The Draper City Council held a study session and business meeting on August 18, 2026, at 1020 E. Pioneer Rd. The study session included a presentation on Great Salt Lake preservation efforts and an overview of the Community Reinvestment Agency (CRA). The business session featured oaths for the Youth Council, public comments, approval of minutes, two public hearings, and adoption of the final budget with a property tax increase.
We have everyone here. We have our presenters here. I'd like to call our study session order. We've got a report tonight from the Great Salt Lake Preserv regarding the Great Salt Lake Preservation efforts. We're going to start with our Jordan Valley Water Conservation District and then we'll talk over here from the Great Salt Lake Commission. So who we got here? Mike, y'all know. Jacob Young. Jacob Young. Jake go ahead and take kick it off. Great. Where's best to bring us down? Well, good evening. Thank you for having us this evening. We're happy to be here. My name is Jacob Young. I'm the new general manager for Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District. So I wanted to come and introduce myself and then I'll introduce the commissioner's office here as well. So I've been in the role just for since January now. And prior to that, I was the deputy general manager with Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District. And am absolutely just honored to serve the community in this capacity. For those that may not be familiar, we Jordan Valley Water is a regional water provider. So we we wholesale water to about 12 cities throughout the Salt Lake Valley service area is about 800,000 people total. And then those cities or like water pro entities like that provide the retail service to residents and businesses throughout the valley. So I'm here tonight to introduce the Great Salt Lake Commissioner's office. One of the roles that we are happy to play with the community or play for the community is somewhat of liaison with uh various state entities, uh the Great Salt Lake Commissioner's office being one of those. And so I meet uh about twice a month with the the commissioner's office collaborating on what uh we can do from the municipal and industrial sector uh of water use uh to help support the lake. And I'm very uh happy to share that because of the conservation that the community is achieving and has achieved over the last several years, uh including Draper City. Uh we are now uh we have dedicated on a temporary basis, uh, we've dedicated 21,000 acre feet per year of water to the Great Salt Lake. Um that number may not mean much uh to you all, but that's about 20% of our deliveries are now to the Great Salt Lake, and that is water that we're holding for future use for to meet the growth and future demand. And we anticipated that we would have needed to develop uh that supply at this point, um, the ability to treat that water. Uh it's water that would otherwise just sit in Utah Lake and evaporate there or get used by other entities that have water rights in Utah Lake. Um, but because we've been able to conserve and not needed to develop that supply, uh we're able to dedicate that to the Great Salt Lake. And it is it's a significant number. It's it ends up being about 30 percent of all of the water uh to this point that's been dedicated to the lake. There's about 70,000 acre feet total that have been dedicated to the lake, uh, and we're 21,000 of that. So um, so thank you to to Draper City for being a part of that. Um I'll just mention uh one more thank you as well to the the community here in Draper. Uh so we're all very well aware that we're in a significant drought right now, uh lowest snowpack ever. Um, and so we uh declared a level two water shortage, a critical water shortage for our service area, asking for a 10% reduction in demands for from the service area as a whole, and uh really happy to share that Draper City uh between WaterPro and Public Works. Um you're right at 11% reduction in demands over last year, so uh we really appreciate that as well from uh from Draper City. So with that, um I will uh turn it over to Aspen uh to talk through some of the Great Salt Lake efforts uh specifically, and I'll be here for questions uh to either Aspen or myself when he's done. Thanks for you. Hello, uh my name's Aspen Johnson. I'm the strategic coordinator for the office of the Great Salt Lake Commissioner. Been with the agency for about two years now. Before that, I was with the Division of Water Rights for a little over five years. So I'm really happy to be able to spend my working time trying to improve conditions on Great Salt Lake in such a crucial and essential part of our state's heritage. That really is unique in the world and uh is really incredibly crucial for um ecological, economic, social, and other reasons. So before I jump in here, my presentation didn't take very much time, but I just wanted to uh echo what Jacob was saying about existing water conservation efforts, those are uh really greatly appreciated, and uh we know that Draybird has been a huge uh contributor in that space, and so from the commissioner's office, thank you for your efforts and efforts there.