Summary of the March 15 Meetings

In the Work Session

Pocket Neighborhoods
Community Development presented a project inspired by the Zoning Summit held in December. The project involves creating a "pocket neighborhood" in southwest Provo and would involve transferring property from Provo City to the Redevelopment Agency. Once created, the pocket neighborhood would be promoted to developers as an example of land use projects that would be welcome in Provo. Ross Chapin, who spoke at the summit and is an authority on pocket neighborhoods, has been advising the City on this project. The hope is to have it ready for the June 2017 Parade of Homes event. Council Members gave City administrators a thumbs up on moving forward.

The Council also:

• Heard and approved the ad hoc housing committee mission statement.
• Continued their discussion on Community Development fees. Council staff will prepare an ordinance with changes to the fees as discussed and present it at the next work meeting.
• Heard several presentations regarding Provo's west side. Dave Harding presented his vision for the west side. Engineering addressed some traffic-related issues. Community Development presented information on the Southwest Neighborhood Plan.
• Heard a presentation on an overview of the Provo City Five-Year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) Budget. Changes have been made to give better insight to the Council in reviewing the document. Each item has a priority ranking to help in funding decisions. Kudos to Council's policy analysts for the suggestion to do this.
• Discussed adding the responsibility for oversight and annual review of the General Plan and Chapter 13 to the duties of the Executive Director. This item was sent back to the Rules Committee for further work.

In the Formal Meeting

Rivergrove Neighborhood:
Aaron Skabelund and Brent Hall, Rivergrove Neighborhood Co-Chairs, spoke about the great location of their quiet neighborhood. They are seeing a trend of younger families moving in, motivated by the desire to live in an urban area. Rivergrove has made good use of Neighborhood Watch and seven matching grant projects (through the Neighborhood Program) that have brought improvements to the area with the hard work of its residents. They are excited about the City's efforts to upgrade Lion's Park and one of the neighborhood's most dangerous intersections. Several Council Members praised the hard work and positive attitude of the Co-Chairs. Kay Van Buren has participated in some of their projects to install sidewalks. Mayor Curtis added his praise and noted that the Rivergrove Neighborhood volunteers more than any other neighborhood in the city and is great about working to solve their own problems.

The Council also:

• Decided to continue the power plant property lease agreement with the Utah Municipal Power Agency until it is ready to be heard
• Passed a resolution authorizing the preparation of a draft Downtown Redevelopment Community Development Area Plan for new development located within the area from 100 West to 200 West and from 100 North to 400 North in Provo

This is a general summary of the Council's meetings. For a more detailed agenda and minutes, please visit our public documents site: http://publicdocuments.provo.org/sirepub/meet.aspx
Video recordings:  Work Meeting and Council Meeting

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