March 1st Council Meeting Brief

For a full review of both work and business sessions of the Cottonwood Heights City Council, see the cottonwood heights.com website or search for the meeting within YouTube. All public meetings are recorded and available.

Ellen’s brief remarks: For those of us who have worked tirelessly to urge the city toward taking more demonstrative measures toward traffic calming, walkability, safety for pedestrians and cyclists, and transportation alternatives, we’re moving the needle.

Matt Shipp, Public Works Director, is working to designate our collectors and arterials to “Urban Core” designation in order to comply with AASHTO (Am Association of State Transportation Officials) guidelines to bring maximum speed design down to 35mph.

AND, in a unanimous vote, Council approved Resolution 2022-16:  

A Resolution Concerning UDOT’s Proposed Re-Design of Wasatch Blvd.

            WHEREAS, SR 210 (“SR 210”) is a Utah state road traversing the entire Easterly side of the city of Cottonwood Heights (the “City”), extending 13.62 miles from SR-190 (at or near Fort Union Blvd.) along Wasatch Blvd. (“Wasatch Blvd.”) to the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon, and thence Easterly up that canyon before terminating in the Town of Alta; and

            WHEREAS, the Utah Department of Transportation (“UDOT”) has announced its intention to redesign SR 210 and that its two preferred alternatives along the Wasatch Blvd. portion of SR 210 in the City will result in an expansion that may result in increased vehicle traffic, higher traffic speeds, and significant increases in the attendant vehicle-caused noise, air pollution and other adverse impacts; and

            WHEREAS, the Wasatch Blvd. portion of SR 210 passes through City residential areas housing hundreds of City’s residents, all of whom are materially, adversely affected by current SR 210 due to traffic noise and fresh air pollution it introduces into the surrounding neighborhoods, the difficulty exiting or entering the many neighborhoods accessed by SR 210 and of traveling between neighborhoods separated by SR 210, and the dangers to drivers and pedestrians caused by the high speeds of vehicles using SR 201; and

            WHEREAS, since UDOT’s announcement of its intention to redesign SR 210, City leaders, staff and residents have diligently endeavored to influence UDOT to adopt a design for the Wastach Blvd. portion of SR 210 that diminishes, rather than increases, the adverse impacts of SR 210 on the City and its residents by utilizing a design emphasizing slower vehicle speeds, traffic calming, and a greater emphasis on active transportation and recreation (running, walking, bicycling, etc.); and

            WHEREAS, those efforts by City’s leaders, staff and residents have been based on a hope and expectation that UDOT will use its diligent best efforts to mitigate the adverse impacts of SR 210 on the City and its residents to a similar extent as UDOT has mitigated the adverse impacts of many other state roads—such as SR 89--on the communities they pass through, especially those with residential zoning, by reducing speed limits and taking other available steps; and

WHEREAS, throughout those discussions, City’s leaders, staff and residents have expressed their strong belief that a key way to diminish the adverse impacts of the Wasatch Blvd. portion of SR 210 on the surrounding neighborhoods will be to utilize a design speed  of 35 mph; and

WHEREAS, apparently in response, one or more UDOT officials have stated, in one or more City public meetings, that limiting speeds on SR 210 to 35 mph is a worthy goal; and

WHEREAS, City’s Wasatch Blvd. Master Plan (the “Master Plan”) details City’s vision for a future, less intrusive, Wasatch Blvd. and suggests various methods of mitigating its impact on the surrounding neighborhoods, including decreasing vehicle speeds and emphasizing active transportation and recreational uses; and

WHEREAS, City’s city council (the “Council”) met in regular session on 1 March 2022 to consider, among other things, again encouraging—and requesting—UDOT to use all available means to mitigate the adverse impacts of the Wasatch Blvd. portion of SR 210 on the City and its residents by, among other things, (a) re-designing the roadway to conform to the applicable portions of the City’s Master Plan, including lanes, sidewalks and other pertinent aspects, and (b) designing to ultimately limit vehicle speed to 35 mph; and 

            WHEREAS, after careful consideration, the Council has determined that it is in the best interests of the health, safety and welfare of City and its residents to so act;

            NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Cottonwood Heights city council that the Council hereby encourages and requests UDOT to use all available means to mitigate the adverse impacts on the City and its residents by, among other things, (a) incorporating into UDOT’s proposed redesign of the Wasatch Blvd. portion of SR 210 the applicable portions of the City’s Master Plan, including travel lanes, sidewalks and other pertinent aspects, and (b) utilizing designs to limit vehicle speeds to 35 mph.

            This Resolution, assigned no. 2022-16, shall take effect immediately upon passage.

            PASSED AND APPROVED effective 1 March 2022.