Citizens Agenda for Meetings on November 30, 2021

Citizens Agenda

Council meeting agendas are often difficult for people to navigate. Filled with jargon and legal requirements on how an item must be listed, it can be a challenge to determine what Council members are actually discussing or deciding on. 

What follows is a staff interpretation of the agendas. 

The official published agendas and supporting materials can be found here:  http://agendas.provo.org 

This meeting will be conducted as a hybrid meeting, with some in-person components as well as continued virtual meeting access. The meeting will be available to the public for live broadcast and on-demand viewing on YouTube and Facebook at: youtube.com/provocitycouncil and facebook.com/provocouncil. The in-person meeting will be held in the Council Chambers. For information on how to view the meetings and how to contribute public comments without attending in person, click here.

PROVO MUNICIPAL COUNCIL

Work Meeting Agenda

12:30 pm, Tuesday, November 30, 2021

Work Meetings are designed to be a less formal venue for discussion among Council Members. Generally, no public input is taken during the meeting.

Business

1. A discussion regarding the appointment of City Constable. (21-111)

• The state code made some changes in 2019 regarding the nominating process for appointing a constable and moving the responsibility to the legislative body. Looking at the code it appears that even though the members of the commission are defined by statute, it must be “the legislative body of a city of the first or second class” that establishes the nominating commission. Furthermore, the entire commission needs to “review each applicant’s credentials.” We are asking the Council to establish the nominating commission, including having them select which Councilor, which judge (it doesn’t have to be our Justice Court judge) and which private citizen serve on the commission. Then the entire body needs to review all the data and make a recommendation to the Council. Alternatively, 17-25a-3 allows currently appointed constables to be reappointed (for a six year term rather than four) without the nominating commission even being involved. An option the Council could consider would be for Administration to bring a request for reappointment to the Council. Included is a recommendation from Judge Romney and ReAnnun Newton on reappointing Bob Conner and the City Constable. 

2. A presentation from the Housing Committee regarding an ordinance change for ADU’s. (21-112)

• During the 2021 Utah Legislative Session, the Legislature passed House Bill 82 (HB 82) which requires cities in Utah to allow Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) in more of their primarily residential-zoned areas. Most cities are required to allow ADUs in at least 75 percent (75%) of the area zoned primarily for residential uses; however, because Provo is home to a major university, it is only required to have a minimum of 33 percent (33%) of the areas primarily zoned for residential allow ADUs. Provo currently allows accessory apartments in approximately 20 percent (20%) of the areas zoned primarily for residential uses, therefore, at a minimum, must allow an additional 13 percent (13%) area where ADUs are permitted.

3. A presentation regarding the Parks and Recreation Master Plan Update - Recommendations and Implementation. (21-046)

• Provo Parks & Recreation has been working with Pros Consulting for over a year on this Master Plan update. Multiple public presentations have been held and feedback received in the preparation of this updated plan. Pros Consulting will give a virtual presentation of the final draft of the updated Parks and Recreation Master Plan at this work session. Discussion and recommendations from Council will be received and final adoption of the Plan is scheduled to be presented in the Council Meeting on December 14.

Citizens Agenda for the Meetings on November 16, 2021

Citizens Agenda

Council meeting agendas are often difficult for people to navigate. Filled with jargon and legal requirements on how an item must be listed, it can be a challenge to determine what Council members are actually discussing or deciding on. 

What follows is a staff interpretation of the agendas. 

The official published agendas and supporting materials can be found here:  http://agendas.provo.org 

This meeting will be conducted as a hybrid meeting, with some in-person components as well as continued virtual meeting access. The meeting will be available to the public for live broadcast and on-demand viewing on YouTube and Facebook at: youtube.com/provocitycouncil and facebook.com/provocouncil. The in-person meeting will be held in the Council Chambers. For information on how to view the meetings and how to contribute public comments without attending in person, click here.

PROVO MUNICIPAL COUNCIL

Work Meeting Agenda

12:00 pm, Tuesday, November 16, 2021

Work Meetings are designed to be a less formal venue for discussion among Council Members. Generally, no public input is taken during the meeting.

Business

1. A presentation from the Housing Committee regarding an ordinance change for ADU’s to comply with Utah State Law. (21-102)

• Presentation on zoning compliance process with ADUs.

2. A presentation from the Sign Committee regarding the development and adoption of a nighttime brightness standard for on premises electronic digital signs. (19-102)

• As Electronic Digital Signs become more widely used by businesses to advertise their services, there exists a potential for the light illuminating from these signs to  cause a public nuisance, especially when those businesses are close to residential neighborhoods. The Sign Committee has been working with local sign companies and national standards that have been adopted by other jurisdictions to create a nighttime brightness standard to minimize the impacts of the light emitted from Electronic Digital Signs in areas in and around residential neighborhoods.

Administration: Mayor’s Update

3. A presentation regarding new Electric Rates for Shared Solar and Pilot Time of Use Rate. (21-109)

• Shared Solar is a community solar project built in Spanish Fork to provide residents the opportunity to purchase solar power and lock in the generation cost without the capital outlay required when purchasing solar for the rooftop.  This also allows residents who are not able to purchase solar for their homes because of circumstances beyond their control such as HOA covenants, renting or roof issues to purchase a slice of renewable generation.

• Time of Use (TOU) rates allow customers to shift the time they use energy from the peak in the City from 3:00 pm to 8:00 pm.  By shaving the peak, the City will pay less for the power and the savings will be given back to the customer.  The customer will need to be diligent in not using energy during the peak time of the day in order to save money on their bill.  In addition, we have added an electric vehicle charging rate for those who would like to save money when charging their vehicle from midnight to 8:00 am in the morning.

4. A presentation regarding compensation for Police Officers. (21-110)

• Over the last several months, law enforcement agencies across Utah have been significantly increasing their compensation programs for police officers in an effort to more effectively recruit and retain officers.  Recruiting and retention of officers has become quite challenging due to fewer aspiring police officers entering the field of law enforcement, the very tight labor market and low unemployment rates, and declining morale among officers in general due to changing societal attitudes toward the law enforcement profession.

• As Provo has begun to experience recruiting and retention challenges, city staff undertook a special market analysis and discovered that the City is less competitive in police compensation than we were just a few months ago.  HR staff and the interim police chief will be presenting the results of the market study and requesting a future agenda item for an  appropriation to make changes to the City’s compensation structure for police officers to address the imbalance.

New Parking Management Program Being Considered for Provo City

Proposed Provo City Code Chapter 9.90 is being considered at the November 16, 2021, Provo Municipal Council meeting. On-Street Parking Management (OSPM), if adopted, will create a new parking management tool for Provo City. This would be an addition to current parking management tools the city already uses, such as permit parking areas.

Chapter 9.90 creates the structure for future parking management areas to be created and enforced through a paid-timed parking system. Charging for parking is certainly not a popular idea, as was seen in public input on a recent Open City Hall survey, but the active management of on-street public parking is needed to preserve the benefits and discourage the abuse of this public resource.

Key components of Chapter 9.90

●     Parking on a public street within OSPM zones may be restricted by either of the following parking management strategies:

○     Paid timed parking or

○     Paid timed parking with optional permits

●     Vehicles that are parked in a timed parking zone must pay the established rate.

○     Timed rates will be market driven; high enough that parking spots are regularly freed up, but not so high that on-street parking is not being utilized fully.

○     Payment would be made through a mobile app. City staff are working on options for drivers without a mobile device.

●     Vehicles with valid permits are exempted from the timed parking rate in that OSPM zone

○     Permit holders pay for one year of access to an OSPM zone rather than paying the timed rate.

■     To obtain a parking permit, the permit holder must prove ownership of, or residence at, a building with frontage along the OSPM zone with a maximum limit of two permits per property/occupant.

●     The boundaries of all OSPM areas shall be shown on an official On-Street Parking Management Area Map adopted by the Municipal Council.

What Chapter 9.90 does not do

●     Create the actual OSPM zones.

○     The process for creating an OSPM zone is detailed in Chapter 9.90 but the actual designation of a zone will need to brought to the Council for a vote of approval.

○     Chapter 9.91, creating an OSPM zone in the Joaquin Neighborhood (just south of BYU campus) is currently being drafted. A Town Hall about this proposal will be held on November 18 at 6:00 pm in the Council Chambers.

●     Regulate parking on private property.

●     Guarantee a specific parking space for OSPM permit holders.

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