City Council - Regular Meeting

Put it down. Thank you.

Yeah. . .

. . .

Thank you.

Why are you supposed to go south?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

. . . so um . . . . . But it wouldn't be as bad as .

Thank you.

Thank you. Yes.

Thank you.

We're not on the stage.

Look.

Thank you.

Bro, you changed your mind so quickly.

One second, I can keep going.

You've got to buy it.

You've got to buy it. You've got to buy it. You've got to buy it. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

um um

Thank you. um um Wait, tell me. They don't. What's your spine? What's your spine? You don't have

All right, welcome everyone. We're a little bit late. We had a meeting previous to this that kind of tied us up, so we apologize for that, but we're here and ready to get started with our regular meeting, so welcome everyone here tonight. We are going to go out and get started correctly with an invocation, and I think we have Will Jones. Oh, there he is right there with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints here to give us an invocation.

Thank you. We represent the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the Interfaith Council. For those who don't know, it's about 20 religions meet together once a month to forward service, and we appreciate the opportunity to be here. So thank you. Our Father in Heaven, we are grateful to meet here in this place at this time under these circumstances for the freedoms that we enjoy. for this form of government that allows us to have a say in our future and in our surroundings. We ask you, Father, to bless this city and those who represent it and work so hard to make it a better place with wisdom. We ask you to bless the city employees with safety and the first responders they may be able to do their jobs safely. We ask you to bless those who are defending our freedom in uniform, that they can be safe and accomplish their missions. We're grateful again for the moisture that we've received and for all of our blessings, and we ask thee to continue to bless us in this we say in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Thank you. Thank you, Will. Other than all the service he does, he's an all-around good guy too, so thank you for that. I've asked Councilwoman Michelle Tanner to lead us in the pledge.

Please stand and repeat after me. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Okay, we have some pre-agenda items that we want to go over. But before we do that, we do have some very special visitors here. They're not visitors. They're part of our city, right? Would you mind coming up to the microphone and telling us who you are, what your specific position is on the Youth City Council and what school you go to? And you can just file right up there quickly and then stand up there and maybe we'll have you sing a song too. No, it's all right.

My name's Ruchik Patel. I just go by Roo, and I'm just currently a member.

Thank you, Roo.

My name's Dev Patel, and I'm just a member right now.

What school?

Desert Hills High School.

Is that Roo as well? Okay.

I'm Dia. I'm also just a member, and I go to Dixie High School.

Go Dixie.

I'm Francie Patel, and I'm also just a member, and I go to Desert Hills High School.

I'm Yash. I'm the Youth City Council Manager and I go to Dixie High.

I'm Jake and I go to Crimson Cliffs and I'm also just a member.

My name is Lucas. I'm a member of the Youth City Council and I go to Crimson Cliffs High School.

Awesome. When you guys say just a member, up here is just some members of the city council as well. And they're the only five people that can vote on things that happen in our city. So don't be just a member. You guys are members. So thank you for being here. Okay, we have a couple of proclamations here. I'm going to go ahead and read this first one, and then we'll have the Daughters of the American Revolution come up. Okay, this is a proclamation in regards to Constitution Week, which Constitution Day is on September what? Seventeenth, yep.

All right. The reason why I remember that is because former Mayor John Pike's birthday is on the 17th, so he would always make a point of that.

Okay. Oh, and it says it right here too, so. Whereas September 17, 2026 marks the 239th anniversary of the drafting of the Constitution of the United States of America by the Constitutional Convention, and whereas it is fitting and proper to accord official recognition to this magnificent document and its memorable anniversary, and to the patriotic celebrations which will commemorate the occasion, and whereas Public Law 915 guarantees the issuing of a proclamation each year by the President of the United States of America designating September 17th through the 23rd as Constitution Week. Now, therefore, I, Jimmy B. Hughes, Mayor, along with the City Council of the City of St. George, Utah, do hereby proclaim the week of September 17th through the 23rd, 2026, as Constitution Week in the City of St. George and ask our citizens to reaffirm the ideals the framers of the Constitution had in 1787, by vigilantly protecting the freedoms guaranteed to us through this guardian of our liberties, remembering that lost rights may never be regained. Signed, Jimmy Hughes, Mayor. Daughters of the American Revolution are here to accept this, and come on up.

Good afternoon, honoring the anniversary of the Constitution of the United States. 239 years ago, on a historic afternoon in Philadelphia, 39 brave men signed the most revolutionary document in human history. At approximately 4 o'clock on September 17, 1787, after 100 days of debate, compromise, and vision inside Pennsylvania State House, our United States Constitution was born. These were not ordinary men. They were visionaries who had won freedom with blood and fire. With unwavering hearts, they gave us a sacred document, a government of the people. That day, they lit a flame of liberty that would inspire the world. As decades passed, the daughters of the American Revolution watched the memory of that sacred moment begin to fade and dim. The fire of patriotism was dimming, so we rose up, as American women have always done, We petitioned Congress and our resolve became Public Law 915, signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on August 2nd, 1955, declaring September 17th through 23rd as Constitution Week. This Constitution is our birthright, the guardian of our liberties, the protector of our families, and the promise that America will remain the land of the free

Make sure you introduce who else you have with you and if any of you want. Awesome.

Hi, everyone. Nice to see you again. Valerie King, American Revolution.

Martha Conley, Color Country Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.

Laura Miller, Color Country Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.

Thank you, ladies. And if you want to come right up here in the front, I'll come down and we'll get a picture and the council will be standing in the background.

Thank you.

You can share my sign. Thank you.

Just as a side note, thank you, ladies. Just as a side note, Constitution Week will overlap some with our Dixie Days celebration, which is altogether fitting those same values and things in the Constitution came west with the settlers here of Utah.

Proclamation, whereas the 50th St. George Marathon will be held on Saturday, October 3rd, 2026, and whereas this annual endurance event hosted by the City of St. George is a display of community spirit, unity, and commitment. And whereas the city of St. George and the state of Utah is proud to welcome each of the 10,000 runners participating in the 26.2 mile marathon and the 13.1 mile half marathon, which is set to host the largest numbers of participants in the history of the race. And whereas this annual event in an international display of endurance with Marathon, Half Marathon, 5K, Mayor's Walk, and Kids Fun Run celebrating runners, spectators, and volunteers. And whereas known as hashtag like no other, the St. George Marathon is a testament and celebration of determination, resilience, and resolve. Now, therefore, I, Austin Anderson, City Councilmember, along with Mayor Jimmy Hughes and the City Council of the City of St. George, Utah, do hereby proclaim October 3rd, 2026 as Marathon Day.

We have some awesome people from the Parks and Community Services that need to come up here and accept this. Come on up and let's This is a rowdy bunch. And take a look at these shirts they got on. How awesome. Come on up. Michelle, you got something you want to say?

Well, I just want to say thank you. It's the most exciting year and we've been working really hard to kind of showcase the history of this great celebration. And I really love that we're known as the Land of Endurance, not only because our pioneer forefathers had to come here through hardship, but also because we're known now as the land of endurance for all the great recreating that happens here. So I think it's really fitting that we get to celebrate and see athletes this year, especially from 50 states and 20 different countries. And we'll celebrate over 10,000 athletes coming through that finish line. So we are really excited. So thank you.

Awesome. And this shirt you have on, you need to show everyone that shirt.

Yes. Jordan is our model. This is the runner's shirt for this year. And so if you participate, you will receive that.

And we have one almost as cool if you would like to come and experience crossing the finish line. You can come to the Mayor's Walk, which I've been training for very religiously. I think I'm going to be in shape for that. You can come to the Mayor's Walk, which actually starts at 7 a.m. that morning at the same time as the half marathon, I believe. And we get to come down a portion of the marathon route on our walk across the finish line. And this year we're going to get to enjoy the biscuit bus as a treat as we've ever had, number 50. So come on up here, guys, and let's get a picture. Austin, you sure you don't want to go down there and present this and get the picture? I think you should since you read it. I think you should go down there.

Can I add to people sometimes say, well, how much does St. George pay for the marathon? How much is St. George supplementing the marathon? And the marathon actually makes really great money that supplements our general fund. So they they not only put on an amazing event, but it also benefits the entire city.

So absolutely. Thank you for that. We might have to stand on our chairs with Cody right there.

I think we're good like this. David, you need a selfie stick. Find a gap. You've got to be able to see Amy.

We'll get some little stairs back here for you guys. Great job, guys. Give them another round of applause. Don't you guys have a little clip you were going to give us? A little snapshot? Let's do that.

I don't see the screen. Oh, I guess I can just... No, we're good. I'll just use this.

He's Greater Zion, the world's most stunning marathon destination?

St. George has scenery unlike anywhere else in the world and to be part of this area and the marathon at the same time is such a great combination and such a fun weekend.

The St. George Marathon, it has a special meaning to me.

With over 300 days of sunshine, it virtually guarantees a picture-perfect marathon day. allowing the region's vivid colors and contours to shine in all their glory. The sense of scale in Greater Zion, the place the St. George limits. It is a reminder that when we move through nature's wonders, we discover new strength, new joy, and new reasons to run.

I've run different areas all over the world, and I keep coming back, and I say with all my heart and all my love that St. George is my favorite.

Yet Greater Zion is not just a place to run. It is a destination that invites exploration and adventure. We celebrate our 50th anniversary. We invite you to experience our unique blend of wild beauty,

yes this is the world's most stunning marathon destination man that doesn't get you motivated okay thank you for that all right we do have uh this do we have any public comments this is our first meeting of the month but i don't have any public comments so we'll go on to the rest of the agenda. We do need to, if you are here, item number eight, if you didn't already know, that's the Foremaster Ridge has been removed from the agenda. So if you didn't already know that, if you're here for that item, you're off the hook. So other than that, John.

take us away okay thanks mayor i'm number three is consent counter there's three items on the consent calendar this evening these are administrative items staff has reviewed these and recommend approval however if the council like to remove any of these for specific consideration we can accommodate that otherwise staff recommends approval mayor would like to make a motion uh after having reviewed all the packet documents that we ex we approve the consent agenda as presented second so we have a motion by steve and second by natalie all in favor say aye aye any opposed motion carries i have number four consider approval of resolution number 2026-018 are amending and adopting fees for various services and recreational activities and chad will present this item

Good afternoon, Mayor, Council. We have three items that we'd like to amend on the master fee schedule. The first one is for the art museum. We want to increase the application or the jury fee. We want to go from get rid of the range of $5 to $750 and just do a flat fee of $800. And then the last thing we'd like to amend is adding the power cost adjustment, the PCA eligible power cost. So those are the three changes we'd like to amend on the Master Fee Schedule. Do you guys have any questions for me?

I don't have a question, but I did reach out to Brian because it, there was an element in this that shows.

Technical.

Steve Kemp, aye.

Austin Anderson, aye.

Motion carries. By the way.

Right about now.

We'll see. So I miscommunicated with you when the meeting was supposed to be. Right about now. We'll see. So I miscommunicated with you when the meeting was supposed to be.

Yeah.

Yeah. So anyways, I just wanted to say thank you for all the hard work the power department did to get power back on fairly quickly to some of the critical places they needed to be on and then working through the issue with our power supply and getting us to where we are. Quite frankly, we noticed it so much because we rarely have that kind of an incident. So thank you for you and the power department. Thank you.

Thank you all.

And I think Nikki was on vacation and still managed to do her job and that's what kind of staff you have even if they're away, they're still connected. So your whole staff did a great job.

Well, they just love working for the city so much.

Item number five is consider approval resolution number 2026-019R, declaring the city's intent to consider adjusting a common boundary line with Washington City. How the heck do I get to?

Where's the screen?

I don't know. Corey might be looking at it.

line adjustment between Washington City and St. George. So really, the driver of this originally was this is our parkway right through here. I can't remember the name of this roadway right here as it was constructed to tie in perpendicular to our parkway. They had to turn it here. Well, right here is the boundary line between Washington City and St. George. And so it left this little piece right here in Washington City. And so that was the driver of this. However, as they got looking at it, the surveyors, there were some discrepancies in the original survey for the boundary line for St. George and Washington. So that's why you see kind of a larger area than was originally anticipated. But yeah, so that's the request for the boundary. This is just the resolution to request the process to go through hearing the boundary line adjustment.

So, Wes, this will just be a boundary line, we'll fix the boundary line, but then will there also be an annexation?

No, this will take care of all of it. This will take care of the annexation and the boundary line. You're just basically going to adjust the boundary line.

Okay.

Yeah.

Hey, Wes, so this boundary is in the center line of the road? Is that the new proposal?

Yeah, so the proposal is it'll go right down the center of the road. Washington will have the wall in the east. It'll go right down the center of the road. Washington will have the wall in the east half and St. George along the west half.

Just curious when you have roads like that.

Other questions for Wes? If not, I'll entertain a motion.

Mayor, I'll make a motion that we recommend approval of resolution number 2026-019R, declaring the city's intent to consider adjusting the common boundary line with Washington City.

I'll second if that motion is to approve.

Yeah, to approve. So perfect. We have a motion by Austin and a second by Steve to approve item number five. All in favor, this is a resolution requiring a roll call vote starting with Austin. Austin Anderson, aye. Steve Kemp, aye.

Natalie Larson, aye. The Airport Parkway SR7 and that it will gain access from Desert Trail. Current land use is planned development. This is part of the desert canyons area plan. And then this is also just a straight C2 zone. Now the reason, and this is an approved use in the C2 zone, the reason why you're seeing it is because it's over the 20,000 gross aggregate floor area, bottom floor area. And as John said, this project is about 54,000 square feet. And you can see in this conceptual site plan that there will be three buildings. All the buildings meet current setbacks. There will be 24 units over here on the east side that will be about 35 feet deep. And then the rest of the units, 55 units, will be 50 feet deep, so a total of 79 units. There will be a vehicle access along the rear portion of the property, that south portion of the property along SR 7, just to give it a little bit better vehicle access. Proposed landscape plan as part of the conditional use permits, they are required to provide enhanced landscape plans. They are providing street trees along SR7 and street trees along desert trails. With these straight commercial zones, they are required to provide a minimum of or an average of 15 feet of landscaping in that front setback. They will be providing about 25 feet of landscape just in that front setback, so about 10 extra feet, as well as that landscaping there at the entrance, also near that office space. And then if you've been to this property, you know that there's quite a bit of an elevation change from east to west property lines. It's probably anywhere from 25 to 30 feet difference. And so what they're proposing on these side property lines is to do four inches of that rock mulch. This will help prevent a little bit of erosion. Plus, if you have any plants that are in there as well, you may have some erosion from the irrigation lines as well. Current elevations, this is just the office space that we had talked about in that central building, designed to kind of look like a hangar. You will also see the color palette is designed after P-51 Mustang that you'll see on the renderings as well. Building height for the office space will be about 22 feet 9 inches, and then about 14 feet on the storage units themselves. You can see the human elements, a lot of glazing, some of the awnings and the doors. And here's some of the elevation so this top one would be from desert trail, you can see that the elevation change there like I said probably 25 to 30 feet this retaining wall is in place already with that with the grading permit. And then you can also see this would be from the east property line, you can see a little bit of that elevation change along desert trail. And then also quite a bit of elevation change from the lot itself to the SR7 on-ramp, which is probably 35 to 40, very front as well as the CMU wall along the front as well. And then this would be the view from Desert Trail. Again, this retaining rock retaining wall is in place and that fence that I briefly just mentioned along with that wrought iron gate. This would be the view from the SR7 side. One note on this is that on this rendering, it does show a wall. They are not going to be putting a wall in at this point. There is a fence down kind of on the UDOT or the property of SR7 and this lot. It's a small wire fence. And then there's also with that significant elevation change of about 35 to 40 feet. They didn't feel like one was needed. So there is the condition at the very end that you'll see that if they do. With that, Planning Commission held a public hearing on August 25th. They recommended approval with a six to zero vote with that one condition about the wall. And then there was no public comment. And I can answer any questions you may have. And Kurt Gordon from Desert Canyon's Development is here if you have any other questions too.

How long is the driveway? I see it has the gate at the entrance.

Yep, so the gate is, it's put right about at that 25-foot setback. So it's about 25 feet to the property line.

I guess on Main Street, we kind of see, without a decel lane, I'm just curious how that works when... down in the future to make that turn in or out.

Sure. Yeah, definitely something to consider is that it's probably not a bad idea to pull that gate back a little bit further so that they can get in and not block traffic. Definitely.

I just even wondered, like, getting rid of some of that landscaping and let him use that for a

Do you want to speak on that and also address if there's enough stacking there? Because 25 feet for an RV, when a lot of those RVs are actually pushing 40 feet. And so what do you think the appropriate length is?

So usually what we do is we require them to give enough distance for at least one vehicle to pull on the site for the gate to open. And so... For instance, like in the Fort Paris, it would be like 53 feet because you deal with a lot of semis. So we would look at them setting that back at least the distance of one vehicle that's going to pull in there so they can pull off the road.

Do you know what that is? Because we'd want to put that as part of a condition if it needs to be beyond what the 25 feet is.

I would probably recommend about 50 feet somewhere in that neighborhood just so they can.

Coming behind you.

Right.

You'd be blocking traffic. Right.

The nice thing, this is storage units. And so it's not like a restaurant or, you know, it doesn't have a lot of vehicle traffic. That's why we usually just do one length is because usually in these situations, it's not something that generates a lot of traffic. So we've just kind of held the one.

Well, I guess on Main Street we see that when people are pulling in and out of that RV park. It's not a lot of traffic, but when they do, they pull in the other lane and it blocks traffic and it's a slowdown.

I think the benefit here is you're talking about RV storage where down on Main Street you have people coming and going. They're staying there more frequently.

This project is in the middle of nowhere now. I know eventually it will fill in. These are really large. Now it sits at the end of a dead end road with nothing else developed around it. And moving that gate, I don't think would be a significant cost. I think if the developer's okay with it, I would leave it where it is, knowing that because of the design, they have that flexibility.

Maybe just one thing to help, too. I think as part of the narrative Kurt put in there that they expect about seven vehicles to be coming in and out every day, so very, very minimal traffic, kind of like you were talking about.

Like, Brian, if you could slide back in your slides, go back, right, forward. One more. Right there.

Also Brian since they're doing this in phases, I'm assuming that everything has to be done with phase one. Yeah, okay.

I may or could be happy to to move the gate back to I think the distance of 50 feet would be reasonable.

Perfect, thank you. Kurt Gordon for the record. He said that right, yeah. Always happy to have you here. Any other questions for the applicant or Brian, Wes?

I would like to make a motion. Go ahead. Case number 2026-CUP-005 with the additional condition that the gate on the front of the project is a minimum of 50 feet behind the public roadway.

Second.

We have a motion by Steve, second by Natalie. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion carries.

I am number seven to consider approval of ordinance number 2026-069 amending the Atkinville interchange area zone plan development commercial zone on approximately two acres generally located east of Pioneer Road.

Existing office building to the east that building will be important for some of the other things that we talk about later. Current land use is planned development and also zoning is planned development commercial and this is all part of the Atkinville interchange zone plan. Site plan, this is for about a 33,000 square foot office building, commercial building. The first two floors, excuse me, the top two floors will be office space and then there will be retail space on the bottom. It is important to note that none of the, tenants in the bottom floor will be restaurants. So there will be no additional parking required for those restaurant uses. It'll be just retail. As part of the packet, you probably saw like this building far exceeds any of the setbacks as well. The one that's closest to the side or the rear, depending on how you want to say it, is 75 feet. So they're well beyond that. The landscaping appears to meet code. photometric appears to be in code, we will go through these thoroughly. Very similar in design, very similar colors, very similar building materials, and the heights are also very similar. We'll talk about the height again in just a second, but as you well know and have seen that the Atkinville Interchange Zone Plan allows for a max building height of 35 feet with architectural feet up to 45 feet. This building is proposed to be 42 feet 6 inches with architectural features up to 150 feet, so they will be asking for additional height. But again, this building is, and that building to the east is about 50 feet tall as well. So this matches very closely to that building. And then the additional increased height. So again, Actonville interchange zone plan, what they're requesting, and then some of those other buildings that have been approved in the area. We also know that you've seen recently that Irvine commercial building is taller as well. And then also Bucks Ace was a little bit asked for an additional increase as well. Some of the different perspectives, again, very close to that building on the east. And then the materials board is here in front of the lectern. That meeting, I can answer any questions you may have. And Jared Bates from Rosenberg Associates is here as well.

I have a question for Jared.

Go ahead.

He's got to come to the front and say his name.

Hey, Jared Bates, how are you?

Hey, this is we can't make you do this. I'm just asking, would they consider putting a grease interceptor in there, even though they're not putting on a restaurant? Just we've seen that happen before. And I'm just asking the question if they would consider that.

I can definitely ask the owner if they're interested. Is Clark here? I can ask that. It makes sense because you never know what's going to happen. You know, things change over the years.

I think it's a good investment.

Yeah, I can definitely pass it on to the owner.

So I'm Steve Beasley with FFKR Architects. So they don't ever intend a restaurant used to be there just due to the smells that would travel up into the office spaces. So they have no reason to expect that.

That's good. Thank you.

You've been through that before, huh, Natalie?

You've been through that before.

We've been through a lot of that before.

Maybe just to mention, too, that parking will make it very difficult to get restaurant space in there as well.

Perfect. Other questions? If not...

I'll make a motion to approve Ordinance 2026-069 amending the Atkinville Interchange Area Zone Plan Development Commercial Zone on approximately two acres generally located east of Pioneer Road and north of Sun River Parkway, case number 2026-PDA-017.

I'll second. We have a motion by Natalie and a second by Steve. This is an ordinance requiring a roll call vote starting with Natalie.

Natalie Larson, aye.

Steve Kemp, aye.

Austin Anderson, aye.

Michelle Tanner, aye.

Danielle Larkin, aye.

Motion carries.

Item number eight has been removed. So item number nine, consider approval of ordinance number 2026-071, amending portions of title nine of city code as it relates to animated signs.

Okay, it's been a little while since you've seen this one, so let's go through a quick history, right? Last time you saw it was in a work meeting back in April. From that work meeting, we took some of your concerns, some of your comments, made some adjustments to the original proposal that you saw back in last October. We took that to the Planning Commission on July 28th. It received a three to two vote, so it did not receive the required votes for a positive recommendation before. We went back, we did a little adjusting, changed some wording there. Biggest concern at that point was the word adjacent. And just remember the word adjacent, the problem that applies to maybe some of this EMS is that in the adjacent definition in our code, it talks about a piece of property. If it's across the street from a major arterial road or a road that has an 80-foot right-of-way or greater, it is not considered adjacent. With these EMS signs, they are worried about the residential zones. They needed more or more protections, more. They wanted to make sure these residential zones were not affected as much. And so we changed some of that wording, took the adjacent out, and you'll see some of what we changed and went with. And then it received a seven to zero vote first part of August with those changes. So a brief refresher. We're going through a couple of the definitions. We're taking out a couple of definitions, keeping some the same. We're just taking that electronic type message center out of the animated signs because we feel like it's already covered in the EMS definition. We're taking out these two definitions here, again, because we feel like it's already taken care of in the EMS. There's the MS definition there that we can read through if you want to. Then we also just want to briefly go through the electronic message sign view area because that will come in handy when we talk about some of those standards that we're proposing change. Again, that message sign view area, this is the big sign over at the mall. The sign view area for the east facing sign, if you were to go to the side of each of those signs, go 150 feet out and then 300 feet away, That is the sign view area for the east-facing sign. And for the west-facing sign, same thing. 150 feet out, 300 feet away, this is the sign view area for the west-facing sign. So this will come in handy in just a moment. Current code. Current code EMS is only covered under the freestanding sign section. So pylons, monument signs, that's the only place that those animated signs are covered. We will be making a new section. We'll be taking it out of that freestanding sign section, making a new section so that it covers all freestanding signs as well as wall signage. So any MS that's freestanding or a wall will be covered under these standards. Currently, there are no EMS signs adjacent to residential zones. We're looking to change that. So again, at the Planning Commission is where this adjacent came into play. So we took out the adjacent because we still want to make sure those people that are across those bigger streets that still will be affected by these EMS signs, we still want to make sure that they're protected. So if the property is within 300 feet of a residential zone measured from property line to property line to be at least 300 feet away from that residential zone and it must have a residential curfew, which you'll see in the verbiage on the next slide. All signs will have to follow item three or standard three where the sign view area that we just covered cannot be orientated towards that residential zone within 300 feet. So here's some of that verbiage. So it's prohibited on property within 300 feet of a residential zone from property to property line unless it meets these conditions. So number one has to be fully obstructed. If it's not fully obstructed, you have to meet item two. Item two says that sign has to be at least 300 feet away and you have to follow what we call a residential curfew. This residential curfew meaning it has to be a solid unilluminated black screen or off. between the hours of 10 p.m. and dawn, unless it's located on a major commercial street or adjacent to I-15. If that's the case, then they will have a residential curfew of 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. And then all signs will have to follow that standard three, where that sign view area cannot be oriented towards the residential zone. With that, we are also adding the brightness and the certification standards. These are almost word for word for the current standards for the off-premise signs. And let me also point out that this portion of code will cover, yes, the freestanding signs, monuments, pylons, and it'll cover wall signs, but the off-premise signs have their own section. So this section will not cover those off-premise signs. but that brightness and certifications again matches almost word for word for brightness standards for how to measure for some of the sensor requirements and then those certifications kind of give us those those opportunities to go out and test those signs that either we receive complaints on or we feel are too bright And there's some of that verbiage if you wanted to go through it. Let's go through a couple of examples. So this is the Main Street Performing Arts Campus. As you know that there is currently a wall EMS sign at that location. And this code will not apply to any that have, received a permit from the city. Yes, there are some out there that have not received permits, and they would have to apply for those permits and meet the current standards of code. But let's try these standards with this new proposed language. Now, currently, this property, it can have an EMS wall sign, no problem, as long as they meet the minimum wall sign standards. With this proposed code, is there a residential zone within 300 feet of this property? Yeah. To the east there is residential zoning. So then we go through those standards. Standard one, is the light fully obstructed from the residential zone? This wall sign is located on the west side of the building. opposite of that residential zone. So we can say that this light is fully obstructed from that residential zone. So since it's fully obstructed, we do not need to meet item two. We can go to item three.

Item three saying that sign view certification applicable to signs that already exist as far as the light metering.

You're talking about like the brightness? Correct. So anything that any sign that has received a permit from the city prior to this would not apply to.

Okay, and so at what point do we, does it trigger, for instance, if they're going out and changing the bulbs on the sign or, you know, something like that, does that trigger it?

No, if they were changing out the sign itself, like let's say that this sign started having issues, they had to replace it, they have to apply for a new sign permit through the planning and zoning department. that's when it would trigger having to meet these new standards, something similar to that. But if it's just minor maintenance fixes, then that would not apply to these standards.

Okay. I know we'll have people that are curious because there are some signs that are pretty bright.

Yep. Okay, let's go to another sign that you know well, St. George Place. This one did receive permits, did come through. So we see that there's property to the east and property to the north. So we go through those standards. Standard one is the light fully obstructed from those residential zones. We know the height of Hobby Lobby. We know the height of Five Below and some of those other units that are there. We know that this light is fully obstructed from those residential zones. So we don't need to meet item two. Item three is the sign view area. Is it oriented towards the residential zone? We know that this sign faces north and south on Bluff and that sign view area is not orientated toward those residential zones. Again, then we have those brightness standards and the certifications. So let's go through to a property that currently does not have an EMS sign. Now these properties have the wall signage standards, or if they decide to do a pile on as long as they're meeting those standards, because there is not a residential zone that is adjacent to it. With this new verbiage, is there a residential zone within 300 feet of this property? Yeah, it's surrounded, right? The magic area, right? They found a spot where yes, it is fully, excuse me, let's not go there yet. If it's not fully obstructed, then they need to be at least 300 feet away from a residential zone, the sign itself. I've measured this property almost every way that you can possibly measure this property and getting a sign that's 300 feet away from that residential zone is not likely. Now this is where the magic spot comes in. Maybe they found a spot that I didn't account for. So now they have to, they are 300 feet away and they need to follow that curfew. So the curfew, we first need to decide if Dixie Drive is a major commercial street or not. If you look in exhibit B on page five, it lists the major commercial streets in our sign code now. And Dixie Drive is not considered a major commercial street. So this one would have a residential curfew of 10 a.m. to dawn or 10 p.m. to dawn. Excuse me. And then it would have to follow item three. Item three being is that sign view area orientated away from the residential zone. And really the only way that they can rotate this one to make it so that it's not orientated toward the residential zone is probably if it's facing north. So it would be really hard on this property to get an EMS sign, probably very unlikely. With that, let's go a couple properties to the north. So a couple properties to the north, same deal, right? They can currently have an EMS sign, no problems. With this new verbiage, is there residential property within 300 feet of the residential zone? Yeah, there's both on the east and the west. So is the light fully obstructed? Again, it would probably be really hard to make the light fully obstructed with an EMS sign at this location. So then they have to be at least 300 feet away from the residential zone. There is a little bit of a corridor probably right in this area where they probably could get a sign that's 300 feet away from those residential zones. So then we have to follow the residential curfew. Residential curfew, we already went through it. Dixie Drive is not a major commercial, so their residential curfew is 10 p.m. to dawn. And then is the sign view area oriented towards the residential zone? If they faced it north and south, they would probably be able to meet that standard. With that, again, Planning Commission saw or had a public hearing on August 11th, and they voted 7-0 with a recommendation of approval. There were no additional conditions and no public comments made at this meeting, and I can answer any questions you have. And we also have representatives from Yesco who want to make sure that you understand this portion of code.

Questions for Brian or any questions for Yesco?

Brian, I have a question. So the portion of George Washington or 1450 South Extension, the part between the bridge all the way to the end of St. George, we don't know what that zoning is yet. Is it commercial? Because we have, I guess when I look at the residential of St. James, the boulders, all those kind of things, If they're allowed EMS signs, would that be with the Boulder Springs area? Would that be one of those places on River Road and 1450 South?

It's possible, depending on how the road alignment or where the lots are. But if they are, if they are within 300 feet, they will have those residential curfews. Depending on the zone change as well, it may go to a PDC. And as part of those PDCs, you'll also see it as a master sign plan.

Because I just look at, we've heard a lot about view shed in the last. 30 days, and I look at the people that live in St James that look up off 700 South. They're not 300 feet. Away, but it, but that light does refract.

Yeah, I will say in that area when they did their master sign plans. They were they're not allowed right now.

Does that if I guess that's right now, but if they went back in and.

It would be, yeah, it would be this council that would approve whether or not you want to let them put in those types of signs.

And then is our fee schedule going to change that we fund another code enforcement officer to go check all these signs? Because we get complaints on sites frequently, and I feel like when we talk about budget, that's one of the things those signs ought to have a heavy enough fee on them that when we're out chasing billboards, And signs that it covers part of that, not the whole thing, but part of it.

Right. And as Brian mentioned earlier, if there is a complaint about a sign, it should be relatively quick on our side because we would be calling the owner and saying, get your sign. So we would be making the applicant or the violator or however you want to call it, whatever you want to call it, we would make them do basically all the work to give us the meter readings.

Other questions, concerns, suggestions, motions?

I just, as a council, you know, we've worked really hard at SR7, at our freeway, at keeping them, at a minimum, these EMS signs from not being there. I'm just curious why in our neighborhood commercial we feel like it's necessary if we've protected SR7. They have a lot of bikes are those signs can interfere with seeing a pedestrian on the side of the road because you're reading the sign that only changes every 7 seconds, but at 7 seconds looked away from a roadway. And that is my concern as a resident as I.

Good question. I will, and I'm not speaking in favor of this, but I watched the name of the services they were having on there. I thought about getting one once, but it was too cost prohibitive. So I can think of one instance that you might want that, but you would want that turned off by 10 o'clock for sure. I know the elementary school down by my house has one, and I would assume those neighbors around there insist that that goes off as well, because it can be distracting.

I have read through the packet and I know this has been a long slog for staff and for the applicant. It feels like they've made a significant effort to meet all of the challenges that are faced by having these signs in places where they may be being cost effective and being effective when it comes to advertising the businesses that they sit in front of. So right now I'm inclined to move forward with a positive vote.

Yeah, I as well as Natalie was very worried about these. I'm not a huge fan of them, but I do think that they've made a lot of concessions. I think if they didn't have the curfew and if they didn't have the light metering, I wouldn't agree to it either. But I do think they've made those concessions. And so I think hopefully as far as like mitigating the damage to the that you're worried about and that I'm worried about, too, I think they've done a pretty good job of that.

I agree with that as well. I think the curfews really settle a lot of the signs, but we can't and, you know, we would turn it off at night. And so I can see their point as well, where I do think this strikes a really good balance of allowing it with also keeping in mind the surrounding community and not having the light pollution in the nighttime hours.

And then, by the way, it's good to see Ray Draper here. If you don't know Ray Draper, you should get to know him.

We want you to sing a song, Ray. Yeah.

Let me just tell you, what this is and what this is written and how it is written has clarified so many things that were wrong in the old ordinance. This will control the electronic message centers much better than what they are today, okay? Now, these EMCs can be controlled offsite. So we're, and Yesco is a big promoter in trying to have good ordinances for electronic message centers. I get very upset at clients, and I personally have called other sign companies and billboard companies, said you've got to get this fixed because making a bad name on tonight is going to make this extremely better than what it is today. There's places that it stops us from doing it.

Other questions, comments? Even though Ray didn't sing a song, I'm still ready to make a motion.

Okay.

Mayor, I'd like to make a motion that we approve item number nine, ordinance number 2026-071, the mending portion. Starting with Danielle.

Danielle Larkin, aye. Michelle Tanner, aye.

Austin Anderson, aye.

Steve Kemp, aye.

Natalie Larson, dang it.

Motion carries four to one.

Is that it? That's the end?

Oh my goodness. You guys are great. Okay. Let's do reports. Is that all we have left is reports? Reports. Austin, you want to get us started?

I have nothing to report.

Awesome. Mayor, we had a meeting with the, I always get the name wrong, it is the low, well, homelessness committee and they're getting ready to do the count where they will go out to all the different groups that work with with homeless individuals or students or those type situations and they will do that count which will then be provided to the state of utah and to the federal government and that will determine our grants for the following year

It's a very important count. They go out on a certain night and count how many people they can find that are homeless, and that's called the point-in-time count. So thanks for doing that, Steve.

Yeah.

So this week we had the opportunity to see public safety was more than fire and police. And you already mentioned our energy department. What a wonderful job they did bringing back power to St. George City residents, maybe quicker than where I live in Dixie power boundaries. And then we had a major water line break in the area where I live and the Wicked warp speed that the water department got after that and. That looks to me like they ask all the today line. It starts Monday night with at the park is a free concert for our residents and. Nan will do is crystal do son. If you don't know that, get on your Spotify and listen to it and there'll be a drone show following that. Correct? Mayor.

That's right.

Earlier that day, there's a golf tournament that sold out in ten minutes there on Tuesday night. There is a concert that Utah Tech student doing the sounds of Dixie that should be well attended art exhibit. I could go on, but then there's the rodeo and a parade. All kinds of things that we get to know your community and really that's what I think the city. Has in mind that it's a gathering moment for community members to get to know each other. But don't miss the grand opening of the symbol on September. There's new lights, there's new audio, new seating. It's a great place.

Yeah, thank you for mentioning that this morning at 8 o'clock I had to get out of bed early. So, yeah, and we had all the media, all our, our area media there to give them a sneak peek to the symbol. And so we're really excited for, as you mentioned on the 10th. At 6. P. M. a ribbon cutting at the symbol. We have some commemorative pins that there's a limited number of that will be giving out there and hot. No, not hot dogs. What are we calling them chat? All right. Okay. So please come. It's going to be fun. So go ahead, Daniel.

Yeah, there are so many things happening the week of Dixie Days and Constitution Week and so many things. One of those things is the Doctors' Volunteer Clinic Gala, which is that Saturday. So if that's something you're interested in supporting, I believe there's still tickets available. If you don't know about the Doctors' Volunteer Clinic, it was built locally. There were a lot of contractors and local physicians who donated tickets The money and the time to build that clinic, and it continues to run in our community and blesses a lot of people with free and very low cost health care. And I just wanted to highlight, I get to work with the marathon team. It was a lot of fun to see them here today. Just because I'm assigned to them, Pat, you get to watch them work on this all year because it's such a big event and they do an incredible job in the city. We get all the credit and they do all the work. The city council and the mayor will get a bunch of messages after the marathon telling us how wonderful this event is and what a great job city council is. And we, our future is in good hands. These kids, I'm telling you, are smarter than us. So it's fun for me to listen to them and watch them. And they're also dedicated. The fact that these young kids are sitting here tonight listening to us, I mean, it's really impressive. So I'm glad that I get to work with them and I'm glad that we continue to support that program.

I have one more thing before Dixie Days is that it's been 25 years since 9-11 and our firefighters are hosting this dark climb at Tech Ridge and Deputy Chief Espin wants to see 350 people go against him because he wants to be the first up and the fastest. But if you haven't got online and registered for that, I suggest you do it. and they do something at town square as well and i just think it's something if you haven't seen the field the flag there when the sun comes up and just look at those flags and walk through walk through that and see those people and i guess not see those people but read their bios and realize what happened to this country it's remarkable and very touching but if you have kids or grandkids i just suggest you go do that

Well, yeah, there is a lot going on this next week. I will unfortunately miss the Sun Bull opening on September 10th because unfortunately that is the anniversary of Charlie Kirk being assassinated and his memorial will be up at UVU on that day. So for those who want to attend that as well, doors open at 4.30 up at Utah Valley University and And I actually met with this past week a 20-year-old kid who, with Charlie about five years ago, started Club America for our promote that patriotism and love of America and civil debate and dialogue that he stood for.

Awesome. Thank you. Also, one other thing on September 17th is the, do we adjourn from regular meeting and re-adjourn in work meeting first? And then we'll go from there. So I need a motion to that effect.

So moved.

Second.

So we have a motion from Danielle, a second from Austin. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you.

Thank you.