Midway council approves church conditional-use permit, clarifies church zoning and asks staff to craft AI/minutes policy

The Midway City Council approved a conditional-use permit for a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stake center on an 18.61-acre parcel near Michelle Lane and Center Street and adopted an ordinance to remove contradictory language so churches are consistently treated as conditional uses in the RA143 zone.

Council members voted to approve the stake-center permit after staff set conditions requiring construction drawings that reduce the proposed steeple to the 70-foot height limit, lighting that complies with Midway's dark-sky ordinance, and final engineering approval for Mitchell Lane modifications. The council also requested mitigation for parking-lot headlight impacts (such as opaque fencing) and recorded a recommendation — not a code condition — that the church consider Swiss/Old European architectural detailing common in other Midway places of worship.

The vote followed a staff presentation that described the site plan: the church parcel is 4.85 acres of an 18.61-acre property, the main assembly hall is sized at about 700 seats, and the plan shows 356 on-site parking stalls (code requires 233 for that assembly size). Staff said the water-board recommendation for the site totaled about 5.54 acre-feet to cover outdoor irrigation and interior culinary use. Planning staff noted the proposed steeple as drawn would exceed the 70-foot limit and must be revised in the building-permit drawings.

During debate, council members and residents raised traffic and school-site concerns and asked whether a future school on the lower parcel would change access or safety needs. Planning staff said any future school would require a separate conditional-use or subdivision review and a traffic study. An applicant representative, Andrew Willing of Uncommon Architects, said the church footprint was moved on the plan to respect a neighboring property and that final engineering reviews remain to be completed.

On a related zoning change, the council adopted Ordinance 202608 to remove contradictory language in the RA143 code (staff cited removal of section 16.12020) so that churches will be treated as conditional uses consistently across residential zones. Staff said the change aligns RA143 with other residential zones where places of worship are considered conditional uses subject to planning review.

The council also vetted a request to preserve a historic pole sign for a new Storyboard business at the former "Filler Up" site. The applicant, identified in the meeting as Galen, and an architectural representative showed proposed dimensions and historic precedents. Several council members supported preserving the pole structure but asked the applicant to return with a more specific design for the sign face. The council voted to continue the sign item so a refined sign design and VAC (Visual and Architectural Committee) review could be presented.

Separately, a council member, JC, asked that the council not finalize minutes that were produced without prior discussion of whether and how staff may use AI or automated transcription tools. Staff clarified the intent had been to use a digital recorder with transcription tools rather than to rely on an AI authoring tool; council direction was to add a discussion of AI/minutes policy to the next work meeting before approving the contested minutes item. The council approved the remainder of the consent agenda while tabling that specific minutes item for further discussion.

The meeting closed with a staff reminder that state law now requires online Open and Public Meetings Act training and with a motion to enter a closed session to discuss property and employee matters.

Votes at a glance: the conditional-use permit for the church was approved by the council with the stated conditions; Ordinance 202608 (code clarification for RA143) was adopted; the Storyboard historic-sign application was continued to allow the applicant to return with a detailed sign face/design; the consent agenda was approved with item E (the disputed minutes) held pending an AI/minutes policy discussion. All recorded motions passed with affirmative votes from members present.