Riverton City Council Meeting - March 3, 2026
Riverton City Council Meeting - March 3, 2026
The Riverton City Council met on March 3, 2026, for a work session (4:00 PM) and a regular meeting (7:00 PM) at City Hall. The work session covered the operational budget and debt, as well as an update on the General Plan. The regular meeting included public comments, presentations, a consent calendar, two public hearings, and several action items. Key outcomes included approval of a rezone for townhomes, tabling of a controversial rezone, and approval of an amendment to the Mountain View Village development agreement.
Work Session
- Budget Study Session on Operational Budget and Debt: Nick Geer, Administrative Services Director, reviewed the city's debt obligations, operational expenditures, and proposed changes such as moving animal control to police operations, shifting street lighting costs to road funding, and directly charging city departments for water and sanitation to eliminate non-reciprocal accounting. Council discussed the implications of House Bill 501 on water rates and the need for long-term rate planning. Directors also reviewed department budgets, including increases for litigation, insurance, and IT, and decreases in some areas due to reallocation. Council requested a cost breakdown of printed vs. digital newsletters and recreation calendars for future decisions.
- General Plan Discussion: Jason Lethbridge, Development Services Director, updated the council on the next steps for the General Plan, focusing on broader strategic priorities rather than individual properties. A joint session with the Planning Commission is scheduled for March 17 to identify council priorities.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Jessica (Riverton resident): Expressed concern about the city's collaboration with ICE, stating that the mayor made the decision unilaterally without council vote or public input. She urged the council to ensure future agreements are voted on with public input to build trust.
- Summer Joes (Bluffdale resident): Expressed alarm over ICE activity, describing a video of forceful restraint. She urged the council to terminate the police department's agreement with ICE and remove ICE from the city.
Presentations
- Riverton Choice Awards for Excellence in Education: Councilmembers presented awards to teachers and students from Hidden Valley, Oquirrh Hills, and South Hills Middle Schools for their achievements.
- Mountain West Chamber of Commerce: President Heather Higgins and past chair Gabe Garcia presented the chamber's renewed focus on relationship-driven business-community connections, highlighting signature events (Teacher Appreciation, Scholarship Golf Tournament, Night of Heroes) and a desire to formally partner with the city.
- Riverton Baseball: President Randy Smith reported strong spring registration (754 participants, 79% Riverton residents, 20% increase in recreation division), thanked city staff for partnership, and invited the council to Opening Day on April 11.
Consent Calendar
- Minute Approval: February 17, 2026, minutes were approved unanimously.
Public Hearings & Action Items
- Ordinance No. 26-04 – Priority Builders Rezone: Unanimously approved (4-0) to rezone 0.71 acres at 1758 and 1742 West 11800 South from General Plan designation to High Density Residential and zoning to RM-8-SD (multifamily, up to 8 units per acre, limited to townhomes). The applicant, Scott Yermish, plans to assemble additional lots to develop townhomes matching the surrounding neighborhood.
- Ordinance No. 26-03 – Quinn Rezone: A complex rezone request for 0.97 acres at 1980 West 13400 South to change the General Plan to Medium Density Residential and zone to R-4 (single-family, 4 units per acre). The property currently has split zoning (R3 and R4). Multiple neighbors spoke in opposition, citing concerns about density, private lanes, traffic, and safety. After a 2-2 tie vote (Mayor Buroker broke the tie with a no), the original motion failed. An alternative motion to rezone only a portion failed for lack of a second. The council voted unanimously (4-0) to table the item to the April 7, 2026 meeting.
Discussion/Action Items
- Resolution No. 26-11 – Second Amendment to Mountain View Place Development Agreement: Unanimously approved (4-0) to amend the development agreement, increasing the allowed residential units in the northeast area from 288 to 302. The change does not affect parking or building exterior, as original plans accounted for adequate parking.
- Fencing Ordinance: Tabled without discussion to a future meeting.
- EV Stations Discussion: Postponed as staff requested more time to gather information; item was struck from the agenda.
Key Outcomes
- Approved Ordinance 26-04 (Priority Builders Rezone) unanimously.
- Tabled Ordinance 26-03 (Quinn Rezone) to April 7, 2026, for further discussion.
- Approved Resolution 26-11 (Mountain View Village amendment) unanimously.
- Directed staff to provide a cost breakdown of printed vs. postage for newsletters and recreation calendars.
- Scheduled next work session for March 17, 2026 (caucus night) and next council meeting for April 7, 2026.
Meeting Transcript
Hi. No, through that. I can hear it through the mic. Yeah, I could hear it. It was very light. Hello. Work session. We are ready to start. So let's start. First of all, thank you everyone for being here. Uh Councilmember McDougall is excused for this meeting and for the next. We will start with our budget session, which looks like we only have two items on the agenda, but I have been assured that they will take the entire time. So let's start with Mr. Gear. Ah, so I should preface while you're getting just a little bit ready there. I know you're going to say this, but so he's going to move fairly rapidly, but we do have plenty of time, and there is lots and lots of information. So all your lights are on. If you want to ask questions, please do. Yeah, so it's a quick before we kind of get into debt and operations. Personnel, what's what we talked about last time? Were there any other questions or comments the council thought of that we need to look at or discuss at this time? Okay. And before we actually even get into debt and operations, we wanted to share the update on sales tax. As we talked about when we were doing revenues, I we would provide that update for sales tax as we get it. Our December sales tax came in, which was slightly above our prior year number. Right now we're sitting at about 3.3% over last year, which means that if we keep that trend of 3.3 for the rest of the year above last year, we will actually finish above our budget and have a little bit extra there. So it was a really good December for us that way. So we're really grateful to have that those numbers come back in and us kind of see our trend continue to what we had been seeing for the last few years. Um come up there. So today we're gonna talk about our operational budget and we're gonna talk about debt. And we're we're gonna start with debt. Why we start with debt is obviously it is the fixed part of our operational budget, right? When it comes to things you have to pay first, debt is always paid first. Right, I know. It's crazy thought, right? But same thing with your home, same thing with um how you you you pay for your home, you pay your mortgage, you pay your you know a car payment, whatever that is, debt kind of comes first. And that's kind of where we're gonna begin today. We're gonna walk through each of the different debt service items that we have really briefly. If you have questions about it, stop me. As I said, we're gonna kind of cruise a little fast so we can get through all of it and make sure we have time for the discussion in the areas that council would like to spend time on our 2016 franchise and sales tax bond. Uh, we have our 20 our FY27 impact, our coupon rate, so somewhere between if there's varying every year depending, and it goes between two and five percent. This was a refund of a bond back in 2020 that we issued for some street improvements. We've only got a few more years left on it, but uh at this moment in time, that's kind of what we've got there. Our 2019 franchise sales tax debt as our our FY27 impact. We have our principal and our interest. This is a unique bond. You can see the coupon rate varies from 1.45 to 4%. And if you look at the payment structures, we actually started off high and then we kind of hit this spot where everything dropped. And so our interest rate actually went down. So we're kind of in this weird spot right now with this one where our our interest rate is about two percent.
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