Monticello working on update to General Plan

By David Boyle
News Director
Members of the Monticello City Council held two meetings over the past two weeks with discussions held on the city’s general plan, a CDBG application and construction projects in town.
Members of the Monticello city council held a special meeting on January 20 to begin discussion around the update to the Monticello General Plan. The plan is a framework to guide community evolution over the next 10 to 20 years and is being influenced by the over 130 responses to a community survey.
Among key considerations in the discussion included setting goals to secure state and federal grants noting objectives in the plan including sewer and water projects. Updated general plans are a state requirement and key to securing grant funding. While the state of Utah does not require communities under 5,000 residents to have a water preservation element in the plan, members of the council opted into developing that part of the plan given the ongoing regional drought.
At the meeting members of the council also reviewed proposed zone changes including a proposal to remove the C2 commercial zone and allow the R2 residential zone to serve as a buffer between business districts and housing.
Members of the Monticello city council also met on January 27 where they received required annual training on the Open and Public Meetings Act.
Members of the council also followed administrations recommendation for a project to seek through the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program.
With $700,000 available in the region, city staff recommended the city apply for funds to go towards purchasing a new brush truck for the fire department. With matching funds from the city, staff felt that the $250,000 purchase would be more likely to be selected for the grant. Members of the council considered other proposals but found consensus on the brush truck noting the particular increased fire risk anticipated for the coming summer months.
Members of the city council also received council from attorney Jayme Blakesley on outstanding building concerts in the community.
Regarding a project on Oak Crest, Blakesley outlined several enforcement options for the property which has made progress over the past few months but not met all milestones the city set in place.
Options ranged from $50-per-day civil finds to a more extreme measure of revoking the permit and abating or bulldozing the structure. What was described as a “middle ground” option would be the implementation of a performance bond which would allow the city to use the owner’s funds to hire a contractor to finish the work if milestones are missed. Members of the council also discussed city staff efforts to clear a seemingly abandoned project on 500 north with the city reviewing options to get the project cleaned up.