Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Okay, I'd like to welcome everybody to the Tilla City Planning Commission meeting this Wednesday, January 14th, 2026. The hour is 700 p.m. here at City Council Chambers. Uh first item on our agenda tonight is our pledge of allegiance. If you all please rise and repeat the pledge with me. I pledge algiance 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.

All right. Number two on our agenda tonight is our roll call. Uh, Commissioner Hammer here. Commissioner Sloan here. Commissioner Proctor here. Commissioner Anderson here. Commissioner Jensen here. Commissioner Lynford here.

Please like to recognize Commissioners Fairch Fairloth. Uh council me or uh council members Gossit. Let's please excuse council member Hansen and then staff members Baker Agard. Uh Miss Young, thank you for joining us tonight. Hansen and Matt Johnson. Number three on our agenda is a public hearing and recommendation on an ordinance amendment proposed by Twilla City to amend Twilla City Code 4-8-2.6. Six table of substandards local street requirements to amend the table adding Canyon Road to the list of the substandard local streets. Mr. Agard. Thank you. Commissioners, how many of you are familiar with where Canyon Road is located?

Good. Okay, great.

So, this is an ordinance amendment that came about because of an application that we have received for a subdivision that is going or is planned to occur on Canyon Road. Canyon Road is shown on the aerial photograph. It extends from SR36 South to pretty much the city water facilities and the Rocky Mountain substation up on the hillside. However, there is a gate at the end of the the asphalt. So, you can't necessarily drive all the way up there. But the portion that we're really concerned about is is the the portion that is currently somewhat improved by asphalt. Uh this is a site image looking north onto Canyon Road. You can see that there is asphalt, but there is no curb, gutter, or sidewalk on the road extending to the north. And then this is looking south um on Canyon Road. Again, there's no curb, gutter, or sidewalk.

Uh you can see where that little esavate, not little, but where the excavator is. That is where the new development is proposed. In reviewing this development, staff have been considering issues such as drainage and so forth. You can see how the the the drainage slopes to the north or excuse me to the west. Uh the water comes off that hillside and continues on down the hillside towards the the lower part which is the old settlement canyon uh stream bed and ultimately out towards the Salt Lake. In reviewing this subdivision application, we we encountered some potential impacts and we wanted to resolve those in order to reduce liability for the city and kind of look at conditions as they really are on Canyon Road. One of the things that we're concerned with is when new development comes in, it triggers the responsibility for the developer to install frontage improvements such as um sidewalk, curb, gutter, and so forth. And in addition to asphalt when when additional asphalt is required. The problem on Canyon Road, as you can see, there is no curb, gutter, or sidewalk. And the ordinance requires curb, gutter, and sidewalk. And we believe that the installation of such improvements will create more problems than it actually solves. One of those being drainage. If you look at the the plan on the screen, the red arrows indicate from a planner's perspective the flow of water as it comes off that hillside during a significant storm event. Now, typically that water would just sheet drain pretty much off the side of the road down and go downhill. It wouldn't accumulate into greater amounts of water with the curb. The water would accumulate and then be directed directly into the front yard of that that existing home, which can create flooding

problems for that existing home and also more liability for the city. The other problem is, as you can see, there's no improvements on the road. Requiring the installation of sidewalk, curb, and gutter would be the improve would be the installation of sidewalk, curb, and gutter to nothing. and it really doesn't serve a purpose at this point on this road. The other issue we have is in regards to rideway. Typically, we require with subdivisions the the dedication of necessary rideway in order to facilitate the entire road width. On Canyon Road, there is not sufficient width to accommodate a 60 ft wide road or 58t wide road without cutting into that hillside creating additional problems. And so in this case, Paul Hansen and I as well as the public works department and the fire department believe the best solution is to add this road to our table of uh local non-standard streets. Oh, before I move on, the other issue is there's not enough room at the end of the road to accommodate an emergency vehicle turnaround. uh ordinance requires that they have to do a culde-sac which is considerably wide and there is not sufficient room there to accommodate that either without cutting into the hillside or doing additional fill which again results in more liability and and problems for the city as well as the developer. So what we are proposing is to add Canyon Road to our table 4-8-2.6 six, which would basically exempt Canyon Road from the standard improvements. And this isn't the first time we've done this. The table also exempts uh 150 West, 50 West, and Garden Street from many of the standard improvements because those roads are also um substandard local streets. So, we're proposing that the ride ofway section that this would apply to the entire length of the road. Uh that the

existing ride ofway width be undetermined. We put undetermined in there because we didn't want to lock the city or the developer into a specific ride-of-way width when there's no way to obtain that rideway. And so, we wanted to leave it undetermined pretty much in an ASIS condition. Um asphalt requirements is listed as undetermined. Again, we don't really see inability there to require additional asphalt. Curb gutter requirements not not required. The sidewalk requirements not required. And then there's an asterisk after canyon road which basically states canyon road is exempt from standard culde-sac requirements and may use alternative forms of emergency vehicle turnaround configurations as approved by the Tula city fire marshal. So in this case, it gives the fire marshall authority to determine what kind of turnaround would best function in that area. Uh we feel that's the best way to fix or to deal with this situation on Canyon Road, not necessarily fix it, but to deal with it without creating additional problems for the city. So that's what we're proposing. This item does require a public hearing. I did post the notice. I have not received any comments concerning this item. So if you have any questions, I'd be happy to try and answer those. I know Paul is eager to talk to you as well if you have any questions for him. So,

perfect. Let's bring it back to the commission. When you use the words as is, you're speaking my language there. So, I like appreciate that. We have any questions for staff from the commission? Maybe one. When in the world did the city accept the dedication of this street in the condition, not even the condition. I'm sure it was brand new at the time, but um It's probably not German, but it's just my curiosity.

The history on Rideway in Tula City is really a unique story dating back to the 1800s. The city started platting a lot of its streets and the city has grown. What we have found is that the Twilla County, even though there's rights of way established for many roads, this road was not one of those platted right-of-way roads. And so as as people bought and sold land, the county recorded deeds irrespective of setting aside any prescribed ride ofway. Can we go back to one of the pictures that you were looking to the south? One of the reasons just for the public and for your information is if you look at that house, you can see that it's significantly lower than the road in elevation that sidewalk and curb and gutter would have to be built up and would just dump right into that. We thought, well, let's widen the road and we'll take right away. Cities can do that. We don't like to do that, but the cities can. but it shortens the driveway to about 10 feet off the front garage which also exacerbates the problem in making it a functional driveway versus again the flood problems. But this is one of those anomaly roads that never had a declared right away in any plat. It has um about 10 or 12 properties that have deeds that go out into it and we don't have a mechanism to force others to do something because of this development because it's very limited in scope. It's only three lots. We believe the risk to the city is quite limited. And to my fire department friend, this is we did have these discussions with the fire department. went up and looked at it with both the fire marshall and the fire chief and they've indicated that it's not ideal but it's functional. They can make it work in this isolated case. I don't know if you've talked about it as staff with them but

but we have had them involved in those discussions. Well, I think Paul I appreciate that that uh background. I again my my question was probably out of sarcasm and idle curiosity more than anything else because everything you're saying makes sense. It was the prior city engineer's fault. I'm sure. There we go. It always is. And and when I no longer serve the city, it'll all be my fault. I guarantee that.

Um my only other question, and maybe it's for attorney Johnson this are there any potential issues that we're not seeing here in the future. We've talked a lot about runoff and flooding. I don't see any reason to think that at some point that's not going to continue. Are we are we covered if we were to to pass this ordinance? Well, as far as legal, anyone I meanbody can can file the claim. Exactly. Exactly. I I think what we're left is I think Mr. Agard described it well as this is the best least bad solution to that. Um if we were to do something different, uh we're we're going to make it we're going to exacerbate it. Yeah.

Thank you. Yeah. Any other questions for staff? Those are that's a great history lesson. Thank you, Paul. That was that helped out quite a bit. All right, no more questions for staff. This uh item does require a public hearing. We can go ahead and uh open the public hearing now. If you want to speak to this item, go ahead and approach the podium, state your name for the record, and then you'll there's a paper somewhere for you to fill out. With that rush,

I know. Seeing no rush to the podium, we'll go ahead and close the public hearing on this particular item or bring it back to the commission for any other further questions or comments. I'll entertain a motion. Chair, I'll make a motion for you.

Yes, Commissioner Proctor. I move we forward a positive recommendation to the city council for the non-standard roads text amendment request by Tulis city for the purpose of amending the 12 city code to add canyon road to the table of substandard local street requirements as found in Tilla City code 4-8-2.6 and to include the table include with the table the proposed development stands are specific only to Canyon Road. I'll second. I got a motion for a positive recommendation from Commissioner Proctctor and a second from Commissioner Anderson. Any discussion before we take it to a vote. Commissioner Hammer, how do you vote? I. Commissioner Sloan, I. Commissioner Proctor, I. Commissioner Lynford, I. Commissioner Jensen, I.

Commissioner Anderson, I. I'm Chairman Hamilton, I also vote I. That one passes seven to zero. With a short agenda tonight, that moves us on to our next item. And throw in Mr. Councilman Gossit. Gotta get used to saying that now. Yeah. At the podium for city council reports. Congratulations, by the way.

All righty. Well, I'm not as good as uh Mayor Manzion. So, anyhow, uh it's going to be fairly short in city council meeting at the last one. Uh the major topic was the addition of WCO. when cocoming with uh a gym, a full-ervice restaurant, a professional building, they were seeking 18 about 18 and a half feet of water uh acre feet of water for that development. And I think it fell back to like 2022 that uh city council had made an agreement with the prior developer that that they would give like 13 acre feet for the development at the time. And so in doing that uh city council meeting, they decided to negotiate that to I think it was 11. And it it it's kind of in play how much water that WCO will need. They're not going to give the water for the other development, but for WCO they did. And the reason that they they chose to vote that way was because the tax revenue would pay it back within a year based on the sales of Windco. So that was pretty much the major topic of last city council meeting. There wasn't much other than that. So that's that's it for me. How's that for fast?

Yeah. Any questions for Councilman Gossip? Just a comment. You got to stop saying they and them when you are them. We'll get used to it. We are us. You are they. All right. Brings us to number five on our agenda is a review and decision. This is our 2026 planning commission meeting schedule. Mr. Agar.

Thank you, commissioners. We are required by our bylaws as well as our ordinances to approve a meeting schedule for 2026. Uh we are supposed to do this the last meeting of the year, but I neglected to have this on the agenda last time. So, we'll get it done tonight. The as usual, we meet the second and fourth Wednesday of every month as needed. And this time it's a little bit different on November. November 11th actually falls on Veterans Day. And so I propose that we hold a meeting on November 10th, which is actually a Tuesday. We are required by ordinance to meet once a month. And so this would this would satisfy that requirement. So November November and December, we only have one meeting as the fourth Wednesday usually falls on or pretty close to a holiday. So, uh, that's the schedule as proposed for 2026. And if you have any questions, happy to answer them for you.

All right. Does commission have any questions or comments on this? Are they okay moving that November 10th meeting to Tuesday rather than Wednesday? You probably need a motion to adopt this, adopt this. I'll entertain a motion. Mr. Chairman, I'll vote. I'll vote. We'll move that uh we accept this schedule for our 2026 meetings as presented. Got a motion to approve from Commissioner Sloan. Do I have a second? I'll second. A second from Commissioner Lynford. Good job. First one. Any discussion before we vote? Commissioner Hammer. I. Commissioner Slow. Hi. Commissioner Proctor. Hi. Commissioner Lynford. Hi. Commissioner Jensen. Hi. Commissioner Anderson. Hi.

And Chairman Hamilton. I also vote I. That one passes seven to zero. uh moves us on to number six is discussion for our pre-development meeting attend attendance assignments. Mr.

This item I have on the agenda both to make sure the planning commission is still in favor of attending these meetings and also to apprise our new commissioners of what the pre-development meeting is. uh every Wednesday at 3:30 to 4:30 we have a basically it's a pre-application meeting whereby developers can come in and talk to the development review committee about proposed development. That way we can inform them of potential pitfalls, potential costs, potential issues they're going to be dealing with before they invest a lot of money into their proposed development project. Uh the pre-development meeting is not required. It is just something that we offer to the general public as a surface as a service so they don't get involved in a project that costs more than they were expecting. Uh right now I we're not getting a lot of pre-development meeting requests but but the planning commission wants to be able to attend send a representative to attend those meetings. And so uh we can start throwing out if you want to do the whole year. I'm ready to take down names on the the whole year and we can uh we can get you set up for that. The way it works is my administrative assistant, my permit technician will send out to that planning commissioner who is scheduled for that month the pre-development agenda and then we just meet here at city hall in the upstairs conference room. And um we always appreciate planning commission's feedback at those meetings. So, all right, January. Do you have any takers on January? I'll do January.

Okay. February. I'll take it. March. I'll take March. And Commissioner Faircloff, speak up if you're interested. April is really interesting to to sit there seriously. Yes. They're very educational. April. I'll take April. Okay. May. I'll take May. June. I'll do June.

July. I'll do July. August. Better throw me in one of these. Hamilton. September. I can do September too if no one else. October. I'll do October. And November. I can do November again. And December. I can take December. Okay. All right. Thank you.

Perfect. Quick and easy. All right, moves us on to item number seven here. Uh, review and decision on our uh, December 12th, 2026 or 2025 planning minutes. Do have additions or corrections to those minutes? I'll entertain a motion. Let me make a motion we approve them as presented. Motion to approve from Commissioner Crawford. Do I have a second? I'll second. That Jensen? Yep. And a second from Commissioner Jensen. Commissioner Hammer. Hi, Commissioner Sloan. Hi, Commissioner Proctor. Hi, Commissioner Lynford. Hi, Commissioner Jensen. Hi, Commissioner Anderson. Hi.

I'm Chairman Hamilton, I also vote I. That one passes seven to zero. And now moving us on to our item number eight is a planning commission training on powers and duties. Thank you, commissioners. I always look forward to this training. I find it to be kind of fun. Hopefully I don't bore you to death if I do throw something at me. Let me give me just a second here to bring this up on my iPad.

While you do that, um, Chairman Hamilton, sometimes we excuse the minute minutes taker people. Um, yes. For training purposes. Can we do that tonight? Yeah, if uh Miss Young, if you want to leave, you can, but you're welcome to stay. We need to adjourn before we do that. She sounds like she wants to stay. So, well, she's new. This will be the most educational part of your night right here. But we can we can probably do that anyway and move ahead. So, I I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. I move to adjourn.

Okay, we are adjourn and uh going into training. So, for those of you that have been on the commission for a while, you've seen this presentation before, and this will be a refresher of things you all know really well. For the new commissioners, you probably all know this very well as as well. It's pretty rudimentary stuff, but uh it's a training that we need to do. And so, I like to do this on the first meeting of the year. Technically, uh new commissioners are unable to be seated on the dis without uh this training. So, if you haven't taken it, this will take care of that for you. So what we talk about with powers and and duties is governmental organization. The question is why are we talking about this? Um it's pretty simple. We're talking about this because we have to. We are required by state law that planning commissioners receive a minimum of four hours of training each year and that one hour of that training must be mandatory powers and duties training. So we are we do this every year because we are told to by the state and it's a good training to have. It's a good refresher on on the powers and duties of our planning commission. So how can commissioners achieve their four hours of annual training? Well, there's various methods which you can receive your hours. Number one, you can attend 12 planning commission meetings per year. That counts for one hour. You can also attend planning conferences and obtain hours that way. I have within my department budget ample funds to pay for planning commissioners who wish to go to any planning conferences. I know that the Utah Land Institute, the Utah Chapter, the American Planning Association, they offer two conferences every year, a spring and a fall conference. And if you would like to go

to those conferences, send me an email. I'll get you signed up. I know Commissioner Sloan regularly use it utilizes that. I've seen Commissioner Anderson, Commissioner Hamilton, and I think Commissioner Proctor have utilized those. So, happy to do that for you if you want to get some training. Don't don't hesitate to ask. I've got plenty of money in my budget to pay for that. You may also seek out training opportunities through the state of the through the state and the Utah league of cities and towns and any other source you would like to. If you take some training, just let me know that you had those and I will give you that credit or you can just sit back at the dis have a snack and let city staff give you the training that you need. Uh we may not be as entertaining but we try the best we can. That's

I heard plenty of money in the budget, but I see no stacks.

So anyway, let's take a trip down memory lane to your high school civics class. How is government supposed to work? So you're all familiar with the three branches of power, right? We have the legislative branch, we have the executive branch, and we have the judicial branch. This is kind of a constitutional form of government. The constitution establishes this and is kind of reflected through the states and through the counties and through the cities throughout the country with some slight variations, but it's pretty typical government pattern that we see all throughout the United States. What are the three branches of government supposed to do? Well, the legislative branch makes laws. The executive branch executes the laws. And the judicial branch interprets the laws. And then how is government supposed to work? Why are there three branches of government? Any thoughts?

Commissioner Proctor, you want to say something? They're supposed to be there to be in check of each other. Exactly. Correct. So these three they are there as a balance to keep each one of each one of those branches from misbehaving. Does it work very well? I don't know if we all have our political opinions. I won't get into any of that. But that's what it's supposed to do. It's supposed to prevent one branch of government from exceeding its authority and misbehaving. Um which branch is most important? All of them. They're all important. They all play a critical role. Which branch is the sovereign?

Sovereign thoughts. Actually, all of them. I don't think any of them are sovereign.

Well, that's a good question. Good question. I don't really have an answer for that. Other than that, the Congress can override a presidential veto. There you go. All right. So, who plays the roles in the check and balance system? So, let's jump into that really quick. We have the federal level. At the federal level, we have the Congress, which is our wonderful, vaunted House of Representatives, and our Senate. Okay. At the executive level, we have the presidency, which is the White House, President Trump, and I don't remember who the vice president is at this point. And then the courts we have the Supreme Court and then the federal appeals courts. Vance JD Vance is the vice president. Okay. So that's the federal level of government. The state level is very similar to the federal level. We have the legislature which also is composed of the house and the senate. We have the governor and his departments which execute the law. And then we have the Utah Supreme and Utah state courts as part of the judicial. How about Tilla City? Now Tilla City is structured in somewhat the same way. However, it's slightly different in some small ways. In our executive, the legislative, excuse me, the legislative branch, we have the city council, Mr. Gosset representing the C city council here tonight, and we have the planning commission. Did you guys know that you're part of the legislative branch of the city? You are. And we'll talk a little bit more about that. In the executive branch, we have mayor. We have staff such as myself, such as Mr. Johnson and Mr. Hansen, Shiloh Baker, and then we have the planning commission. There you are again. You guys are on the admin or the executive level of government. And then for the judicial within the city, we have the courts, we have the city

attorney, and we have the zoning administrator, which we currently do not have, but hopefully she'll be here in two weeks. So, do all cities do things the same way?

No, not in the state of Utah. In the state of Utah, cities have various ways of running their government. Let's touch on a few of those and see if you can identify which one is actually Twilla City. You have a council mayor form of government. A council mayor form of government has an elected city council with a selected chairperson. An elected mayor who acts as the chief executive officer and administrative officer. Then you have a non- voting mayor with veto authority. You can also have a six member council. In this case, you have six elected city council members, one as the mayor. You have a non- voting mayor. The mayor is the chair of the council and may vote to break ties, vote on city manager issues, and vote on mayoral roles, but has no veto authority. Number four, the mayor has ceremonial functions of the city and the council appoints the mayor prom. You can have a five member council which is five elected city council and one as the mayor. The mayor is a regular and voting member on the city council. The mayor is the chair of the council, handles the ceremonial functions of the city. The council appoints the mayor prom and the mayor has no veto authority. And then of course you have a metro township council which has the same arrangement as a five member council and involves the presence or absence of a municipal service district. Stansbury Park where I live is a good example of this form of government. Stanbury Park is not a city. We are unincorporated but we have our own improvement district which gives us our water which gives us our sewer and so forth. Few years ago they tried to make Stannisbury Park a city and it failed. I'm glad I did. Okay. What form of government does Tilla

City utilize? Any guesses? The first one, council mayor. Commissioner Anderson is correct. We have a council mayor form of government. Um, the city council chooses its own chairperson. Uh, chairman Justin Brady is our current council chair. And who's the vice chair? Ed. Was that this year?

Ed. Ed Hansen is the vice chair. I did not know that. Okay. Uh, we have an elected mayor as CEO. Our new mayor is Marica Manzion. You all know her. She spent many evenings with us here at Planning Commission. And the mayor can veto city council approvals. Is that right, Matt? Does our mayor have veto authority? Uh, yes. I believe she does. Yep. But but again, it's a question of overwriting it as well. So y So let me ask you this. What makes Tillis City unique from all other cities in the state of Utah? Our charter. Charter.

Our charter. No other city in the state of Utah has a charter. Uh we are the only city that currently operates under a charter. What is a charter? A charter is a mini constitution that the voters of the city approved back in 1965 and it establishes many things about how the government operates. City council seats, mayor, uh it establishes how department heads are hired and how they are fired. It discusses the planning commission. Uh the charter also involves the city recorder and how the city recorder is appointed. Uh that is how Tillis city functions is through this charter and we are the only city in the state that does that. Any guesses as to which was the last city to abandon its charter in favor of another form of government? See if you remember the training from a year ago.

I don't remember last week. Yeah. Ogden Ogden city was the last uh city to change its form of government from a charter to another form. So that makes us unique, makes us a little special. And the charter offers protections to the city, the city staff and the city government that other cities and do not have. So what does staff do all day? Do we just sit in our office and twiddle our thumbs and pretty much

and just goof around or do are we working hard? Um I can testify that that we work hard and we are busy. Tilla City is a growing city and there is a lot of a lot of stuff going on and it keeps all of us busy. First of all, let's talk about Tilla City's legislative branch. Our legislative branch, as I mentioned, is the city council and the planning commission. What does our city council do? Our city council is what I like to call the sovereign. They're the boss. They're the ones that make the laws. Uh they're the ones that create what we need to be doing and they are responsive to the voters of the city. As I mentioned, we have five members on our council. They are nonpartisan. They are elected. Our city council adopts the budget and they fund appropriations. So, it's the city council that adopts the budget. The mayor proposes the budget, but the city council ultimately decides how much is going to be spent and what's going to be spent and where it's going to be spent. The city council adopts ordinances and resolutions. The city council consents to mayoral appointments. So, if somebody like me or or Matt or or Shiloh are appointed to a particular position by the mayor, uh we need three city council members to consent to that appointment. And so, the city council does have some role in in appointing department heads. The city council will set tax rates, utility rates, and fees. Does the planning commission do anything with tax rates, fees, and utility rates? No, you guys have nothing to do with monetary situations involving the city. That is exclusively the city council. City council will approve contracts and agreements. If there is a purchase of more than $30,000, that has to be approved by the city council. And of course, the council will set parameters

for their own business. I know at the last meeting, the city council had made a lot of committee assignments and so forth. Uh that's an example of them setting parameters for their own business. Yeah, that's why we got John. Yeah. Yep. You guys lost. The planning commission. The planning commission is a nine-member nonpartisanapp appointed board. You recommend on land use ordinances. You decide certain delegated cases and set parameters for their own for your own business. Do you know what the parameters for your own business are called? Our bylaws.

The bylaws. We reviewed those at your last meeting. So that's that's the parameters for your own business. Dwell city's judicial branch involves courts, the city attorney, and the zoning administrator. Judicial courts hear and decide cases and complaints, interpret laws as applied to complaints. The city attorney, what does Matt do all day? Matt's a busy man and he's got a very difficult position. Matt reviews and prepares ordinances and resolutions, provides guidance, and advises administrative and legislative branches. Matt, you want to add anything else to that? And other as assigned.

Other as assigned duties. And he is he is other as assigned duties. And then we have the zoning administrator, which typically is the city planner. The zoning administrator is part of the judicial branch in that the zoning administrator interprets Twilla City Code Title 7 chapters 1- 27 and they prepare administrative interpretations. Now, in my time with Tilla City, I have seen three administrative interpretations come through and they involved uh using water shares as water rights. They involved using garages as parking and then um off- premise signs and what was what was determined as an off- premise sign. Uh these don't happen very often, but anybody in the public who has a disagreement with an ordinance or with a standard applied by the city can submit an application for an official interpretation. And then the zoning administrator has to go through the process in consultation with the city attorney as well as with the legislative intent of a particular ordinance and issue a formal interpretation. It doesn't happen very often, but if there is a disagreement on a code, there is a mechanism to try and resolve that. That's what the city that's what the zoning administrator does. Towilla city's administrative or executive branch is the mayor, staff, and the planning commission. There you are again. What does the mayor do? Tilla City's mayor is the CEO of the city and oversees all of the day-to-day operations of the city. The mayor supervises all of the city's department heads. The mayor executes the ordinances and resolutions passed by the city council. The mayor is the executive RDA or the exe, excuse me, the executive

director of the city's RDA. The mayor also manages the city budget. The mayor appoints department directors, manages city construction projects, manages maintenance projects, manages city purchases, and I'm sure Shiloh could list a whole other thing, a whole other plethora of things that the mayor is involved in. The mayor is my boss. I report directly to the mayor and uh she she oversees the the performances of all of the department directors. What does city staff do? City staff are the force making city operations function. So when the city council passes a law, it's the city staff that applies that law to the general public or to whatever aspect of of that law is being uh being desired. City council passes a law to staff who make those laws happen. City staff facilitate the procedures and the policies. City staff can render decisions for delegated cases. Um, in in regards to that one, sometimes we have conditional use permits or I should say permitted uses where the council has already established certain criteria and then staff are the ones that render decisions on those things such as commercial site plans and then rendering services to the public as required by the city council. So, how is the planning commission part of the administrative/executive branch of Tilla City government? Any thoughts?

We utilize the same chapter uh 7. We go through the information that has already been dictated by the city and make sure that it is being utilized when we have applications in different zoning requirements and proper land usage. We refer back to those things to ensure that we are abiding by the general plan of Tilla City.

Correct. The planning commission reviews applications based upon established law. So the city council sets the standards and the planning commission ensures those standards are satisfied for subdivisions, site plans, multifamily residential site plans, and conditional use permits. The city council is not involved with these applications. So if we get an application for any one of those four things, we review it, make sure it complies with the ordinance, then we bring it to the planning commission and we present that to you. We tell you it complies with the ordinance. If you agree, you approve it. Okay? So that is how you have administrative function. You are applying the city council's law in terms of a subdivision. City council has already established the subdivision criteria, lot size, lot widths, all those things that is established per zoning district that comes to you. You verify that. You make sure that that is correct and then you approve it. So you are enforcing the laws established by the city council. Did you know that the planning commission is required by Utah state law? Okay. Utah code 10-9A-302 requires all cities of 5,000 people or more to have a planning commission. So, state law requires planning commissions to will a city's charter also requires a planning commission. And do you know which city code directly administers and authorizes the planning commission?

Chapter 7. It's kind of an obscure one. No, it's not. Commissioner Proctor, I know what it is. I just can't think of it's not not registering. It's not.

It's Tilla City Code, Title 2, Chapter 3. This code creates the planning commission, the duties of the planning commission, the organization of the commission, assignments to each member, compensation. You do receive a small stipen for your for your your gas and so forth to come to the meetings. uh your meetings, proceedings and records and removal from office. Uh so there is some there is some language in the code to remove an unruly planning commissioner from office. Um never seen that in my time in Tula City, but I have seen it when I was in Riverton. So why are planning commissioners appointed instead of elected and how does this benefit the city?

We don't have to appease the people. Exactly. Spot on public clamor.

The planning commission because it's an administrative body in many in most of its duties needs to be able to review applications that may not be popular but do comply with the city's code. So when a planning commission is not subject to political wins and elections, they can make unpopular decisions that are in the benefit of the city overall. uh Councilman Gosset and the city council don't have that luxury. They are beholden to the to the voters in their in their roles, but the planning commission is established so that you can make those decisions, enforce the city council's law and not have to worry about elections. Planning commissioners need to make difficult decisions about without worrying about how it affects a constituency. And planning commissioners need to look out for the best interest of the city as a whole. And this can be unpopular to affected residents as all of you have sat through public hearings can be aware of. As planning commissioners, how do you know what you are supposed to be doing?

Title two, chapter three. I was telling

Well, let's talk about that. Number one, start with the basics. What are we talking about? The planning commission hears two types of items. You always will hear legislative items or you will hear administrative items. Legislative items usually include zoning map amendments, land use map amendments, general plan amendments, ordinance amendments, and annexations. A legislative item is an item that you recommend on that you do not approve. A legislative item that is the sole authority of the city council to approve. However, you hold a public hearing and you make a recommendation to the city council. The difference between a legislative matter and an administrative matter is with an administrative matter, if it meets a code, you have to approve it. If if it's a legislative matter, there is no code, no criteria that you have to consider. So really, you can make whatever recommendation you like and the city council will consider that recommendation in making their decision. So that's the difference between an administrative item and a legislative item. Um, I would also recommend that you do your homework and ask questions. If you have questions, we have ample staff here to help you. We have city attorney, we have myself, we have Paul Hansen. He loves to be asked questions and we're here to answer any questions you might have. So don't be shy. If you have questions about something, ask and we will answer you to the best of our ability. So and then always remember the scope of your considerations and your decisions. Remember that you are representing you you are here to make sure the code is applied appropriately and in the best interest of the city and that make sure you have that scope in your mind when you make considerations.

What are your responsibilities? Number one, the planning commission must approve a project if it meets city code. Typically, when we bring a subdivision or a site plan to you, it usually is at a point where it's pretty copacetic with the city's ordinance. However, staff, even though we try, we're not perfect and we do miss things from time to time. You've you've seen me many times tell you that, oh, we missed this. Please add this as a condition of approval. But if it does meet code, it has to be approved. Okay. And this is this is administrative items. This is not legislative items. This is administrative items. Um number two, planning commission must provide findings if conditions are added. So if you believe during a conditional use permit or a site plan review that you need to add a condition to address a deficiency, you must provide findings. If you're going to add a condition that requires somebody to put up a 20 foot wall, provide a finding. Why does that need why does that 20 foot wall need to be there? State that in the record and you have to be able to do that. Uh number three, be prepared. Applicants have paid large sums of money for their projects and deserve due diligence. When we bring a subdivision or a site plan to you, application fees alone sometimes are $6,000 7,000 $8,000. Uh conditional use permits by themselves are 600. So take those things seriously. They've invested a lot of money and time in their projects. And then try to view a matter objectively. Try to keep personal views contained. So if somebody comes up here to present and they're like me and they're ugly and you don't like them, that doesn't matter, okay? You still got to approve their plan if it meets the code. So don't let personal views get involved in your decisions. Always try to view things objectively.

Tools that you can use. You can always table or continue an item. If you are if you are hearing an item and you're not comfortable with making a motion on it, table it. If you want more information, table it and request additional information. You can request you can request traffic studies, engineering studies, anything you need that you think would help you make a better decision. Tabling an item is within your right to do. I would only suggest that when you table an item, you either make it goal specific or time-sp specific. Make sure they make sure the applicant knows what they need to do or when they need to have it done. Uh, city staff is a good tool you can use. Use us. You can email us with questions. You can call me. You can call us, not me. You can call us. You can pop in for a visit once in a while. Honestly, I love it when you guys come in and see me. Uh, when you show up in the in the community development suite and you come back in my office and you sit down and talk. I I really enjoy that. And I I've had a number of you come in and just sit down and ask me questions about things. And anytime you don't need an appointment, just come on in and talk if you have a question about something. My door is my office is always open for you. So don't be shy. Staff reports. You're very familiar with our staff reports. They are generally written by the city planner and sent to the commission on the Friday prior to the Wednesday meeting. Number two, staff reports include all the information we can think of to provide you without boring you to death. Most questions regarding a proposed development can be answered by reading the staff report. We usually try to include all the details of a project in the staff report. I don't usually include a lot of details in my presentations for the sake of the public and time, but it's all in the staff report. So, please study the staff

report. The reports include code references, maps, and development plans for your reference and use. And as always, if you have a staff report and it doesn't make sense or if it's wrong, let me know. Let me know. Happy to correct it and move on. Be prepared for your meetings. Read and study your staff reports, maps, and development plans. Visit the site. You are free to visit any site at any time. And in fact, I encourage you to do that. We we don't do field trips as a group very often because when you all come together it's a formal meeting and it's complicated but you are more than welcome to visit any of the sites anytime you'd like. Reach out to staff if you have questions. The staff you have at your beck and call is the city planner, zoning administrator, the community development director, myself, the city engineer, good-looking man back there in the corner, the city attorney, great guy over there, you can call the city parks director, you can call the mayor's office, and you can even reach out to the city council. I'm sure Mr. Gossip would love to hear from you. So, all right. I always like to give you a little bit of a quiz at the end of our powers and duties training. So, I'm going to ask you some questions and then we'll be done. Question number one, is the planning commission part of the legislative branch of Tilla City's government?

Yes.

Yes, we are. Yes, you are. You are a very integral part of that. You don't see ordinance amendments for ordinances that do not involve development. So if if a if a ordinance amendment comes through for say title two which talks about the city council and other legislative bodies and so forth, you're not going to see that. But like tonight, you saw an ordinance amendment from from title 4. Um it's not within the zoning code, but that is a a a code that does have some development reference. So we brought it to you for your recommendation. Question number two, Utah state code and Tula C's code authorizes the creation of the planning commission. Is there anything else that authorizes the planning commission?

Charter. Charter. Yep. Two city's charter authorizes the creation of a planning commission. Question number three. Can the planning commission deny a site plan or subdivision application because they don't like the street names? No. Nope. Actually, that has happened once. It has happened. found out we had two Cedar Streets. We had a We had a uh subdivision come forward that had a Cedar Street in it. And we already have a Cedar Street. So, we did. Little followup here. Who improves street names? Somebody named Cedar. I think you do. County does.

Yep. County reviews subdivision plats and they they look at street names and so forth. So, be a fun job. Question number four, when are staff reports generally sent to the planning commissioners? Friday. Friday.

Friday. Now, if you go through a Friday and you do not receive anything from staff, let me know. Um, Commissioner Proctor did this at I think our December 10th meeting, but um I had sent out the packets, but I had accidentally clicked on the development review committee instead of the planning commission distribution link. And so if you do not receive a packet, don't assume we don't have a meeting. Let me know because chances are pretty good there something went wrong in sending that out. But Fridays before the meeting. Question number five. Are zoning map amendments legislative or administrative? Legislative. Legislative.

They are legislative. Yep. City council is the ultimate authority on zoning map amendments. You make a recommendation. So in this case, there is not an ordinance that you need to follow. You can recommend however you you feel is best for the city. You can cite any reason under the sky for that recommendation and typically those reasons will hold up in court if they're ever challenged. Question number six, who is responsible to administer the day-to-day activities of the city? Mayor. Mayor Manzion has assumed that mantle. Question number seven. Is the planning commission ever involved in budgetary matters of Tilla City? No,

no, you will never be involved in money in money discussions. That's the truth. That is that is entirely the purview of the city council. Question number eight. What can the planning commission do if they feel they have not been presented enough information to make an informed decision on a project that may have large impact on the city? Table table and request more information.

Exactly. You can table and I and I encourage you to do that. Uh you guys are a very good planning commission. You make my life very easy because you rarely table things and when you do it's because you really need something. But uh don't hesitate to do that. Question number nine. Why are planning commissioners appointed instead of elected to their positions? We're not to appease the people. We're to adhere to the city code. Exactly. planning commission needs to be able to make difficult decisions that are at times unpopular. And uh let's see, question number 10. Are conditional use permits a legislative or administrative duty of the planning commission? Administrative.

They're administrative. Yep. The city council sets the parameters for the cups. You as the planning commission approve those. And do you have any questions for me or for Matt or for Paul or for Shiloh or anybody else? happy to answer them for you.

I actually do if that's all right. Um with earlier adding canyon to substandard once a street is added to the substandard um list, does that further scrutinize or or prevent any further development? And the reason I ask is if we're already trying to kind of mitigate less than favorable circumstances, it would make sense if we limited what further development happens on that road as well. So, I'm just curious if that plays any part or

the the proposed amendment does not limit any development does not limit in any way new development from occurring on the road. It just eliminates those roadway improvements that cannot occur. So, if there's vacant land up there that can develop and access that road, they would they would be able to do so. Okay. Excellent question. Very good. Any other questions? Okay. Well, that completes your powers and duties training. That's one hour under your in the books for you. Uh I appreciate all you do for the city. We do have a meeting coming up for the 14th. It probably will be a small agenda again, but uh we'll see you then.

Thank you. Thanks everyone. Easy money. What is it? $22.