City Council Minutes 10-7-25

TREMONTON CITY CORPORATION
CITY COUNCIL MEETING
OCTOBER 7, 2025

Members Present:
Wes Estep
Beau Lewis
Bret Rohde
Brandon Vonk
Blair Westergard
Lyle Holmgren, Mayor
Linsey Nessen, Interim City Manager
Cynthia Nelson, City Recorder

CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP

Mayor Holmgren called the October 7, 2025 City Council Workshop to order at 5:59 p.m. The meeting was held in the City Council Meeting Room at 102 South Tremont Street, Tremonton, Utah. Those in attendance were Mayor Holmgren, Councilmembers Estep, Lewis, Rohde, Vonk, and Westergard, Interim City Manager Nessen, and City Recorder Nelson. The following Department Head was also present: Community Development Director Jeff Seedall.

1. Review Presentation on Bear River Valley Coalition – Allena Pierce

Ms. Pierce said I work for the Bear River Health Department and have worked in public health for 25 years. I have enjoyed working on public health projects and prevention throughout my career. Tonight, I am here to present on our Bear River Valley Coalition. It is a new coalition that has been put in place for this Northern Box Elder County. She then provided history on the health department’s efforts regarding prevention and building strength in the community. She discussed prevention framework and social development strategy. There are a number of prevention coalitions across the State. The main focus of this prevention group will be to build strength and positive connections, and make sure people see the wonderful, great things going on in the community. Prevention science shows that when we get a group of people together and work with them instead of at them, we have a lot more success. The Box Elder Safe Communities Coalition was designed to serve the entire County. It has done that, but we have always had the desire to provide a more localized approach. The Safe Community Board will serve Box Elder communities that feed into Box Elder High School, while our newer coalition will serve the Bear River Valley and the communities that fall under Bear River High School. She then provided examples of things they have done over the years. We are excited to support and be part of the wonderful efforts that are already happening. The Shine Your Light Celebration in March was really fun. We were able to spotlight individuals in our community. We designed this event with the hopes that we would continue to do this year after year. Throughout the summer we did several community board orientations, which were designed to provide information about this prevention coalition process. The foundation for the social development strategy is what I like to refer to as SOR (skills, opportunities, and recognition). We develop skills and then provide opportunities to practice those. We then provide specific recognition and how it contributed to the community. That helps strengthen not only their character and confidence, but the community in general. We are focusing on positive things, as well as identifying risks in our community. Tapping into resources reduces the stigma and ensures everybody has options for mental health services. We want to normalize asking for help when we need it. We are in the process of putting together bylaws, creating a logo, and officially getting the name set in stone so we can move forward. Councilmember Lewis suggested involving Tremonton Youth City Council. Mayor Holmgren said we could get you in touch with their advisor. That would be a good start and then you could branch out from there. This would be a great leadership opportunity for them.

2. Discussion on Ordinance No. 25-18 Temporary Land Use Regulations

Councilmember Rohde said this new ordinance has been put together and the language has changed. The General Plan is a comprehensive plan. We have one labeled 2002, but do not let that mislead you. We have other plans that drive city work and most of them have been updated. Our General Plan just needs a little tweaking to support the other plans. Councilmember Lewis said we added a few that did not exist—Public Safety and Hazard Mitigation and the Capital Improvement Plan. All the other plans have been updated between 2019 to now. Councilmember Rohde said at the conference last week I talked to a lot of people about general plans, which helped bring this together. Tremonton experienced a 6.16 annual population growth with a 42% increase since 2020. We are projected to be around 30,000 residents in 2050. We have heard a lot about how the rapid growth and our current situation causes strife with outdated infrastructure. Rapid growth causes strain on water supply, infrastructure, and support services, challenging City management and planning. Residents worry about financial burden, loss of small-town identity, and threats to family values amid rapid expansion. There is a need for data-driven growth management. Implementing a thoughtful data-driven pause in growth is essential to preserve Tremonton’s character and manage challenges effectively. Our community vision from 2002, family values and small-town goals, was integrated in the 2023 Land Use Plan. A lot of the language in the 2002 plan was adopted into that, but sometimes they conflict with each other. That is part of the reason we are having heartache over the two plans. Planning now includes a comprehensive streets network and updated standards. Housing strategies incorporate affordable housing plans aligned with HB 462 adopted in November of 2022. We need to make sure we include public safety in this plan, making sure we have enough police officers, firefighters, and buildings to help our City grow. This would enforce a pause on residential zone changes and limit new rezones that increase density without specific exceptions. Section 3 mandates updates to the General Plan emphasizing family values, sustainability, and public safety with hazard mitigation strategies. The ordinance requires alignment with the Transportation Master Plan, Capital Improvement Plan, Annexation Plan, and interlocal agreements. The ordinance duration lasts 180 days with possible extension and features for zoning process to sustain growth value updates. If we get a plan together sooner, we can stop this ordinance and move on. It is up to 180 days, but we can extend it. We are not a long way off from getting this put together. We have a lot of resources that can help, including possible grants. A full-bore General Plan would cost up to $120,000. We do not need that. We have one in place and just need to tweak it a bit. We want to have public engagement initiatives and complete the General Plan by 2026. Long-term benefits include achieving sustainable growth, preserving rural charm, and aligning planning documents for sufficient service delivery and bringing the public in to gain more trust. This also creates community empowerment, strong recommendation to approve ordinance to protect resources and involved residents. The ordinance asks us to pause. This would not touch any commercial or multi-use zones, or things we are working on. We have done a lot of work with Main Street and Director Seedall is doing a lot of work with other zoning practices in commercial that need to keep moving forward.

Councilmember Lewis said does that mean a PUD is still applicable to the current zoning that has been granted? It has sections about bonus density. I want to make sure we are clear. Director Seedall said I would think the PUD stands where it is in its own chapter of zoning ordinance. We can always outline where the bonus densities came in and what is allowed. Councilmember Lewis said I think that still accomplishes the objective, which is the base level density, keeping base level density at the right spot. Councilmember Rohde said applications not affected would be those for subdivisions, conditional use permits, building permits, or other development approvals that are fully compliant with the City’s zoning maps and ordinances as of the date of this ordinance. Mayor Holmgren said would this impact annexation? Councilmember Rohde said that applies to 2B, it is an exception. We can still move forward with annexations if that is what we choose to do and zone them. Councilmember Westergard said I can see that the plan needs to be tweaked, but we vote on annexations and other things so what is the purpose of the pause? Councilmember Rohde said one of the purposes is it will give the Planning Commission and Director Seedall more time to work on this and take things off their plate. They are getting hammered with all kinds of zoning changes and develop. I am trying to give them time to work on this. The Planning Commission, Director Seedall, and the citizens are the ones who are going to put this together. I would like to give them time to work on it. Councilmember Estep said I think six months is a long time. Director Seedall said the process for getting UDOT’s technical assistance program is what would take time. We would have to submit the project to them by the end of the month, which I can do. The application is due by December. If it gets awarded, they will not give us the funds until July. If we were going to use their technical assistance program to fund part of this (about $50,000). Six months is not very long if I am doing this by myself, but it is not long enough if we are going after UDOT funding. Since the PUD is there, that still gives us an avenue to help with a little bit of density, but it is not to the point of having to come in and rezone in order to get more units. I do not mind this approach with some of the clarifications that have been made.

Councilmember Rohde said this will also help us fine tune our Transportation Plan and our Land Use Plan. Director Seedall said if we are going to get into all this planning, I would love to create a Planning Advisory Committee with citizens willing to help engage and be a bridge between the planning departments and the residents. If that is the case, then I would start the General Plan update at the beginning of the year. Once done, I would start into the Integrated Land Use plan update. Once we update the guiding document that is going to steer the vision then we could dive into the Integrated Land Use Plan update. We would also discuss new areas in the annexation boundary. It currently reads that this would terminate in six months unless otherwise voted upon. This does not cause many things to stall. I like that it communicates clearly that until we get planning done and the public involved, we are going to stick to the base map. It will give us a little bit of time to take a breath. Subdivision applications could still come in as long as they meet the current zoning requirements. There is still a lot of development that could happen. I will work with Interim Manager Nessen on what our procurement policy is to update this plan. Between now and the next Council meeting I can prepare a scope of work. We can figure out the cost and send this to UDOT by the end of the month. This is just a break so all our ongoing developments could keep moving forward. Any annexation that needs to happen, whether it is industrial or residential could still put in petitions to be done. It just says we are not going to make any zoning changes for our residential zones until we get these plans updated. With as much growth as is projected, I do not mind taking six to nine months to get some of this figured out and get the public involved so we can set a better vision. Once it is lifted, we can update the residential code changes to help steer this vision.

Councilmember Rohde said what is important about this plan is that it brings all of these plans together under one umbrella. Part of the plan needs to include what plans need to be updated and when. There needs to be a timeline or a strategy built into the General Plan saying every so often we reevaluate. That will be called out and cause annual audits of the General Plan so that it can continue to grow and be organic.

3. Review of the agenda items identified on 7:00 p.m. City Council Agenda

4. CLOSED MEETING: No Closed Meeting held at this time.

a. Strategy session to discuss the purchase of real property when public discussion of the transaction would disclose the appraisal or estimated value of the property under consideration or prevent the public body from completing the transaction on the best possible terms; and/or
b. Strategy session to discuss the character, professional competence or physical or mental health of an individual; and/or
c. Strategy sessions to discuss pending or reasonably imminent litigation; and/or
d. Discussions regarding security personnel, devices or systems

The meeting adjourned at 6:54 p.m. by consensus of the Council.

CITY COUNCIL MEETING

Mayor Holmgren called the October 7, 2025 City Council Meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. The meeting was held in the Tremonton City Council Meeting Room at 102 South Tremont Street, Tremonton, Utah. Those in attendance were Mayor Holmgren, Councilmembers Estep, Lewis, Rohde, Vonk, and Westergard, Interim City Manager Nessen, and City Recorder Nelson. The following Department Head was present: Community Development Director Jeff Seedall.

1. Opening Ceremony: Prayer – Councilmember Lewis and Pledge – Councilmember Westergard

2. Introduction of Council

3. Declaration of Conflict of Interest: None.

4. Approval of Agenda:

Motion by Councilmember Rohde to approve the agenda of October 7, 2025. Motion seconded by Councilmember Westergard. Vote: Councilmember Estep – yes, Councilmember Lewis – yes, Councilmember Rohde – yes, Councilmember Vonk – yes, Councilmember Westergard – yes. Motion approved.

5. Approval of minutes – September 9, 2025 and September 16, 2025

Motion by Councilmember Estep to approve the minutes stated above. Motion seconded by Councilmember Lewis. Vote: Councilmember Estep – yes, Councilmember Lewis – yes, Councilmember Rohde – yes, Councilmember Vonk – yes, Councilmember Westergard – yes. Motion approved.

6. Presentations

a. Tremonton City Citizenship Award to Elementary and Intermediate Students

Mayor Holmgren said I want to recognize our outstanding students who have been chosen by their peers, teachers, and principals as examples of good citizenship. These youth show kindness, respect, responsibility, and leadership in their schools and community. Their positive actions make Tremonton a better place. Thank you for setting such a strong example. They then awarded the youth with a gift card and took a picture.

b. Crisis Communication Leadership Award

Mayor Holmgren said in August our community suffered the devastating loss of two officers in the Tremonton and Garland Police Department. This set in motion some really hard times. The families and our community suffered greatly, but it also brought us together. One of the important parts of this was getting information out to the public and news outlets. Tonight, it is my pleasure to recognize individuals who had a lot to do with making that possible. They made sure information was correct and timely. The first certificate is presented to Brigham City Detective Crystal Beck in recognition of her support of the Tremonton Garland Police Department. Tremonton City recognizes and shows its gratitude to Detective Beck for her competence and expertise in her profession. We appreciate the time and effort, guiding us through these hard times. The other certificate is presented to Cami Sabin, Brigham City’s Public Information Officer. In recognition of her support of the Tremonton Garland Police Department during the recent critical incident, our community is grateful for your service. Much thanks. The whole community reeled from the events that took place. Their efforts made it so we could get the information out in the correct way. The Utah PIO Association with the State of Utah recognizes the Tremonton Garland Fallen Officers PIO team, led by Zach LeFevre with the Crisis Communication Leadership Award. Thank you so much. Also, Brigham City was a great partner as we went through all this. Many of our officers were traumatized by what had happened to their co-workers and friends. Mayor Bott authorized many of their police officers to help when our officers needed time to recover and deal with the traumatizing effects. We thank Mayor Bott and many other local communities. Mayor Bott said our ability to help in the situation was facilitated by lots of other departments who volunteered from as far away as St. George to backfill Brigham City. The weekend of the funerals we were covered by other municipalities. I would like to extend a thanks in your behalf when my police department and I go down to Draper. Mayor Holmgren said absolutely, thank you so much for your friendship between our communities. We are really grateful. It was a team effort and we appreciate that very much.

7. Public comments:

Marianne Valenta said I am going to discuss this bump-out idea that is proposed for Main Street. Bump-outs are extensions of concrete from our sidewalk into Main. When you have bump-outs, you lose your right-hand turn lanes. We all pull to the right as we turn right, but when you have those bump-outs, you turn from the through traffic lane, which slows everybody down behind you. It is a sharp turn, so you even have to make it a little bit slower. The inside corners of bump-outs gather debris. Snowplows and street sweepers are impacted by bump-outs. Last week at your meeting at the Fairgrounds, your committee told me that if we do not have bump-outs, we cannot have trees and flowers. I did not agree with her. Trees, light poles, and flowers have coexisted on our Main Street for many, many years. Strollers, people walking holding hands, and wheelchairs can go down Main Street. We do have narrow sidewalks and streets, but we get along just fine. Our Main Street is not overrun with people all the time. I do not think we need to give up that. I also was told by your committee that we will lose a minimum of 11 parking places on Main Street. We are always trying to get more parking for our merchants on Main and we are giving up 11 parking spots? I do not know why we are talking about that. It would be great if we had wider streets and sidewalks, but we do not. We have to maximize what we have, and bump-outs take away too much of our Main Street.

Casey Wolfley said I was not able to attend the Main Street meeting due to a death in the family. I have tried to find the information, but I cannot find any information. From the concerns I am hearing, it sounds like this would shut my business down. If we cannot use the alley to receive furniture, how do we sell furniture? I hope we can, once we see more information, organize thoughts. Maybe we could have a meeting with the business owners, Mayor, and City Council to go over some of these details to get answers. What is the timeline? How fast do we need to move to try to stop this or make changes and have input? Mayor Holmgren said this is all conceptual, these ideas are not set in stone until the Council makes a decision. I think it is a great idea for us to have a conversation and discuss what works best for our merchants and the downtown area.

8. New Council Business:

a. Discussion and consideration of approving Resolution No. 25-51 appointing Oria Burningham to serve on the Library Board

Motion by Councilmember Estep to approve the resolution. Motion seconded by Councilmember Westergard. Roll Call Vote: Councilmember Estep – yes, Councilmember Lewis – yes, Councilmember Rohde – yes, Councilmember Vonk – yes, Councilmember Westergard – yes. Motion approved.

b. Discussion and consideration of approving Ordinance No. 25-19 rezoning parcel 05-068-0075 located at approximately 900 West 1200 South, from Residential District (R1-10) to Multiple Residential District (RM-8)

Director Seedall said this is on Rocket Road and Iowa String. The landowner asked for a rezone in order to build three, three-plexes (nine units total). They will have primary access off Rocket Road. The parcel is about an acre and a half. There is not enough frontage to connect to the cul-de-sac. There is an apartment complex east of there, so we are matching the zoning that allowed for a bit more density to build something more affordable. This is all the density that would be allowed based on the parcel size. They will be clustered on the east side because setbacks will not allow for anything to be developed on the west half of the parcel. He will probably end up having a small, private storm drain basin and some landscaping. He does not have enough frontage to access it for a full drive aisle and will probably have some kind of pedestrian connectivity over to the cul-de-sac. Councilmember Rohde said how do we make sure a quality product goes in? Director Seedall said we have architectural standards for multi-family housing we can work with him on. We will focus on making sure any product that faces Rocket Road has architectural standards.

Motion by Councilmember Lewis to approve the ordinance. Motion seconded by Councilmember Vonk. Roll Call Vote: Councilmember Estep – yes, Councilmember Lewis – yes, Councilmember Rohde – yes, Councilmember Vonk – yes, Councilmember Westergard – yes. Motion approved.

9. Consent Agenda

a. Adoption of July & August Warrant Register
b. Adoption of July & August Financial Statements

Councilmember Rohde said I have some concerns on financial stuff, but rather than hit you with them now, I am going to put it together and send it to you for discussion at the next meeting. I have a report on what we spent over our budget. It is only fair to give you time to research that with your department heads.

Motion by Councilmember Rohde to adopt the Consent Agenda. Motion seconded by Councilmember Westergard. Vote: Councilmember Estep – yes, Councilmember Lewis – yes, Councilmember Rohde – yes, Councilmember Vonk – yes, Councilmember Westergard – yes. Motion approved.

10. Calendar Items and Previous Assignment

a. Review of calendar

Mayor Holmgren said Trick-or-Treat on Main Street will be held Friday, October 24. The giant pumpkin contest is this Saturday. That is in conjunction with the Farmer’s Market and GET OUT events.

b. Unfinished Business/Action Items: None.

11. Reports & Comments:

a. City Administration Reports and Comments

Manager Nessen said the insurance adjuster came today to look at the mess they have in the building. They will likely pay to fix the inside damage, but likely the roof will not be covered. Councilmember Estep said Lynn Green will need to start putting up the Christmas light display so we need to get that done before the end of October.

b. Development Review Committee Report and Comments: None
c. City Department Head Reports and Comments: None
d. Council Reports and Comments

Councilmember Estep said I can see the City healing from our recent tragedy. I talked to Chief Cordova and Director LeFevre who are going to be put something on social media about removing the blue ribbons. I asked if that was appropriate and Chief Cordova said it is probably time to get them down. I am glad to see the kids back here to be recognized. It makes my day to see the smiles on their faces. It was a great conference. I learned a lot. I want to tell everybody thanks. We have some issues in the City we have to get fixed, but we are getting there.

Councilmember Rohde reported on the conference and shared some of the classes he attended and what could be incorporated into Tremonton. All in all, I thought it was a great conference and learned a lot. A citizen brought this up to me and I thought it was a great idea. On the east side on Main Street, we have a piece of property with a park that we do not do much with. Maybe we ought to consider turning that into a memorial park for our fallen officers.

Councilmember Westergard said the conference was great and every city has things going on. We are all in the same boat trying to balance everything. It was good to talk to people and see how they have tried to fix things.

Councilmember Lewis said it was a really good conference and I learned a lot. We are starting to create some good dialogue. I have appreciated the feedback we are getting. I love that citizens are here to talk about Main Street. The intent of the Main Street development is to create a beautiful city that increases traffic to stores. If we are doing anything to impede that, we want to know and fix those things. The goal is to double your traffic, not slow it down. On social media, someone mentioned a shop local initiative and the opportunity to do more shop local things here. I have some ideas and feedback. We do have a lot of good businesses coming and we want to strengthen downtown.

Councilmember Vonk said my family recently experienced a horrendous tragedy and the outpouring of support I have received from all of you and from the community itself has been unbelievable. We have inherited five more children indefinitely. These kids are beautiful. They have so much love to give and so much love they need. I have been so impressed with our community. It makes me love it all the more. I witnessed this with our situation with the police officers, and I was involved, but to actually be the one on the receiving end is powerful. I want to say how proud I am of our community. I really am proud to be a member of it. Thank you, everybody.

Mayor Holmgren said our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. We learned a lot at the conference, and I think we all came away better as a result. I am really grateful for that. We are finally making headway on Rocket Road. They are moving the power to the south a bit and making it possible for us to widen that road and bridge. We will put in a sidewalk, which will help kids walk through there. We are really excited about that. Midland Square will be ready for Trick-or-Treat on October 24. I do not know if it will be all the way complete, but it will be usable. We want to thank all of you for coming out this evening. Hopefully you got some of your questions answered and if not come up and chat with us.

12. CLOSED MEETING: No Closed Meeting held at this time.

13. Adjournment.

Motion by Councilmember Estep to adjourn the meeting. Motion seconded by Councilmember Rohde. Vote: Councilmember Estep – yes, Councilmember Lewis – yes, Councilmember Rohde – yes, Councilmember Vonk – yes, Councilmember Westergard – yes. Motion approved.

The meeting adjourned at 7:56 p.m.

The undersigned duly acting and appointed Recorder for Tremonton City Corporation hereby certifies that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of the minutes for the City Council Meeting held on the above referenced date. Minutes were prepared by Jessica Tanner.

Dated this 21st day of October, 2025.

Cynthia Nelson, City Recorder

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