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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
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City Hall – 7505 South Holden Street • Midvale, UT 84047
CITY NEWSLETTER
Marcus’s Message
By Mayor Marcus Stevenson
If you’ve ever watched a Midvale City Council meeting, you may have noticed that we often end the meeting and then immediately re-start again. That’s because our city council and I not only serve on the council, but also as board members for the Redevelopment Agency of Midvale City. The redevelopment agency (RDA) is a separate legal entity from our city, which overlaps in many ways, but serves the specific purpose of sparking revitalization and development. The State of Utah, with county approval, allows for cities to create these RDA project areas to encourage development in areas where the market has struggled to naturally do so. To help spark development, a project area shifts property taxes from their usual use back into the project area. As an example, on your property taxes, you pay amounts each year to the school district, county, city, public safety, etc., but if you live or own a business in one of our project areas, 60-80% of your property taxes are re-routed and reinvested directly back into the area in which you live or own your business. That property tax is then used to encourage development, revitalization, and support affordable housing initiatives. While most of the re-routed property tax is used for economic development, 20% must be designated for affordable housing, which can be used to help build housing units, support first-time home buyer programs, provide low-interest loans for home improvement projects, and more. Midvale City has three of these project areas: Bingham Junction, Jordan Bluffs, and Main Street.
BINGHAM JUNCTION PROJECT AREA
District 5 - Dustin Gettel Email: dgettel@midvale.com
911 801-840-4000 385-468-9350 801-567-7235 877-508-5088
DECEMBER 2022
to make them functional. So, while the area was remediated, the cost of developing in that area was much more expensive than developing elsewhere, which meant that our city struggled for many years to bring in new growth. When the project area was created, the agreement was that it would collect property taxes for 25 years. It began collecting in 2009, which means in 2034 those property taxes will shift back to their normal uses. This ability to shift property taxes back into itself has meant that the city has been able to support many of the costs that would not take place in normal circumstances and help make development feasible in this area. Today, after just 18 years, we have a bustling Bingham Junction with WinCo, Top Golf, Overstock headquarters, and many other businesses that have helped us reimagine that area, which used to be completely unusable land.
JORDAN BLUFFS PROJECT AREA
The Jordan Bluffs Project Area, which covers most of the southwest of our city, goes from Main Street to the Jordan River at its widest point and Center Street (7800 S) to our southern border at around 8600 S. This project area was also created in 2004 and is largely still in its infancy but is quickly changing. Most notably, the new Zions Bank Technology Center opened in this area earlier this year and in the last couple of years, we have seen many new housing units go up between Main Street and Bingham Junction Blvd. This project area will also last 25 years and was part of the old Sharon Steel site, having gone through the same remediation process as explained above. While a private company currently owns all this land that remains empty, our city is continually working diligently with them to ensure that this last remaining piece of land, of about 200 acres, is something that will truly benefit our community. While we can’t
The Bingham Junction Project Area, which covers most of the northwest of our city, goes from Holden Street to the Jordan River and from about Top Golf to Center Street (7800 S), was created in MAYOR’S MESSAGE CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE 2004 after the old Sharon Steel site had gone through years of environmental remediation. Unfortunately, the steel site used much of the western side of our city, near the Jordan River, as a dumping ground for the tailings left over from steel production. Because of this, the ground soil in that area contains poisonous arsenic. The remediation helped to make that area safe by adding in a waterproof cap on top of the poisoned ground, with clean soil on top of the cap. However, just adding in a cap does not make the tailings beneath stable for development on HAPPY top and a heavy building would sink into that ground, so special techniques must be used when building to avoid this. Further, water and sewer systems cannot be placed into the poisoned From Mayor Marcus Stevenson, Council Members Paul area beneath the cap, which means Glover, Dustin Gettel, Bryant Brown, Heidi Robinson and Quinn Sperry, and the employees at Midvale City systems that usually work because of gravity now need expensive pumps
Holidays!
In The Middle of Everything
WWW . MIDVALECITY . ORG
MAYOR’S MESSAGE CONTINUED force a private company to bring in specific businesses, through our zoning, we can encourage certain types of residential and commercial uses. We hope to see a thriving, walkable community in that area soon. Luckily, some of that has already started with the active installation of a park that lines the Jordan River.
MAIN STREET PROJECT AREA
I often describe Main Street as a “chicken and egg” situation. Because the buildings on Main Street are mostly privately owned, the city cannot force a building owner to invest in a building and bring in a tenant. As the city has worked to get building owners to start investing in the buildings they own, property owners have been hesitant to invest, fearing they will not be able to have a successful business operate out of the building. The city has tried to make the pitch that if building owners start investing, that will bring in more tax dollars for us to be able to use to help revitalize the public side of the street, such as public art, parking, lighting, and more. In short, we’ve waited for building owners to make the street successful, and they’ve waited for us to do the same. Turning Main Street into a project area gives our city the resources to start investing in the street in a significant way, which is why I’m thankful that Salt Lake County agreed to do just that earlier this year. As you’ve likely seen, our city has been pushing the addition of public art, specifically murals, on our historic Main Street, which is being funded through the RDA. Adding in art is a way to help make the street safer and get more visitors onto the street. Outside of art, we are working on increasing the amount of parking, adding in better lighting, and working with businesses to increase usable space. As an example, we recently worked with the building owner where Tres Gatos is located to add an outdoor seating area where a parking spot existed. These types of changes help slow down cars and encourage people to spend more time on Main. In addition to the public side of things, we’ve also created a Main Street small business loan program to help building owners and tenants start the process of revitalizing their own buildings. Recently, through this program, we approved a loan for the Pearl on Main, which is the privately owned historic theater on the street, to help them do needed renovations on both the inside and outside of the building. While this program is already in place, we are actively working on creating another similar program to continue to improve our Main Street that I believe we all want to see be successful.
WRAPPING UP
While the differences between the Redevelopment Agency and Midvale City may be confusing, I hope this explanation helps clarify how and why this redevelopment began in the last several years. It’s also important to note that we feel the gravity of shifting property tax dollars from essential services like public safety and snow removal to redevelopment. That’s why we operate with prudence and transparency to increase the overall tax base through growth and redevelopment. Lastly, while the goal of redevelopment has largely been achieved in Bingham Junction, we still have a long way to go in both the Jordan Bluffs and Main Street project areas. Things are moving in the right direction, but it will still take time to see these areas fully revitalized. In the meantime, I will continue diligently working with private businesses, public partners, and our residents to bring about successful and sustainable development.
LIGHT UP
Main Street Event
Saturday, December 3
AIN STR TRE TRE REET REE TUPMMain LIGHMidvale Street
What better way to get into the holiday spirit than with a stroll down Main Street? Join us as we ring in the holidays at Light Up Main Street on Saturday, December 3, 2022, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Be one of the first to see historic Main Street lit up with holiday lights. Enjoy hot cocoa, get your picture taken with Santa, and shop at the Holiday Market. Gather up your family and friends because this is a holiday event you won’t want to miss!
Saturday DECEMBER 3, 2022 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Midvale's Historic Main Street
6th Ave. to Center St.
Santa Tree Lighting Music Hot Cocoa Holiday Market
www.EngageMidvale.com
The First Picture Theater in Midvale By Bill Miller, Director, Midvale Museum Back in 1906/1907, Midvale’s first picture theater came to town. The original owners were Joseph B. Wright and John Dunn. The theater was located on Main Street right next to where the old Vincent Drug Store is located. It is now a vacant lot. The theater was called the “The Electric Theatre”. The reason for the name was that the projector was electric-powered, prior to this time the projector was hand-cranked. The theater was one of the only electric-powered theatres in the valley. The movies were in black and white with no sound. (Can you imagine, no sound?) The conversations of the actors and actresses were flashed across the. Vivid imagination screen as required of the actors and the viewers. When action was needed when a train wreck or an explosion happened the words BOOM, CRASH, BANG, or other exciting words would flash across the screen. To emphasize the action there was a piano at the front of the stage to enhance the action, for the scenes of horror, suspense, wild action, romance, tenderness, or sadness. The piano player was a very
important part of the movie. Show times were between 1 1/2 and 2 hours. The movie films sometimes came in as many as five reels. When each reel ran out, it had to be rewound before the next reel could run. So, there was an intermission between each reel. In April of 1909, Mr. Wright and Mr. Dunn sold the “The Electric Theatre” to The Horn Brothers for $800.00. The price included everything including 200 chairs and all the workings. Later the Horn Brothers sold the theater to Silas Brown. Silas renamed the theater “The Elysium”. He added vaudeville acts and sold magazines, candy, soda pop, and popcorn. There was also a barber shop and grocery store at this location. The Midvale Museum has items from these businesses in our collection. Please stop by and visit us. We are always looking to serve the Midvale community, as well as looking for volunteers. We are located at Midvale City Park in the back of the Community Center (350 7610 S). Our hours are typically Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. See you there. This information was taken from a fact sheet that was written by Harry S. Wright on 05/06/1978.
DECEMBER 2022 CITY NEWSLETTER WWW . MIDVALECITY . ORG
Winter On-Street Parking
Melting Snow: It’s Stormwater Too!
If there are cars parked on the streets, plows can’t fully clear the roads and run the risk of hitting parked vehicles. Residents are not permitted to park any vehicle on city streets where one inch of snow has accumulated. The parking prohibition shall remain in effect for 24 hours after the snow has ceased to fall, or until such time as the snow has been removed from the street. (Midvale Municipal Code Section 10.16.120). Residents should be mindful of the weather and make arrangements to park off the streets when snow is forecasted
Cease the Grease this Holiday Season Often our food around the holidays is heavy in fats, oils, and grease, which come from meats, butter, margarine, lard, food scraps, sauces, salad dressings, cooking oil, and more. It’s easy to assume that the warm grease and fat left over from your holiday dinner would be OK to pour down the sink if it’s washed down with hot soapy water. However, when these substances go down the drain they harden and cause sewer pipes to clog. The reality is that fat and grease quickly cools and solidifies, building up and blocking drains or sewers and causing damage to personal property. It’s not necessarily the people who put the wrong things down the sink who are affected. The blockage can happen further down the street, so what you do in your home can be causing a problem for your neighbors. There are several ways to dispose of fats, oils, and grease that won’t impact the pipes in your home, the sewer lines, or the environment. • Cool it, can it, and trash it. Pour cooking oil or grease into a metal can or another heat-resistant container, let it cool, and then throw it in the trash. • Before you wash pots and pans, wipe the fats, oil, and grease with a paper towel and toss it into the trash.
Winter snow often puts a pristine white coat over every surface which makes for beautiful photos and lots of family fun. However, it’s not long before the sun comes out to expose a host of issues created by the melting snow. Just like when rain falls the rest of the year, melting snow turns into stormwater runoff. Heavy rains sweeping across your yard and driveway carry pollution and high volumes of water into our nearby streams, lakes, and other waterways. Melting snow does the same things. Both rain and snow melt can seriously impair Pennsylvania’s waters when they travel over the land in our developed communities. They can also cause significant property damage at your home. In winter, melting snow actually causes a few unique stormwater problems. Because the ground is often frozen at the surface, melting snow can’t infiltrate into the soil the way light or moderate rain would be able to. So even a small amount of snow can cause localized flooding on your property. When snow builds up over several small storm events without melting in between, it can turn into large winter storm impacts when it finally does melt leading to potential community-wide flooding events. In both cases, standing and flowing water on the ground is picking up all kinds of debris, pollutants (especially de-icing salts and chemicals), and litter that will find their way into nearby streams. Here are some tips for managing your property for winter stormwater this season: • When piling your snow after shoveling and plowing, choose locations where the snow will have the most opportunity to infiltrate instead of becoming stormwater runoff. Pile your snow in areas where you don’t usually have ponding in the spring rains, on relatively flat areas, and away from sensitive areas like streams, ponds, and your private well if you have one. • Clear your downspouts to allow melting roof snow to flow and not collect at your foundation. • Make sure your nearest storm drains are clear. Do not pile snow on storm drains and make sure your neighborhood plow is not piling snow over the drains too. Clear away any snow that may have been kicked onto the drains by passing cars. • Use de-icing chemicals and salts judiciously. Use what you need to make your walkways and driveways safe but try to avoid spreading around sensitive areas like waterways and your private well. • Pay special attention to places that are eroding during snow melt, and make a plan to improve these areas in spring using plants that can slow and stop erosion, like native grasses and meadow plants or native trees and shrubs