All present included
Council Member Smith,
Council Member Scott,
Council Member Barton,
Council Member Gillespie,
Council Member Anderson,
Commissioner Gardiol,
Commissioner Brown,
Commissioner Robinson,
and
Commissioner Clifford.
STAFF:
City Manager/Attorney Dale Coulam,
and
City Recorder Kari D Jimenez.
EXCUSED: None.
The following were present: Planning Commissioners Pam Gardiol, Perry Brown, and Dave Robinson, Mayor Chris Hart and Council Members Sharon Barton, Sharon Gillespie, Mike Scott and Kevin Smith. Planning Commission Member Doug Clifford and Council Member Lance Anderson arrived shortly after the meeting began.
There were no disclosures or conflicts of interest with items on this meeting's agenda.
Cover Letter
General Plan DRAFT
Incorporating Water into the General Plan
Water Section for the General Plan
Utah General Plan Writing Guide
Water Element in General Plan
Utah Growing Water Smart
Mayor Hart referred to a presentation that was given recently at a Water Conference in Cedar City, Utah that he attended and suggested that based on information provided at that conference, the Planning Commission should undertake revising part of the General Plan to address that information. Dale Coulam suggested that due to a significant amount of information regarding water is already in the General Plan, that the City Council proceed with revising the General Plan and then if there are a few items that the Council thinks that the Planning Commission needs to address, that could occur while the City Council continues to work on revising the General Plan. Council Member Gillespie commented that it seemed redundant for the Planning Commission to try and create something with regard to water when they have already passed their recommendations along to the City Council. It makes sense for the City Council to now go through the General Plan. Council Member Scott attended the same water conference and commented that he had gone through the water material. A copy of the documents relating to including water elements into the General Plan are available as attachments to this agenda. Commissioner Brown referred to the Appendix in the General Plan where there is history on Ivins and commented that he also attended the Water Conference and there was a good conversation at the conference with regard to the water history of Ivins. He thought that a few sentences or a paragraph would be nice in the appendix reflecting Ivins water history. Mayor Hart indicated that meeting together as a Planning Commission and City Council is beneficial to allow the Council to ask questions and express their thoughts. Council Member Gillespie stated that she has sat through a lot of Planning Commission meetings where the General Plan was discussed and it would be difficult to come back with criticisms or changes but the Plan changes and evolves. Commissioner Gardiol indicated that it was their charge to create the draft General Plan, knowing that the elected officials would make the final decisions on the General Plan. The Planning Commission respected that there would be changes but they wanted to provide a solid basis and offer the City Council a quality document. Commissioner Robinson stated that not all of the Commissioners had the same thoughts or feelings and there will be some give and take as the City Council goes through the draft General Plan. Council Member Scott indicated that he had a question about the structure of the draft General Plan where a lot of material went in the appendix section that was in the body of the prior General Plan. To him a lot of things in the appendix would help explain some of the ideas as they are going through the various topics in the plan and inquired why the information was included in the appendix rather than putting it in the actual plan?
Commissioner Perry stated that there were different reasons why they did what they did. They found a fair amount of redundancies in the old General Plan and in order to try and reduce that, they needed to extract some of that from the plan itself. They looked at most of the material in the appendix, which is background information for the General Plan that gets bogged down in the plan and made the Plan hard to read. They put the Vision, Goals and Policies up front in the Plan. Commissioner Gardiol commented that some citizens want to find some information quickly and putting historical stuff and statistics in the appendix make it easier to find and the General Plan is the peoples document. Commissioner Robinson agreed. Commissioner Clifford indicated that as a former business planner, the General Plan format is backwards to him but the logical progression is to come from where they are at today, Mayor Hart stated that the format and structure has dramatically changed and having read through the guide on how to write a General Plan, the draft Plan that has been provided is consistent and inquired if that guide played into what the Planning Commission created. Commissioner Gardiol indicated that those guides definitely played a role as well as the State regulations. Council Member Barton stated that she attended several Planning Commission meetings as well and at end of the Vision it includes 16 supporting goals. She struggled with the difference between the Vision and a Goal and needed to understand the difference between the vision and goal concepts. Commissioner Gardiol commented that a vision is an aspiration statement and a goal is a method. Council Member Smith indicated that the draft General Plan that the Planning Commission has provided has been really well done and he thanked the Planning Commission for what they have done and for their time and effort. He liked that the data is in one place. He noticed that there was a place in the Plan where they say a lot of the Plan is based on the survey and a few other things but not sure if they also that the Plan was based on data and to look at the data. Commissioner Perry stated that made sense to make that explicit. Mayor Hart indicated that was a good point and the Council may want to look at that. Council Member Gillespie looks at the Plan as to where they are now, where do we want to go and what is a credible path to get there? She was confused because as she went through the draft Plan, there are residential goals 3, 6, 7 , 9 and 11 where you have to flip back and forth and find those goals so there may be more efficient way to reference those. She would also like to see the possibility of SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely) included and how to achieve that. Commissioner Perry stated the the General Plan is not a strategic plan, it is a general broad plan. Council Member Anderson indicated that the objectives are the ordinances that are written and the General Plan is the guide. Commissioner Robinson stated that is exactly how they approached it because they are not writing law. The Plan is a vision and not a law. Mayor Hart indicated that the General Plan is a vision and a guide. The dynamic of a City is different than a business and there is a wide variety of interest including private property owners, business interest, aesthetics and sometimes the more detailed a Plan gets, it starts to exclude real possibilities that shouldn't be excluded. The General Plan is a guide and they are establishing a vision that becomes the basis of the ordinances. They do not plan everything about the City because they do not build the businesses or the houses or similar. There should be a precaution where they can get too specific or relate to one specific point of view to the exclusion of other views in the community.
Council Member Gillespie commented that the target is the success of the City. Commissioner Clifford stated that they have to take into account anybody and everybody that are in the community, as well as the State and Federal government. Council Member Gardiol indicated that some of the guides that they looked at did have the SMART element in them but the Planning Commission decided that the General Plan was not the place for those specifics. Council Member Anderson cautioned about getting too specific and detailed in the General Plan. Council Member Scott stated that the General Plan covers zoning, but just a small part of the General Plan and he felt that there are some things that could be tightened up in the Goals and Objectives. Mayor Hart indicated that the document that they end up with has clarity of what the City is and what they are trying to become and in this day and age, developers do not want to waste time and money battling with the City. A smart developer will digest a City's General Plan and ordinances and will put their project together to meet the General Plan.
Interest list
The Mayor and City Council discussed potential committee members on the Affordable Housing Task Force and the Open Space Committee and suggested the following:
Affordable Housing Committee: Fred Castagne, Mike Haycock, Richard Kohler, David Hatch, Kathy Barth, Jenny Johnson and liaison from the Planning Commission Doug Clifford and liaison from the City Council Sharon Gillespie and Mayor Hart to reach out to former Council Member Miriah Elliott and Sharlene Wilde who was originally involved with the Affordable Housing Committee around 2018.
Open Space Committee: Council Member Sharon Barton, Council Member Lance Anderson, Planning Commission Member Pam Gardiol, Planning Commission Member Perry Brown, resident Lisa Ganz, resident Bob Greeley, resident Kathy Roos, resident Ron Hardin, resident Hans Wolters and resident Shayne Jones, with Chris Blake as the Chair.