City Council · 2017-10-18

OREMCITYCOUNCIL/VINEYARDCITYCOUNCIL
SPECIALJOINTMEETING
56 North State, Orem, Utah
October 18, 2017
This meeting was for discussion purposes only. No official action was taken.
CONDUCTING Mayor Richard F. Brunst
Council members Debby Lauret, Sam Lentz, Tom
OREMELECTED OFFICIALS
Macdonald, and Brent Sumner
OREMSTAFF Jamie Davison, City Manager; Brenn Bybee,
Assistant City Manager; Steven Downs, Deputy
City Manager; Karl Hirst, Recreation Department
Head; Scott Gurney, Fire Chief; Paul Goodrich,
Transportation Engineer; Kirby Snideman, Long
Range Planner; and Jackie Lambert, Deputy City
Recorder
VINEYARDELECTEDOFFICIALS Mayor Randy Farnworth; Council members Tyce
FlakeandJulieFullmer
Jacob McHargue, City Manager; Morgan Brim,
VINEYARDSTAFF
Planning Director; George Reid, Building Official
George Reid; Don Overson, Public Works Director;
Chris Judd, Planning Commission Chair; and Bryce
Brady, Planning Commission
INVOCATION Council member Debby Lauret
Mayor Brunst called the meeting to order at 12:01 p.m.
Mayor Brunst welcomed those in attendance and asked the representatives from each city to
introduce themselves.
Items of Common Interest
DISCUSSION -Happening in Vineyard
At the request of Mayor Brunst, Mayor Farnworth gave a brief report of the state of Vineyard.
He said they had reached a little over 10,0o0 residents, with new developments coming along
around the Megaplex movie theater and an area off 800 North and Geneva Road. The growth in
the area was phenomenal. Mayor Farnworth said that Vineyard had submitted an application to
be the site for an Amazon campus. He said some were calling it a publicity stunt, but they felt
that Vineyard's situation of having raw ground and good resources and amenities close by made
them as good an option as any other proposed location.
Joint Orem City Council/Vineyard Town Council Meeting Minutes - October 18, 2017 (p.1)


Mr. Macdonald asked what process they had used to submit that application. The response was
that the applicationwassubmitted throughEDC Utah.
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acre park built in the coming year, as well as a splash pad. They also hoped to have the new
Vineyard office building completed by the beginning of the new year. They continued to work
on a Transportation Master Plan, but some of their opportunities for growth were being held up
by some contractual obligations. The hope was to work to loosen some of those obligations and
work to improve the transportation grid in Vineyard, including a connector road, an overpass to
the UVU area, and train station parking lot. The overpass was the top priority at the moment and
was 90 percent designed.
Mayor Brunst asked about the costs on that project. Mr. Overson said the cost was about $10
Mayor Brunst asked about the nitrogen plant, and its future. Mayor Farnworth said it had been
sold to a new owner, and they were in the process of determining whether to use the building as a
nitrogen plant. If not, they would likely repurpose the building, but it was too early to say what
would happenwith it.
In response to a question about how many units in Vineyard came online from year to year, Mr.
S i     a s   s e    s 
approved so far, and 2017 was on track to do the same as the previous year.
Mayor Brunst asked if there were any plans for a large grocery store in Vineyard. They said they
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Vineyard, but the main issue of concern was that the infrastructure was not there. Wal-Mart had
s p     n p s e  pn
DISCUSSION-Happening in Orem
Mayor Brunst gave a brief report on the state of Orem. There was a lot happening in Orem, from
businesses to arts and recreation. The University Mall continued to expand with Al's Sporting
Goods and rearranging where the Wells Fargo and Big O Tires businesses were. He said there
were 103 new businesses either moving in or announced during the past year, including Trader
Joe's. Mrs. Fullmer said she was very excited for a Trader Joe's to be so close, that she would
happily drive to Orem to go there. Mayor Brunst said Vineyard residents were welcome to come
to Orem any time they wanted, to shop, eat, or to use the City's amenities like the library and the
recreationcenter.
Mayor Brunst continued, saying there were more residential units that would be built as well as a
new hotel near University Parkway. He said that Orem had built three new parks in the last year
- the All-Together Playground, the Orem Bark Park, and the splash pad at Palisade Park. They
   d a          g
another new park for bike skills was planned up near Timpanogos Park. He said mass transit
continued to be a big issue. A walking bridge connecting student housing to the UVU campus
would be a huge help for safety and decreased traffic. Mayor Brunst said the Bus Rapid Transit
Joint Orem City Council/Vincyard Town Council Meeting Minutes-October18,2017(p.2)


(BRT) system was moving forward, with 50 percent of the construction completed and 11 of the
buses already here and ready for use. He said that the project would likely be ready to go at the
beginning of the year 2019. There had been some complaints about the removal of some of the
landscaping along the Parkway corridor, but the planned landscaping that would be planted
wouldmakethedriveevenmorebeautiful.
Mayor Farnworth added that he had heard complaints like those from residents while they were
in the middle of a project; they just needed to step back and try to see the whole picture.
DISCUSSION -Fire Services
Mr. Davidson said there was an issue he wanted to mention with the fire services Orem provided
in Vineyard. With so much construction going on in Vineyard, there were lots of dumpsters that
often jutted out into the roadways. This made things difficult for the fire engines to get around in
response to emergency calls. Access was a major issue.
Mr. Reid said they were aware of this problem, and that those dumpsters were not supposed to be
in the street for this exact reason. Chief Gurney said his personnel regularly checked the area for
obstructions and other issues. The health and safety of the community depended on whether or
not they had proper access.
Mr. McHargue said Vineyard currently had nearly 3,0o0 ERUs. Many were residential, but there
werecommercialandbusinessERUsaswell.
Mr. Reid took a moment to recognize the exceptional work Orem fire prevention did. About two
weeks ago there was a house fire in Vineyard, and the response time from the OFD was about
two minutes. They were able to get everyone out - including the dog - in about two minutes. The
quick response saved the house, and saved lives.
DISCUSSION - Lakeside Sports Park Parking
Mr. Davidson said Orem had been working with parents who were concerned about the traffic on
400 South; safety of the children walking in the area was important. It was a well-traveled
corridor between an elementary school and the Lakeside Sports Park. They were working to
create better pedestrian access, and after addressing that issue they hoped to address the parking
issues. The hope was to find a solution that was economical and solved the problems of parking
without impacting school safety. He turned the time over to Paul Goodrich, City Transportation
Engineer.
Mr. Goodrich showed a video explaining the concept of reverse angle back-in parking. It was a
new way of approaching angled parking that improved visibility and allowed for more cars to fit
in than parallel parking would. The problem with pull-in angled parking, like the stalls along
Provo's Center Street, was that you would have to back up into a blind area where there was
likely to be traffic. This reverse angle parking required the driver to back in to the parking stall,
so that loading and unloading was done from the safety of the sidewalk and visibility was much
better when pulling into traffic. He said the road was already fairly wide and would lend itself to
Joint Orem City Council/Vineyard Town Council Meeting Minutes - October 18, 2017 (p.3)


try this kind of parking to see if it would help mitigate some of the problems. Another plus was
that it would be a reasonably inexpensive thing to try, as it would only require some simple signs
and striping the road. If they were dissatisfied with that form of parking, they could always
remove the signage and striping and try something else. Mr. Goodrich said he had more
information for anyone interested in learning more.
Mayor Brunst said the idea had potential, but wondered about cars that were traveling westbound
along the road. They would have to stop traffic and reverse into the parking stalls. Mr. Goodrich
said that was something to consider, and it was always tricky trying to get people to learn a new
behavior. Mr. Lentz added that drivers coming from the west would have a harder time seeing
available parking stalls until they had essentially passed them.
Mr. Macdonald asked if there were any examples of this style of parking in Utah. Mr. Goodrich
said on 300 South in Salt Lake City they had this kind of parking, and it had been successful. It
was not in widespread use in Utah, but many other states used this style of parking - especially
in large cities. He said ideally there would be medians that make this kind of parking even easier
for the public to learn, but since it was such an inexpensive option that it was at least worth
exploring.
Mr. Davidson said there were other options being considered, none of which had been presented
to the school board yet. He said they did not anticipate the growth of the elementary school to
slow down, and it might be worth it to the school to also restripe their parking lot to
accommodate reverse angle parking. Mr. Bybee added that it could have a traffic calming effect,
asking drivers to slow down and be extra careful in front of the school.
A Vineyard representative asked about the City's plan to use the property of a home that was
purchased to help with the parking situation by Lakeside. Mr. Davidson said that the project of
converting the property into parking entailed over $1 million of expense. There had been
conversations about Orem and Vineyard working together to develop this project. Right now
there were financial concerns that stopped them, so they were looking at simpler, more cost-
effective solutions. There had been some discussion about using some CARE dollars to
accomplish this, but there was a lot of demand on that funding.
Mr. Hirst added that they had been moving the soccer goals onto that purchased property for
storage, which opened up approximately 30 parking stalls in the parking lot.
Discussion -4o0 South Connectivity
Speaking of 400 South, Mr. Davidson wanted to mention the intersection of 400 South and
Vineyard Road. There was currently only one access to Geneva Road, and an idea Orem had was
considering was putting a roundabout at that spot. He said it was a tough intersection to know
what to do with, because a signal did not seem like the right fit. The overpass would help resolve
the issue, but there would still be a need to restrict turning movements.
Mayor Farnworth said that stacking would probably be an issue, with either restricted turning
movements or a roundabout. Mr. Goodrich said they would do a traffic model before deciding,


and they wanted to look at peak hours for the study. More analysis was needed before making
any kind of final decision.
Mr. Overson knew of an area in Provo that had included a roundabout that they wished they had
not built.
Mr. Davidson said roundabouts had their pros and cons like anything, but something needed to
be different than what was already there. He said it would be beneficial for both Orem and
Vineyard to communicate about shared intersections like this one.
There was subsequent discussion about the traffic along 4oo South and the possibility of
widening the road for more lanes, medians, and the configuration of a roundabout in the area.
Mr. Goodrich said there were lots of options to consider, and joint analysis between Orem and
Vineyard could be beneficial to meeting the needs of each entity. UDOT would also need to be
included in those discussions.
Discussion - "The Wedge"
Mr. Davidson there was an area west of I-15 to Geneva Road referred to as “The Wedge" in
Orem, because of its shape. Last year Orem made an application to the EPA for grant money to
help with the planning of the future of this area. He said they were aware that Vineyard had
developed some extensive master plans on the west side of the Geneva Road corridor, and Orem
was interested in developing our properties into some different uses long-term that would be
complimentary. Both Orem and Vineyard should be part of the discussion, because what
happened to one side was just as important as what happened to the other.
Mr. Snideman said Orem had received $200,000 from the EPA to do an area-wide plan. It was
required to be very focused on brown fields, so it would require supplemental funding to go into
more robust and substantial planning. On reason this area was attractive to the EPA was because
the demand was clearly there. The purpose of the area-wide plan was to streamline what we
would need to do for brown field testing and ultimately remediation. For a property owner in
"the Wedge", it would answer a lot of questions of how to go about this testing, who to contact,
and what funds were available. The funding would not.pay for:any rezoning or transportation of
any kind.
Mr. Snideman continued that the vision for the area was similar to what they had done for
Orem's State Street. The State Street Master Plan helped to preserve the single-family
neighborhoods while identifying key areas of growth at major crossroads in the city. There were
five identified district areas, where they planned to add future density, retail, office space, etc.
that would improve the look and functionality of the corridor while maintaining the
neighborhoods of the city. The hope was to do the same thing for “The Wedge" coordinating
with Vineyard to get input from residents, property owners, realtors, and developers to identify
the best uses of the area. He imagined that Light Industrial/Manufacturing (L1 zoning) would
likely stay the use for that area.
Mr. Davidson said the Geneva corridor was critical to Orem and Vineyard, and they were asking
for Vineyard's support in moving forward with this master plan endeavor.
Joint Orem City Council/Vincyard Town Council Meeting Minutes - October 18, 2017 (p.5)


The general consensus was that this would be a good opportunity to collaborate and make the
Genevacorridormorethanwhatitcurrentlywas.Becauseoftheclosebordersandevenareasof
overlap,thereweremany opportunitiesfor Orem andVineyard towork together to determine the
bestusefortheresidentsofbothcities.
MayorBrunst asked aboutthevisionforGenevaRoadinthefuture.Mr.GoodrichsaidUDOT
was considering many upgrades to Geneva Road, like making it a 6-lane highway with a raised
median.Therewould benewsignals at 400North and1200North.Thefuturelocationof light
railwould alsoplay apart in thefuture of GenevaRoad,whichwould includeraisedmedians
and the possible realignment of certain areas of the road, such as 400 North.He said this would
probably be in the next five to ten years.
Set Date and Time for Next Meeting
The next meeting was scheduled for February 21, 2018, at noon in Vineyard.
Adjournment
Mr.Macdonaldmoved toadjourn themeeting.Mrs.Lauretseconded themotion.Themotion
passed unanimously.
The meeting adjourned 1:12 p.m.
OREM
CITYOF
CORPORATE
SEAL
lomma R. laver
DonnaR.Weaver,CityRecorder
Approved:November14,2017
JointOremCityCouncil/VineyardTownCouncilMectingMinutes-October18,2017（p.6)