TREMONTON CITY CORPORATION
PLANNING COMMISSION
MAY 24, 2022
Members Present:
Micah Capener, Chairman
Jordan Conrad, Commission Member
Penni Dennis, Commission Member
Paul Fowler, Commission Member
Layne Sorensen, Commission Member—excused
Bret Rohde, City Councilmember
Steve Bench, Zoning Administrator
Shawn Warnke, City Manager
Cynthia Nelson, Deputy Recorder
Chairman Capener called the Planning Commission Meeting to order at 5:37 p.m. The meeting was held May 24, 2022 in the City Council Meeting Room at 102 South Tremont Street, Tremonton, Utah. Chairman Capener, Commission Members Conrad, Dennis, and Fowler, City Councilmember Rohde, Zoning Administrator Bench, Manager Warnke, and Deputy Recorder Nelson were in attendance. Commission Member Sorensen was excused.
1. Approval of agenda:
Motion by Commission Member Conrad to approve the May 24, 2022 agenda. Motion seconded by Commission Member Fowler. Vote: Chairman Capener – aye, Commission Member Conrad – aye, Commission Member Dennis – aye, Commission Member Fowler – aye, Commission Member Sorensen – absent. Motion approved.
2. Declaration of Conflict of Interest: None.
3. Approval of minutes: No minutes to approve at this time.
4. New Business:
a. Preliminary review of The Junction at 10500 N 6800 W—David Lewis and Cam Preston
Manager Warnke said preliminary plats are reviewed and approved by the Planning Commission. This area is zoned mixed-use and is entitled to what they are implying. My comments have been sent for your review. The developer is D.R. Horton—a national builder. They were willing to do a lift station so we could extend sewer south and maximize the area, but the land tips the other way so they have to have a private lift station instead of a regional one. They will extend culinary and secondary water, as well as the sewer.
Mr. Preston said the Junction is a site that would have 557 units. He then provided an introduction to D.R. Horton and what they can bring to the table. Commission Member Fowler said I liked the video with the open space and farm history implemented, but when I look at this development all I see is how much can I cram into 51 acres. It does not look like what you showed us in the video. Mr. Lewis said our developments are very full, but our open space is well utilized. We implement important design. This is a concept plan and we want to be in Tremonton and show the importance of the area. We want this presented well because people drive right by it. Commission Member Fowler said open space, grain bins, and tractors play well here. Cramming in houses and telling us we are going to be like builders in Utah County will not play well here. Mr. Lewis said this is going to be a great project. Some of the townhomes have garages on the alley with a front porch and some are front loaded with the garages accessing the street. Manager Warnke said the density is 10.6 per acre, which is comparable to Aspen Ridge and Bear River Meadows. Commission Member Fowler said when you read the notes, there is one in and one out for the whole thing. These accesses are not that far apart. You could have one accident and block the entrance and exit.
When asked about green space, Mr. Lewis said there are two main attractions. The private area will have the pool and pool house, as well as a terra park. There is a Frisbee golf course (nine holes) that is open to the public, as well as a City park. There will be benches for eating near the three-foot serpentine wall. There is power there for food trucks so this can be a gathering spot for everyone to eat and play. There will be a covered pavilion for parties and a dog park. We also have pickleball courts. The City would own and maintain those amenities and allow food trucks to come in and operate. Manager Warnke said we would need to have a public restroom there, too. They would develop the entire park and then dedicate it. There will also be a parking lot. There is no on-street parking because everything in this development would be City streets. They are all public except for the alleyways.
Commission Member Fowler said how many residents would live here? Manager Warnke said the census says there are nearly three people pre-household for multi-family so about 1,500 people. This will be constructed in phases though. Mr. Lewis said the first phase will have about 90 units and then we will do 80 units a year. Councilmember Rohde said everyone is going to see this area next to the freeway so it is vital that it stays maintained and has a welcoming look. There needs to be trees and nice architecture. People will judge the City by this subdivision. Commission Member Dennis said there is always a fire in that round about area of the on and off ramps. UDOT tries to keep it cut and clean, but there is always something there, including wrecks. That is my biggest concern. We need a big fire guard or something there. Commission Member Fowler said at what point do we put in an upgraded sewer line all the way down because of these developments. Manager Warnke said it will be upsized to the ultimate build out of that area. Chairman Capener said Engineer Chris Breinholt and Public Works Director Fulgham will design it the best way possible.
Commission Member Fowler said I have concerns with this small area with all that in and out traffic, compounded with Iowa String and future development that will be on that road. At some point there will be a lot of cars going in and out and crossways where this all comes together. We need answers on that before this get finalized. I am running the calculations on the number of citizens in that versus the park acreage. The park is tight and could be expanded. One of the things I would like us to address as a City is the amount of open space and park space. We need to set that bar higher. Our residents like the rural feel.
Chairman Capener said is City staff good with the fire load and accessibility of all this? Manager Warnke said Fire Chief Robert LaCroix has not reviewed it yet. He is not on the DRC, but receives the plans. Chairman Capener said we need to know and could curb those issues before they get down the line. Councilmember Rohde said we would want to make that the safest transition possible getting off that road and onto Iowa String. We could look into some signage on the bridge or flashing lights to slow people down and bring attention to that intersection. Mr. Preston said the traffic study recommends we have a dedicated left hand turn lane to help that intersection. The real sight constraint with the property is the two over passes being so close. With the 40 MPH speed there is not enough horizontal distance between the two to make it work so we were going to propose a reduced speed through there. There is no way to lay out a safe intersection without doing that. In doing that we can make it work. The second road to the Madsen home will be a one-way street in only. Several mitigations will help make the intersection safer. This highway has landlocked this property and regardless of the use these implementations are going to have to be there. Commission Member Fowler said but depending on the use that goes in we may only have a fraction of the traffic and a fraction of the problem. Mr. Preston said you would have to significantly reduce that property to not have those problems because of how short the banking is. The reduced speed will have to be there no matter how much volume goes through there. Commission Member Fowler said the only way to make that safer, in my point of view, is to have less traffic and you can do that by having a different use. Having 10 cars versus 1,000 cars a day reduces the chances of accidents regardless of the lanes. That is the statistics. I am not sure how to do it better, the only way is to have less people there. Chairman Capener said this is a good location for this type of density. We will have to have more affordable housing given the rates and costs of today. I like it even though it does make is difficult with accessibility. Mr. Lewis said the traffic impact studies are long and the level of service on these intersections are all very good (level A).
Councilmember Rohde said it would be nice to see something in the entrance of that area to maintain our heritage. The City could work with D.R. Horton with the pavilion and make sure things match the heritage better to tie the area together. Those things could help our citizens accept it. Manager Warnke said as part of the marketing they will come up with a name and then implement their theme through landscape improvement, amenities, entryways and monuments.
Manager Warnke said the City would also recommend addressing our land use ordinance services in the mixed-use zone. Our setbacks are a little bit disconnected from some of these various product types. We could address and amend the code to allow for a variety of setbacks for property that is mixed-use. We could also look at a density cap. There are only a few parcels left for these uses. The Planning Commission could discuss zoning it something different, but we can talk about it in the future. At this point, I would recommend that City staff look at addressing some of the development code issues in this zone. We could come back and propose a zoning ordinance and consider the plat. Commission Member Fowler said so we could make a motion to table this, pending suggestions on the zoning ordinance. We would want to hear back from the fire chief and get a couple of these questions answered. We would then bring it back for a vote to be passed back to the DRC for approval.
Mr. Preston clarified that they would continue to work on the comments provided to them by the DRC. Commission Member Fowler said I am okay with the traffic study, but I am not okay with not hearing from the fire chief yet. I think we are creating a big traffic pile up. Manager Warnke said I have some concerns, too. We have seen this plan several times with different developers and I can tell you that D.R. Horton is the best I have seen. As a national builder they have the capital to do some of these more difficult projects with good design. I do have concerns about the traffic, but the traffic engineer reviewed and stamped it. I think they have adequately addressed it from a traffic perspective the best they could. The long-term plan for the City is to really deemphasize 1000 West and push traffic through to Main Street through a minor arterial road. We have termed it Commerce Way for now. I have had conversations with the County and we are working on an alignment. Once we have that we can start working with property owners and go through the Corridor Preservation Plan. At a County Commission meeting I presented what the City’s plans were. They assigned a staff member to work with our staff and come up with a way to implement that.
When the Commission asked about park impact fees and increasing their level of service as the City grows, Manager Warnke said we need to talk about impact fees. We will set up a time for an in-depth discussion on those since there is a lot to them. To be clear we are not exacting the park. This park land is being dedicated by the developer without any requirement. The way we have taken care of parks to date is through our impact fees. We can only perpetuate the same level of service we currently have. The City can invest money to raise that service.
Motion by Commission Member Conrad to table the item pending more information on the general comments, as well as seeing what the fire chief has to say. There will also be an ordinance review of the setbacks in the multi-use zone and an understanding of the park and impact fees associated with it. Motion seconded by Commission Member Dennis. Vote: Chairman Capener – aye, Commission Member Conrad – aye, Commission Member Dennis – aye, Commission Member Fowler – nay, Commission Member Sorensen – absent. Motion approved by a 3-1 vote.
b. Discussion of sections 2 and 3 of Draft Integrated Land Use Plan – Sam Taylor, Landmark Design (joining electronically)
Motion by Commission Member Fowler to table discussion for this item for a future meeting. Motion seconded by Commission Member Conrad. Vote: Chairman Capener – aye, Commission Member Conrad – aye, Commission Member Dennis – aye, Commission Member Fowler – aye, Commission Member Sorensen – absent. Motion approved.
5. Adjournment
Motion by Commission Member Fowler to adjourn the meeting. Motion seconded by consensus of the Board. The meeting adjourned at 7:08 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 of the Planning Commission held on the above referenced date. Minutes were prepared by Jessica Tanner.
Dated this 28th day of June, 2022.
______________________________
Linsey Nessen, CITY RECORDER
*Utah Code 52-4-202, (6) allows for a topic to be raised by the public and discussed by the public body even though it was not included in the agenda or advance public notice given; however, no final action will be taken.