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Hooper council green-lights update to parks impact-fee plan, funded largely by state grant
Summary
Hooper City Council on Dec. 4 approved amending its parks impact fee facilities plan, launching a 20-year parks and trails master-planning process and a follow-up fee analysis. The project is funded by an $88,000 Utah Outdoor Recreation Planning Grant with a $17,600 local match.
Mayor Sherry Bingham and the Hooper City Council on Dec. 4 approved an amendment to the Hooper City Parks impact fee facilities plan (IFFP), starting a multi-step update intended to set park and trail capital needs and future impact fees for new development.
City Engineer Taylor Stoffer told the council the update is a three-phase process: a 20-year parks and trails master plan, an IFFP to identify needed facilities and costs, and an impact fee analysis by a financial firm that will calculate per-lot fees for new development. Stoffer said the process will include public outreach and an open house within the first few months and that the overall effort should take roughly 12 months.
Stoffer also said the project is funded primarily by an external grant. "This process is being funded by the Utah Outdoor Recreation Planning Grant. That's paying 90% of it, with a 10% local match," he said during the presentation. Council staff later confirmed the grant is $88,000 with a $17,600 city share recorded in the adopted budget.
During the public hearing, Ray Hancock urged the council to consider raising fees to recoup costs for facility use by nonresidents and to anticipate parking pressures when nearby roads (including planned work on 5500 West) increase visitation. Mayor Bingham noted the IFFP also addresses fees charged to new development, and council members said the upcoming open-house and the financial analysis will clarify specific per-lot fee amounts.
Council Member Fowers moved to amend the parks impact fee facilities plan; Council Member Maragone seconded. After brief budget clarifications the motion passed. Mayor Bingham said staff will return with the public-engagement schedule and the consultant timeline.
The amendment authorizes the planning steps required by state law to update the city's impact fees for parks and trails; the city last completed such an update in 2003. The next procedural steps are the public open-house, completion of the master plan, and the formal impact-fee analysis that will determine the fee amounts assessed to future lots.
