Midvale City Newsletter | October 2022

In The Middle of Everything MIDVALE CITY DIRECTORY City Hall Finance/Utilities Court City Attorney’s Office City Recorder/Human Resources Community Development Public Works Ace Disposal/Recycling Midvale Historical Museum Midvale Senior Center SL County Animal Services Police Dispatch Unified Fire Authority Fire Dispatch Communications

801-567-7200 801-567-7200 801-567-7265 801-567-7250 801-567-7228 801-567-7211 801-567-7235 801-363-9995 801-567-7285 385-468-3350 385-468-7387 801-743-7000 801-743-7200 801-840-4000 801-567-7230

MIDVALE CITY ELECTED OFFICIALS MAYOR Marcus Stevenson 801-567-7204 Email: mstevenson@midvale.com CITY COUNCIL District 1 - Quinn Sperry Email: qsperry@midvale.com District 2 - Paul Glover Email: pglover@midvale.com District 3 - Heidi Robinson Email: Hrobinson@midvale.com District 4 - Bryant Brown Email: bbrown@midvale.com District 5 - Dustin Gettel Email: dgettel@midvale.com Water Bills Ordering A New Trash Can Reserving the Bowery Permits GRAMA requests Court Paying For Traffic School Business Licensing Property Questions Cemetery Water Line Breaks Planning and Zoning Code Enforcement Building inspections Graffiti

801-567-7200 801-567-7202 801-567-7202 801-567-7212 801-567-7207 801-567-7265 801-567-7202 801-567-7213 801-567-7246 801-567-7235 801-256-2575 801-567-7231 801-567-7208 801-567-7228 385-468-9769

EMERGENCY OR DISASTER CONTACT Public Works Fire Dispatch – Unified Fire Authority Midvale Police Precinct or Police Dispatch Unified Police Department EMERGENCY

City Hall – 7505 South Holden Street • Midvale, UT 84047

CITY NEWSLETTER

Marcus’s Message

By Mayor Marcus Stevenson

Let’s talk about everyone’s favorite challenge our city is facing – growth. Over the last ten years, from the 2010 census to the 2020 census, Midvale’s population grew nearly 29%, while our State’s total population grew over 18% - the fastest growth rate in the country.

This rapid increase provides incredible new opportunities for our city, but also many challenges. In this month’s message I hope to shed some light on why we are experiencing so much growth, the new challenges we are facing with growth, and the opportunities that come with growth.

WHY MIDVALE IS GROWING

Though many potential answers exist to the exact reasons why we’re growing – our economy, cheaper housing prices, our centralized location in the Salt Lake Valley, etc. – when we look at the most recent census data, we see two clear contributions to our growth across the State: Utah has a higher rate of current residents who were born in Utah, and Utah has a larger average household size.

When reviewing census data, looking at those who were born in Utah and still live here, we are currently at 62% of residents. To put that into perspective, 58% of Americans still live in the state they were born in, and when looking at the Western United States, that number drops to 47%. Further, when we look at the average household size, Utah comes in at 3.1 persons, whereas the United States average, and the Western United States average are both 2.6 persons per household. Simply put, here in Utah, we have larger families, and our kids want to stay here.

UTAH’S HOUSING SHORTAGE & THE LEGISLATURE

WHO TO CALL FOR…

801-567-7235 801-840-4000 385-468-9350 801-743-7000

911

OCTOBER 2022

With this intersection of more original Utahns and larger families, plus seeing an influx of non-Utahns wanting to move here, our home prices have skyrocketed. In fact, according to research that was released in July of this year and conducted by James Wood, in conjunction with the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, Utah is currently short 31,000 housing units.

Even with our State’s recent growth, the median sale price of an existing home increased by 85% from 2017 to 2022 – almost doubling in the span of just five years. This increase means that Salt Lake County residents now need to make $116,000 per year to afford a median-priced home.

Although the data is currently limited because it’s happening right now in real time, homeless families are on the rise. This unfortunate trend is happening across the country, and the basic belief as to why is that low-income families can’t afford the increasing rent and are being entirely priced out of the market and ending up on the streets. It’s important to keep this in mind as both the State Legislature and our City make decisions around new developments and rezoning.

To address our housing shortage statewide and try to bring down housing prices, the Utah State Legislature has stepped in to force the hand of cities to build more housing more quickly. Just earlier this year, the State passed a law that requires cities to plan for the development of low- and moderate-income housing citywide, as well as multi-family, high-density housing in a 0.5-mile radius around fixed-rail stations. As a roughly 6-square mile city,

implementing plans with a 1-mile diameter around each of our three Trax stations, will significantly affect our community.

Further, while the State has forced municipalities to take certain actions to grow, they’ve also outlawed other abilities to keep rents low, such as rent control efforts. Currently, no county, city, or town may enact any law that would control rents or fees on private residential property without direct approval from the State. These restrictions really mean that to bring down housing prices, the State of Utah gives municipalities one true option – grow.

THE CHALLENGES WITH NEW GROWTH

With any change comes new challenges. Arguably, the biggest negative affect our residents feel with new growth is road congestion and street parking issues. There are many potential ways to help address having more cars on our roads and Midvale City continues to take steps in addressing these concerns. First, we are working to implement an active transportation plan that will bring more bike lanes, trails, and encourage the use of public transit. It may seem simple, but the more people we have using other forms of transit, the less cars we have on our roads. Secondly, we are in the process of two different studies: a State Street corridor study and a canal trail study. Though both are largely in the beginning phases, these will create the roadmap for the city to form a more pedestrian-friendly community that slows down cars, adds more green spaces, and encourages the use of active transportation. Finally, our city is pushing new developments to be mixed-use, having ground level commercial space with upper residential space. These mixed-use projects help ensure that the individuals living in them, along with surrounding neighborhoods, can be less reliant on cars while still being able to accomplish basic day-to-day errands.

Like road congestion, our city often hears concerns over street parking issues. Because of these concerns, a few months ago, our city council voted to implement a law to require that any new residential development has the parking included with the price of rent or lease. This route was taken because, for the most part, we feel that our parking stall requirements for medium to high density projects is generous towards cars, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that every parking space is being used when a landlord is requiring an extra cost for the parking space. While we hope that this change helps to reduce future street parking issues, it’s important to keep in mind that these are private businesses who are making money. While we can require they include parking in the rent or lease, it does not mean the business owner will lose money from parking fees, as they’ll likely roll that cost into the price of the unit, making them more expensive than they would be otherwise.

The Opportunities with New Growth Clearly, growth comes with growing pains, but it also comes with new opportunities that our city hasn’t seen before. These opportunities are both big and small, but all together hopefully we can fully capture the positive side of this complicated issue.

Firstly, while more growth may mean more cars, it can also mean safer roads for our residents. I know that sounds contradictory, but more cars driving or parking on our roads, means they’ll be going slower, which is safer for pedestrians. Here’s an extreme example to try and paint a picture of what I mean: if you had to

MAYOR’S MESSAGE CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

In The Middle of Everything 2nd Annual Midvale Main Street Car Show benefiting Utah Food Bank HOSTED BY MIDVALE CITY JOINS ROCKIN HOTROD PRODUCTIONS AND COTTONWOOD INSURANCE We are revving up for the 2nd Annual Midvale Main Street Car Show which will be held on Friday, October 7, 2022, from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The perfect blend of old school traditions and new school trends, with more than 150 hot rods, customs, muscle cars, trucks, and classics, the car show will take place on Midvale’s historic Main Street between 6th Avenue and Center Street.

Everyone is welcome to attend this free, family-friendly event. Visit Main Street shops and the small business pop-up marketplace, explore more than 20 recently curated murals, enjoy local eats from food trucks and restaurants, dance to the music, and take some selfies with Utah’s hottest rides.

All proceeds from the event will benefit the Utah Food Bank. Vendors, sponsors, participants, and attendees are encouraged to donate canned goods for the event. Attendees will receive one raffle ticket per canned food item.

Vendors, sponsors, and classic vehicle owners are encouraged to participate. Contact Travis Peterson at 801-651-7784 or midvalemainstreetcarshow@gmail.com.

MAYOR’S MESSAGE CONTINUED walk along the freeway, would you prefer that the cars were going 65 MPH+ or that they were in stop-and-go traffic? As drivers, we want to go fast, but as pedestrians, that creates a very unsafe environment for us. Taking this concept to our neighborhood streets, we often feel that because people may speed in our neighborhood now, a new development is only going to increase the number of speeders. However, if a new development brings more cars and therefore more cars parking on the street, it should slow down the speed of drivers, as they’ll need to drive more carefully, making the street safer than it was before. The narrower a street is, the slower people will drive, and the safer the street will be.

Secondly, new growth means more support for businesses, especially local ones. We all know we have some incredible small businesses located in our city, but growth can really help them better compete with larger companies. If a population is stagnant or shrinking, then a small business must compete with the larger businesses for their customers. However, with a growing population, it helps put small businesses on a more even playing field, as both the large and small business are competing for new potential customers.

Lastly, more growth means more dollars invested into our community. This means, as we grow, the larger and more expensive projects get closer to becoming a reality. I’ve heard time and time again, the request for a community swimming pool or a new recreation center, but the prohibitive cost has created a challenge for our city to figure out how to provide this amenity. Though either a community pool or recreation center would still be incredibly challenging for our city to provide on its own, the more residents and businesses that are sharing that cost burden, means that the cost will be significantly less impactful to each individual or business. As a community, if we want new amenities like this, continued growth is going to be one of our biggest supporters in getting there.

Ultimately, I know that this is a sensitive subject, but I feel it’s important to provide context to help create understanding, even when I know that frustration exists. As our community continues to evolve, I hope that our residents get involved and provide feedback – we truly do want your input so we can continue to grow responsibly and with support from our community.

WWW . MIDVALECITY . ORG Trick or Treat on Main Street Looking for a safe and fun place to take the kids Trick or Treating? Look no further than Midvale’s historic Main Street. Midvale City, the Redevelopment Agency of Midvale City, and the Main Street Business Alliance will host Trick or Treat on Main Street on Saturday, October 29, 2022, from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. The free event features Main Street businesses who will happily fill your little ones’ bags with various goodies.

The Busking Bus Theatre Company is coming to Main Street to entertain you and your little monsters, ghouls, and princesses with their busking style variety show! Enjoy the PG-rated content, from magicians and jugglers to cello loop artists and street performers -- there’s something for everyone on Main Street.

Stroll along Main Street while you grab a bite to eat from food trucks and restaurants, then stop by Carnival Row. Free carnival games like Matching Ducks, Football Throw, Plinko, and Bottle Ring Toss are sure to burn off the extra calories and excessive energy.

Get inspired by more than 20 recently curated Main Street murals. Then encourage your kids to contribute to the city’s safety and walkability, as well as its Main Street revitalization, by participating in the crosswalk painting project sponsored by the Salt Lake County Health Department. This exciting project engages our youth by getting them involved in the community while highlighting pedestrian safety.

Visit www.EngageMidvale.com for more details about the event and Main Street revitalization efforts.

OCTOBER 2022 CITY NEWSLETTER WWW . MIDVALECITY . ORG

Let’s Get Leashed!

Salt Lake County Animal Services Fall is here and it’s time for you and your pup to roam the neighborhood, the parks, and the trails. Before you bound out of the house grab a leash and those poop bags.

LEASH LAWS Many violators of this ordinance will claim that their pet is friendly, or less aggressive when on leash. But Salt Lake County Animal Services would remind you not everyone likes a “friendly” off-leash dog, nor do other dogs that are on leash. A leash is not an optional accessory, it’s the LAW to wear one. If you and your dog are caught being off-leash, and it’s not a designated off-leash dog park, you will get a ticket and will pay a fine.

PACK OUT THE POO It’s the law to clean up after your dog, if you get caught not picking up their poop, expect to pay a fine. This is another public nuisance violation. Be a considerate neighbor or hiker and carry poop bags to clean-up after your dog when they defecate out on an adventure, whether it’s in the neighborhood or on a busy hiking trail, you must pick it up.

THE LAWS Curious about the ordinances in your city or township? Check out AdoptUtahPets.com and visit our “Laws” section to look up the ordinances in your area. Need to contact an officer? Call dispatch at 801-840-4000.

Fall Leaf Cleanup Program

The new Fall Leaf Cleanup Program is available to all Midvale City residents who currently receive City garbage service.

Fallen leaves are loaded with natural fertilizer, which can cause water pollution that harms people and animals. Leaves that are left near the side of the road can also cause flooding when they block storm drains and waterways. It's very important to collect fallen leaves. Therefore, Midvale City is offering a new Fall Leaf Cleanup Program.

Curbside Bulky Waste 2022 Fall

The curbside bulky waste program is available to all Midvale City residents who currently receive City garbage service.

Curbside pick up will be provided for approved items that are boxed, bundled or bagged. The intent of this program is to reduce pollution in our streams, rivers and lakes and to keep our City clean. When utilizing curbside collection, residents are reminded that hazardous materials such as oil, batteries, paint, tires and other pollutants will not be collected.

Please follow your regularly scheduled garbage pick up day listed below to determine when your Curbside Bulky Waste pick up day is scheduled. Comply with the Bulky Waste Pick Up Guidelines (listed on back).

If you don't comply with these important guidelines your items will not be picked up.

Starting October 1 through November 23, free leaf bags will be available at Midvale City Hall Community Development Department, 7505 S Holden Street, 2nd floor (while supplies last).

In early November, Midvale City will provide dumpsters at Midvale City Park and Adams Park for residents to drop off full leaf bags. Exact dates will be posted on the city's website (MidvaleCity.org).

The dumpsters are for bagged leaves only! Tree limbs and other yard debris will not be accepted.

Residents must NOT place bagged leaves curbside for pick up. Leaf bags will NOT be collected by Ace Recycling and Disposal.

Help prevent stormwater pollution. Do not blow leaves or grass into the street, where they’ll be carried to the storm drain.

For more information, visit www.MidvaleCity.org or call 801-567-7235

Help prevent stormwater pollution.

Do not obstruct sidewalks, gutters, or storm drain inlets.

Properly prepared items may be placed curbside up to one week prior to the scheduled pick up dates, no later than 6:30 a.m. on the scheduled Curbside Bulky Waste pick up day. Items placed at the curb must not obstruct sidewalks, gutters, storm drain inlets, water meters, or the free movement of traffic.

For more information, visit www.MidvaleCity.org/BulkyWaste or call 801-567-7235