ST. GEORGE — The Washington City Council covered a variety of issues Wednesday that went from banning future storage unit projects to industrial zones and regulating loud, disruptive noises coming from construction sites to signing a 25-year deal for electricity from a solar plant project.
No more storage units in commercial zones
“We have a limit of good commercial space in our area,” City Manager Jeremy Redd said during the council meeting. “We’ve seen some good commercial space taken up by storage units.”
The ordinance passed by the City Council on Wednesday relegates future storage unit projects to areas with industrial zoning. A reason Redd gave for this is that storage facilities do not provide the same economic benefit to the city as commercial businesses do. City officials would rather see a business that creates a steady amount of sales tax revenue in a prime commercial spot verses the alternative.
“The biggest issue is revenue,” Redd said.
However, storage units may still be able to come in under particular circumstances, such as when it is a part of a planned unit development, or PUD, which allows the city a large measure of control over how a development may be built and look.
The ordinance only impacts future storage unit projects and not those already in business or in the process of being built.
No singing construction workers before 6 a.m.
The council also passed an ordinance regulating the amount of noise created by construction and development activities.
“Regulation of construction noise has been discussed by the City for years,” according to council briefing document from City Attorney Thad Seegmiller. “Recent citizen complaints and Police Department response commenced a renewed discussion among staff.”
According to the new ordinance, it is unlawful for anyone to engage in construction-related activities between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. that may “disturb the peace or quiet of any neighborhood by making, continuing, or causing to be made or continued, any loud, unnecessary or unusual noise, or any noise which annoys, disturbs, injures or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace or safety of others within the limits of the city.”
This includes noise attributed to the arrival of workers to the job site. This also covers any loud talking, laughing, singing from the workers, as well as loud music.
“Can I tell you my favorite part of this ordinance? I like the part where we’re prohibiting the construction workers from singing before 6 a.m.,” Councilman Bret Henderson joked. “I’ve heard a lot of construction workers singing in my day, and it’s rough.”
However, under the new ordinance, pouring concrete can be done between 3 and 6 a.m. from April through October.
Other exemptions can be made related to emergencies or if observance of the ordnance causes “extreme hardship” in some way.
Violations of the ordinance may result in a class B misdemeanor and associated fines.
Solar power
As a part of a goal to seek out new energy sources to city residents for a decent price, the Washington City Council approved a 25-year deal through the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, or UAMPS.
The contract with UAMPS provides the city with 5,747 kilowatts at a locked-in rate of $31.35 per megawatt hour for the next 25 years. The electricity is coming from the Solar Steel 1B project located near Plymouth, Utah.
“This will provide a lower cost (for power) when output is available,” Rick Hansen, the city’s power director told the City Council. “The need for this resource is definitely there.”
The solar plant is projected to come online by June 2023.
Other business
In other business, the City Council honored Washington City’s first responders with a proclamation similar to one recently passed by the Washington County Commission last week.
During the council work meeting – held prior to the regular meeting at 6 p.m. – the council also discussed the potential renaming of 3650 South with a name that would extend to 1450 South in St. George, giving that stretch of road a single name overall.
While the City Council liked the proposal name of “George Washington Boulevard,” Washington City Mayor Kress Staheli said it has yet to be discussed and decided on by the St. George City Council.
The Council also discussed participating in the fine-tuning of a proposed bill from Sen. Mike Lee that would provide a way for municipalities to buy federal land for the purpose of building affordable homes. Federal public lands with special designations, such as protected wilderness or national monuments, would not be accessible under the bill.
The bill is still in the preliminary stages and has not been introduced to Congress.
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