Soda Springs City Council Highlights March 4
Barry Oats—Parkridge Subdivision update
Mr. Oats spoke to the city council to acquire approval for phase 2 of the building project. Phase 1 involved 6 twin units. The second phase will involve 5 twin home lots, ten homes on each side of the development. This is cut back from 24 to 20, from the original plan. Garages will be made wider, based on the feedback from homeowners, which should match the local housing. The housing was first approved in 2022, and the homes completed in 2023. They have sold for around $250K. With inflation, the cost has increased to $300k. The homes are around 2200 feet. The main floor is 3B 2 bath. A motion to allow the lot number to go from 6 to 5, adjust garage size, maintain 40 width of road, and update the plats for final approval was made. Oats was thanked by Councilman Larsen for bringing more affordable homes to town.
Jim McCulloch—GOAL
The Bailey Creek Bridge River access was the main topic of conversation. Get Out and Live is a local group established by McCulloch, and focused on healthy outdoor living and activities. Member Chris Gonzalez joined him to explain building a dock at a locationnear Bailey Creek Bridge. The estimated cost is around $16k.
At the location that is felt to be the most likely to work, the county has an 80 foot easement, which they have already been notified about interest in. The question of whether the city has access to the location was raised.
Councilman Carpenter asked who the governing body on river access was. It was explained that a permit has to be submitted to the Army Corps, Water Resources, and Dept of Lands, and access is contingent on all three.
GOAL wanted to make the city aware of their interest in the project, and to suggest that they had heard from people who are interested into floating and water sports, so a dock would make it more attractive.
Council President Hart agreed with the location choice, and noted that the county has already agreed to help. “You just have to birddog it and keep it going,” he said. He doesn’t think that city property could provide access.
Austin Robinson—DYW
Austin Robinson, Sr. spoke to the council about the DYW program. “We started it in 85 or 86, and it was Junior Miss,” he said. Robinson noted that while the numbers of participants is down from its earlier peaks, the program is an important source of scholarships and community support for the participants.
Mayor Gritton noted that he has seen a lot of positive impacts from the program.
The city donated $550 to the program to support the Lions club and DYW.
Project Updates
Director of City Services Dan Squires stated that they have received funds from ITD to do the city’s portion of replacement project for the upcoming highway project. ITD will pay contractors directly. The funds for the project that go to the city go to the city strictly for infrastructure replacement. The funds were directed to the city by way of Congressman Simpson’s office. DEQ has said that the funds that were in place for a 2nd south lead pipe replacement project can be moved elsewhere. Those funds are a half million loan, which can be forgiven up to $350K. Where this half million that would be used on the highway could be moved is going to be looked into. “Something to keep on the radar.” The loan is at 1% for 30yrs, at its lowest.
The total price of the project came in below the engineer’s estimate.
The initial start date for the project was 4/6. ITD has said that they can’t do it that soon anymore. Supervisor Squires stated that the end of April or first of May is the most likely starting time. He thinks they are about 45 days away from starting.
Mayor Gritton wanted to acknowledge that the city doesn’t have a lot of information to give out, but they are dedicated to doing so when it is available. “We will keep the public and the council as informed as we can.”
Squires stated that they can’t use ITD funds for anything related to engineering. He is looking into the cost for having an onsite engineer to document “as-builts” and verify that they had “eyes on the project.” ITD does not require anything from the city to verify the work as it goes on. Third parties will be brought in for compaction tests, etc. Squires is looking at an arrangement where they would only pay when they need someone here. They would also be willing to GIS map the city during their downtime from the project. He will bring a proposal to the council. 100 days, the contractor thinks they would need.
March 18 meeting will have the proposal.
On another matter, Director Squires would like to purchase a shipping container and place it at the ice rink at the city park. This would make it so that they could store everything on site, and not have to move it back and forth. The Zamboni, along with all the materials, could be place there 8 or so months a year. “Let’s just keep it out there, safe and secure,” Squires said. The city would have to go through the PZ process, due to ordinances about cargo containers. $4300 is the cost. Trees can be planted around it, and local artists might be able to add that into the beautification project. There are funds available in both the park and the rec funds.
Brownfield Cleanup Alternatives
Sicog received money from the EPA to do Brownfield studies. Phase 1 is assessment, 2 is identification, 3 is an analysis/feasibility study on options for mitigation. There is no cost to the city. It involves outreach, and then Sicog can begin the project. A motion to support for the ABCA at the Enders passed.
Facilities Planning Study
Director Squires explained the facilites planning study to new Councilmembers Daniel Larsen and Paige Byram. The collection system study was done in 2025. In short, the survey found that the city experiences a high level of infiltration of clean water into the wastewater system as a result of leaks. While that doesn’t sound like a bad thing, clean water is harder to process than wastewater, as it requires a certain percentage of the contaminant to be removed, which taxes the system when processing essentially clean water.
This comes on the tail of a recent meeting with Simplot, who indicated that mine employees may begin moving closer to the area, and there may be an influx of people which would stress the system even further.
Business Licenses
The city council has been working on language regarding business license applications. An update to remove provisions for “menageries” and circuses of varying ring numbers continues to be discussed.
Dept Heads
Parks—Jeff Young
Barricades are done. Painted with new reflectors and wood. Beaver issues are affecting some of the city’s water and sewer infrastructure. This has been happening every two months or so.
Oil has been ordered for chip seal. They piggybacked with Bonneville county.
President Hart asked about burnt out lights out on the overpass, and on Hooper by the Forest Service. The crew knows about them and is working on replacing them.
Hope Hansen
Director Hansen reported that there were 46 kids at storytime On Wednesday. 38 in one session.
Construction at the library remodel continues apace.
The walls for the room upstairs are sheetrocked. Electrical will be done soon. Phase 3 will start soon. The cost ended up being to expectation.
The stuffed animal sleepover had 130 or more kids.
Community Gardens will be bringing the freeze drier to the library. You just have to call the library to get on the schedule. It gets long in the fall. They have two now. It’s free to use. They do charge for bags to package and O2 absorbers. “It’s really fun to do,” Hansen said. Golf Night is Monday. They are encouraging people to sign up early, though you don’t have to. Ireland, Point S, Full Draw, FG, Cindy and Drew, Baked Fresh, etc.
No programming during spring break.
Completion date for the const project—around a month.
CJ
Wants to thank school districts for letting the K-9 training go on
Working on getting an exhaust fan put into the evidence room. “It’s been smelling suspicious for about 10 years,” he laughed.
Put graphics on Lt. Hughes’ vehicle, and the Tahoe that’s floating around. Both of them will be up and going. One will be turned into a PIT vehicle. The Explorer will get an added bumper. They practice at the airport. They might be able to partner with regional agency like Preston or Montpelier.
