City Council

Tuesday, December 2,2003
Minutes



ST. GEORGE CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
WORK MEETING
DECEMBER 2, 2003, 5:00 P.M.
CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS

PRESENT:
Mayor Daniel McArthur
Council Member Sharon Isom
Council Member Rod Orton
Council Member Larry Gardner
Council Member Bob Whatcott
Council Member Suzanne Allen
City Manager Gary Esplin
City Attorney Shawn Guzman
City Recorder Gay Cragun

OPENING:
Mayor McArthur called the meeting to order and welcomed all present. The pledge of allegiance was led by Shawn Guzman and Mayor McArthur offered the invocation.

DISCUSSION RE ST. GEORGE BLVD. MEDIANS:
Mayor McArthur advised that UDOT has indicated where there will be medians on the Blvd., but the City Council must decide if it wants to beautify them.

Russell Youd, consultant for UDOT, presented drawings of each block along the Blvd. which identified medians, impacts, u-turns, etc. He advised that UDOT wants to protect signalized intersections and both ends of the Blvd. where there is a lot of traffic and accidents.

Council Member Whatcott commented that UDOT is not requiring continuous medians because the traffic counts are based on today?s traffic flows, but in 20 years there is the potential for a higher volume of traffic.

Mr. Youd replied that he would recommend continuous medians, but UDOT does not want to be heavy-handed and is somewhat reluctant to force continuous medians down the City?s throat.

City Manager Gary Esplin reminded that UDOT is spending its money now, and if medians are put in at a later date, it will be at the City?s expense.

Council Member Gardner commented the City still could come in after the fact and address the matter.

Mr. Youd explained that as a result of the final design, the medians may have to be extended beyond what is currently illustrated because of accident problems with driveways. The project, however, is designed for current traffic flows.

City Manager Gary Esplin inquired what would happen in the future when traffic increases if the City does not install continuous medians now.

Mr. Youd replied that left turns would continue to become more difficult.

Council Member Isom reminded that when the I-15 interchange was constructed through St. George, the City chose not to do the east interchange, and it then had to assess property owners for those improvements after the fact. She commented that if the City is going to have medians, they should be constructed for future traffic flows.

Diane Tew commented that she had no idea some medians were optional, and if the City wants to beautify, it should not be done in the middle of the street. She commented that only the medians required by UDOT should be installed in order to not back-up traffic. She also expressed concern with the potential water use.

Rick Taylor commented that while he was not opposed to medians, the limited turn radius design in some areas will preclude garbage trucks from making turns into driveways. He inquired what safety allowances had been made for trucks to turn in these locations.

Mayor McArthur replied that the City is currently looking at side and back street access, and will continue to do so.

Mr. Youd advised that shoulders are needed for this very issue, but there is no room on St. George Blvd. for shoulders.

Alan Tew commented that he has a full size pick-up and cannot now make a u-turn on the Blvd.

Jim Coleman inquired of Mr. Youd if the model was theoretic or based on statistical results of actual accidents.

Mr. Youd replied that the model is a fact, neither statistical or theoretical.

Mr. Coleman encourage the City Council to look at continuous medians while funding is available from UDOT in order to utilize those fundst for the long term need and benefit of the community and not just immediate need, and from the standpoint of safety and movement of traffic. He stated he would hate to see a lack of consistency throughout the Blvd.

Craig Harding, Public Information Officer for the St. George Police Department, advised that medians would not affect crashes at intersections, but one fourth of all accidents along the Blvd. were directly or indirectly related to people turning left out of or into driveways along the Blvd.

Marc Mortensen, Assistant to the City Manager, advised that he had done additional research on raised medians, and he then read from a text concerning the advantages of continuous raised medians.

Lucia Christensen commented that a majority of members of the Historical Society voted for medians to promote a beautiful walkable community.

Doug Alder commented that the Historical Society feels strongly that at the very least, the two blocks on either side of Main Street should have landscaped medians


Jerry Mack inquired about the timing of stop lights along the Blvd and the radius of u-turns.

City Manager Gary Esplin replied that the lights will coordinate the flow of traffic, and if someone drove a steady 28 mph, they should not have to stop at a light.

Mr. Mack inquired if there would be a protected turn at every stop light.

Mr. Esplin replied that there would be the ability to do this.

Mr. Youd advised that as a result of the traffic volumes, he was going to recommend to UDOT that they put left-turn phasing at every intersection except for 300 West and 400 West. The 300 West and 400 West intersections would be set up to add phasing at a later date when dictated by volume.

Mr. Mack inquired if funding was available for businesses to help them remodel for additional access.

Mr. Esplin replied that the City would try to help wherever it could, but at the present is just trying to identify those potential accesses between businesses. He advised that the matter would be scheduled on Thursday?s agenda for a decision.

ADJOURN TO EXECUTIVE SESSION:
A motion to adjourn to an executive session to discuss litigation issues was made by Council Member Allen and seconded by Council Member Whatcott. Mayor McArthur called for a roll call vote, as follows:

Council Member Allen - aye
Council Member Whatcott - aye
Council Member Isom - aye
Council Member Orton - aye
Council Member Gardner - aye

The vote was unanimous and the motion carried.

RECONVENE AND ADJOURN
A motion to reconvene and adjourn was made by Council Member Allen and seconded by Council Member Orton. Mayor McArthur called for a vote, and all voted aye. The motion carried.


________________________________
Gay Cragun, City Recorder