by kathy bence

“Kolob Views” by Lori Cole

The August 6, 2025 city council meeting was relatively short with three business items approved.

Hurricane Valley Fire District

Merlin Spendlove, a Battalion Chief and representative to Toquerville Hurricane Valley Fire District, is retiring after 35 years. He’ll be replaced by Robert (whose last name I couldn’t hear). Merlin has obviously seen a lot of growth, and with that a large increase in the calls for the fire department which went from about 400 a year to 6,000.

Among other things, he said that the Pine Valley Fire is out except for a few hot spots and some crews are still there.

Planning & Zoning

Emily Teaters reported on various planning and zoning applications, permits and variances. Also mentioned were site plans for Firelight, a sign for Sapp Brothers, and draft ordinances for the ADU (Accessory Dwelling Units) code.

Issuing building permits will be faster thanks to state legislation. Not sure “thanks” is the right word choice. She also said there will be a Meet the Candidates gathering in September or October. Her report starts here.

Assistant City Manager

Darrin reported on development: Boulder Ridge Phase 1, Sapp Brothers, and stop lights, stop signs, and current traffic challenges with the bypass. His report starts here.

City Manager

Ben reported on the quarterly Code Enforcement report. This has been mentioned before but I wasn’t able to find it.

This time I located it on the city’s website. I found it interesting enough that I decided to also include a screenshot. How does your neighborhood compare?

Ben said he has to go incident by incident to put together this chart. He feels that down the road there may need to be a disproportionate service fee. Businesses or entities that cause a disproportionate amount of the service cost may be required to pay additional fees.

The sheriff’s office currently charges Toquerville a flat rate, but as the city grows and they spend more time here, they may charge in the future. If and when they do, the disproportionate service fee may be considered which would be added to property taxes.

He also talked about changes to account services with Zions bank.

Westfield construction is on a shoestring budget but he’s pleased with what’s happening. There was no grant money for this project.

Old Church drainage projects are starting. His report starts here.

Public Comments

Dan Catlin addressed concerns on several issues, including Firelight. He said that he has never seen anything like the number of ammendments to agreements that Firelight requests. Too often they are granted by the council and he feels their requests are not justified. Since I know relatively nothing about this process, I appreciated his perspective as someone who has experience and is familiar with what to expect. He also expressed opinions on the mutual aid agreement with other cities if there is a cyber emergency and rules involving the planning commission. His public comment can be heard here.

Stacy Eaton addressed concerns about the mayor’s comments on the ribbon cutting. His public comment can be heard here.

Business Items

deferral agreement for Creekside Subdivision.

This deferral agreement is a request not to put in curb, gutters, sidewalks, storm drains because they do not exist in the neighborhood. This is a simple subdivision of three homes on North Ash Creek. (I’ve noticed that both Ash Creek in the Heights and Ash Creek closer to downtown are confused, at least by me. On google maps it calls one South and North so I’m going with that).

This deferral agreement was approved. The discussion begins here.

Addendum to the Firelight Development agreement allowing conditional approvals on select land use applications

This business item was mysteriously skipped.

trail installation payment in lieu of improvements from Sapp Brothers

This was another understandable deferral. Sapp Brothers sees no need to build a trail to nowhere. The city passed this agreement with a lot of legal provisions so the trail won’t be built, at least not now, and the city will receive something in return. The discussion begins here.

City councils reconsideration policy

This was approved. From what I understood, it gives the council more time to request reconsideration of a motion that has passed or failed. This could be useful if additional information is obtained. The discussion begins here.

Calendar

Community Clean-Up – Saturday, August 16th & Sunday, August 17th – Center Street Park, Westfield Park & Trail Ridge Estates Park
Miss Toquerville Pageant – Thursday, September 18th – Hurricane High School

council, Code Enforcement Comparisons, & Developer deferrals