Draper City Council Meeting - May 19, 2026: Budget, Code Rewrite, and Proclamations
Draper City Council Meeting - May 19, 2026
The meeting began with a closed session discussion that was deferred, followed by a presentation on zoning code updates. Later, the regular city council meeting included swearing-in of new firefighters, recognition of outgoing and incoming Miss Draper royalty, a bike month proclamation, a consent calendar, and a public hearing for a restaurant license. The main focus was the presentation and discussion of the tentative budget for fiscal year 2026-2027, which includes a proposed property tax rate increase of 25%.
Consent Calendar
- The consent calendar (Item 7) was approved unanimously (4-0) and included approval of the April 28, 2026 meeting minutes and Resolution 2620 appointing EJ Zhang as City Treasurer. Resolution 2619 was noted as continued.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were made during the public hearing for the full-service restaurant license (Compass Taqueria LLC), and the council approved local consent unanimously (4-0).
Discussion Items
- Code Rewrite (Zoning Districts): Staff presented proposed changes to Chapter 2 zoning districts, including consolidating residential zones, adding a new mixed-residential zone to allow smaller multifamily developments like duplexes, triplexes, cottage courts, and townhomes. Residential infill and affordable home ownership overlays were also discussed. Multiple council members expressed concerns about signaling approval for high-density housing and potential misuse of the new zones. Councilmember Lowry stated, "I'm a little tapped out on high density housing," and Councilmember Tasha noted the need for clear, specific standards to avoid development agreements. The council directed staff to bring back more detailed comparisons and options at the next meeting. The short-term rental ordinance was briefly introduced but postponed for later discussion.
- Budget Presentation (Fiscal Year 2026-2027): The mayor and budget officer presented the tentative budget. The proposed property tax rate increase is from 0.000936 to 0.001170 (25% increase), generating approximately $2,696,000 in additional revenue to address operational costs, public safety needs, and capital equipment. The increase would raise taxes on a median home ($807,000 assessed) by about $103.86 annually ($8.66/month). Without the increase, the city would draw down fund balance by $5.9 million; with it, the drawdown would be $3.2 million. The budget includes funding for three new firefighters (reducing overtime), a part-time code enforcement officer, body cameras with translation features, and a water rate increase of 4.5% passed from Jordan Valley Water District. The mayor emphasized that Draper has had only one property tax increase (2024) in 18 years and that the city remains among the lowest tax rates in Salt Lake County. Council members generally supported the approach as necessary to cover ongoing expenses with ongoing revenue, though some expressed concern about the impact on fixed-income residents. The council noted that this is a draft budget subject to public hearing.
Key Outcomes
- Tentative Budget Approval: The council approved Resolution 2621 (tentative budget), Resolution 2622 (acknowledging disclosure of property tax increase), and Resolution 2623 (scheduling public hearing) all unanimously (4-0). A separate resolution for disposal of surplus personal property (10I) also passed 4-0. The public hearing on the budget is set for June 2, 2026; the truth in taxation hearing is scheduled for August 12, 2026.
- Community Reinvestment Agency (CRA) Budget: The council approved the CRA tentative budget and meeting minutes (2A and 2B) unanimously (4-0), with a public hearing set for June 2, 2026.
- Firefighter Swearing-In: Three new firefighters (Anthony Bauer, Ben Jessup, Mason Rust) were sworn in, along with a promoted paramedic (Austin Cole). The council welcomed them.
- Miss Draper Royalty: Outgoing Miss Draper 2025, Cameron Smart, gave a farewell address and was recognized along with her attendants. The incoming 2026 Miss Draper and attendants (McKell, Kiana Conrad, Anna Reeves) were announced.
- Proclamation: A proclamation declaring May 2026 as Bike Month in Draper City was read and signed by the mayor.
- Oath of Office: EJ Zhang took the oath of office as the new City Treasurer.
- Public Hearing: Local consent was approved for a full-service restaurant license for Compass Taqueria LLC, located at 726 East 1220 South, Suite B.
Meeting Transcript
We're ready to go. All right. We were the first thing we had teed up with the closed session meeting. But we're going to forego that for a minute, right? Are we waiting? We're main issue. The other two items are fairly long. They're still like three. We're kind of in. Well, then maybe we should eat for a minute. How long is far as you have? Well, we could probably pause and let all of one. Yeah, you said what you said is waited to like 540. So it's almost there. It could be. Yeah. Are you all right if we wait for Mr. Barrett sort of starting into the long one and coming back? Are the the other two? Long, long issue. Is everybody good with that? Sure. Then we will uncall the meeting before we're Todd's not. You can uncall some rewrite. So Jen, you're outline. Yeah, so I'm actually have Todd Taylor present this one. But I'll I'll start by saying some of you have been involved with this, Catherine. You haven't. The city has been working with the consultant household of being for the last couple years to do a code rewrite. We have had a couple joint sessions with planning commission to kind of just go over our code, that kind of thing. We are now in the uh deep end with rewriting the code. Um so we're gonna present some changes tonight, but bring it back for you. I think at the next meeting is what we talked about, um, to have a more in-depth discussion on a couple items. Um, and then you'll see additional sections brought to you. We're kind of broken the code up into kind of three or four areas where we can then work and digest. Um we did take this to Planning Commission last week for uh discussion, had a great discussion with them on some of the proposed uh zoning districts. Like I said, we're gonna kind of give more of an overview today, and then um specific uh zones come back to have a more robust discussion. But Todd's gonna go over the changes that we're gonna talk about today. Thanks. So Jen and you can have working on this for a while. Uh project initiation, some community engagement. We had some joint sessions with planning commission and city council. So currently we're sort of in the middle there with the district of use standards. Uh and then we still have some chapters to come. Uh so the first chapter that uh we got and we're presenting is chapter two, which is the basic overlay districts. Uh so we took what was done previously, which was a preliminary recommendations report, where we looked at our code and whereas we can prove. And so in these districts, we're looking at uh screenlining some zones and residential three zones have been consolidated. There's one new zone and commercial zones, 13 zones have been reduced to six for public facility. We were used or we consolidated two of the zones into one. Uh but overall, most of the zones have been carried forward and just uh reorganized.
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