Soda Springs City Council 11/5

The City Council met for a regular meeting on Wednesday, November 5, the day after the municipal election.

In the course of the election, current city councilmember Paul Gritton was elected to the mayorship.  The incoming City Council members for 2026 will be Ryan Carpenter and Paige Byram.  Because incoming mayor Gritton will need to resign his seat before assuming the position of mayor, a replacement will be selected through a subsequent process, as laid out in Idaho State Code, Title 50.

Water Shutoff

A Soda Springs citizen presented information to the council about his house, which has the water shut off at various times as a result of the waterline access to the nearby trailer court facility.  There are one or two trailers without shut off valves in a trailer park, which end up affecting residences outside the park when the water is shut off for repairs.  The city doesn’t own or maintain any part of the trailer court, but Chief Dan Squires and Councilman Ryan Carpenter discussed the possibility of putting a valve in a location where water could be shut off separately between the properties.  The citizen wanted some advisement on when this might happen, and the council conveyed to him that they would in direct communication, and should resolve the problem as quickly as possible.

Marshe, LLC annexation Final decision/Zoning Amendment

The property under discussion was seeking annexation into the city.  The city’s agreement with West End Water users Association was discussed, as the property is near the area where that agreement is in place.  Two properties are involved in the discussion—one is in the city, and one is in the impact zone.

The parcel in the city limits was under request for a rezone.  The property in the impact zone was seeking annexation and then a rezone.  It is currently zoned R2 in the county, but that designation is not the same as the city.  City PZ recommended accepting it as C1, which would create an R2 island in the middle of the broader area.  There is an unwritten policy of avoiding spot zones, but the owners of the resulting spot zoned island are not in the country at present.  There are fewer conditional uses for C2, rather than C1.

The council discussed the differences between the various zones that might be possible.  Commercial 1 and 2 cover a number of commercial applications, though they vary in the number of allowable uses and Conditional Uses that must be applied for.  Travel trailer parks, for instance, are allowed under C2, but not C1.

“It bumps up against issues we tried to avoid for years.  It’s been something that we tried to eliminate or avoid,” Council President Mitch Hart said, referring to spot zoning.  “I’m inclined to cave and be a nice guy.  But every time we do that we create problems.”  

The owners of the property would like it to be a C2, and they are not interested in a trailer park or other conditional uses.  The owners “are aware that it is basically the gateway to the city, and we have no intention in putting in an RV park or selling to anyone who does.  We have been renovating the Brigham Young lodge for 6 years to try to make it less of an eyesore.  The goal is to put something there that will benefit the city.”

A motion to redesignate the two parcels as C1, and annex the second parcel from the county resulted in an unusual outcome.  Councilman Rod Worthington voted nay on the rezone, which resulted in a tie that the mayor had to break.  Mayor Austin Robinson also voted nay, on the basis of avoiding mixed zoning.  The motion to annex was discussed as potentially being linked to C2 rather than C1.  This would be a “material change” to PZ’s recommendation, which would require a new hearing.  

Council then discussed whether to try a different motion, or provide some way for the homeowners to get what they want out of it.  If they don’t annex, the zoning should resort to the county designation.  There is no agreement with the county to maintain zoning. 

“I too feel that the C2 is probably a more appropriate route,” councilman Gritton stated, and President Hart agreed that “it doesn’t handcuff us much.”  

A motion to modify the second parcel’s application to reflect C2, rather than C1 was passed.  “We’re going to get there, but it’s going to be a bit awkward,” President Hart said. Since it doesn’t have to go back to PZ, it will be the first council meeting on December 3.

Alan Skinner—City Projects

The bore is done on Main Street and the stuff repaired.  What’s left is to dig to the north.  From the south side to the vault a pipe will need to be put through.  

On 2nd E, the work will be deferred until February.  

The council discussed a future Hydro-X purchase.  The truck unit is estimated at $600K if ordered before the end of the year, and the cost is expected to rise.  President Hart suggested that it can be allocated 60% from sewer, some from water, and from streets.  This is based on the amount of use each sector would see from it.  3 years of projects are laid out in the plan.  The truck won’t be ready until 2027.

Hart encouraged the council and crew to think about future projects that would be good for general fund expenses.  There are currently several million dollars in the bank, but Hart stressed that something like a power transformer blow out would be over a million easily.  There are plans to update and upgrade infrastructure that could need that money.  An estimated transmission line from Ledge Creek would be $2-3 million, though it depends on what is under the ground.  A hoped for $9 million in grants did not materialize this year, due to disruption in the federal granting process.   

After the discussion, a motion to authorize Chief Squires to order the Hydro-X before the bid expires was approved.  “It will give us a lot of longevity and do what we need it to.”

Leases for the Industrial Park were discussed.  Through the county assessor, each lot is assessed a value, and then 3.5% of the assessed value becomes the lease rate, with a surcharge added to those with highway frontage.  The assessed values of the lots are not current.  Assessor Aaron Cook doesn’t have data of parallel sales to evaluate the value from.  The lease rates are artificially low at the moment, with Hart noting that they were also “wonky.”  There is a wide range of valuations, which creates a situation where the lease rates are in a huge range.  An average dollar per acre lease rate would be a 13% or so increase in lease rates, but it would overall be more equal.  Hart suggested that rather than the current lease formula, they should just set it on a dollar per acre basis.  “To put things in perspective, Hooper School has gone through a number of iterations of appraisals, those 6.5 acres are $60K/acre. I invite you to look into this or we’ll get nowhere,” Hart advised.

Speaking of trail projets, Skinner noted that there are currently two sand piles ready to go.  Sand on Bailey Creek road.  2500 or 400 has already been hauled.  The sand needed will be on hand very soon. The city property along Bailey Creek will be opened soon.  Degerstrom will be ready to work on the trail, as long as the city provides fuel.  The sand should be hauled within the next two weeks.  $55K of sand will be reimbursed by the grant.  County Commissioner Bryce Somsen was at the meeting, and said that the county was all in for the trail.  

2nd S. Hwy 30 project will go out for bid in early Nov.  Tigert has been contacted about a citizen input meeting in December or January.  The city will be a part of it, but it will really be the state’s meeting.  Construction will likely start in the spring time.  

Dept Heads

Recreation

Recreation director Jessica Thurman advised that a setup event for Friday November 14 at 5pm for the ice rink is loosely scheduled.  Volunteers will help install the new ice rink at Kelly Park.  “You have to actually help if you want pizza,” Thurman said.

Craig’s Backhoe dropped off a couple of porta potties.  They will be maintaining them 2-3 times a month.  Sanding, painting tables and shack will be done once they find a time.

Basketball is open for registration, and a lot of referees have signed up.  “We are getting a lot of comments about getting a positive rep for the dept,” Thurman said.  

Thurman mentioned plans for a winter festival.  She would like to bring back snow sculptures lining the park, and possibly the fishing pond.  

Elsewhere in town, the sled hill will be set up too.  Councilman Carpenter suggested that the city departments should participate in the snow carving event.  Thurman would like to use Hooper, Kelly, City Park for winter activities.

Carpenter updated the council on the pickleball park.  They did get one grant, but it was only enough to resurface the basketball court.  Laura Lind will be bringing that to the council.   

SSPD

Chief of Police Cejay Golightly stated that,  “We’ve got a lot of good things going on.”  An Animal Control for the city.

Golightly thanked citizens for their alertness.  The city has had a few vehicle burglaries where cars have been broken into lately, but there was an arrest Wednesday morning.  People called in and provided video.  “I would assume statistically there are more than the people who called in. We don’t know what’s happening if you don’t call us.  We do have guys that will respond if they aren’t tied up with other things.”

The Chief reported some issues with curfew. CJ is asking that the city get going on the ordinances to clarify curfew and other issues.  

Dan Squires—Fire, Wastewater Treatment

City Fire assisted the county with an abandoned campfire. 

Squires reported a number of equipment breakdowns at the Wastewater Treatment Plant. Everything is back up and running now.  

Jeff Young—City Services

Winter Parking ordinance means that cars need to be moved until March/April to allow room for snowplows.  

Young would like to take the sweeper to SLC to get it up and running.  

Misc

 Councilman Rod Worthington took the opportunity to state, “I would just like to say that the elections went well.  I appreciate Alana Burns, the Rotary club, and everyone who put in effort.  I just wanted to say there were a lot of folks out there that worked really hard.  There were a lot of signs out there.  I just wanted to congratulate those who won. Congratulations, it was great.”

Councilman Paul Gritton added, “Through the efforts of all those you mentioned, it is my understanding there were sig more numbers cast.  Kudos to voters for turning out.”

“Good job, Soda Springs!” President Hart said.