Riverton City Council Meeting - May 6, 2025
Riverton City Council Meeting - May 6, 2025
The Riverton City Council held a work session beginning at 6:02 PM and a regular council meeting beginning at 7:02 PM on May 6, 2025, at Riverton City Hall. Key topics included a discussion on eliminating curbside recycling, a self-hauling sanitation analysis, tentative budget adoption, several public hearings on zoning and development ordinances, and a resolution updating the Riverton Main Park boundary. The meeting adjourned at 9:10 PM.
Consent Calendar
- Approved unanimously: Minutes from April 15, 2025; setting public hearing dates for the FY2025-2026 tentative budget (June 3 and June 17, 2025), municipal fee schedule, compensation for elective/statutory officers, compensation for executive officers and city attorney, the city's intent not to charge itself for utility services, and final amended budget FY2023-2024; and Resolution No. 25-27 approving an interlocal agreement for cyberattack mutual aid.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Abigail Patanai (Parkside resident) expressed ongoing frustration with traffic congestion at 12600 South and 4200 West, citing unsafe driving behaviors and near-collisions.
- Jay Salter opposed a potential fireworks stand on a vacant lot off Christian Way, citing traffic, egress, and property maintenance concerns.
- Gary Exeter questioned crime studies and parking enforcement for temporary commercial uses on residential properties.
- Todd Wartman worried the ordinance would incentivize a property owner to avoid development and continue seasonal sales indefinitely.
- Shawn Taylor supported protecting private property rights as long as neighbors are not negatively impacted.
- Matt York voiced concerns that the DAI storage unit project is a "Trojan horse" for more intensive development after the 15-year development agreement ends, and urged proactive planning for 4000 West traffic.
Discussion Items
- Sanitation Self-Provide and Recycling (Work Session): Mayor Staggs proposed eliminating curbside recycling, citing data from Waste Management showing only about 6% of total waste is actually recycled due to contamination, and that the contract requires a six-month notice (earliest cancellation January 2026). He advocated for a regional recycling model emphasizing aluminum and paper. Councilmember Buroker agreed but stressed the need for a robust communication plan. Councilmember McDougal strongly supported elimination on financial and environmental grounds, noting the landfill captures methane for power. Councilmember McCay opposed elimination, preferring an opt-in/opt-out model after the contract expires in 2028, and noted 72% of residents previously supported recycling. Councilmember Haymond emphasized communication, calling recycling a "deeply ingrained belief system." Councilmember Pierucci raised concern that eliminating recycling while maintaining the same fee is a "hidden fee increase" and suggested exploring a rate reduction. City Manager Kevin Hicks clarified that eliminating recycling would avoid a proposed $2.50 monthly fee increase and delay future increases by about two years, but the city cannot immediately reduce fees due to the six-month notice; the regional recycling option at parks is estimated at $50,000 for half a year. He also presented a self-hauling analysis showing startup costs of about $5.5 million for trucks and facility upgrades, and that current revenue cannot support it without fee increases.
- Budget Discussion (Work Session): The mayor's tentative FY2025-2026 budget totals about $70 million, supports 170 full-time employees, and recommends no increases to property taxes or utility fees. Councilmember McCay proposed adding back funding for the Utah League of Cities and Towns membership ($36,604), but Councilmember McDougal moved to tentatively adopt the budget as presented for further review; the motion passed unanimously.
- Presentations/Recognitions:
- Mayor Staggs proclaimed May 11-17 as National Police Week and May 15 as Peace Officer Memorial Day.
- Councilmember Buroker presented Riverton Choice Awards for Excellence in Education to Rosamond Elementary students Jackson Worthington and Halle Anderson and teacher Bethany Hillary.
- Mayor Staggs recognized Richard Maxfield, a 92-year-old Korean War veteran, who received the Korean Ambassador for Peace Medal.
- Scott Reid, Chair of Riverton Community Arts, presented the annual report, detailing 2024 revenue ($7,500 city contribution, $13,000 rentals, $1,500 donation) and expenses ($20,668), 2025 projections, volunteer engagement (1,900 hours for one arts council show), and wish-list items including a new projection booth and lighting.
- Public Hearing/Action Items:
- Ordinance No. 25-12 (Commercial Architectural Standards): The public hearing was opened with no comments and continued to May 20, 2025, on a motion to table that passed unanimously.
- Ordinance No. 25-14 (Temporary Commercial Uses on Residential Property): After a public hearing and discussion, a substitute motion to adopt the ordinance (allowing temporary uses on vacant residential parcels with direct access to major roads, limited to 60-day permits) passed 4-1 (Councilmember Buroker opposed). Councilmember Pierucci and McDougal supported the ordinance, emphasizing it balances property rights with community input; Councilmember Buroker expressed concerns about enforcement.
- Ordinance No. 25-15 (DAI Development Agreement): The public hearing was opened, then continued to May 20, 2025, after Councilmember McDougal expressed concerns about the 15-year term and post-expiration uses. City Attorney Ryan Carter noted language could be added to treat the storage facility as a legal non-conforming use or restrict CR zoning to storage only. The motion to table passed unanimously.
- Discussion/Action Items:
- Resolution No. 25-28 (Riverton Main Park Boundary): City Attorney Carter clarified the boundary adjustment does not authorize land sales. The resolution passed 4-1 (Councilmember McCay opposed).
- Resolution No. 25-29 (Tentative Budget): Approved unanimously, formally tentatively adopting the FY2025-2026 budget.
Key Outcomes
- Consent Agenda approved unanimously.
- Ordinance No. 25-14 adopted (4-1 vote) to allow temporary commercial uses on vacant residential properties with major roadway access, subject to a 60-day permit and lighting/access standards.
- Ordinance No. 25-12 and Ordinance No. 25-15 tabled to the May 20, 2025 council meeting.
- Resolution No. 25-28 approved (4-1) to formalize the Riverton Main Park perimeter boundary.
- Resolution No. 25-29 approved unanimously to tentatively adopt the FY2025-2026 budget, with further budget discussions scheduled for May 20, June 3, and June 17, 2025.
- Next upcoming meeting: May 20, 2025, at 6:00 PM (Work Session and City Council Meeting).
Meeting Transcript
All right, Council, let's go ahead and start our work session, shall we? We have do we have Andy online? We do. Okay, great. Well, we'll start our work session. All of our elected officials are here, including uh Councilmember Perucci's joined us online. I wanted to uh well we'll start out here with discussion items six A and B. Um I know all of my the mayor's budget's been presented to all of you since last week. I'll take a few moments to kind of go through that, but at the outset here, we wanted to just talk about two things. Uh there was an analysis that was done with respect to self-hauling um with our sanitation that Kevin and staff will go through, but I wanted to kind of level set that conversation too with discussion of recycling because in my proposal as I did last year, um I'm in favor of stopping that practice, and um I know in our contract with waste management requires a six-month notification, so we couldn't technically stop curbside recycling until January. Uh I just put together a couple of slides so you kind of understand my thought process. I didn't do this last year. I think it might be instructive. Um I had actually a resident send this to me, uh, which I found interesting. We can start playing some of it. It's five, six minutes. We don't need to see the whole thing, but uh I can I can share this link with you. But let's let's watch at least the first couple of minutes. Do you recycle? For sure, absolutely. Absolutely, everything I possibly can. For decades we've been told. Don't just recycling will save the planet. You're saving New York. And that's what people believe. We have to do it for the kids for the next generation. This recycling company is run by Lynn Hoffman. If we're not using recycled paper and cardboard, we're cutting down more trees. Recycling paper and cardboard does save trees. Recycling aluminum does save energy. But most of the other stuff is impractical to recycle. That's right. This is material that came in to the recycling facility from people's recycling carts and is gonna leave as trash. Huge amounts of what people send to her recycling plant will never be recycled. The worst is plastic, which for years has been marked with the recycling symbol. We see stuff like this all the time. Recycling arrows on it, please recycle, not recyclable. Even worse, plastic bags clog the recycling machines. But people think most of our plastic is recycled. Yeah, I do think so. Is it not? You're gonna tell me it's not? That's what that's a trick. The reality is that the amount of plastic actually recycled is around five percent. Wow. I figured it was something coming, but I'm I'm I'm shocked right now. I didn't know. It's sad. All my life I've heard about how important it is to recycle. It's not.
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