New City Center Moves Forward, Part Two of Three

Public Perspectives Pro and Con

by Robin M Johnson

Midway City Council Chambers were overflowing at the planning commission’s April 19^th regular meeting. Part one of this series presented the city’s reasons for proposing the C-4 code outlined in the meeting. This article will focus on the purpose of public hearings, the planning commission’s job, and the public comments made during an impromptu public hearing held on the proposed C-4 zone. Part three will address city responses to public comments.

Utah State code designates a city planning commission is the land use authority. For ordinance and rezone amendments like the proposed C-4 zone one public hearing is required by the planning commission. Public notice in a local paper and in three public places is required 10 calendar days prior to the public hearing. A planning commission is not required to take public comment in a regular public meeting, but can choose to take comment or open a public hearing..

Commissioners are appointed to uphold land use ordinances. Public hearings are for commissioners to get information from the public and to inform the public regarding the subject at hand. Commissioners are to listen to the public, they are not to pontificate or try to convince the public what is being done is right. They ask why the city wants to regulate a specific land use, and decide how to regulate it in accordance with the general plan. They vote based on whether the proposed use fits the general plan not on whether it is popular with the public or on their own personal biases. (See “Land Use Training Handbook for Effective Land Use & Decision Making, for Elected and Appointed Officials in Utah, May 2016)

Steve Nichols, planning commission chairman, opened the public hearing, “Since we’ve already had public input on this issue at least twice, we wouldn’t normally have public comment. But since you’re here we certainly appreciate you being here and I want to take the time to entertain public comment. There’s obviously a lot of people and a lot of you that would like to comment, I am going to allocate at least 30 minutes for public comment.”

Chris Johnson, resident, said, “What’s not to like? I like having some more development downtown, some commercial, retail, and residential sounds really appealing if it improves the economic situation.” He asked, “Has staff considered whether this could be structured so that it’s like City Creek in downtown Salt Lake? … having commercial and retail on ground floor and residential above? It would promote synergy and vitality of the development.”

David Tew, resident, said,  “For the past one and a half years I have been involved with the arts, leading a coalition (for) a visual and performing arts center located in Heber Valley,” Tew said. “To support arts and make a destination place for people who want to be involved in the arts. The coalition identified eight locations … the recommendation of the coalition is the location you are looking at now as the ideal … because of the synergy that exists with access to boutiques, restaurants, and arts” in one place." Tew paraphrased Utah code, “The decision of municipal bodies should always evaluate what provides for the safety, health, prosperity, moral well being, peace, comfort, or convenience of the inhabitants of a given municipality.” He added, “Some of the considerations are whether that decision will accomplish the objectives in the areas of economic development, job creation, affordable housing, job preservation, preservation of historic structures and property, and other public purposes. I for one endorse the recommendation because I think it will be a benefit to all, and I … would not like to see a tax increase of 64%.”

Victoria Romney, resident, said, “In the time we’ve owned our home we’ve seen developers come in and put in residential development, some of which are lovely and some of which are really ugly. It would be delightful to see a planned area like this with the community, art and residential features so well thought out. Thank you, all of you, for your wonderful creativity and thoroughness. My question is have there been any financial studies, so we have a pretty good (projection) that the population and the tourism here can really deport the commercial and art areas of this? Because we want this to be maintained, we don’t want this to turn into just another residential fail.”  

Inez Wilde, resident, requested in the proposed 15 foot buffer on the perimeter of the project provided for neighbors, if residents could have the option to require a masonry wall and trees on the other side of the wall as a further buffer away from the project. “I am surrounded by that (C-4 Zone) and Main Street. I think that people should have the opportunity to make that decision if that’s what they would like. For noise and light and everything else I would sure request that there be a masonry wall and trees to buffer around the property. I think the arts is a worthy project, but I also know that when they built that huge art center down at Dixie College, that being next to a university really helped with the finances.” Wilde added, “It cost a whole lot more for upkeep of the building, equipment, employees, and other things than they planned on. We need to think about … making sure the streets are wide enough for delivery trucks, and that there’s plenty of parking, so there’ll be no parking in my yard,” Wilde politely said.

Ryan Starks, Economic Development Director for Wasatch County, said regarding tourism, “We recently hired a professional, an international branding expert named Robert Brooks. He secret shopped our community over a 70 day period and then he presented his findings to a group of about a hundred about a month ago. In that presentation he pointed out a few things that I think are worth sharing.” Starks outlined Brooks main points about growth rate: Utah is the fastest growing state in the United States, with over a two percent growth rate state wide. Wasatch County has grown by 4.8% in the last year. Since the 2002 Olympics the county population increased 65%. Midway City had a population of 2420 in the year 2000. Today there are approximately 5,000 residents in the city. In 16 years Midway’s population has more than doubled. Starks said, “I think that growth is going to continue to come.” According to Starks the Heber Valley Chamber of Commerce (HVCC) believes some of the best economic development opportunities align with the preservation of open space to create an environment where people want to gather. HVCC also recognizes Main Street as a commercial district within town and the proposed C-4 zone as a prime opportunity for an excellent development. Starks said, “I visit a lot of other cities and counties throughout the state and they are dealing with smokestack factories and things that are undesirable. If anyone of these cities or counties had the opportunity to have a project of this caliber, a real crown jewel, I think they would salivate at the opportunity. I want to impress upon us that this is a very unique opportunity that may go away if we don’t act on it. I think there is some real commercial value … I think this is a win/win across the board. If we don’t take action, if we look at some of the other growth along Main Street … you end up with more mortuaries or drug rehab centers. Hopefully we have this opportunity to create something very special.”

Mindy Hardy, resident, said, “I grew up in Kaysville in the county surrounded by farm land. If you go back to my house now across the street is a giant Smith’s Super Center and a gas station. I sympathize with those who live there because it’s hard to be in that position, but at the same time I’ve seen what it can turn into and how undesirable it has ended up for the people that still live there. My favorite thing from what I’ve heard tonight is that this is an opportunity to take the inevitable commercial growth in Midway and condense it into one, attractive, pleasant area and therefore that can maintain the Main Street that we all love now. To me that’s a huge plus. My question is there’s a standing proposed European development, is this code specific to that plan or if the code is changed to the C-4, is that open to any development?” Starks said. Nichols answered immediately, “It’s open to any developer that acquires the property and meets the code.”

Roger Urry, resident, said, “I am not against the proposed development, I love the arts … I think the arts center is a wonderful idea. My main concern, I would ask you to really consider the traffic that is going to be focused into that area there. Between 580 East and the Hamlet there is about 700 – 800 feet. There are already three working entrances into the Main Street on the south side, on the north side there is the potential to have more with crossing 580 East, 700 East, and the old Mill House. I don’t really understand how you are going to control all that traffic with our neighborhoods being hemmed in with traffic already on certain hours of the day. So would you please come up with a really good plan?”

Candyce Nowers, resident, said, “I have major concerns. Probably my biggest one is still the height … it’s actually 4.5 stories … plus the 20 feet that they want to put a steep roof on. If any of you have been down to Costco recently, where they put those apartment buildings in, those are four stories high, without a high roof on it. Their roof is quite low. To me, they look big even when I am far away and I look at them. They do not look like a rural town or rural city. They look like a big city. I recognize that on Main Street you are saying it is zoned 20 units” per acre, Nowers said. “Nobody on Main Street right now owns enough property to put that kind of unit in with parking … I own 8/10’s of an acre. So there wouldn’t be enough room. On 20 acres at 30 units per acre “if the developer decides not to put what we are talking about in, he could actually put in 480 apartments which would be 1200 people in that one small space. That’s a whole lot of people.” Nowers said she calculated that 20 acres is equal 0.03 square miles. “The state of Utah considers 1000 residents in one square mile to be urban and no longer rural; which means we would be putting an urban area in that little tiny area, that concerns me.” Not knowing what the developer is going to do is the reason Nowers gave for her concern. “I don’t know about you but I have lived a lot of years in this life where federal governments and state governments have said, oh if you pass this we promise you we are going to go this direction, we won’t go the direction that it could possibly go. I just still want Midway to be rural,” Nowers said. “I have seen a lot of changes in my life; I grew up here when it was really small. I recognize that change needs to come. I recognize that we need to put something in there that is beneficial for the town. I’m just concerned that we do it in such a way that leaves us open for things that we don’t want.”

Dave Carson, resident, said, “I think this is a great project, it’s a great idea. As I looked through the C-2 zoning text today, there were some restrictions, in fact  … that would not be permitted; … construction shops, electrical and plumbing, repair shops, battery shops, and storage outlets … Those things are needed, but from a Main Street Midway point of view having those restricted for a nice development like this is actually a great feature. I did purposely drive by the building on 200 East, I have never heard anybody suggest that the building was an eyesore, or a blight on the city because it was too big or too tall. And it’s sitting right there. The setback in C-2 is 10 feet … its right on the street. That building in (the C-4) would be setback off of Main Street 300 feet. That’s what I visualize and see that building. We are okay with it right on the street, seems like putting it back 300 feet should be okay.”

Amaria Scovil, resident, said she had concerns about things said by Michael Henke, city planner, during his presentation. First, making it attractive to a developer; “I get concerned when we have to make concessions to developers because the cost of the property is so high. Why can’t it be that they meet somewhere in the middle so that we can have a development there, commercial, residential, whatever, but it meets in the middle to where maybe the cost of the property comes down a little bit so that it isn’t such a burden to the community?” Another concern, ‘having high density residential is a burden to the community’, because for every $1.00 the city collects in property taxes, it pays $1.16 to provide city services. “So why do we consider, then, putting that much residential there if it’s going to bring a burden? You are looking to bring in a greater tax base, yet you are going to pack in all this residential … that kind of seems like a little bit of a conflict to me.” Scovil added height allowances and setbacks to her concerns. “I’m just trying to understand why are we going to go so high and so close to the residential borders? When you look at the setback off of Main Street, it’s at 200 feet … yet it’s less than that when it’s bordering residential. I am just wondering why it’s more important to not border Main Street with the height restrictions as it is on the residential people who are right there.”

Sheila Probst Siggard, resident, said, “It’s been stated that this project would be a crown jewel. Let me state very adamantly I think a crown jewel of Midway is an open Memorial Hill. My father and two of my Uncle’s names are on that plaque, so I go very deep … the fireworks we have in Midway would have to be decreased with that much density … I would say leave some open space by our crown jewel and increase commercial density in other places. I would say let us support our local businesses that are already here. One of the comments about this project was it would bring synergy and stimulates the other businesses. I disagree with that. There’s so much shopping online these days and people only have so much time. They will either shop there or the local businesses where they are. When we have increased development we need more schools. Our school is bulging now. More people lead to more crime. There are problems with water. We had the fence replaced by the city one time because the buses as they come down my little street that is full of potholes right now cannot be accommodated … No one’s roots go deeper than mine about Midway and, again, the crown jewel of Midway is Memorial Hill.”

Nichols said, “Thank you all for your comments. We’ll now close the public comments and open up the commission discussion.”

Note: Midway City Response to Public Input, Part three.  Coming soon.