TREMONTON CITY CORPORATION
LAND USE AUTHORITY BOARD
AUGUST 16, 2017

Members Present:
Steve Bench, Chairman/Zoning Administrator
Chris Breinholt, City Engineer
Marc Christensen, Parks & Recreation Director—excused
Paul Fulgham, Public Works Director—excused
Shawn Warnke, City Manager
Cynthia Nelson, Deputy Recorder

Chairman Bench called the Land Use Authority Board Meeting to order at 9:14 a.m. The meeting was held August 16, 2017 in the City Council Meeting Room at 102 South Tremont Street, Tremonton, Utah. Chairman Steve Bench, Engineer Chris Breinholt, City Manager Shawn Warnke, and Deputy Recorder Cynthia Nelson were in attendance. Director Paul Fulgham and Director Marc Christensen were excused.

1. Approval of agenda:

Motion by Engineer Breinholt to approve the August 16, 2017 agenda. Motion seconded by Manager Warnke. Vote: Chairman Bench – aye, Engineer Breinholt – aye, Manager Warnke – aye. Motion approved.

2. Approval of minutes: August 9, 2017

Motion by Engineer Breinholt to approve the minutes of August 9, 2017. Motion seconded by Manager Warnke. Vote: Chairman Bench – aye, Engineer Breinholt – aye, Manager Warnke – aye. Motion approved.

The following items were discussed out of order.

3. New Business:

a. Preliminary Review of one (1) lot subdivision, Stan Peterson – Ben Johnston

Mr. Johnston said he has made all the changes they had previously discussed. Manager Warnke asked about the distance from the lots to nearby fire hydrants to ensure fire protection. Engineer Breinholt said the code requires the City system spacing to be an average of 500 feet. The fire code is applied differently when talking about individual structures. There are different distances based upon where the house is built. Mr. Johnston was not sure on the distance from the hydrant to the house, but thought it was about 550 feet away. Engineer Breinholt said he was pretty sure it fits the fire code. This hydrant issue ought to be a part of the site plan. He noted they need to look into the fire code.

Manager Warnke addressed the 24 feet access and asked about clear vision. Mr. Johnston said the site distance of speed for that road is 25 mph. They questioned where the fence would be and wanted to ensure it would not block vision and create a hazard. In this area a fence would need to be back 40 feet. He said that is a side yard and they will not have a six foot fence all the way around so it should not cause any reason for concern. Manager Warnke also brought up addresses for emergency response and when people might need to find those homes. Mr. Johnston stated they could add a street sign with an arrow pointing that direction. They would have the address listed on the house or if it was too far it could be added to the individual mailboxes.

They brought up telecommunication and noted they will run conduit underground. UTOPIA fiber optics will run through the area and individuals can hook up to it in the future.

They further discussed the need for another fire hydrant. The code requires 500 feet for a single family home, with a 250 feet middle distance to a point on the street or road frontage to a hydrant. Engineer Breinholt said this has more to do with the system itself. You do not want to end up with a house that is 1,000 feet back from the system without a way to get fire protection to it. Mr. Johnston asked if they would be required to install another hydrant even though he felt that would not change the response time if a fire were to occur. Administrator Bench said we are not arguing that, it is because of what the code says for a road frontage. When dealing with fire protection for access roads there are different requirements. He said a 150 feet lane would need to be 20 feet wide with no turnaround required. A lane 151 to 500 feet in length is 20 feet wide with some type of turnaround. Anything over that would be 26 feet wide with a turnaround. Mr. Johnston questioned if they are under the 150 feet. That distance will need to be verified.

The distance was unknown at this time, but Mr. Johnston thinks the house is within 250 feet, or a little above, where that hydrant or frontage is. Engineer Breinholt said there is a maximum distance from any point on a street or road frontage to a hydrant (250 feet). Manager Warnke asked if they could use a compass to create a circle around the hydrant, making sure the majority of the lot is within coverage. Engineer Breinholt said state law requires an average spacing of 500 feet. Administrator Bench said the average spacing is not to exceed the 250 feet, but there are exceptions to the code. If the fire chief authorized to accept a deficiency of up to 10% where existing fire hydrants are provided they could do so. Mr. Johnston wanted them to pursue this option, stating it will cost them about $5,000 to put a hydrant in.

They asked Mr. Johnston to show where the existing utilities are. They also addressed sidewalks, showing existing ones and which ones need to be developed. When the homes are built, that is when the sidewalks will be added. Curbing is already in place. This area will also have secondary water so it would make sense for them to dig trenches—something they are in the process of.

Administrator Bench recapped that they had covered the zoning, access road, turnaround, clear vision, addresses, drive approach, sidewalks, utilities, communication conduit, secondary water, soils and provisions of water and sewer.

Motion by Engineer Breinholt to send this as a preliminary plat to the Planning Commission. Motion seconded by Manager Warnke. Vote: Chairman Bench – aye, Engineer Breinholt – aye, and Manager Warnke – aye. Motion approved.

b. Preliminary Review of two (2) lot subdivision, Vicky Merryweather – Ben Johnston.

Mr. Johnston started by showing the board the existing 12.5 feet of asphalt for the lane with the additional 11.5 feet for a total of 24 feet wide. He also showed an area that would butt up against what Marc Allred already has in place (12 feet wide). He said this is a lot better than having that awkward strip going through the power box.

Manager Warnke said there is an issue with the code and wondered how they plan to pump sewer to and from the home. He said we have denied others and their subdivision because they were not able to connect to the sewer. An ordinance has been created to allow for it in some instances, but that depends on lot size and density. It was tailored to those east of Tremonton because they have to go miles to make that connection. This is more of a typography issue. Kirby Rhodes and Vicky Merryweather said the sewer is too far and they do not want to pump to it. They would rather have a septic tank because they have had issues with a pressurized sewer system in the past. Administrator Bench said he had an issue with the whole house being setup that way. This process was started with the county and the county did not want you pumping the whole house either. Vicky Merryweather asked if they could amend or change the code so they could have a septic tank. Administrator Bench said he didn’t know if they should amend it outright or look at it on a case-by-case basis. However, when the sewer goes through they would be required to hook onto it then. Mr. Johnston said it could cause a lot of potential problems to hook into the sewer system now. The distance to pump to it would be over 500 feet, uphill. There are also utilities they would have to watch for. Administrator Bench agreed. Mr. Johnston added, I do not know what the code says, but I would say run a septic with a stub out for a future connection. Manager Warnke said that would require them to amend the code. Administrator Bench said they would have to think it through so they do not open it up when they do not need to. Mr. Johnston asked about adding a clause for a conditional use until the sewer comes through. Administrator Bench said no, because someone will come back and question what they did. Manager Warnke said the ordinance they created requires the property development agreement to be recorded and spells out all conditions to connect into the future.

Manager Warnke also brought up secondary water. He said the City needs water shares and is running at capacity. In order to allow building to continue, they needed to come up with a plan that allows that. The City Council has adopted a resolution for secondary water and there will be an ordinance in the future which will require developers to install secondary water lines and dedicate shares to the City. The responsibility for half half an acre would be half a water share. Mr. Kirby questioned how secondary water would get to that location. Administrator Bench said they are close and will expand it down. Mr. Johnston said there are dry lines near the area stubbed down to 10th north. Although it would not be the first or second phase, it is close and could be a live system within a couple years.

Administrator Bench talked about a lot split, which was written for larger lots so some tweaking may be required. He said when you look at the sewer collection portion of it, any lot created must be a distance greater than 300 feet from the nearest sewer collection or as determined by the Land Use Authority Board for unusual circumstances. Manager Warnke said the issue with a small-scale subdivision is minimum parcel size. Administrator Bench said the entire acres comprised of subdivision has a density no greater than one dwelling unit per four acres with a maximum of five dwelling units per original parcel. Mr. Johnston said the parcel originally was 20 acres and wondered if they could look at it that way. Administrator Bench said we do not want to do anything to open a can of worms, but can look at location and typography. Engineer Breinholt asked, is pumping a single line sewer system a deal breaker versus the septic tank? He thought the cost would not be that much different. Vicky Merryweather said the potential for problems and issues pumping that far up hill and past experiences make them want the septic tank option. Administrator Bench explained that this system would have to be bigger and stronger because of the circumstance and they could have a good, reliable system in place.

He said to hold for now and they would look into how they could move forward. They are okay to wait on building, but would like to get the financing taken care of. They cannot do the long-term loan until the parcel is approved. Administrator Bench said they will move quickly on this process, but if they have to amend the code it will be at least a month as they advertise it and then take it to the other bodies for approval.

c. Walk ins:*

There were no walk ins.

4. Comments/Reports:

No comments.

5. Public comments: Comments limited to five minutes.

No public comments.

6. Adjournment:

Motion by Engineer Breinholt to adjourn the meeting. Motion seconded by consensus of the Board. The meeting adjourned at 10:29 a.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 Land Use Authority Board Meeting held on the above referenced date. Minutes prepared by Jessica Tanner.

Dated this 30th day of August, 2017

_____________________________
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.