City Council - Regular Meeting

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to call this meeting to order.

Tonight, I will begin with an invocation. And then Abe, would you lead us in a Pledge of Allegiance? We'll go that far. Yeah. Our Father in heaven, we're grateful to come before thee this night as a city council and consider the issues of the city. We're grateful for the opportunity to review the needs of the city and make our best decisions going forward. We pray for thy spirit to guide us in those things that we debate this evening. And I say these things humbly in the name of thy son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

All rise. I pledge allegiance to the flag, 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. Can I get a motion to adopt the agenda?

I move.

Seconded. Moved and seconded. All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? Our first item tonight is public comment. This is a chance for citizens to come forward and comment on items that we may be debating later on the agenda. We need to have your name and address for the record, and we also allow up to three minutes to be fair to everybody. You can also bring forward ideas that you would like to see on a future agenda, but we wouldn't be able to discuss those tonight. Is there anyone here for public comment?

I am.

Come forward.

So Danny Hammond, address is 10545 West, 11600 North in Bothwell, Utah. So first off, I'll just give you a fair warning. I'm not here to redevelop anything. I'm not asking for any rezone requests or anything like that. I'm here on behalf of the Young Automotive Group, first to say thank you for Syracuse City being a great... private partner or a public-private partner with us in our automobile sales. Second thing that I'm here to talk to you about is you know you think about the Young Automotive Group and everybody thinks about the car sales and that is definitely part of our big part of our business but there's a few other things that we offer at the municipal level that I like to come around and talk to cities about so that they make sure they know all the options that are on the table. So I know with Syracuse City, not everyone buys from the Young Automotive, not all the different groups do, and those that don't, we'd love to have your business and sit down and at least give you some bids and make sure that people are being competitive and giving you the prices that you should be getting. Not all state contract prices is the same. Second thing to talk to you about there outside of automobile sales is we are now in the collision repair business on the state contract. So in my previous job, I was a fleet manager and that was one of my biggest headaches was getting cars in and out of the auto body shop. We have a state contract price. It's actually the lowest in Davis County. And when it comes to our public safety vehicles, anything you can't rent at Enterprise, we'll have first available bay, get you in, get you fixed and back on the road so that you're not having to wait for that vehicle and your services. The next thing that we have is we have an upfitting service. And we can do everything from upfitting your public works trucks, putting boom trucks, everything you need to do that. We can upfit your brush truck and your paramedic truck and your captain's trucks, all of your police vehicles. And we do all that just down the road in Kaysville. And we've got a very successful company there that does a great job there. And then the last thing to talk to you about is we are now a dealer for toying fire apparatuses. And I saw in your last meeting, you were talking about the fire department, rotating ambulances and that, and that with us being a toying dealer where we can help you the next time you come up with a fire apparatus and you need to replace that. And then you'll have the service technicians just down the road in Kaysville. Also along that lines, we're working with other municipalities to to do a lease with some of their fire apparatuses because they're so big and cost so much money. And that also may be a great option for you going forward as you look at options with those ambulances to do with a lease option. So once again, on behalf of the Young Automotive Group, thank you for being a good public-private partner with us. We look forward to helping you out any way we can and anything we can do to help you spend your tax dollars the best and most fiscal way possible. We're happy to do it. So thank you.

Okay, thank you. Just mentioned that also have reached out to Young a few times. We have some great land with great visibility if you ever want to bring one of your locations here to Syracuse.

You know, I've heard rumors and stuff. They are expanding, but I don't know if it's out this way. Oh, it matters to us where you locate. That's above my pay grade.

I'm sure it is, but just putting it out there.

OK, thank you.

Anyone else? Anyone else for public comment? OK.

Good afternoon.

My name is Anne Hanson. I live at 3025 South Bluff Road. I wanted to speak to agenda item number five, which is the proposed ordinance for rezoning for a property that is backyard to mine or backyard neighbors, 2961 South. So I know we missed the initial meeting, which was August 11th. I read over the agenda and I had some comments I wanted to make. Multiple neighbors supported the rezoning. As a backyard neighbor, I'm here to voice that I'm not 100% on board for that. The majority of us that share his backyard were not notified of this change. And although I can't speak for the people that aren't here, I do know that none of us on Bluff Road are happy with the change. I also, reading through the minutes, wanted to note that the Planning Commission recommends approval. And one of their comments was that some of the adjacent properties were already zone 2, A1. But if you look at the map, that's a canal, a church, and one other property which I don't believe qualifies. It's probably grandfathered in. I believe it's under half an acre and it wouldn't qualify for A1. And that neighbor is not using it for agricultural and also it's not supportive of this rezoning. Another comment is that the pygmy goats, which are the reason it's being rezoned, don't have a problem with the goats. I actually like goats, but I could not see this land supporting 20 goats, which it's going to be rated for about 47 points, which would allow for 23 goats. So from my understanding of the point system, pygmy goats are small animals, which are also in the same category as rabbits, chickens, pigeons. And then normal goats and sheep are 10 points, so like five times that, which these are... The Nigerian dwarf goats we're talking about are like 50-pound-ish animals. So anyway, it seems the point system is what it is. Can't really change that. I just wanted to bring that up. And then we also wouldn't be able to make some nuisance complaints in regards to farm animals. The biggest thing I have is the state of the yard has not been upkept. We're looking out over... Multiple project vehicles and trailers, et cetera. And since it hasn't been maintained and there's more farming almost coming on, it's gotten worse over the years. So I just feel like it's a stamp of approval. But yeah, thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else that would like to speak?

Sorry, I'll try to read fast. So my name is Caleb Hanson. I live on 3025 South Bluff Road, immediately adjacent to the property 2961 South, 1550 West, which is that agenda item. I'm here to ask you guys to basically decline the approval of the rezoning from R2 to A1. Before, I just want to give you guys context of just like the last four years I've been there, what kind of what my wife was talking about. And so you'll kind of better understand the situation. So my parents who live next to me, they're also attendants here today. And there was another neighbor who was going to come. I haven't seen them yet. Where are all the neighbors that share his property on Bluff Road? We are the vast majority of anybody who's going to have any contact with seeing into his property. The other properties are in the cul-de-sac and hardly share any real estate. We see everything in their property from our porches. It's a continuing everyday thing. So, when I first moved in, the yard was kind of a mess. The property owner was trying to basically conceal the chain link with some fabric he bought to make it look a little bit more presentable. And when I first moved in, you know, it wasn't as bad as it currently is today. It's gotten much worse. And the dogs would continuously get into our yard. And so basically my parents and I, we paid over $6,000 getting fencing and concrete put in. So that way we wouldn't have any entries into our yard. And we want to see as much of the property as we had been seeing. Immediately after that, our chain link fence was removed without consent that we had on the sharing property. And then later in that spring, I mean, later in that fall, they got goats. When the goats were initially put in there, there was four of them and they had nothing set up for them apart from like dog houses that had been there for like a couple of years. And within like two weeks, one had gotten into our yard had an altercation with my dog, was basically paralyzed and had to be euthanized. Now, from that point on, I haven't really seen any work to contain them. I've talked to the owner, and he said that there was something up against the line that they were able to jump across, but I haven't seen any noticeable, sorry, change to try to contain them. Now, what happened is, all of a sudden, there was this big, huge makeshift chain-link mass within the property that the ghosts were kind of contained, but not because the doors just open all the time. So there's really nothing still containing them. And it's just this big, ugly mass in our yard, which is probably our old fence. And at first, it wasn't as bad because it was just three goats after one died. But then it's been accumulating more and more and more. And I think they have like eight or nine goats right now. So if this passes, the thing that I'm worried about is they already have two cars that are dead on the property. They have a utility trailer. Time is up. It's just going to get worse if you approve it from here. So this is my concern. Yeah.

I'm Grant Hanson. I live at 3017 South Bluff Road. I moved in about, I moved in six and a half years ago. When I moved in, the adjacent property was not maintained. I heard there were complaints and I don't know if it was a citation or a warning of what it was. And after that, a vinyl fence got put up to block the property from the street. the retention pond part of the property. And the weeds were going into my yard. I have a garden along that back fence. I have noticed rodents. I have witnessed rodents coming into my yard, eating my vegetables. along that back fence from my neighbor's property. My son has had rats who killed a bunch of his quail. He doesn't have the quail anymore. But I don't know how many rats he's caught. And they've all come from that property because my son's neighbor and the neighbor on the other side, all the yards are maintained. And he killed probably 12, 15 rats trying to get to his birds. The other, I mentioned the chain link. That was not our neighbor's fence. That was common fence. I know where the property line was. I see where the stake was. that was removed without notification, without getting consent. And I'm concerned about, will four goats turn into 23 goats? I mean, that was done without permission, without the rezoning. Is it going to be a cow next? Is it going to be a horse? And then ask for permission later. When does it end? Anyway, that's my issue. I think it would be good to just stop it right now. Thanks.

Hello. My name is Cami Hanson. I live at 3017 South Bluff Road. I am also in disagreeance with this change. And for one thing, I used to live in West Kaysville. My parents moved out there for a reason, and that was to have a little farm. And so we don't live in a farm area. It's not a rural area. It's suburban. There's houses all around. And This kind of thing should not be happening. If they want to have animals, then they should move out west where there's lots of land and lots of places for animals to be. And I love goats. I grew up on a farm, so I get it. I love them. But every time I go outside now. That's what I hear. And I don't know if you would like to hear that in your backyard all the time, but I don't. Also, my son had a really big problem with rats. We've had to pay for pest control to come out. And that's an expense that we didn't need before. But that's why I am opposing this. Thank you.

Anyone else like to make public comment? Last call. Okay. I'm going to close public comment and we will move on to item number three on our agenda, which is recognition from the just serve group would like to come forward and invite them to report to us. Welcome. And thank you for taking some time to come visit us.

So excited to meet with you all. We also introduced Shannon Wright. She is the Jester over at Northern Utah and joined us in this celebration. In the early 1840s, mountain men began exploring the Rocky Mountains, tracking the Bear River, and Jim Bridger was still learning to discover the Great Salt Lake, although he thought it was a marvel in the vicinity because it was saltwater. By the 1860s, settlers arrived to our area. After a self-conquering, over the Union Pacific,

Thank you. Thank you.

fun and outdoor activities there's to do recessive resource of our area is yeah

... ... ... ... ... ...

present this to you.

You come down and we'll get some pictures.

Thank you.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

And a quick note that we do have some refreshments outside when we're done with the meeting to help celebrate this wonderful achievement. Thank you so much.

This award really is for the whole city and all of those who have contributed. We pride ourselves in being a community that cares and reaches out to help others. So thank you very much. Our next item is approval of minutes. We have minutes from August 11th in our regular city council meeting, August 11th in our work session.

Amendments to those minutes as written.

If not, I'll take a motion.

So moved.

Second. moved and seconded all in favor aye any opposed that motion passes unanimously the next item is an item of consent proposed ordinance 2026-22 amending the syracuse city zoning map for approximately 0.684 acres of real property located approximately 2961 south 1550 west from residential r2 to agriculture a1 is there any reason why we should take this off the consent agenda mayor i think this item needs further discussion so i'd request that we remove it from the consent consent agenda OK, we'll remove this from consent agenda and immediately go into discussion on this item. Council, what would you like to discuss on this property?

My first question is about notice. It sounds like there's some claim that notice was not provided. I'd like to hear how that was provided. My decision, at least my thinking, was influenced by the fact that there wasn't a strong objection given a couple of opportunities. Now that has changed. I'm not saying there's not good cause for that change, but I am concerned about the notice issue.

Noah, would you respond to that question?

Yes, we followed state law for our noticing, a public hearing that was held at Planning Commission.

We sent postcards.

As far as I understand, we noted everything properly.

Other questions, concerns?

Yeah, I think I'm concerned. And put it on the consent agenda. Like Brett mentioned, You know, there will be any, you know, any strong objection to the, um, to the chain. That's a change that I don't know. I think that, uh. I took time to say, you know, we had. Something that's easier to feel for when you drive through that. And we were told that, yeah, there's some areas that are bordering their cultural. Yeah, the only aggregate that I drove perimeter through the cul-de-sac is the cow and then birch across the West, which we've been in any zone. Um, so it's a very agricultural area. It's very much a residential area. My concern with, with the. Um, the reason is that. I'm having a spot rezone of an R2 zone. Um, the question would we do this in other areas or would we go the other way? Would we be in the local city? Uh. And, you know, the current property owner won't necessarily all be the property owner. So, um, is this conducive of 2 horses over, you know, like 2 cows or things like that? Um, I think people that are purchasing homes or building homes in an area where they see a. I think there's a perception they're saying, hey, I won't be dealing with aggregate growth. of the zone so my consideration at this point would be to take the zone out which is pretty bizarre too after after progression and additional public input other comments i agree but kind of thinking about what paul said the expectation of the neighborhood was just the clarity they're not expecting animals

probably what will likely develop is residential rates not going to be in agricultural areas.

With coming to light with the residents here tonight, you know, I think they are very valid arguments with everything that they've said. I would rather price residential lease over agricultural expansion. You know, I'm spot on.

I would be willing to reason on a pocket middle of something. Another way, I think it's dangerous. That's not something I considered until he said. Do you appreciate that? We had 2 public hearing 1 for planning commission. I would have been able to come notice. Then this whole thing prevented from coming to council because I do think that the planning commission probably would have said, no, they don't want to. That would be the. And like, we've made a decision on. Really kind of because I don't know if this is. Residents brought up, I don't know. All middle. That's still. change zoning, right? That means we need to go back and go, hold on, we need more exploring and we can talk about again. What the current standard is instead of making a change at all for anybody.

I just drove the property and found that the map didn't really accurately represent what was there. You know, there's street between the agricultural and this area. This is the fact. I have no idea. There's not much in the maps. I have to agree with the council. So at this point, I'll take a motion from council on this proposed ordinance.

Just one additional comment. I think we just need to be careful going forward to not create a disincentive for people to come to public hearings and say, well, I cut the last minute. Yeah. The reason for those public hearings, and there's an opportunity for a discussion back forth. If if. When did we last. Right now, I. But I do think that we're encouraged to take advantage of the public hearing process and not have a precedent that should have been discovered. That's all I have.

Great. Thank you. I'd like to make a note of this.

I will propose Ordinance 2026-22 to not amend the accused's use of the map for approximately .684 acres of real property located at a point leading to 9601 South 1550 West from residential to agricultural land. Second.

Motion made and seconded. Aye. Any opposed? that does not go forward. Item number six is proposed resolution R2633, appointing Randy Burke, Syracuse Arts Council, and a member recently resigned to go away to move, and so we're replacing that member. Does anybody have anything to discuss on this versus the recommendation from the council? I'll take a motion then.

Second. Second. Second. Second.

Asked unanimously. Resolution R26-34 of a term management district. actually is an item that I propose, and I appreciate Council Dean to hear last Wednesday, Board of Governors for the Los Angeles And the approach with the group organization, which is for hard to recycle item materials. And so the recycling opportunity, they were looking to hold one county and proposing the best state for that would be, of course, that short term. So there can be a good noting for this. information for the packet, which is still there. And I'm not going to go through with you. I'm here. I just thought it's a group. I heard the response. These have been going on for years now in Salt Lake County, and they're trying to expand it up here.

Several of the

really get behind and I'd like to present it to council. The proposal would be that we become the co-sponsor. So while there is a fee to host these events, the fee would be paid for by Wasatch Integrated Waste. They volunteered to sponsor us as a co-partner. So there would be no financial obligation to the city, which is wonderful. And all we need to do is provide a space and help advertise that we would have a place where people can drop off these hard to recycle items. Now there's no cost for everything except for two items, which you're gonna have a cost no matter where you go. And that's for mattresses or tires. But they take computer equipment. They take all kinds of items are on that list. I was surprised to see socks on that list. I know socks go to landfill all the time. But somebody has a way to recycle them if you turn them over. It's not saying that we don't accept those at the landfill because they do. But one item that's really common and a common problem is batteries. I can tell you that I've been present when a battery started fire happened at the landfill. And it's very difficult to manage because all you need to do is get something touch that battery that's got a little bit of juice in it. And really, people don't. recycle batteries because there's just not an easy way to do it. And so again, that's one of those items on the list. Again, another one is bicycles. They actually take broken bicycles and build bicycles for those in need. Again, these are ways to repurpose waste that people have trouble to getting rid of. So anyway, I'm open to all questions. i was impressed with uh one group uh apparently the small town of holiday had their first uh event this year and they're actually a much smaller than we are but they had all of their council show up to the event and they said they had a great time and they approximately recycled four tons imagine what that does to uh the landfill so Anyway, I'll take questions, but my proposal would be with your consent that we co-sponsor this event here in Syracuse.

Yeah, my only question is what other arbitrary costs are there associated and where are we pulling the funds for that?

No costs, no out-of-pocket expenses. Our obligation really is to help advertise, and we already advertise events, so it's not considered an additional cost. They will do the bulk of the advertising, but of course we want to jump on and support that by doing social media posts and try to promote the event more. And I believe that there's a chance that we'll also get maybe neighboring cities co-sponsor and help with the advertising as well. Because really getting the word out is the biggest effort. There is no physical cost. They will provide... Wasatch Integrated said that they would supply eight volunteers. We really only need four or five people anyway. So... If we had a couple of council members willing, I would go. They do these only for three hours in the morning. I will say this. It came up that October 17th is spring break, so they worried that there might not be enough people in town. They also have open the next week, the 24th, so we could use that date, but we also have pumpkin walk that day.

But it's in the morning, pumpkin walks at Thank you.