Midway Council Discusses Open Space Committees

Which Committee: Wasatch County, Midway City, or Both?

by Robin M Johnson

Open Space Preservation has taken center stage in the public’s mind in Midway over the last several months due partially to last year's general plan survey result that most residents want to preserve farm and pasture lands in Midway. Another factor is the forming of Pure Midway, a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to smart growth and open space preservation. 

After a public hearing on Open Space held on June 28, by the Midway City Council, they decided to consider creating a committee that would work on open space and related issues. A name for the committee has not yet been determined. The matter was placed on the July 12 Work Meeting agenda.

Colleen Bonner, mayor, said she put forming a committee regarding open space on the agenda just as a discussion. 

Bonner said, “We’ve had a lot of interest in open space. I know there is an active group of citizens who are doing … a wonderful job trying to promote, facilitate, and educate on the open space bonding and different avenues” like grants.

“Do we as a city want to form an open space committee? I know Wasatch County is going to come again in two weeks and talk about the committee that they are forming. Do we want to officially form an open space committee, or do we want to just see where it goes as it is right now and just kind of hold off," Bonner asked.

Kenny Van Wagoner, council member, said there are two different open space committees to think about. First he said, “I would be very interested in seeing what the county” proposes.  He said the county wants to invite all the other cities to participate and have one open space committee for the whole county. “That way you could have a broader tax base, and then pick priorities. I’d be interested to see what their pitch is” before forming our own committee. “I’m not saying I’ll agree with it or be interested in it” Second he said, “I definitely think we ought to have an open space committee of the citizens in Midway, absolutely."

Fall in the South Fields, photo taken on South Field Road in the fall of 2013
Photo credit: Robin M Johnson (c) 2013

Focusing on a Midway committee Bonner said, “Well, I think it’s of value. When you look at it there’s a lot of things even with the parks and trails. I think they’d be a good advocate group that we could work with, there again, they’d be just a recommending body; we’d have to set the parameters of what we would want.”

Bonner asked what the purpose of the committee would be, like researching grants, and pointed out that city staff doesn’t have time to do research and other things associated with open space.

Van Wagoner added other things the committee could do such as identify perspective sight or view corridors, check out different types of open space, work on farm preservation, study the need for future parks as the city grows, gather different types of open space information and put it together to be distributed.

 “They could also be looking at the trails and connectivity between open space parks,” Van Wagoner said. “It pays to put them together, because right now it’s helter skelter. You really don’t have a trail that you can walk and get too far. The only one would be Dutch Fields and I strongly would not recommend you to walk on that trail.”

Bonner agreed the Dutch Fields trail on the perimeter of the development on the west side of River Road is in major need of repair. She then asked, “So if we were to officially form this committee, do we want to think about it?”

Van Wagoner reiterated his earlier point, “I think before we form the committee I would like to see what the county presentation is, it’s two weeks to at least hear it. And then after that I think it’s time that we form our committee.”

Bonner said, “Then we can decide what we want to do. I know that part of (Commissioner) Steve Ferrell’s presentation two weeks ago indicated that they would be asking for representatives, a Midway representative.”

Van Wagoner said he wants to see how the county thinks their open space committee will work. He asked two questions, “How’s Midway going to benefit from it? How’s the county going to benefit?

“I just don’t think that we want to be putting a tax burden, that Heber City puts a tax burden, that Midway puts a tax burden, that the county puts a tax burden on the people to try to accomplish the same thing,” Van Wagoner said.

Lisa Christian, council member, said, “This committee would be finding different ways (to preserve open space) it wouldn’t just be to bond for open space."

Christian said she would like to move forward to start forming the committee now. “I think we should start the process because it takes some time. We do want that input whether it’s bonding, or whatever, I think we’re going to end up doing it anyway and still work with the county.”

Christian added she can see the two committees working together, and that it has taken several months to put out applications and review them to put together a new Parks and Trails Committee.

According to Bonner forming a committee before the county forms one could be a problem. “I think that … sometimes if we get ahead of it, then it ends up being detrimental and it looks like we’re competing.” She asked what would be most valuable, to combine large dollars and participate on a county level, or learn from the county committee and bring some of that experience back to Midway.

Bonner said, “I think you can have both.”

Michael Henke, city planner, said having the committee soon could be a real help to staff during the moratorium. “We’re going to be working on our code text amendments during this moratorium, and several of those items really impact our open space ordinance, so they could look at that.”

Van Wagoner said, “It’s not just to fund bonding.”

Bonner said, “No, it’s to help evaluate, to take from the stuff we’ve learned that we are now going to try and incorporate in our” ordinances.  Once again Bonner asked if they should start taking applications or wait.

For the third time Van Wagoner said, “I think we wait until we see what the county pitch is, and that’s only two weeks.”

Further discussion led to directing staff to prepare an application while waiting for the council to hear the county’s presentation. Van Wagoner made a motion to table the matter.

After the motion was made Karl Dodge, city council member, asked, “So we are going to put this off for a month, right?"

Bonner said the council could place an item to discuss creating a committee on open space on their agenda in two weeks following the county’s presentation earlier on the same agenda. 

Van Wagoner said, “They have their presentation and then we discuss and see if that’s the avenue, the direction, we want to go, then if not, we can pursue with ours. So basically, we’re looking at two weeks.” He made that part of his motion which was seconded and passed unanimously.