
[1:38:00] three submissions were from very
[1:38:02] qualified applicants. Uh, very
[1:38:04] impressive. Um, and so, uh, we had our
[1:38:07] work cut out for us.
[1:38:09] Um, and one thing I did want to note
[1:38:10] because this was an RFP, uh, we were not
[1:38:13] in a situation where we were forced to
[1:38:15] take the low bid. We were able to take
[1:38:17] other things into account. Obviously
[1:38:18] cost was one of those things, but it
[1:38:21] gave us some flexibility. Um, so that
[1:38:24] differs from other projects like the
[1:38:25] River Park, another example where we
[1:38:27] are,
[1:38:28] you know,
[1:38:29] we are forced to take the low bid. Uh,
[1:38:31] this was not that situation. So, um, we
[1:38:34] had our group gathered together which
[1:38:35] included myself, Tom Dansie, um,
[1:38:38] Councilmember Burns, Councilmember
[1:38:39] Eaton, and Robert George, our street
[1:38:41] supervisor.
[1:38:42] And we spent roughly two hours
[1:38:44] deliberating and going back and forth on
[1:38:46] the pros and cons of each applicant. Um,
[1:38:49] eventually we landed on Bike Utah.
[1:38:52] We felt good about that as a group.
[1:38:55] And, um,
[1:38:56] so our recommendation is that the
[1:38:57] council approve the partnership with
[1:38:59] Bike Utah for community engagement
[1:39:00] services for this effort. I will note
[1:39:03] that as of right now there is no
[1:39:04] contract, there is no agreement. That is
[1:39:06] not what we're here for today. Um, that
[1:39:08] will come later.
[1:39:10] Once, or assuming this gets approved by
[1:39:12] the council, um, Bike Utah will then
[1:39:14] draft or start drafting a contract which
[1:39:16] will then come to the council for
[1:39:17] approval, probably in the April 22nd
[1:39:20] meeting.
[1:39:21] Um, and so attached to the staff report
[1:39:23] were the, uh, was the RFP and the, uh,
[1:39:29] application submitted by Bike Utah.
[1:39:31] Later I sent both, uh, other the other
[1:39:33] two applications to the council as well
[1:39:35] for their review, but they, uh, welcome
[1:39:36] any any questions.
[1:39:39] That was helpful to see the others, too.
[1:39:41] It would have been a tough decision.
[1:39:43] They were all three really good. They
[1:39:45] were three really good choices. And this
[1:39:47] is probably a stupid question. I'll just
[1:39:50] say this is a stupid question. So, Bike
[1:39:52] Utah works on multi-use trails, not just
[1:39:55] bike trails. I mean, these trails are
[1:39:57] multi-use, right? We're not We're not
[1:39:59] just talking about a trail plan for
[1:40:01] bikes.
[1:40:02] Yeah, correct. They They Yeah, and if
[1:40:04] you look at the jobs they've done, work for the Utah Lake
[1:40:07] Authority, they've done
[1:40:09] trails master plan for Eagle Mountain.
[1:40:10] So, they
[1:40:12] I think people see the name Bike Utah
[1:40:13] and think, "Okay, this is bike trails."
[1:40:16] But, they do more than that.
[1:40:18] Okay.
[1:40:21] That's not a stupid question. It was We talked about that in our in our
[1:40:25] meeting. So, Ryan, most of the the
[1:40:27] operative RFP language is about I'm
[1:40:29] going to read this directly. Community
[1:40:31] outreach
[1:40:32] and and planning input, but not the
[1:40:34] actual physical or technical design of
[1:40:36] the trails. Correct, yeah.
[1:40:37] >> So, we're not asking Bike Utah to design
[1:40:39] this. We're asking him, "Go out to the
[1:40:41] community, find out if we want it." Yep.
[1:40:44] This first phase is strictly community
[1:40:47] engage-
[1:40:47] >> So, it's intended to move a like a
[1:40:49] future trails plan forward. That That's
[1:40:51] Yeah. if that happens. Yep, exactly. So,
[1:40:57] when I read the the the public face of
[1:41:00] Bike Utah,
[1:41:02] I didn't get the sense that they had a
[1:41:03] whole lot of expertise when it comes to
[1:41:05] non-paved trails. So, are we expecting
[1:41:08] them
[1:41:09] to do hiking trails or just bike trails?
[1:41:11] All trails. That's paved trails, natural
[1:41:13] surface trails, different user groups,
[1:41:15] all the entire trail network. So, when I
[1:41:17] read their their website and went
[1:41:19] through some of the documents, I I
[1:41:20] didn't see a whole lot of
[1:41:23] expertise in in non-paved trail work.
[1:41:27] Do they have it?
[1:41:30] You know, that's we only saw it We saw
[1:41:32] the same things you saw in the
[1:41:33] application. We didn't do any follow-up.
[1:41:35] We felt that
[1:41:37] >> How do you think I I again I'm I'm just
[1:41:39] curious.
[1:41:40] How would a company or a group that
[1:41:44] doesn't have experience in what
[1:41:46] hiking trails do or how they should be
[1:41:51] calculated, where they go, what where
[1:41:52] they consist of. If they have no
[1:41:54] experience doing that, then how do we
[1:41:56] expect them to ask questions
[1:41:58] of the community
[1:42:00] if they don't know what kind of
[1:42:01] questions they're going to ask. I mean,
[1:42:03] the example I use is
[1:42:05] I had a 1971 Barracuda years ago before
[1:42:08] they became, right?
[1:42:09] If I were to ask people
[1:42:12] tell me
[1:42:14] um tell me about how this car works or
[1:42:16] tell me about what I should do to keep
[1:42:18] the car maintained.
[1:42:19] You'd ask people that knew something
[1:42:21] about cars, right?
[1:42:23] So, tell me what Bike Utah has in their
[1:42:25] background that that will enable them to ask the right
[1:42:29] questions. And I'm I'm certain they can.
[1:42:31] I'm just curious. Yeah, so that's a
[1:42:33] great question. And Randy and Jack, feel
[1:42:35] free to jump in if you feel the need,
[1:42:36] but
[1:42:37] me looking at it, I looked at their
[1:42:38] experience working with you Moab in the
[1:42:40] Safe Streets and Roads program, the
[1:42:43] off-street trails master plan with Eagle
[1:42:45] Mountain talked about to the Utah Lake
[1:42:47] Recreation Access Plan. So, it is I
[1:42:49] think their experience is
[1:42:51] more broad than just paved trails for
[1:42:54] bikes. I think that that especially with
[1:42:56] the Utah Lake Recreation Access Plan,
[1:42:58] you look go through and read it. I feel
[1:43:00] like it's a little more encompassing
[1:43:01] than just paved trails.
[1:43:04] Um you know, there were pros and cons to
[1:43:06] each applicant, you know, we there were
[1:43:07] certain things that maybe they weren't
[1:43:09] as strong as as another applicant. We
[1:43:12] looked at it holistically um
[1:43:15] and and to to be frank, cost was a big
[1:43:18] factor. Mainly we're focused on a
[1:43:19] company that can tell us whether people
[1:43:21] want trails or not.
[1:43:24] Basically. Not designing these things.
[1:43:26] Gauge the community's interest in more
[1:43:28] trails. We that that was very clear.
[1:43:31] Uh we were we were just looking for
[1:43:34] um, the survey, not a not an
[1:43:36] organization that can sign
[1:43:38] uh, the trails master plan or trails.
[1:43:42] So, it's just we want community outreach
[1:43:45] for this.
[1:43:47] Yep.
[1:43:50] Any other questions for Ryan?
[1:43:52] Is the group that looked over the RFP?
[1:43:54] And maybe maybe you do or don't need a
[1:43:56] group. May That's my first question.
[1:43:58] Will you need a group to
[1:44:01] direct Bike Utah? Or is that going to be
[1:44:04] just you, you and Jack? We have an
[1:44:06] internal trails team and then we've also
[1:44:08] got Council member Eaton and Council
[1:44:10] member Burns who are the liaisons for
[1:44:12] each of those departments. Okay.
[1:44:14] So, they'll stay involved in the
[1:44:16] project.
[1:44:16] >> want to.
[1:44:17] >> You guys will continue to work like as a
[1:44:19] group. There's multiple of you. Correct.
[1:44:22] Yes. Helping Bike Utah set up
[1:44:24] >> Yes, they'll be working very closely
[1:44:26] with staff. Okay. Cool. And this will
[1:44:28] happen pretty quickly. This is short
[1:44:29] term. We'd like it We'd like it to start
[1:44:31] as soon as we can. And as I mentioned,
[1:44:33] the contract has not been They've not
[1:44:35] begun drafting the contract. That is
[1:44:36] something That will come to you guys for
[1:44:38] final approval.
[1:44:39] >> Bike Utah were to come back, say we we
[1:44:42] approve this and they come back and say,
[1:44:43] "Yes,
[1:44:44] you know, 80% of the people here in town
[1:44:45] want trails."
[1:44:47] We don't necessarily have to use them to
[1:44:48] do that, right? No. Oh, they don't.
[1:44:51] >> all.
[1:44:52] I don't Again, I I don't want to speak
[1:44:54] out of turn, but
[1:44:55] No, that's a that will be
[1:44:57] >> Logan Simpson Yeah, that would be a a
[1:44:59] different Yeah. Correct. And that was
[1:45:01] very clear in the RFP. This was strictly
[1:45:03] for community engagement. If we wanted
[1:45:04] to move forward with the
[1:45:05] master plan, we could we could put it
[1:45:07] out again. We could do it internally. We
[1:45:08] have a lot of options. We're trying to
[1:45:10] make real good use of this $20,000 we
[1:45:14] got and get our money's worth
[1:45:16] with that and not have to really
[1:45:19] step outside of that again.
[1:45:22] And you And you might want to mention
[1:45:23] that the The
[1:45:27] uh, can also be applied towards creating
[1:45:30] a master plan. Correct. Yeah. In
[1:45:33] addition to any
[1:45:34] >> Yeah. Well, then then
[1:45:36] And that's why the the price did make a
[1:45:38] big difference because we had a pretty
[1:45:40] big
[1:45:40] >> Saving $22,000 to do that in the future.
[1:45:42] I got it. I mean, 12,000
[1:45:43] >> Yeah, so that saves us gives us an extra
[1:45:46] $12,000 if we want to put that towards a
[1:45:48] master plan.
[1:45:51] We ready with the motion?
[1:45:55] Um so, we're we're making a motion just
[1:45:58] to enter in a project agreement.
[1:46:03] >> Um I don't know the wording. Not an
[1:46:05] agreement, but just yeah, selecting Bike
[1:46:07] Utah as a the partner with the town of
[1:46:09] Springdale.
[1:46:11] The contract will come later.
[1:46:12] >> Okay, I move to
[1:46:14] uh hire Bike Utah as the consultant for
[1:46:19] the Springdale Trails Community
[1:46:21] Engagement.
[1:46:23] Um
[1:46:25] and direct the mayor to sign.
[1:46:28] I second.
[1:46:29] I
[1:46:30] Sorry.
[1:46:31] At this point, there's nothing to sign.
[1:46:33] Yeah, there's no signing. That that will
[1:46:34] come Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. in the
[1:46:36] next month. In the next month.
[1:46:39] I still second. Okay, so we've got a
[1:46:41] motion by Jack and a second by Kyla. And
[1:46:44] I. Randy, I. Barbara, I. Jack, I. Kyla,
[1:46:46] I.
[1:46:48] Next item is review and possible
[1:46:50] approval of an independent contractor
[1:46:52] agreement for the Zion Regional
[1:46:53] Collaborative Coordinator position. And
[1:46:56] Tom, this is yours.
[1:46:58] Thank you, Mayor. This is a contract
[1:46:59] that we have entered into um about the
[1:47:02] last four or five years. Um and it funds
[1:47:04] the ZRC Coordinator position. The ZRC or
[1:47:09] Zion Regional Collaborative, as the
[1:47:10] council is aware, is a group that does
[1:47:12] regional planning and coordination
[1:47:14] throughout the Zion region. It provides
[1:47:16] an excellent opportunity for the town to
[1:47:17] network with our regional partners, to
[1:47:20] uh work on issues of shared interest, to
[1:47:23] communicate across jurisdictional
[1:47:25] boundaries,
[1:47:26] and to help promote projects that
[1:47:28] improve and enhance the quality of life
[1:47:30] in Springdale and the other
[1:47:33] communities in the region. So, it's a
[1:47:35] really valuable organization that the
[1:47:36] town's been participating in for a
[1:47:38] number of years.
[1:47:40] The ZRC coordinator
[1:47:42] is is really crucial to the successful
[1:47:45] operation of that group. The ZRC
[1:47:47] coordinator manages meetings,
[1:47:50] coordinates meetings, provides all the
[1:47:51] administrative support for the group, as
[1:47:55] well as maintains
[1:47:57] relationships with important regional
[1:47:59] partners, and facilitates conversations.
[1:48:03] And so, it's a pretty critical role. So,
[1:48:05] that's why we've felt really strongly
[1:48:07] about funding this position for the past
[1:48:08] four or five years.
[1:48:10] Unfortunately,
[1:48:12] in in the last few years, the town or
[1:48:15] excuse me, the ZRC has lost some of our
[1:48:18] funding partners for this position. Um
[1:48:24] we are
[1:48:26] working on on solutions to to be
[1:48:28] creative with the funding that we do
[1:48:30] have left to make this a viable
[1:48:32] position, and we're fortunate that the
[1:48:34] incumbent in this position, Emily
[1:48:35] Freedman, is is very willing to work on
[1:48:38] creative solutions with us. So, this proposed agreement that's before
[1:48:43] the council tonight is very similar to
[1:48:45] agreements that have been proposed in
[1:48:46] the past, except for the total amount of
[1:48:48] compensation to the ZRC coordinator is
[1:48:50] significantly lower than what it's been
[1:48:52] in the past. Springdale's contribution
[1:48:54] remains the same,
[1:48:56] as do the contributions of our other
[1:48:58] funding partners. In in fact, Iron
[1:49:00] County has increased their
[1:49:01] participation. Um but other communities
[1:49:03] have or excuse me, other funding
[1:49:05] partners have dropped out. And so, the
[1:49:07] total compensation is less than what
[1:49:09] we've been able to offer in the past. In
[1:49:11] order to compensate for that, we've
[1:49:12] adjusted the scope of work of what the
[1:49:14] coordinator um, offers or what the
[1:49:17] services that she will be providing. Um,
[1:49:19] and we've also coordinated with one of
[1:49:22] our our local ZRC champions, Patty
[1:49:26] Weiss, who was a former council member
[1:49:28] in La Verkin. She's no longer a council
[1:49:30] member, but is willing to pick up a lot
[1:49:32] of the slack on a volunteer basis for
[1:49:34] what, um, Emily used to provide under
[1:49:37] her expanded scope with the with the
[1:49:38] larger sum. So, that's what this
[1:49:40] agreement does, um, and uh
[1:49:43] just asked that if the council wants to
[1:49:45] support the this position to have the
[1:49:47] mayor sign this. And once all the other
[1:49:49] communities have signed, we'll have a
[1:49:50] complete
[1:49:51] um, agreement, so the ZRC can continue
[1:49:54] to function.
[1:49:56] Any questions?
[1:49:58] I do want to note that the two entities
[1:50:02] that are no longer funding this position
[1:50:03] are still participating in our ZRC
[1:50:06] workshops.
[1:50:08] And, um, they're just not on the
[1:50:10] steering committee. And also that there
[1:50:12] are a lot of groups beyond the funding
[1:50:14] partners that participate. So, it's a
[1:50:16] good opportunity for us to
[1:50:18] find out what they're doing in Kane
[1:50:20] County, what they're doing in Iron
[1:50:21] County, um, all the municipalities in
[1:50:24] Washington County. It's a it's a good
[1:50:25] [clears throat] group, and we, as you
[1:50:26] see from my council reports, learn a lot
[1:50:28] about what's going on outside of
[1:50:30] Springdale. We also just completed the
[1:50:33] quarter management plan to, um, extend
[1:50:36] and renew the scenic byway scenic byway,
[1:50:39] um, SR-9 and
[1:50:41] still working on the Guadalupe trail had
[1:50:45] NEPA, and we have a lot of great
[1:50:46] projects going on, but it would be very
[1:50:48] difficult to do this relying on just the
[1:50:50] members that are on council in various
[1:50:52] communities because we have too much on
[1:50:55] our plate to be planning meetings and
[1:50:57] making the arrangements that Emily
[1:50:59] makes.
[1:51:00] We're lucky to have her. The grant
[1:51:02] funding, doesn't she secure quite a bit
[1:51:04] of grant
[1:51:05] >> She does. She's gotten us a lot of grant
[1:51:07] money.
[1:51:08] She's amazing. She's one of those people
[1:51:10] that
[1:51:12] uh, ZRC has come a long way and much of
[1:51:15] it is due to her credit for all the work
[1:51:18] she does in the background for us. So,
[1:51:21] she's pretty amazing. She is amazing.
[1:51:25] Questions?
[1:51:30] You want to make a motion? I move to
[1:51:33] approve the independent contractor agree
[1:51:36] agreement for the Zion Regional
[1:51:38] Collaborative Coordinator position with
[1:51:40] Emily Friedman.
[1:51:42] Um, with the
[1:51:44] uh, the town of Springdale committing
[1:51:47] $11,680
[1:51:49] towards that.
[1:51:51] And direct the mayor to sign.
[1:51:54] I'll second. Motion by Jack, second by
[1:51:56] Kyla. Pat, I. Randy, I. Barbara, I.
[1:51:58] Jack, I. Kyla, I.
[1:52:00] Okay.
[1:52:01] Next item of business is discussion of a
[1:52:03] potential blanket allowance to disturb
[1:52:05] the Anasazi Plateau Conservation
[1:52:08] Easement by trimming native vegetation
[1:52:11] for the purpose of wildfire mitigation
[1:52:14] and possible [clears throat]
[1:52:14] ratification of prior approval of fire
[1:52:17] mitigation work already completed. And
[1:52:20] this is Tom Dansie. And I do want to
[1:52:23] disclose that I live on the Anasazi
[1:52:25] Plateau, but that won't impact my
[1:52:27] position on this.
[1:52:30] And I'll make the same disclosure.
[1:52:34] And I I
[1:52:35] disclose Three of us live up
[1:52:37] And I live over the hill from Anasazi.
[1:52:39] >> Yeah, you're you're as much as you're
[1:52:41] just about there. We've already mowed
[1:52:43] our side.
[1:52:46] Thank you, Mayor. Um, as the council is
[1:52:47] aware, there's been a recent emphasis on
[1:52:50] wildfire preparedness and wildfire
[1:52:53] mitigation. Um, and a lot of that is is
[1:52:55] being brought on by um, a state mandate
[1:52:59] to adopt the Wildland Urban Interface
[1:53:01] Code. In fact, we had originally
[1:53:02] intended for the council to be acting on
[1:53:04] that tonight. Um,
[1:53:06] I
[1:53:07] let the council know why why we didn't
[1:53:09] do that tonight in a separate email, but
[1:53:11] that will be coming to you
[1:53:13] um, shortly.
[1:53:14] Um, but one of the one of the
[1:53:18] uh, results of all that emphasis that's
[1:53:20] been put on wildfire preparedness and
[1:53:21] wildfire mitigation um, is that
[1:53:24] uh,
[1:53:26] many homeowners want to be proactive in
[1:53:28] protecting their properties and taking
[1:53:30] steps necessary to to ensure their homes
[1:53:33] are fire safe.
[1:53:35] Um, also insurance companies are taking
[1:53:37] note of the wildfire hazard and are um,
[1:53:43] in many cases mandating homeowners to
[1:53:46] uh, proactively
[1:53:47] do some uh, wildfire mitigation in terms
[1:53:50] of visit vegetation treatment around
[1:53:52] their homes.
[1:53:53] In Anasazi Plateau, that can present a
[1:53:56] problem because in order to do some of
[1:53:57] this wildfire mitigation, that requires
[1:54:00] treating vegetation or modifying
[1:54:02] vegetation which is in the conservation
[1:54:04] easement. The conservation easement
[1:54:06] obviously is established to protect the
[1:54:08] conservation values of the property
[1:54:10] which include the native vegetation. And
[1:54:12] um, so there's a kind of a a baseline
[1:54:17] don't touch anything in the conservation
[1:54:19] easement uh,
[1:54:21] directive in the easement itself.
[1:54:24] However, the easement does provide some
[1:54:26] uh, exemptions to that. The easement
[1:54:28] does provide some allowances for
[1:54:29] disturbance in the conservation
[1:54:31] easement. Um, and some of those
[1:54:34] allowances are to uh,
[1:54:36] the conservation easement allows the
[1:54:38] right of homeowners to maintain native
[1:54:41] vegetation in the conservation and also
[1:54:43] to remove hazardous
[1:54:45] uh, flora or hazardous vegetation from
[1:54:48] the conservation easement.
[1:54:50] And so there is there is some allowance
[1:54:53] in the conservation easement to that
[1:54:55] would support um,
[1:54:58] treating or modifying vegetation in the
[1:55:00] conservation easement.
[1:55:02] In the past, uh, but but the
[1:55:04] conservation easement also requires the
[1:55:07] town council to
[1:55:09] homeowner to give notice to the town
[1:55:10] council or to the town.
[1:55:12] >> To the town of that proposed action and
[1:55:14] then the for the town to approve that.
[1:55:16] In the past, we have had the town
[1:55:18] council be the approval body for that
[1:55:20] action. However, there's nothing in the
[1:55:22] conservation easement that requires the
[1:55:23] council to to provide that action. The
[1:55:25] conservation easement just says the town
[1:55:28] needs to be
[1:55:30] notice needs to be provided to the town
[1:55:32] and then the town needs to give that
[1:55:33] approval. Doesn't specifically require
[1:55:35] the council to do that. Because this is
[1:55:37] a significant issue, the conservation
[1:55:39] easement is so important. In the past,
[1:55:40] our practice has been to have the town
[1:55:42] council give that authorization. But
[1:55:44] that again, it's not legally required.
[1:55:47] Um so,
[1:55:49] a couple of things that are are
[1:55:50] pertinent to this. With all that
[1:55:52] background, a couple of things that are
[1:55:53] pertinent to this request.
[1:55:55] Uh there will likely be a number of
[1:55:57] properties, perhaps the majority of
[1:55:58] properties in Anasazi Plateau that will
[1:56:00] need to do some type of wildfire
[1:56:02] mitigation by modifying fuels around the
[1:56:05] property in the conservation easement to
[1:56:07] comply with wildland urban interface
[1:56:09] code requirements or to preserve and or
[1:56:12] to preserve their insurance.
[1:56:14] If each one of them come before you
[1:56:16] individually to make such a request, it
[1:56:18] could be very cumbersome.
[1:56:20] Um it could take a lot of of of time and
[1:56:22] it could be difficult for these
[1:56:24] homeowners that often times have very
[1:56:25] short timelines imposed on them to to do
[1:56:28] this mitigation. Um for instance, an
[1:56:31] insurance company could say, "You've got
[1:56:33] 60 days, 30 days to do this
[1:56:35] modification, otherwise we're going to
[1:56:36] cancel your insurance." That doesn't
[1:56:38] give them a lot of time to provide the
[1:56:39] required notice.
[1:56:41] Um so, the home the Anasazi Plateau
[1:56:43] Homeowners Association has suggested
[1:56:45] that you could grant a blanket
[1:56:47] authorization for property owners in
[1:56:50] Anasazi Plateau to to do that um
[1:56:52] preventative wildfire mitigat-
[1:56:54] mitigation by treating vegetation in the
[1:56:57] home in the conservation easement. If
[1:56:59] you want if you choose to do that, in
[1:57:01] the staff report there are some
[1:57:02] recommended conditions that I would
[1:57:03] recommend you attach to such an
[1:57:05] approval.
[1:57:06] Um all that work all the work needs to
[1:57:08] be done by a trained professional, a
[1:57:10] licensed arborist or or some other tree
[1:57:12] professional that is knowledgeable not
[1:57:14] only about how to appropriately trim
[1:57:15] trees, but also is knowledgeable in what
[1:57:18] the requirements of the wildland urban
[1:57:20] interface code are.
[1:57:22] Um another uh proposed requirement um is
[1:57:26] that the uh
[1:57:29] the only work the the only vegetation
[1:57:31] that can be modified is the vegetation
[1:57:34] that
[1:57:35] would need to be modified for compliance
[1:57:37] with wildland urban interface code
[1:57:38] requirements. So, this isn't a blanket
[1:57:40] oh yeah, go out and and take out all the
[1:57:42] trees you want in the conservation
[1:57:43] easement. It's no, only those trees that
[1:57:45] really need to be modified for WUI code
[1:57:48] compliance can be can be treated. And
[1:57:50] the third requirement is that um
[1:57:53] in instead of coming to you as a council
[1:57:54] for approval 60 days in advance, uh the
[1:57:58] property owner would just need to come
[1:57:59] to the community development department
[1:58:00] and say, "Here's my plan. Here are the
[1:58:02] trees that I want to modify with a with
[1:58:04] a sketch plan of sufficient um detail
[1:58:07] that the community development
[1:58:08] department knows what trees are going to
[1:58:10] be modified and can um do a uh kind of a
[1:58:13] truth check to make sure that that's realistic for WUI code
[1:58:17] compliance. So, those are the those are
[1:58:18] the
[1:58:19] >> [clears throat]
[1:58:20] >> So, that's that's one item tonight. The
[1:58:21] other item is that um
[1:58:24] there have been instances where
[1:58:26] vegetation is already property owners
[1:58:28] have already gone out and and trimmed
[1:58:29] vegetation for WUI code compliance in
[1:58:31] Anasazi Plateau. And in at least one of
[1:58:34] the well, in in only one of those
[1:58:35] instances, property owner came to me and for full disclosure, um
[1:58:39] Councilmember Burns, I I I think it's
[1:58:41] important to to note that that this was
[1:58:43] you that that came to
[1:58:44] uh came to me and said, "Hey, I'm in
[1:58:47] jeopardy of losing my insurance. I need
[1:58:49] to do do right now, uh otherwise my
[1:58:52] insurance is going to cancel my my insurance. Um
[1:58:56] I I met with with the property owner,
[1:58:58] Councilmember Burns, as well as the uh
[1:59:01] representatives from the homeowners
[1:59:02] association, looked at the conservation
[1:59:04] easement, looked at at the reality of of
[1:59:07] Councilmember Burns' situation, and as
[1:59:08] town manager said, this is this qual-
[1:59:11] qualifies as an emergency as as defined
[1:59:14] in the conservation easement that
[1:59:15] provides an allowance for exemption from
[1:59:17] the 60-day notice requirement, and as
[1:59:19] town manager approved that request. So,
[1:59:21] that the the second part of this is um
[1:59:25] a- again, whereas town council approval
[1:59:26] is not a requirement, um if you feel
[1:59:29] that approval was appropriate, you could
[1:59:30] ratify that approval so that we are
[1:59:32] consistent with previous approvals for
[1:59:35] the conservation easement that the town
[1:59:36] council approved that, and we're not
[1:59:38] setting a precedent that this is a town
[1:59:39] manager approval, but this remains a
[1:59:41] town council approval.
[1:59:44] That's a lot of talking. I apologize.
[1:59:46] [laughter] Now, it's time for you to
[1:59:46] talk.
[1:59:47] >> I I want to clarify that this is only
[1:59:49] trees in the easement. I think I mentioned to you, I had a tree
[1:59:54] removed today that was on my property
[1:59:57] that the um
[1:59:59] that Dave Harmon recommended that we
[2:00:01] take out. Do we need to notify you of
[2:00:04] those? Should I have notified you of
[2:00:06] those? I did notify you of that.
[2:00:07] >> did notify me, and I I confirmed that
[2:00:09] you had planted the requisite two
[2:00:11] replacement plants, which you had. Nice
[2:00:13] work. Um so, there is no process in the
[2:00:15] code that requires uh a property owner
[2:00:18] to notify the town if they are removing
[2:00:20] vegetation. There is, however, a
[2:00:21] requirement that if vegetation is
[2:00:23] removed, you need to replace it at a
[2:00:24] two-to-one ratio. So, it would be nice
[2:00:27] for homeowners that that are removing
[2:00:30] vegetation on their properties
[2:00:32] to notify us saying, "Hey, I'm taking
[2:00:34] these trees out, and here are where my
[2:00:35] replacement plants are going." That
[2:00:36] would be great. There's nothing in the
[2:00:38] code that requires it. Okay.
[2:00:41] And so, what if trees have to be removed
[2:00:45] um
[2:00:45] in the conservation easement?
[2:00:48] That's that Yeah, I mean, are we still
[2:00:50] at the two to one?
[2:00:52] No.
[2:00:54] Or are we?
[2:00:55] Well,
[2:00:56] the the code says yes. Are even in Okay.
[2:00:59] Yes, it
[2:01:00] >> I thought that was just in conjunction
[2:01:01] with projects.
[2:01:02] >> It it doesn't differentiate between uh
[2:01:05] between a an a juniper tree on a private
[2:01:08] I mean, the the conservation easement is
[2:01:10] privately held property, right? But, it
[2:01:11] doesn't it doesn't differentiate between
[2:01:13] um a a homeowner's lot and and the
[2:01:16] conservation says, "If any native
[2:01:18] vegetation is removed, you need to
[2:01:20] replace it at a two to one ratio."
[2:01:22] That's the
[2:01:23] >> same type tree, though? Because if if
[2:01:25] junipers are a problem, do we really
[2:01:26] want to plant more junipers? So, so yes,
[2:01:29] of the same or similar species. This is a a discussion that I think um
[2:01:34] the planning commission has already
[2:01:35] identified as as something they want to
[2:01:37] work on.
[2:01:39] Um recognizing that we we we have a
[2:01:42] potential
[2:01:44] uh clash of competing goals. One is we
[2:01:47] want to preserve native vegetation, we
[2:01:48] want to preserve the community
[2:01:49] character, we want and I place an
[2:01:51] emphasis on natural features.
[2:01:53] And the other goal, we want to make sure
[2:01:55] that
[2:01:56] we protect people from wildfire.
[2:01:58] And and
[2:02:00] what changes to the land use code are
[2:02:02] necessary so that we can continue to to support both of those goals. And that
[2:02:07] may be one of the changes. Are we going
[2:02:09] to continue to require two trees of the
[2:02:11] same or similar species to be planted?
[2:02:14] Are we going to get rid of that
[2:02:14] requirement? Are we going to modify that
[2:02:16] requirement? I think that's something
[2:02:17] the planning commission has already
[2:02:18] identified as a work item. Okay. So,
[2:02:20] they'll answer that question.
[2:02:21] >> that's a very good thing to do because
[2:02:23] it you know, from what
[2:02:26] Dave Harmon a while and fire chief told
[2:02:29] me,
[2:02:30] junipers
[2:02:31] are much more flammable than
[2:02:35] say ponderosa
[2:02:37] or other deciduous and deciduous trees,
[2:02:40] he said, are not a real concern.
[2:02:44] Although we would want to make sure
[2:02:45] they're
[2:02:46] indigenous deciduous trees. I mean,
[2:02:49] that's Yeah, and and again, these are
[2:02:51] all things that policy considerations
[2:02:53] that I I I think what the the commission
[2:02:54] would want to consider.
[2:02:56] Yes, we want them to be fire-safe and
[2:02:58] fire-wise. And mayor, yes, we want them
[2:03:00] to be consistent with the community
[2:03:01] character. And so, we're not planting
[2:03:03] things that are completely foreign or or
[2:03:06] out of place in Springdale. And so, what
[2:03:07] that looks like, um
[2:03:09] I I think allowing the planning
[2:03:11] commission to hash that out and bring a
[2:03:12] recommendation to you would be a good
[2:03:13] idea. So, what our issue tonight is to
[2:03:16] consider a blanket approval for removing
[2:03:18] trees that are a problem under WUI
[2:03:22] with getting permission from the
[2:03:24] community development department rather
[2:03:26] than having to come to council and
[2:03:29] ratifying the action you took in an
[2:03:31] emergency to to allow some trees to be
[2:03:33] trimmed. Correct. Okay. And not really
[2:03:36] discussing that
[2:03:38] uh if you do this not discussing the
[2:03:40] replacement.
[2:03:42] Tonight, we're not discussing that,
[2:03:44] right? Well, you you you can discuss it,
[2:03:46] but you can't take any action on it.
[2:03:47] >> Right. Um that's that's a that's in
[2:03:50] code, that's an ordinance change. It has
[2:03:51] to go through the ordinance revision
[2:03:52] process.
[2:03:54] So, we might as well not discuss that.
[2:03:56] We might as well just discuss what we
[2:03:58] can act on tonight.
[2:04:01] Yeah, knowing that I mean, planning
[2:04:02] commission's going to work on it and
[2:04:03] Right.
[2:04:06] look at it from all angles.
[2:04:08] And then we'll get to see it. Um Tom, I
[2:04:10] did have a question about your
[2:04:12] the three conditions or I guess um
[2:04:17] in the three conditions
[2:04:19] WUI is mentioned.
[2:04:21] And that, you know, if WUI code requires
[2:04:23] it, is the insurance always going to
[2:04:25] comply with WUI?
[2:04:27] Or could the insurance be asking people
[2:04:29] to do things that are beyond what the
[2:04:32] wildland inner urban interface would
[2:04:35] require? That's a great question. And we had a really good presentation last
[2:04:39] night from um Fire Marshall John
[2:04:41] Hennessy in Jamison Valley
[2:04:44] um who's who's an expert in these
[2:04:46] situations, and and he said, "Yes,
[2:04:49] WUI is one thing, um and oftentimes
[2:04:52] insurance companies will want
[2:04:54] [clears throat] above and beyond what
[2:04:56] WUI requires."
[2:04:58] Um
[2:04:59] and
[2:05:01] his and for those council members who
[2:05:04] were who were there last night, you can
[2:05:05] correct me if if I'm misstating him, his recommendation was stick with WUI
[2:05:11] because WUI is is defensible, WUI is
[2:05:13] what the adopted code is, um and and
[2:05:16] sometimes you can even use WUI to push
[2:05:18] back on insurance companies, but he that
[2:05:20] that's if I heard him correctly last
[2:05:22] night, that was his recommendation.
[2:05:24] I wouldn't want to open this up too
[2:05:26] much, and I like I like the idea that
[2:05:30] they the the remover would still need
[2:05:32] permission from the town. I don't think
[2:05:35] council needs to get involved, but we've
[2:05:37] got a great board now, and we have an
[2:05:39] arborist who happens to be our
[2:05:40] president, but
[2:05:41] you know, we've got to think about what
[2:05:43] would happen if somebody decided to use
[2:05:45] that excuse just to start taking some
[2:05:47] things out. But, we don't want that to
[2:05:48] happen.
[2:05:49] And I completely agree with that. Like I I have real concerns that like the
[2:05:54] knee-jerk reaction is just to take it
[2:05:57] all out, right? Like
[2:05:59] if junipers are a problem, let's just
[2:06:00] take them all out.
[2:06:02] But, what I do see is that with the
[2:06:04] conditions that specifically mention
[2:06:06] WUI, if Jack were in the same situation
[2:06:09] after we've passed this, he's still in
[2:06:11] an emergency situation, and maybe his
[2:06:13] insurance company is asking him to do
[2:06:15] something above and beyond what the WUI
[2:06:17] would say, and then he goes to community
[2:06:19] development, and he's still going to be
[2:06:21] told that maybe he can't do it unless
[2:06:24] I'm understanding
[2:06:26] misunderstanding
[2:06:28] the conditions.
[2:06:29] Like I want to make sure that we're minding the emergency situation
[2:06:34] where somebody's going to be losing
[2:06:35] insurance coverage because their
[2:06:37] insurance is asking for something
[2:06:39] we have not
[2:06:40] accommodated. That's a that's a very
[2:06:43] good point. The second
[2:06:46] um finding only vegetation modification
[2:06:48] necessary for compliance with the WUI
[2:06:51] code defensible space requirements
[2:06:54] as you said, insurance companies
[2:06:57] might come back and say, "No, I won't
[2:07:00] put that one down, too."
[2:07:02] Well, and I mean, I know you know, at
[2:07:03] the Rose Cottage before
[2:07:05] WUI was even mentioned, I had an
[2:07:08] insurance company who said, "You've got
[2:07:10] a tree too close to the cottage." I
[2:07:11] mean, they're looking at what is a
[2:07:13] potential claim.
[2:07:15] And you know, they said, "You're going
[2:07:17] to have to address that tree."
[2:07:20] But I don't want somebody to come to
[2:07:23] the town and say, "Oh, my insurance
[2:07:25] company said they'll cancel if I don't
[2:07:26] take that tree out when that's not the
[2:07:28] case." WUI is dependable. In those
[2:07:31] situations, we could address those
[2:07:33] individual situations. I think we're
[2:07:36] going to have people
[2:07:38] using insurance companies an excuse.
[2:07:42] I don't know. I I think we need to be
[2:07:43] careful here. I agree. I completely
[2:07:45] agree because it is a loophole, but if
[2:07:48] we don't address it, we're leaving it to
[2:07:51] Tom doing these emergency things.
[2:07:53] And if we're okay with that, then maybe
[2:07:55] that's the procedure.
[2:07:57] But
[2:08:00] we're kind of with these conditions
[2:08:03] not addressing the emergency situation.
[2:08:06] Well, do we do we have a requirement
[2:08:09] that there's something in writing
[2:08:12] for both WUI and insurance companies?
[2:08:15] >> I would say you should be able to show
[2:08:18] documentation from your insurance
[2:08:19] company, but I will tell you from my
[2:08:21] recent experience, I requested the
[2:08:23] inspection report twice. They never sent
[2:08:26] it.
[2:08:27] The agent requested it from corporate.
[2:08:30] They didn't send it. They just sent me
[2:08:32] photos.
[2:08:33] So, how did
[2:08:34] >> But but I had in writing the initial
[2:08:38] email from them saying here's where you
[2:08:40] failed.
[2:08:41] So, I mean So, you did have something in
[2:08:43] writing.
[2:08:44] Yeah.
[2:08:45] and and I don't know that I
[2:08:47] honestly trust an insurance company to
[2:08:49] have
[2:08:51] the conservation easement and
[2:08:54] Oh, I Absolutely. They do. I guarantee
[2:08:56] you. Well, they won't. And they're
[2:08:58] looking for reasons to cancel people in
[2:09:00] certain areas. So, I think I think what
[2:09:03] Tom said that we we gives us something
[2:09:05] to push back on insurance companies
[2:09:07] with. But what I don't want to do I I
[2:09:10] want to do some kind of a blanket
[2:09:12] approval. I I just don't want to go too
[2:09:14] far. I think we can we can step toward
[2:09:17] more liberal policy. I don't think we
[2:09:19] want to start with a liberal policy.
[2:09:22] Cuz I'm afraid
[2:09:23] of what could happen with
[2:09:25] the easement. Frankly, I mean that's why
[2:09:27] we all live there is because we have this natural environment.
[2:09:32] And I I think that's that's important,
[2:09:34] but
[2:09:35] why are we passing this ordinance?
[2:09:38] We're passing this ordinance so that our
[2:09:40] residents
[2:09:42] keep their home owners insured or able
[2:09:43] to
[2:09:45] uh keep their home owners insured.
[2:09:46] >> I'd say keep their homes. And and keep
[2:09:49] their Well, the we goes
[2:09:51] Well, we're going to pass for them to
[2:09:52] keep their homes.
[2:09:54] That that's a
[2:09:55] um
[2:09:58] And I I think that's when we're really
[2:10:00] going to I think this ordinance
[2:10:02] is more
[2:10:06] geared toward
[2:10:08] uh the home owners insurance.
[2:10:16] That's the way I look at it. Now, yes,
[2:10:18] it is
[2:10:19] something that we are doing because
[2:10:23] we have been We're made aware of this
[2:10:25] because we're going to have to pass a
[2:10:26] way code.
[2:10:28] Uh but what ultimately what's the goal?
[2:10:31] Um I think the goal is to help
[2:10:34] our
[2:10:35] um
[2:10:35] residents keep their homeowners
[2:10:37] insurances as much as possible. Give
[2:10:39] them
[2:10:40] a way of being able to keep their
[2:10:42] homeowners insurance. So, I'm
[2:10:44] um
[2:10:45] you know, I think Kyle raised some
[2:10:46] really good points.
[2:10:48] And and and Jack has had some experience
[2:10:51] with this.
[2:10:52] Maybe we also add something to the
[2:10:55] effect that
[2:10:56] uh if
[2:10:58] somebody
[2:10:59] uh can come with a
[2:11:01] insurance company's inspection report
[2:11:05] that
[2:11:05] >> even that far. It just needs to be maybe
[2:11:07] documentation that says notified
[2:11:10] >> However the However the homeowner was
[2:11:12] notified that this particular thing is
[2:11:14] out of compliance and will result in
[2:11:16] loss of insurance.
[2:11:18] I think if they can prove that
[2:11:21] then
[2:11:22] that's what they would bring to us
[2:11:25] right at a council meeting instead of
[2:11:27] meeting that making them wait the 30 to
[2:11:29] 60 days to come to council and let us
[2:11:31] look at that same thing. Let's have them
[2:11:34] take it to staff.
[2:11:35] Um
[2:11:36] and and just make I don't like I said, I
[2:11:40] don't think the insurance company has
[2:11:42] the conservation easements uh best
[2:11:45] interest at heart, right? They're
[2:11:46] protecting themselves and in in the name
[2:11:49] of protecting you.
[2:11:51] I don't always buy it, but I also see
[2:11:53] that if we pass these three conditions
[2:11:56] as they are
[2:11:57] it does not address the actual emergency
[2:12:00] situation that we've been in.
[2:12:03] That's my opinion. Tom, if you see it
[2:12:04] differently, if you think the way it's
[2:12:06] written is fine, then maybe I
[2:12:09] there's not a an issue. I I think there
[2:12:11] is an issue and I think it's just a a
[2:12:13] matter of how much um
[2:12:16] risk the council is is okay with. When I
[2:12:20] say risk, that's maybe the bad word
[2:12:22] because this isn't wildfire risk, this
[2:12:24] is risk of damage to the conservation
[2:12:26] easement, right? Um you know, if an
[2:12:28] insurance company comes to a a homeowner
[2:12:30] and says, "You have to clear-cut
[2:12:32] everything within 150 ft of your of your
[2:12:35] house."
[2:12:36] And there's 16
[2:12:39] uh juniper trees in the conservation
[2:12:41] easement that come out.
[2:12:43] And are you are you okay with that?
[2:12:46] I that that that's that's a kind of an
[2:12:48] extreme you know, hyperbolic situation.
[2:12:50] I mean that that that may never come to
[2:12:52] pass, but it could. And would you would
[2:12:54] you be okay with that?
[2:12:56] Or not? The the
[2:12:58] um Well, I was asked that. I mean, the
[2:13:01] one guy I I kept getting mixed messages.
[2:13:03] The one guy said, "You need to clear
[2:13:05] vegetation 100 ft from your house." I
[2:13:07] said, "I'm not going to do that. I'm
[2:13:09] going to look for a different carrier."
[2:13:12] And and and so you you were successful
[2:13:14] in pushing back on that. A different
[2:13:15] homeowner may say, "Oh my goodness, this
[2:13:17] is what my insurance carrier is telling
[2:13:19] me." And and not have that ability or or that desire to push back. And they
[2:13:23] come to the town and say, "I got to
[2:13:25] clear-cut everything within 100 ft. I
[2:13:28] got to take out all these trees."
[2:13:31] Would the council be okay with that?
[2:13:33] If so, then yes, we we we could add in
[2:13:35] something about documentation from the
[2:13:36] insurance company. If not, then we leave
[2:13:38] that out and we're in the situation that
[2:13:39] you that you described where we are
[2:13:41] potentially not addressing all of the
[2:13:43] emergency situations. It I I don't think
[2:13:45] there's there's a perfect
[2:13:48] uh solution either way. It is one of
[2:13:50] those
[2:13:51] challenging
[2:13:53] Well, we know what Wooey is trying to
[2:13:56] do. Wooey is trying to protect our homes
[2:13:58] and protect the state and and all those
[2:14:01] things. Insurance companies don't
[2:14:03] necessarily have our best interests in
[2:14:06] mind. They're trying to protect
[2:14:07] themselves. I just
[2:14:10] I think there's a lot of room between
[2:14:12] giving blanket approval for woo
[2:14:14] e-compliance and giving blanket approval
[2:14:17] for someone because they
[2:14:19] their insurance company wants them to do
[2:14:21] something. I think that's a that's a big stretch.
[2:14:25] >> Well, maybe that maybe that falls
[2:14:27] outside of the blanket approval. You
[2:14:29] know, that's when it does kick in the
[2:14:31] 30-60 day notification.
[2:14:33] >> Well, we could we could
[2:14:36] keep keep it outside the blanket
[2:14:38] approval, but give someone give the
[2:14:40] community development
[2:14:43] uh department authority to look at these
[2:14:47] emergencies on a case-by-case basis and
[2:14:49] make a decision
[2:14:51] and hold them harmless from the
[2:14:52] decision. We could do something like
[2:14:54] that, couldn't we?
[2:14:55] You Yes, you could. An an another thing
[2:14:58] that you could do is is to say, "We are
[2:15:01] going this
[2:15:03] if if someone has a
[2:15:05] uh
[2:15:07] threat of cancellation of their
[2:15:08] homeowner's insurance, we're not going
[2:15:10] to require the full 60-day notice
[2:15:12] and we're going to expedite their review
[2:15:14] to get on a town council meeting." Yeah.
[2:15:16] And
[2:15:17] >> Yes. Okay.
[2:15:17] >> And and that way you retain that
[2:15:19] approval authority
[2:15:21] and you make sure that you get to review
[2:15:24] all these difficult situations rather
[2:15:25] than putting the onus on staff.
[2:15:27] And and that too could be something that a homeowner could use to push back
[2:15:31] against the an insurance company.
[2:15:34] So. I mean, I I I guess I'll just use my
[2:15:36] experience that was like I asked them to
[2:15:38] wait until the HOA had their meeting on
[2:15:41] the 14th.
[2:15:42] They said, "No.
[2:15:44] We're not going to wait." Then they came
[2:15:46] to me
[2:15:47] um after that and they said, "If we
[2:15:49] don't have a response from you by the
[2:15:51] 7th, we're going to cancel your policy."
[2:15:55] And so,
[2:15:56] they kind of set their own time frame,
[2:15:58] you know, and I I I said, you know, "Can
[2:16:00] I have some wiggle room?" They said,
[2:16:03] "No." You know, so.
[2:16:05] Well, I don't I don't think the council
[2:16:08] necessarily makes better decisions on
[2:16:10] these things than the community
[2:16:12] development department anyway. I don't I
[2:16:14] don't know that I think we have to make
[2:16:16] that decision, but I think that there
[2:16:18] ought to be a higher standard of proof
[2:16:21] when someone says they're in danger of
[2:16:23] losing insurance
[2:16:24] and
[2:16:26] then if it's a wee thing cuz wee thing we can
[2:16:30] look at we we can see we know what wee
[2:16:33] says, right?
[2:16:35] It's standard. It's written. Maybe we
[2:16:37] don't understand it, but we can sure
[2:16:39] try.
[2:16:39] >> like it. We don't like it, but insurance
[2:16:42] I mean there's different brands.
[2:16:44] >> It's arbitrary. Yeah.
[2:16:45] >> they can there's different inspectors.
[2:16:47] It's it's very um it's all over the
[2:16:50] place. So I think
[2:16:53] that yeah, how can we can retain some
[2:16:56] control
[2:16:58] uh but still allow for people to to make
[2:17:01] action quickly when they need to.
[2:17:03] >> And someone I know who lives in the
[2:17:05] middle of Hurricane and not
[2:17:08] in an area like ours was dropped by the
[2:17:10] same insurance company.
[2:17:12] They're sometimes they want they tell
[2:17:15] you to do drastic things just because
[2:17:17] they want to drop you.
[2:17:19] And so I don't I don't want everybody to
[2:17:22] start raising the whole conservation
[2:17:24] easement because insurance companies are
[2:17:26] trying to get you to to find a new
[2:17:28] carrier. And that's a possibility. So is
[2:17:32] community development comfortable with
[2:17:33] making the decisions when it comes to
[2:17:35] insurance companies?
[2:17:42] I think we Welcome to your new job.
[2:17:44] Yeah, thanks.
[2:17:46] >> [laughter]
[2:17:46] >> Day one.
[2:17:49] I think we could become comfortable.
[2:17:53] I think if we had some parameters to
[2:17:55] work with and
[2:17:58] you know set up a process for ourselves.
[2:18:01] I think it is something that we could do
[2:18:03] if we define the process.
[2:18:06] You know, I know with residential DDRs,
[2:18:09] unless there's something different or
[2:18:12] controversial, you approve those. But if
[2:18:15] they're if they're tricky, you go to
[2:18:17] planning commission. We could have a set
[2:18:19] up something like that.
[2:18:21] Yeah, I think it's something we could do if we
[2:18:24] established a process. I think you're
[2:18:26] more expert at this stuff than we are.
[2:18:28] And I don't want to I don't want to slow
[2:18:32] down the process, but I don't want to
[2:18:33] give a blanket approval for
[2:18:36] just everything.
[2:18:38] Yeah, I I think we could definitely have
[2:18:40] kind of
[2:18:40] >> Jeff Jeff has something to say. He might
[2:18:42] know something about fire.
[2:18:47] Yeah, the WUI standards are national and
[2:18:50] were developed by, you know, state and
[2:18:53] federal agencies.
[2:18:55] Um one suggestion might be to go to
[2:18:58] state insurance commission office and
[2:19:01] see if they've wrestled with this
[2:19:03] question of WUI and
[2:19:06] private property, um
[2:19:10] it would seem like this has come up
[2:19:12] before, maybe not relative to the
[2:19:14] conservation easement, but um it might
[2:19:17] be worth checking with the insurance
[2:19:19] commission.
[2:19:21] Thank you.
[2:19:22] Yeah, my insurance agent said they are
[2:19:24] being absolutely bombarded
[2:19:27] with questions about this.
[2:19:30] So, [clears throat] what if we were to
[2:19:32] grant this blanket approval for WUI code
[2:19:35] and ask Niall to check with the
[2:19:39] insurance commission and come back with
[2:19:41] a recommendation on insurance
[2:19:45] and company requests.
[2:19:48] >> I mean, if he gets an answer that it's
[2:19:50] like, well, now we need to craft a whole
[2:19:51] new
[2:19:54] I think either way they're crafting a
[2:19:55] whole new thing, but so so
[2:19:59] I'm comfortable granting the blanket
[2:20:01] approval to comply with WUI code. I
[2:20:03] personally, and I may be outvoted, but
[2:20:06] I'm not in
[2:20:07] I'm not comfortable granting permission
[2:20:10] because somebody says they're going to
[2:20:11] lose their insurance if they don't do
[2:20:13] something.
[2:20:16] Yeah, and in the meantime, I mean, could we at least in the meantime say
[2:20:22] that the 60-day 60-day notice isn't
[2:20:25] required? That they if they need to
[2:20:27] come, you know, they need to get on the
[2:20:29] agenda next. Like if that way this the
[2:20:31] process is still in place. It's still
[2:20:33] coming to us.
[2:20:35] Um But you you separate issue though,
[2:20:37] right?
[2:20:39] The 60-day thing would have to be a
[2:20:40] separate issue than this, yes? Yeah, but
[2:20:42] it it really so this wouldn't have
[2:20:43] solved the problem that Jack had. Well,
[2:20:45] you're talking about though um
[2:20:49] uh someone being threatened to lose
[2:20:51] their insurance
[2:20:53] outside of trying to meet the WUI
[2:20:56] standard.
[2:20:56] >> Right.
[2:20:57] >> Yeah, I agree with that.
[2:20:58] Right, so it wouldn't have solved but
[2:21:01] I'll say again that you know, when we
[2:21:03] talk about making people come to us, are
[2:21:05] we really
[2:21:07] more expert than community development?
[2:21:10] No, I'm saying like as a quick band-aid
[2:21:12] while community development is figuring
[2:21:13] out what a good policy would be for
[2:21:16] insurance issues. Because Tom, am I
[2:21:19] right in thinking in order
[2:21:21] for somebody to do work in the
[2:21:23] conservation easement right now, they
[2:21:24] need to give us 60 days notice. That's
[2:21:27] correct.
[2:21:28] I thought it was 30.
[2:21:30] Uh
[2:21:31] let me
[2:21:33] It might be 30.
[2:21:33] >> Yeah, here it says 30. There's a 30-day
[2:21:36] That's right. And then we have to we
[2:21:37] have to act on it in 60 days. So we have
[2:21:39] 60 days to act. That's Yeah, that's what
[2:21:41] it is. They they have to give us 30 days
[2:21:43] and then we have to act on it in 60
[2:21:44] days. Thank you.
[2:21:47] I I don't know. I mean, I I I guess if
[2:21:50] Tom has the ability as the manager to
[2:21:52] make and and then ask come come back to
[2:21:54] ask and us and ask us to ratify. Maybe
[2:21:57] that's just the way it's going to have
[2:21:58] to be until we can figure out
[2:22:01] this middle ground.
[2:22:04] Since that
[2:22:05] we're in just a tight spot.
[2:22:09] There are going to be emergencies and
[2:22:11] I'm not willing to let insurance
[2:22:12] companies just run roughshod over that
[2:22:15] land.
[2:22:16] So if if it's an insurance issue and
[2:22:19] they have to come to council, that does
[2:22:21] add an extra layer of
[2:22:25] caution, if you will.
[2:22:27] Even though we're no more expert than Nile, but at least it does add an
[2:22:32] extra layer of caution
[2:22:35] and makes the homeowner think about
[2:22:36] whether it makes sense for them to
[2:22:38] pursue it or just pursue a new insurance
[2:22:40] company.
[2:22:43] Yeah, anything that comes to us is is
[2:22:46] going to go through staff. Mhm.
[2:22:48] And you know, I think With the
[2:22:50] recommendation.
[2:22:51] >> With the recommendation, yeah.
[2:22:53] And staff would I don't think staff's
[2:22:56] going to come to us with somebody's
[2:22:58] say-so. They're going to want something
[2:23:01] some kind of proof that, you know, some
[2:23:03] kind of notice from the insurance
[2:23:04] company. So
[2:23:05] I think
[2:23:07] it seems like we're kind of landing on
[2:23:11] It feels [clears throat] to me like
[2:23:12] we're kind of landing on giving the
[2:23:13] blanket approval for wooey code, but
[2:23:16] still requiring
[2:23:18] that
[2:23:19] someone
[2:23:21] who's just complying with an insurance
[2:23:22] company request and not not meeting
[2:23:25] wooey code
[2:23:27] goes to community development who then
[2:23:30] brings it to us, but we waive the
[2:23:33] uh the
[2:23:35] 30-day period? Is that what we're
[2:23:36] saying? I mean, are we going to have a
[2:23:37] special meeting? Is that what we're
[2:23:39] saying?
[2:23:42] Well, you you could say that or the part
[2:23:45] of the problem with the 30-day period is
[2:23:48] like if um
[2:23:50] say somebody came in
[2:23:53] a week and a half before your meeting
[2:23:54] and said, "Oh my goodness, I'm in this
[2:23:55] problem." Well,
[2:23:57] absent the 30-day notice period, we
[2:24:00] could put that on your agenda, no
[2:24:01] problem. But the 30-day notice period
[2:24:03] says, "Oh, well, you're going to have to
[2:24:04] wait until the next month's agenda." Oh,
[2:24:07] okay. So, that that's the advantage of
[2:24:09] waiving the 30-day period. Okay.
[2:24:11] Obviously, if somebody comes in the day
[2:24:12] after your meeting and says, "I just got
[2:24:15] this notice and I'm going to lose my my
[2:24:17] insurance in 2 weeks." Waiving the
[2:24:19] 30-day notice period doesn't do anything
[2:24:20] because they're not going to You're not
[2:24:22] going to have another meeting. So, in
[2:24:23] that case, you could also um
[2:24:26] have a discussion as a council on your appetite for special meetings.
[2:24:32] As well as involve the clerk in that
[2:24:33] discussion.
[2:24:35] You were getting daggers.
[2:24:40] I think as long as they're after April
[2:24:41] 21st, she doesn't care.
[2:24:44] Yeah.
[2:24:45] I What What do How do we feel about
[2:24:47] having a special meeting in a case like
[2:24:50] that?
[2:24:52] I'm okay with it, personally.
[2:24:53] >> Everytime someone has an issue with
[2:24:54] their insurance company?
[2:24:56] On the conservation easement.
[2:24:58] >> I I I think these are going to be rare
[2:24:59] instances because
[2:25:01] I we we keep on referencing Jack. Jack's
[2:25:03] instance was an insurance issue, but it
[2:25:05] was also a WUI code issue. Everything
[2:25:06] that Jack did was was a WUI code
[2:25:08] requirement and I I think most of the
[2:25:11] time, again, I could be wrong, I could
[2:25:13] be out, you know, but I think most of
[2:25:14] the time the solution that satisfies
[2:25:17] WUI, hopefully, will also satisfy the
[2:25:20] insurance. And in those instances that
[2:25:22] are not,
[2:25:24] I think a large portion of them, if you
[2:25:26] waive the 30-day notice period, could be
[2:25:28] accommodated in your next regularly
[2:25:30] scheduled meeting. I think it's going to
[2:25:31] be an outlier where somebody comes to
[2:25:33] you and says, "I've got this issue. It's in excess of WUI and it doesn't fit
[2:25:38] your regular meeting schedule." I I
[2:25:40] those are going to be outliers. I do
[2:25:41] too.
[2:25:44] So, do we feel ready to run a motion?
[2:25:48] I've got one there, but
[2:25:50] Want to do that?
[2:25:52] Be great.
[2:25:52] >> Tom, I pre-apologize.
[2:25:54] The training you gave us many years ago
[2:25:56] about keeping this brief
[2:25:58] ain't going to happen.
[2:26:00] >> [laughter]
[2:26:02] » Town Council has reviewed the request to
[2:26:04] treat juniper trees in the Anasazi
[2:26:06] Plateau conservation easement based upon
[2:26:09] the following findings.
[2:26:10] The Wildland Urban Interface Code WUI
[2:26:13] requires property owners to provide
[2:26:14] defensible space around structures on
[2:26:16] their property.
[2:26:18] In many cases, native vegetation in the
[2:26:20] CE is also within a defensible space
[2:26:23] area associated with structures
[2:26:25] on individual lots required by the WUI
[2:26:27] code.
[2:26:28] The conservation easement allows
[2:26:30] property owners to conduct certain
[2:26:31] activities in the CE which could have an
[2:26:34] impact on the conservation value
[2:26:37] of the property, but only after notice
[2:26:39] and approval from the town.
[2:26:40] Specifically, sections 4.1B
[2:26:43] and 4.1C of the conservation easement
[2:26:46] allow owners to maintain native
[2:26:48] vegetation and to remove hazardous flora
[2:26:51] from the conservation easement property.
[2:26:53] To comply with the WUI code defensible
[2:26:55] space requirements, many of the property
[2:26:57] owners on the Anasazi Plateau will need
[2:26:59] to modify native vegetation in the CE.
[2:27:03] It would be cumbersome and inefficient
[2:27:05] for each of these property owners to
[2:27:06] make individual requests to modify
[2:27:08] native vegetation in the CE near their
[2:27:11] homes for the purpose of compliance with
[2:27:13] the WUI code defensible space.
[2:27:16] And finally, a
[2:27:19] we find that a blanket approval for the
[2:27:21] homeowners to perform defensible space
[2:27:24] vegetation modification in the
[2:27:26] conservation easement is the most
[2:27:28] efficient way to accomplish this.
[2:27:30] As such, the Town Council approves the
[2:27:32] request with the following conditions.
[2:27:35] All vegetation modification must be
[2:27:36] performed by a licensed arborist or
[2:27:38] other qualified tree professional who
[2:27:41] has been briefed on the Woo E code
[2:27:42] defensible space requirements. Only
[2:27:45] vegetation modification necessary for
[2:27:47] compliance with the Woo E code
[2:27:48] defensible space requirements is
[2:27:50] allowed. No other impact modification,
[2:27:53] removal, or destruction of vegetation,
[2:27:54] whether deliberate or incidental, is
[2:27:56] permitted.
[2:27:57] And prior to modifying modifying any
[2:28:00] vegetation in the conservation easement,
[2:28:03] a property owner must first submit a
[2:28:05] sketch of the proposed vegetation
[2:28:07] modification to the community
[2:28:08] development department.
[2:28:10] The sketch plan must be of sufficient
[2:28:11] detail, clarity, and accuracy for the
[2:28:14] community development department staff
[2:28:15] to determine which specific vegetation
[2:28:18] is proposed to be modified and whether
[2:28:20] such modification is necessary for Woo E
[2:28:22] code defensible space compliance.
[2:28:25] And further, the town council hereby
[2:28:27] approves and ratifies the town manager's
[2:28:30] prior early authorization of emergency
[2:28:33] vegetation modification undertaken to
[2:28:35] preserve a homeowner's insurance
[2:28:37] coverage
[2:28:39] and authorizes the mayor to sign.
[2:28:41] Do we want to add something about waving
[2:28:43] the 30-day notice for
[2:28:47] I think I think we should.
[2:28:48] >> we should. Yeah.
[2:28:50] somebody have some language for
[2:28:52] that?
[2:28:54] Um
[2:29:02] It's 30.
[2:29:06] I was just looking at the staff report
[2:29:08] and I too
[2:29:10] Would you like to
[2:29:11] >> a minute, there's a loud section five.
[2:29:14] >> Tom, do you have recommended language? I think Randy's got it. Okay.
[2:29:17] >> Yeah.
[2:29:18] Okay. So,
[2:29:21] 5.1 of the conservation easement
[2:29:23] requires
[2:29:25] a uh
[2:29:27] homeowner
[2:29:28] to advise the town
[2:29:31] to give the a 30-day notice
[2:29:33] and
[2:29:34] we will waive that 30-day notice.
[2:29:39] Is that sufficient? Does that do it? In cases of In cases of
[2:29:44] >> that that don't fall under the blanket
[2:29:46] approval because they
[2:29:48] um, the requirements are imposed by an
[2:29:50] insurance carrier in excess of woody
[2:29:52] code requirements, you still want that
[2:29:54] to come to the town council, but you're
[2:29:55] waiving the 30-day notice period as
[2:29:58] allowed by section 5.1 of the
[2:29:59] conservation easement.
[2:30:01] Do you accept that? Accept accept. Okay.
[2:30:03] And I have one question. Uh,
[2:30:05] would we want to add on the sketch the
[2:30:08] distance from the home?
[2:30:11] To you know, because that's what's to
[2:30:13] meet the woody standard, it really is
[2:30:15] based on distance.
[2:30:18] I think that's the intent of the sketch
[2:30:20] is simple. Well, my concern though as
[2:30:22] somebody who just wants to get rid of a
[2:30:24] bunch of vegetation. That that's a good
[2:30:26] idea. It should be scaled or or have
[2:30:28] distances marked on it so you so that we
[2:30:30] can confirm that this is a woody code
[2:30:32] requirement.
[2:30:33] >> I think that's implied in sufficient
[2:30:34] detail, but it it doesn't it is always a
[2:30:37] good idea to tell it what's sufficient
[2:30:39] is.
[2:30:40] Right? What is sufficient?
[2:30:41] >> So, how about if we add uh, sketch plan
[2:30:44] with With With
[2:30:46] >> measurements.
[2:30:46] >> With dimensions.
[2:30:47] >> To scale. Yeah. Okay. Accepted. Okay.
[2:30:49] So, do we have a second? I'll second.
[2:30:52] Got a motion by Pat and a second by
[2:30:53] Randy. Pat, I. Randy, I. Barbara, I.
[2:30:56] Jack, I. Kyla, I.
[2:30:59] Is there any general discussion before
[2:31:01] we adjourn?
[2:31:04] Entertain a motion to adjourn.
[2:31:07] I move we adjourn.
[2:31:09] I'll second. Motion by Randy, second by
[2:31:10] Jack. Pat, I. Randy, I. Barbara, I.
[2:31:13] Jack, I. Kyla, I.
[2:31:15] thought this was supposed to be a
[2:31:16] quick
[2:31:18] I thought it was supposed to be that.
[2:31:20] It never is.
[2:31:21] I tried not to