Council reviews industrial park lease updates and Main Street rail crossing timeline

City staff briefed the Soda Springs City Council on activity in the city’s industrial park and progress on Main Street work tied to a Union Pacific crossing agreement. Public works staff said they are preparing draft leases for eight tenants whose leases are due and will bring a standard template to the council for review. Staff reported an effort to equalize annual lease rates using a 3.5 percent methodology tied to assessed lot values and recommended circulating a draft lease template and a spreadsheet showing current and proposed amounts for council review. On Main Street, staff reported progress on a Union Pacific crossing agreement that requires the mayor’s signature. The agreement language was revised to reflect construction methods (a pipe-braced approach rather than the initial board-deck reference) and staff said the revised language will cover both Main Street and Second Street crossings. A contractor is standing by and crews would work 24 hours a day in the railroad-influenced zone; mill-and-overlay work is scheduled in August and the project team expects to coordinate timing so both jobs can proceed efficiently. Council asked staff to continue to pursue underground utility-location maps (cable locating) and to finalize scheduling with the contractor. Staff said they have prints for the jobs and expected to finalize utility locates and scheduling this week.