01/24/2017 - Work Session - Minutes MINUTES OF THE SALT LAKE CITY COUNCIL ANNUAL RETREAT/WORKSHOP
TUESDAY, JANUARY 24 , 2017
The City Council met in an Annual Retreat/Workshop on Tuesday, January
24, 2017, at 12 : 55 p.m. at the Chase Mill (Tracy Aviary) , 589 East
1300 South, Salt Lake City.
In Attendance: Council Members James Rogers, Stan Penfold, Lisa Adams,
Andrew Johnston, Derek Kitchen, Charlie Luke, and Erin Mendenhall .
Also In Attendance: Cindy Gust-Jenson, Council Executive Director;
David Litvack, Mayor' s Deputy Chief of Staff; Jennifer Bruno, Council
Deputy Director; Russell Weeks, Council Senior Policy Analyst; Jan
Aramaki, Council Community Facilitator; Dan Weist, Council
Communication Director; Molly Farmer, Council Constituent Liaison;
Allison Rowland, Council Policy Analyst; Lehua Weaver, Council
Associate Deputy Director; Amber McClellan, Council Constituent
Liaison; Nick Tarbet, Council Senior Public Policy Analyst; Becky
Dangerfield, Council Staff Assistant; Libby Stockstill, Council
Constituent Liaison; Brian Fullmer, Council Constituent Liaison; Ben
Luedtke, Council Constituent Liaison; Kira Luke, Council Staff
Assistant; Priscilla Tuuao, Council Staff Assistant; Brijette
Williams, Council Constituent Liaison; Cindy Lou Trishman, Council
Staff Assistant; Tracey Fletcher, Council Staff Assistant; Amanda Lau,
Council Communications; Kaletta Lynch, Deputy Chief of Staff Executive
Assistant; Jenni Buckley, Council Front Office; Robyn Hoggan, Council
Front Office; Sydney Conger, Council Intern; Noah Stilling, Council
Intern; Margaret Plane, City Attorney; Jeff Bedard, Police Officer;
and Cindi Mansell, City Recorder.
Others Present: Neil Lindberg, Council Legal Advisor; Brian Wilkinson,
Outside Consultant; Daniel Shipp, Researcher/Homeless Advocate;
Matthew Piper, Salt Lake Tribune; and Trevor Lindley, Public Utility
Consultant and citizen.
12:55:35PM The meeting was called to order. View Agendas
1 . 12:56:10PM Welcome & Introductions
Councilmember Penfold welcomed those present and outlined the
Council Retreat/Workshop agenda details . Introductions were made.
2 . 1:23:38PM Council Transmittals/Process & Timelines View Attachment
Ms . Gust-Jenson discussed the Council agenda process and
timelines for transmittals/project initiation and implementation. She
highlighted the fundamental purpose to create a clear public record,
and the benefit of clarity and written documentation to prevent
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discussions from being subject to interpretation. She said the
separation of powers was relative, and there was Legislative versus
Administrative tools to provide for effective collaboration and
communication. She continued that each Council Member was unique and
offered different perspectives as well as priorities . She said the
Retreat assisted Staff in better understanding (individual as well as
combined) context in effort to serve the Council in the most effective
manner. She said although Staff continually relied on the basic
Council tools, resources and options, they continually searched for
new aids such as the teachings by Patricia Comarell on absolute facts,
common grounds, balancing tests from an elected official standpoint,
and documentation of a clear outline of expectations . She said Karen
Kendrick had also provided insight on ways to communicate effectively
in any situation.
Councilmember Penfold discussed the separation of powers (such as
working through a planning project or petition scenario) . He said
State Law was clear about the process yet there was always question
relative to opportunity to participate or attend meetings as an
individual citizen or an elected official . He discussed the dangers of
being engaged at that level when considering the Council/legislative
side of that very process and said there was clear direction not to
interfere . He encouraged Council Members to seek guidance through the
Council or Attorney' s Office relative to questions in this regard.
3 . 1:38:12PM 2016 Priorities Review View Attachment
Councilmember Penfold introduced the 2016 Priority review agenda
item. He said the Council was not always able to address all items
because of unexpected issues . He discussed the form of government and
defined the Council role as it dealt with legislation and policy
versus the Administration role of implementation. He said one of his
goals for the year was to provide for big picture policy conversations
to guide the process .
Mr. Luedtke reviewed Council 2016 accomplishments as well as 2017
potential projects . Councilmember Mendenhall addressed the 2017
Citywide Pavement Conditions Survey and said she heard about sensors
being planted in roadways to determine conditions versus a scheduled
mobile unit review. She said these sensors continually monitor freeze-
depth and serve as pothole predictors . She requested information as to
whether Council Staff or City Engineering would investigate these
embedded options versus the ground rolling. Discussion followed
regarding the ability to calculate depreciation in street conditions
in between data collection timeframes (i .e . every five years) .
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Councilmember Mendenhall said the point of the embedded sensors was to
provide the ability for Staff to adjust their driving allowances
(traffic management/smart streets) based on freeze depth or pot holes,
in effort to alleviate or prevent degradation rather than to reflect
the current condition.
Discussion followed regarding the Transportation Utility Fees
(TUF) and implementation by local governments in Utah. Mr. Luedtke
explained the cities of Provo and Mapleton were not assessing the TUF
for every property (like street lighting in Salt Lake City) . He said
there had been back and forth negotiations between what the entity
desired and having to remove educational or other entities .
Councilmember Luke said removal somewhat defeated the purpose and the
attraction was application to all, including those that were
considered property tax exempt (43% in SLC) . Mr. Luedtke said although
the TUF could still be considered a tool, additional application
research was necessary.
Inquiry was raised relative to the status of the Administration' s
Transportation Infrastructure Funding Task Force meetings . Mr. Luedtke
said they had not met during the previous two months and he was unsure
as to future scheduled meetings . He said the group left off waiting
for the numbers relative to additional funding for sidewalks and how
to fill the funding gap was not discussed. Ms . Bruno said even the
numbers provided were not assured because the Pavement Conditions
Survey data could sway the discussion or funding level need.
The Council discussed bonding concepts and applications for
roads . Mr. Luedtke said there were options including short-term to
fill a gap (10 years) or long-term (30 years) to aggressively tackle
the funding gap. Ms . Bruno said one-time bond funding could result in
a downfall and would depend on ultimate goals to address the issue .
Mr. Weeks addressed 2016 Accomplishments and 2017 Potential
Projects relative to homelessness and housing key points . He presented
a colored illustration on AffoRDAble Housing, indicating residents
from all walks of life were the core fabric of Salt Lake City and the
Redevelopment Agency (RDA) was the financial thread to help provide
affordable housing for everyone . He said the spectrum on the logo
ranged from a homeless person, single parent, new graduate, peace
officers, teachers, medical community, young professionals, and
artists . He said the median household income in Salt Lake City was
$45, 000; per capita income was $28, 000; median home value $273, 600;
and median home listing $349, 900 ($249 per square foot) . He said it
was important to note the median per capita income was about $2500
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more in Salt Lake City than statewide. Mr. Weeks said the Council had
discussed affordable housing for some time and it was important to
point out it did not necessarily mean "low income housing" or even
"below poverty housing" (although a great need existed) .
The Council discussed the graphics not depicting all the
different types of housing needs (other than single family) such as
new, young, and start-up families . Discussion followed concerning
families seeking housing outside the City when looking for more space
or to accommodate more than one or two children. The Council requested
to have a second story box for family included in the graph.
Ms . Rowland reviewed 2016 Economic Development accomplishments
and Potential follow-up actions for 2017 . She discussed the original
#1 Economic Development Priority and explained the Council had set
previously set goals which came to fruition during 2016 .
Councilmember Penfold suggested considering the 2016 priority
status and potentially carrying forward (or not) when the Council was
considering 2017 priorities . He said Council could consider whether a
priority had evolved into an ongoing or active issue, project
monitoring (working its way through a system somewhere else) , should
be followed differently, policy direction to provide to
Administration, and whether or not to carry it forward (whether
modified/in what form) . He said the Council could consider what was
relevant in economic development from this point forward.
Ms . Gust-Jenson said relative to active projects, the Council
added use of plastic bags and Critical Communities (broken down into
smaller chunks of ongoing collaboration with Administration) .
4 . 2:10:32PM 2017 Priority Selection View Attachment
Councilmember Penfold asked for 2017 Priorities from the Council .
Councilmember Luke said he wanted to see the Council carry the
remaining 2016 priorities forward to 2017 . He said although the
Council had accomplished a great deal, much more remained to be done.
Councilmember Rogers said he concurred with Councilmember Luke,
excluding homelessness . He said he wanted the Administration to reach
out to all capital and first-class city mayors to come to an agreement
or create a resolution stating each city would handle homeless issues
which pertained to them and agree not to relocate the homeless
elsewhere . He said he felt that would be a great public relations tool
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to begin sharing information across the nation to determine what
worked to reduce homeless issues .
Concern was expressed relative to infrastructure and Google Fiber
contractors making a mess and leaving construction sites for long
periods of time (leaving the appearance of the City being at fault) .
The request was made for Administration to follow-up with Google Fiber
in this regard. Councilmember Rogers said Google Fiber stated they
actually did not own any site until 1000 of the contractor work was
done (permits signed and completed) .
Councilmember Adams said the State Legislature needed to
encourage larger counties to help provide locations for resource
centers to prevent all the homeless from coming to Salt Lake City as
the only option for assistance .
Councilmember Rogers said by completing the resolution or
agreement implicating Cities would not relocate the homeless elsewhere
would show the willingness to help each other. Councilmember Penfold
said as the Council traveled and explored other cities and services in
this regard, one consistent was surprised and concerned each community
dealt with issues independently of other communities and each felt
they were in it alone . He said he viewed Councilmember Roger' s
suggestion as an opportunity to develop a network of sharing and
communication with other cities; it could be interesting to consider a
broad spectrum of models and how to persuade change at a higher level .
Councilmember Mendenhall also suggested asking the National League of
Cities (NLC) for assistance . Councilmember Kitchen said he was
nominated to the NLC Economic Development Advocacy Group and there was
not an advocacy group for homeless although he could see a
relationship. Councilmember Johnston recommended a nationwide push for
housing on a federal level .
Councilmember Mendenhall addressed the 2017 HRC Goals for Council
consideration. She said Mr. Weeks provided assistance in translating
discussions into draft policy recommendations and action steps . She
said this should fall into future work session discussions and the
best Council tool was the policy. She said she wanted to tie her
opinion with the importance of using contingent appropriations . She
said as homeless resource centers were being designed and coming on
line, she wanted to create policies to result in success and tie
funding along the way to ensure the foundation of success was laid and
funding actually achieved policy goals .
Councilmember Rogers said the Council could utilize the Outline
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of Expectations as well as Council Staff and Legal Counsel to ensure
it was done correctly.
Councilmember Mendenhall said she liked priorities to be items
that would not move ahead without momentum. She said she wanted to
pitch a State Street Pilot Area, including economic development,
infrastructure, housing, concentration of motels/hotels, subsidized
affordable housing, and homelessness considerations . She said State
Street was an RDA area that had more attention than any other City
corridor, and should include design and visioning process in
collaboration with other entities, along with consideration of
connectivity to other RDA project areas . She said this was a prime
area which needed to be tracked for pressures, opportunities, and
response in terms of legislation continued investment.
Councilmember Penfold said the Council came to consensus on three
priorities last year and because of the ability to focus, they were
able to make huge accomplishments . He said often there were Council
and RDA priorities that did not interconnect and this year they
started to do so in a positive way. He suggested restricting and
exploring RDA opportunities in more detail to implement policies that
were being discussed.
Councilmember Rogers discussed existing RDA areas (such as State
Street and North Temple) which did not have enough potential to make
happen.
Councilmember Adams said one measurable was for clean sidewalks
and public walkways which she felt was not accomplished and was an
item that required specific attention. Councilmember Penfold suggested
those might be purely administrative items which were difficult to
accomplish and perhaps the Council should ask if they had provided
adequate policy foundation and money to make that happen.
Councilmember Mendenhall discussed a neighborhood support package
concept. She said she wanted to throw parks in the mix within the
homeless/housing considerations with a separate focus on the four
Homeless Resource Center (HRC) areas to be unique to the communities
themselves . She discussed tools and the ability to define support
mechanism going into the future .
The Council determined to carry forward the following 2016
priorities to 2017:
• Homeless/housing
• Infrastructure
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• Economic development
Ms . Gust-Jenson said Staff understood the operational path to
focus on State Street and discussions about the "how" would come
later.
2:34:08 PM Councilmember Penfold requested two-member Council groups
conduct break-out sessions to capture ideas to move forward on a
particular topic and come up with key policy ideas around the topic.
2:37:04 PM Council Members Luke and Kitchen reported on the
Infrastructure priority.
Councilmember Kitchen said funding was the biggest issue . He said
the Council wanted to explore funding options, and although there was
2012 data, they needed the updated Pavement Management Study/street
analysis from Administration to be able to determine the actual
funding need. He said funding options could include an RDA Bond
Infrastructure package to free up resources to deploy back into the
General Fund for neighborhoods . He said this could be pitched as both
an economic development initiative when working within existing RDA
project areas as well as considering needs such as 400 West street
reconstruction, burying utility lines, or any number of items . He said
even a General Obligation Bond may be worth exploring.
Councilmember Luke said although overall cost estimates were
necessary, another conversation might be regarding the tax exempt
properties in Salt Lake City (430) . He said consideration could be
given to the amount of impact on private property owners (as well as
commercial and non-profits) to be able to consider more of a package
deal all together. He said the advantage of doing a bond of some
capacity was the protection that funds must be expended the way the
bond was structured. He discussed the critical need to communicate
effectively with the public about the need for infrastructure funding.
Councilmember Kitchen said the priority all came back to funding.
He further suggested the concept of tying prison sales tax to some
sort of infrastructure bonding. The Council discussed how to make
infrastructure sustainable in some capacity. Ms . Bruno said there were
different mechanisms that could be utilized together (i .e . bonds,
utility fee, different kinds of user fees) . She said the amount would
determine which options could be utilized and sustainability was
important so a number of different funding tools would help.
Councilmember Mendenhall suggested a revenue source from the
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Northwest Quadrant opportunity. She said it was important to correlate
and implement the forthcoming Transit Master Plan to ensure better
public success .
Councilmember Penfold said he liked the idea of a mixed approach
or shorter-term bonds to return to voters frequently. He said he liked
the concept of tying together Proposition 1 for roads or transit
approach but additional buses on corridors would create additional
maintenance needs .
2:48:25 PM Council Members Mendenhall and Rogers reported on the
Homeless/Housing priority.
Councilmember Mendenhall suggested policy around geographic
equity as there was need by the HRC communities to quickly start to
develop support plans and resources . She said there could be a budget
request to Administration while the Council worked on policy. She said
there should be discussion regarding the concept of inclusionary
zoning outside of a housing proposal, perhaps in a Transit Station
Area (TSA) or new project area.
Councilmember Rogers said micro-housing created opportunity for
mixed-use development, could be incorporated with building, provide
opportunity for affordable housing units, and could also meet economic
development discussions for opportunities in street median or other
areas . He said zoning did not exist for this use but the creation
could be an additional tool for homeless and affordable housing.
Councilmember Mendenhall said there could be overlap with street
median micro-housing, potential bonding ideas surrounding street
upgrading, investment, or greenery areas .
Councilmember Rogers said Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU) could be
an affordable housing tool . He said success was contingent upon
housing coming on line and the Council needed to make sure they were
rolling the balls, considering zoning, budget, and policy. He said
perhaps the savings in renewable energy from these buildings could
offset the shortage of affordable units . He said Salt Lake City was
short 7500 units and would not reach a goal until one was set. The
Council discussed a potential commitment to 7500 units . Councilmember
Rogers said there were many ways to reach that goal, such as fact
finding to determine what other cities were doing.
Councilmember Mendenhall said the groundwork was laid in the
housing discussions already conducted; there were already partners at
the table . She discussed the State Street rejuvenation potential
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around housing and homelessness . She outlined a scenario where an RDA
Plan said there were too many motels, and one acquisition or
demolition did not ensure the demographics were appropriately served.
She said there was need for policy to ensure recognition of those
being served and building that into the future capacity of affordable
housing investment.
Councilmember Rogers said there were so many opportunities when
starting from the ground up and considering all encompassing
incorporation of economic development and infrastructure. He suggested
soliciting ideas from the RDA Staff for a field trip to look at other
cities that had housing challenges .
Councilmember Adams said she had interest in having the speaker
from Berkley come and discuss the "missing middle" to keep from
falling into homelessness .
Councilmember Mendenhall discussed the neighborhood and parks
support package idea. She said it entailed prioritization of Capital
Improvement Applications for the HRC areas and said there were many
programs already in place that could be focused on specific areas with
slight changes . She said it was a matter of funding and the ability to
tie funding contingent upon fulfillment of goals .
Councilmember Rogers suggested requesting the State fund more
affordable housing across the board. Councilmember Mendenhall said
there was the need to define numbers for each HRC now; otherwise,
conversations were piecemeal and not clear. She said there might be
multiple housing units lined up to be built and yet conversations had
yet to be initiated. Councilmember Penfold said the Council could make
a request to Administration to see how they were interfacing with
projects coming on line and looking at affordability opportunities,
and especially when projects were coming to the City with funding
requests . Councilmember Mendenhall said there was need for policy to
ensure that type of conversation happened with each one of those and
tracking would be required to determine need. She said there was also
the need for a Neighborhood Oversight Committee policy.
Councilmember Rogers said every time consideration was given to
economic development or infrastructure, it could totally relate back
to housing. He said consideration should be given to developer
responsibilities and how that could potentially tie to economic
development or infrastructure . Councilmember Mendenhall said a
Conditional Use Permit seemed like an opportunity to build capacity
right into the ordinance . She said there were so many items to execute
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that were presented in the Housing and Neighborhood Development (HAND)
general fact-finding presentation.
Councilmember Kitchen suggested considering something that
packaged housing with economic development creatively (such as
innovative building materials and prefab) and potential to engage with
educational institutions to create a smaller industry. He said after
land acquisition, the biggest expense was construction costs and
materials . He suggested cutting costs through innovation and
partnerships and discussed ideas around engaging other partners within
the community.
3:01:33 PM Council Members Johnston and Adams reported on the
Economic Development priority.
Councilmember Johnston said a great deal of work was done
relative to economic development . He said obstacles could be the
Building Services audit and perhaps there could be consideration of
the City Code/Ordinances, and tracking what businesses were currently
requesting right now to understand what the Economic Development
Department needed regarding funding and metrics . He said there were
many items in the report, lots of targets and goals . He discussed tax
base tied to job creation, opportunities associated with small
business growth, nodes, walkability, measuring growth and self-
improvement, and incentivizing back into the system (understand the
investment and the result) .
Councilmember Adams said it was tricky not to end up asking for
Administrative items and keeping to policy. She said they realized the
plans that came from Economic Development (and others) need to contain
key/specific measurables .
Councilmember Kitchen suggested more focus on RDA (Northwest
Quadrant and other) project areas . He said he wanted to drive
additional RDA project areas surrounding the HRC locations and
neighboring nodes . Councilmember Adams suggested it could be an RDA
priority. Discussion followed regarding the ongoing work associated
with separation of powers and work to be done finalizing the budget.
Councilmember Johnston said agreed upon metrics between the City
Council and the RDA which would render policy decisions easier to make
when they were aligned (and the same with RDA and Economic
Development) .
Councilmember Mendenhall discussed her desire for specific items
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to advance . She discussed the 3rd West corridor area and lack of
funding and infrastructure for this high tax producing area. She said
there was opportunity, land, and yet no talk about economic
development momentum in the area. Discussion followed regarding
metrics associated with income-generating areas, location of tax base,
money, jobs, how to best reinvest in those areas, and ways to evaluate
and put funding back into the specific area.
Councilmember Rogers said there was need for metrics associated
with job retention and businesses that remain in Salt Lake City.
Discussion followed regarding separation from the City Department of
Economic Development and other entities and the need to research and
be educated on their areas of focus . Councilmember Rogers said there
was only one downtown car dealership and inquired if Staff had ever
reached out to them to inquire about goals . He said there were so many
similar opportunities however, the Council did not know what had or
had not been completed.
Councilmember Kitchen said the proposed State Street project area
ended one block east of High Avenue . He said that area enjoys an
enormous abundance of historic building stock and he suggested quickly
reorienting the project area boundary to include those areas .
Councilmember Penfold said he loved the concept of a matrix
entailing ideas for tax base and job creation as evaluation components
for economic development. He said to him, the extension was
sustainability and it was difficult generating revenue back into the
City if the only metric was job creation. He said there was need to
attach value and determine what job creation brought (sales tax or
something else) . He said it generally was not housing because what he
traditionally saw was people who ended up buying housing elsewhere. He
said there was disconnect between bringing in jobs and revenue to
sustain the support needed to provide for those jobs . He said he
wanted to see specifics/evaluations for retainability in the Northwest
Quadrant area. He inquired if the job creation was for people who
lived in the City; if there was mixed opportunity to provide jobs for
those who lived in the City; and yet not evaluating the creation of
jobs for people who wanted to commute . He said the City still
supported commuters relative to Police, Fire, Infrastructure, air
quality, and transportation for the sake of economic development and
not generating a return for the City. He said there was need to
prioritize the people who lived and worked in SLC versus those who did
not. He said the most immediate barrier was lack of affordable housing
for the workforce so how would the Council determine where to invest
to spur economic development.
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Ms . Gust-Jenson said when talking about economic development, if
there were already analyses specializing in a particular area it was
optimal not to do that same analysis . She discussed the benefits of
looking at the RDA and City holistically and not from a silo
perspective . She said it was possible to make City and RDA goals which
were different and asked the Council to think about what Staff was
doing in terms of RDA and if it was appropriate to merge those kinds
of analysis and consider the RDA as a tool . She said at one point, a
previous Council talked about a study on development costs (which cost
and who pays) and what kind of jobs created were desirable. She said
it would be technical and involve a potential professional partnership
as a tool (if such did not already exist) . She said it could be an
interesting conversation with Natalie Gochnour.
Councilmember Mendenhall said Harvard Business School had
information for cities as to how they could fill that missing middle
gap and tracing the trickle back to job training, connecting existing
businesses from box to technical with universities, and job training
in areas . She said creating a matrix was one of the tools and
suggested this resource to review and determine if they had already
drafted ideas specifically for cities .
Councilmember Penfold thanked the Council for the information
collected. He said it helped identify policy issues, and now there was
need to move forward in scheduling conversations and briefings
specific to those priorities . He said he wanted to see information
sent to City Administration by the end of February outlining Council
priorities for budget consideration.
Councilmember Mendenhall expressed concern that she did not want
to see the State Street Project Area incorporated into the overall
homeless/housing priority.
5 . 3:23:09PM Further discussion & detail about 2017 priorities
Additional discussion was held relative to Legislative Policy and
Administration Implementation; how to communicate key information;
Council policy direction; preferences back to Administration; and ways
to move forward with things captured from these three priorities (or
additional Council items) .
Councilmember Johnston said the affordable housing/permit process
was not conducive to easy flow. He said housing was a hot market right
now and the City could attract people who wanted to live here because
downtown provided cultural, arts, and entertainment experience . He
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said that was the good piece about retaining affordable yet desirable
places to live . Discussion followed regarding how much to invest in
the arts, more cultural/less affordable or vice versa.
Councilmember Penfold said the livability agenda had been an
overriding theme in previous years but he hesitated to add another
goal . Councilmember Johnston said it could be a budgetary goal .
Inquiry was raised as to whether such could incorporate parks and
amenities items as suggested by Councilmember Mendenhall relative to
the Critical Communities concept . Discussion followed regarding better
awareness of all existing pressures and amenities on any given
community, whether any area in the City was different from another,
not just data tracking but responsiveness in the form of budget,
policy, and area changes . Councilmember Mendenhall said State Street
was a rapidly changing area and the Council' s job was to better these
processes via legislative tools and budget.
Councilmember Penfold said the tool was tracking data, which was
more administrative . The Council said discussions to have in the
future regarding homelessness included: how to legislate public
spaces, camping, loitering, public presence, areas involving public
sidewalks, parks, streets, right to congregate, and problems that
arise .
Councilmember Penfold asked how the City Council and RDA
priorities should mesh together. Councilmember Mendenhall expressed
concern about putting budget towards programs that exist but were
going nowhere . She discussed various community areas and suggested
focus on the people and areas that wanted to be engaged. The Council
discussed whether a housing/neighborhood support package or
neighborhood reinvestment strategies could be a subset of the three
priorities . Discussion followed regarding potential formation of a HRC
or State Street pilot/learning project template that could be
replicated throughout other areas of the City.
Councilmember Mendenhall said two budgets ago, the Council
increased funding for police officers . She said crime could not be
decreased by increasing police numbers because there was need to
include the community engagement component . She said this was apparent
even more when considering the HRC' s flanking of the critical areas of
State Street . She said it was a huge arterial through the City and
more than transportation when considering the human element.
Councilmember Penfold said there had been similar conversations
surrounding focus on social workers within the police department and
associated affects with the homeless issues .
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Ms . Bruno said Staff could assist in determining exactly what
such a model would look like, but the Council could communicate to
Administration the upcoming budget focus to include the general topic
of HRC neighborhood mitigation as well as the State Street corridor.
She suggested requesting each department highlight the area within
their respective budget (which might already be included by some) , the
need to recognize existing issues, consider overlay, upcoming
activities, and possibly trigger the Council policy budget role.
Councilmember Penfold suggested going forward, the Council
conduct additional conversations about each of these. He said Staff
had identified administrative versus policy but there was need to
refine that information. He said the Council would have opportunity
for discussion in February, with the goal to provide communication to
Administration by March in time for budget consideration. He said he
hoped they would all make a concerted effort to address these
priorities in the upcoming budget conversations as well as department
presentations . He said the Council and RDA leadership were committed
to monthly meetings and discussions regarding alignment of Council and
RDA priorities .
Councilmember Mendenhall inquired how to pitch State Street to be
an active project. Councilmember Johnston discussed both unique areas
of North temple and State Street, and the need to provide for change
or movement in an effective manner. He said he wanted to see
discussions relative to metrics, changes to see improvements, and how
to make that happen. Further discussion followed entailing area issues
for consideration such as motels and housing, funding, partners, and
State momentum for affordable housing. Councilmember Penfold said
Staff would explore options .
Ms . Bruno said the North Temple Project Area Plan had been
adopted for a couple of years . She suggested the RDA policy body could
review the State Street area with the Council priority lens and
consider any lessons learned from the North Temple Project Area; that
area could even be amended if additional opportunities were
discovered. Councilmember Mendenhall said she wanted to ensure First
South was included.
Discussion followed regarding a potential geographic subset of
priorities, methods to determine metrics, and how best to judge
benefit to the area. Councilmember Penfold said traditionally, RDA
evaluation was tax increment. He said it was not sufficient going
forward to evaluate the success of an area; other criteria needed to
be tied to those strategic plans to leverage funding.
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MINUTES OF THE SALT LAKE CITY COUNCIL ANNUAL RETREAT/WORKSHOP
TUESDAY, JANUARY 24 , 2017
Ms . Gust-Jenson said she envisioned a broad lens review of the
effects of State Street and North Temple along with the desire to
maximize every opportunity available with all City resources
surrounding the HRC locations . Councilmember Penfold suggested the HRC
areas could be a pilot to these other two areas . Ms . Gust-Jenson said
the Council could request ideas from City Departments to partner in
those areas . Ms . Bruno said a cursory level review from all
departments was included in project area plans but perhaps not with
HRC considerations . She suggested a deeper department review/different
recommendations for inclusion in the project area plan.
Councilmember Luke inquired how to communicate to the
neighborhood regarding a potential North temple (or other pilot)
project area. He said the Council heard the neighborhoods were not
happy (and do not want more) every time they approved an affordable
housing project . He said in order for this to truly be a pilot
project, the Council would need to consider affordable housing, public
noticing and neighborhood involvement to ensure articulation and
understanding as to "why" . The Council discussed the significance of
including an educational component to alleviate confusion between
affordable and low-income housing (and the need for better definition
between the two) .
The meeting adjourned at 4 : 44 p.m.
COUNCIL CHAIR
CITY RECORDER
This document is not intended to serve as a full transcript as
additional discussion may have been held; please refer to the audio
for the entire content.
This document along with the digital recording constitute the
official minutes of the City Council Retreat Workshop meeting held
January 24, 2017 .
clm
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