1.         Roll Call

            3.         Adjournment

1.     ROLL CALL.  Roll Call was answered by Blake Zobell, Eugene Beck, Stan Chappell, Pat Hansen, Steve Kunzler.   

Also present:  Michelle Curtis and Kimball Poulson

2.     FEDERAL EXPRESS SITE PLAN.  Consideration is given to approving the site plan for the Federal Express yard to be located at approximately 2600 South 600 West.  Kimball Poulson explained that the City had a call from Federal Express a while back.  The City thought Fed Ex would go to Salina because they already have a building in the Salina Industrial Park.  Fed Ex called back and said they really wanted to come to Richfield.  That has only been 30 days ago and it has moved very quickly.  

This is a master plan for Federal Express.  They will have 12 sites over the United States where they are doing this and Richfield is one of the 12.  These are called regional sites.  Richfield is in the center of Denver and California.  They are interested in securing their trucks.  What they will do is bring their trucks in and let them stay.  There will be a guard shack and someone there 24 hours a day for the weekends.  During the week, drivers will overnightAnd then during they week they have them overnight.  They will employ one or two people for the guard shack.

What it means to the City is that they will pay $6000 a month for a lease and the City will retain the property.  At the end of the 5-year lease, Fed Ex will have the option to renew again, and then another option for a total of 15 years. 

Richfield City will be doing utilities just as it planned.  This project is speeding that up.  Utilities will be brought in along the west side.  The property consists of 12 acres south of the proposed business park.  The reason they chose this parcel is so that the City can still have its CC&R’s for the business park to the north, but this is a whole different project and it will be away from the other things that will be done. 

Mr. Poulson said the City Council was able to work out the details of a lease last night after a lot of negotiations back and forth.  There have been a lot of legal issues that have been reviewed by the attorney.  It has all now been completed except for the signage of the lease.  The timetable is that the City needs to be done with the improvements by November 15^th.   The utilities will have to be taken all the way to the northwest corner of this property.  For the time being, the road will be gravel because it is the wrong time of the year for asphalt.  Fed Ex will commence their lease on December 1st.  Stan Chappell wondered if the road will stand up to heavy trucking.  Mr. Poulson said the road will be thicker pavement to accommodate the heavier trucks.   The road base will be built accordingly.  The road will be paved in spring or summer.  Asphalt is not available right now. 

The City has met with UDOT concerning widening of the highway by the County Road Department building on SR 118.  That road will have an acceleration and deceleration lane and it will have to be widened to the east with a turning lane.  The corner on 600 West is wide enough for trucks to turn.    

There will be curb but no sidewalk at the present time.   The property drains to the southwest.   The Fed Ex parking site will have gravel.  

Having this tenant will really help the City move forward with the park. 

There will be a trailer for a guard which will be on the southwest corner of the property.  It will be the only structure on the site.  The site plan shows parking for 105 single pups, 26 van trailers, and 10 triples.  When Fed Ex has developed the entire site, there will be parking for 344 pups, 26 van trailers, and 10 triples.   There will be lighting all around the perimeter of the property.    

They will employ one or two people for the guard shack; however, their drivers will purchase fuel and some will stay overnight.  They will buy food and other supplies here.  Ancillary services will benefit. 

The plan shows a chain link fence around the perimeter of the property.  It will be 8 feet with three strands of barbed wire around the top with a gate at the guard shack.  The chain link will have slats on the north and west sides.  The east and south sides will not have slats.  Chairman Zobell would rather not see chain link with slats.  It ends up being beat up and broken with weeds growing through it.  If it is going to look like a business park, then his recommendation would be that the fence along 600 West should be a block fence.   The Zoning Code allows the Planning Commission to impose reasonable conditions as stated on page 86, number 10:  “Fencing, screening and landscape treatments and other features designed to increase the attractiveness of the site and protect adjoining property owners from noise and visual impacts.”  He thinks it should be a block fence to make the property look better.   He made some calls to see what the difference might be between the two.  It is his rough estimate that the block fence would only be about $5000 more than the chain link with slats.  It might not look bad with only one business there, but when there are other businesses along there, the more uniform it looks, the better it will be. 

Lights are not shown on the plan.  Lighting will have to be down-cast.  They would also be encouraged to use the more yellow, amber light.  Mr. Poulson said he thinks they won’t want light poles on the inside of the property because they won’t want their trucks to have to navigate poles.  Mr. Poulson suggests if the Planning Commission approves the site plan, it could be approved with the idea that the lights will be reviewed and approved later. 

As far as landscape, there will be a 12-foot wide planter with decorative rock, trees, and bushes.  There will be a drip system so the trees should do well.  The trees have a 2” caliper and the bushes are 5 gallons bushes.  The fences and bushes should grow quickly and that will help with the look of the fence.

There was discussion as to what will be required of other businesses that locate in the business park.   The City Council has not yet finished the restrictive covenants.  Those covenants will be a lot more restrictive than what is being required at this site.  This site is actually not a part of the original business park site.  The Commission is concerned with that because it makes it hard to make stiffer requirements of future businesses that will come in later.  They will look at this site and wonder why they are required to install more improvements.  Even though this isn’t actually part of the business park, it will be next to it and perceived that it is part of it.

Mr. Poulson said he doesn’t know what direction the Council will go as far as the type of fencing that will be required.  Steve Kunzler wondered if we should be concerned that it be uniform.  What if some of the fences are block and some chain link?  This business park should look nice and there is no doubt that a block fence is going to look nicer. 

Mr. Poulson said he thinks Fed Ex will be hesitant to do block because of the cost.  Prior to this meeting, Chairman Zobell called for prices on chain link and block.  His estimate shows a difference of $1400 which is not substantial on a project that costs a half million dollars.  Mr. Poulson said if the Commission wants to require block, then he can approach Fed-Ex about that and see how they respond.  He said to keep in mind that the fence will likely be torn down when the lease expires and another tenant moves in.  Chairman Zobell points out if Fed Ex leaves, a future purchaser might be glad to have mature landscaping and a block fence.     

Eugene Beck suggested the Planning Commission needs to have some cost breakdowns so that it can be able to easily describe what the actual costs are for block as compared to chain link because everybody rears back when the Commission suggests a block fence.  It would be a useful tool to sell to use there really isn’t that much difference.    

Using the figures that were given to Chairman Zobell, calculated the cost of each type of fence.  His calculations show a difference of approximately $5265 which would be 1% of the entire project.  Pat Hansen said it seems like if this is a business park, it really should look more professional than the industrial park which has a chain link fence.  It probably is a better idea that the frontage needs to have a block fence.  The better the property looks, the more businesses will want to be part of the next phase of the business park.

There will be no signage as Fed Ex does not want to draw attention to the site.

Pat Hansen motioned to accept the plans for the development of property for FedEx with the recommendation that the lighting will be downcast and the frontage along 600 West to be improved with a block fence for a distance of approximately 397 feet.  The lighting plan will have to come back to the Planning Commission for approval.  This is a C1 use.  Eugene Beck seconded the motion.  The motion carried unanimously.   

PASSED AND APPROVED on the 5^th day of November, 2008.

/s/   Michelle Curtis 

       Deputy City Recorder