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Show 6 THE GREEN SHEET Thursday, February 20, 1986 County Attorney Comments - Office Is 'Alive And Well' by LaRee Pehrson Green Sheet Staff Writer SIGN SHUFFLE . . . Terry Reed of Reagan Outdoor Signs tells his company's views of proposed sign or MAGNA. According to County Attorney Ted Cannon, his office is alive and well and functioning efficiently. Cannon made the observation during last weeks Magna Chamber of Commerce meeting. Approximately six million a year of your tax dollars allow us to do three things, Cannon said, to give civil advice to county government, serve as legal counsel to all parts of county government and, up until recently, to provide legal service to the runaway fathers program. However the largest part, 70 percent, goes for criminal prosecution for the unincorporated county. If it were a city, it would be the largest city in Utah, he added. Additionally, because of a merger with the felony division, all felony crimes are prosecuted through his office, he pointed out. We have an excellent staff and have done lots of things that we are very pleased with, Cannon said. I have traveled around a lot and seen the set-u- p in other cities and feel that our office is doing a great job. Cannon noted that in seven years as public prosecutor, his office had encountered several irregularities in county government, but added that they were nothing like what is prevalent in cities in the east. In this largest jurisdiction of the state youve got good public servants in both the tenured and elected people, he said. In the beginning we tried to prosecute irregularities, now we suggest possible changes. dinance, which has been shuffled back to the City Planning Commission. Planners Sing To Tune Of 'Signboard Shuffle' School Board by Ray Friess Green Sheet Staff Writer Continued from page 1 A minor adjustment was made to the Lincoln boundary to eliminate potential problems. The former boundary bisected a few homes, leading parents to wonder which school children should be attending. As part of a complex solution to ironing out declining enrollment problems in three junior high schools on the east side of the valley, some students residing in the Bennion junior high boundary will be allowed to attend Bonneville junior high next WEST VALLEY. A controversial sign ordinance for this city is once again on the back burner as the City Planning Commission takes time to consider some possible revisions. The ordinance has been through several public hearings and a number of revisions, the latest hearing taking place at the Planning Commission meeting Thursday after being sent back by the City Council. A number of objections to the ordinance have been filed by Reagan Outdoor Sign Co., which claims its big, wide signs would be all but outlawed except on the fringes of West Valley. The council has instructed planning commissioners to consider a number of issues, including bench signs, political signs, height and setback requirements and billboards. Appearing year. In December, the board voted to bus high school students living between 32nd and 36th West and between 47th and 66th South to Cottonwood high. Parents of junior high students in the same area requested permission for those students to attend Bonneville - a Cottonwood feeder school - to allow them to form social relationships throughout their secondary education. at the Thursday meeting, Kirk Brimley of the International Sign Assn, of Utah told the commission the association supports setback requirement and a new also pointed out that technology canopy signs are not addressed in the ordinance. Terry Reed, representing Reagan Outdoor Signs, pointed out, as he did to city councilmen, that his companys signs, under the proposed ordinance, would not be allowed in most of the commercial areas of West Valley due to their size. Most of Reagans signs, he said, are about 300 square feet and 85 percent of them would have to go under the ordinance as it now reads. He also requested changes in the height and setback provisions of the ordinance. 10-fo- Planning and zoning staff members have provided the commissioners with a list of alternatives to some of the ordinance provisions. They include the following (the first mentioned is the staff recommendation): -- Bench signs: allow them at bus stops only and located behind the sidewalks; allow them anywhere in the city, by staff approval and not removed from the allow them at all. -- Political signs: allow on utility poles if they conform to the surface and no nails are used; shorten time length to seven days; leave the ordinance as is; increase permissible size in residential zones to 32 square feet; some combination of these. -- Height and setback provisions in M-- l and M-- 2 zones: raise setback height restrictions at to 30 feet, raise maximum height to 50 feet; raise maximum height at setback to 25 feet and eliminate maximum total height designation so the higher the sign, the further back it would be located; allow the sign to project three, four or five feet beyond signs designated setback right-of-wa- C-- C-- 3, TWO VOTES . . . Question of covering ditch in proposed subdivision is raised by Tom Pearce, member of West Valley Planning Commis- sion. Decision was reached, but only after a second vote. residents had signed a petition against allowing the car lot. Allen and Irene Lange received approval for a Circle K store and gasoline pumps at 4790 W. 3500 South. The store will be located on the northeast corner of the lot. Turning to subdivisions, commissioners approved Hunter Creek, which includes 34 lots on 9.5 acres at 3300 So. 5600 West. Approval was also given to Heather Glen subdivision, seven lots on two acres at 6350 W. 2900 South. It took two votes to gain approval because some commissioners, led by Tom Pearce, wanted to order the developer to develop two more lots to the west so that a drainage ditch near the subdivision could be ordered covered over. The city attorney said it would be permissible to make this a condition, but planning staff members said they did not feel it could be done. On the first vote, requiring development of two more lots and covering of the ditch, the commission was tied 3 so the motion failed. A second vote, to approve the application as with Pearce presented, passed voting no. A subdivision application by Leo Engel for five lots at 3446 W. 3650 South also received commission approval. A second public hearing on a proposed residential parking ordinance was postponed until Feb. 27. 3-- 5-- County Parks Continued Irom page Jordan River 1 oxbow acquisition, $165,000 for a multipurpose room and $17,000 for roof repair at the East Millcreek Community Center, $100,000 for developing a park at the Old Mill, $140,000 for a parking lot and $10,000 for a sewage pump at Wheeler Farm, and $80,000 for roof repairs for the Big Cottonwood creekside pavilion and recreation division offices. Projects scheduled for the Little Cottonwood district include $90,000 for restrooms at Copperview Community Center; $140,000 for a trail head, $7,000 for house demolition, and $10,000 for a golf feasibility study for Dimple Dell park and $200,000 for improvements to the parking lot, road and bridge at Crestview swimming pool. Developments in Rivertons South County Regional park dominate projects in the Jordan park district. Covering the swimming pool will cost the county $65,000, with an addi That request was approved as part Wasatch, Churchill and Olympus junior highs as viable schools. The board had proposed consolidating the three schools into two, but on the recommendation of Superintendent John Reed Call, all three schools will remain open. To beef up attendance figures, though, the district will continue its practice of allowing students living in the Jordan School District to attend east side schools. Growth pressures on Jordans east side have created housing problems there and Granites cooperative stance could help both districts, Call explained. More than 500 Jordan students are currently attending Granite schools on special permit, including 149 presently at Bonneville junior high. As part of the motion, no new Jordan students would be permitted to attend that school to allow make space for students living in the Bennion attendance area, with Wasatch and Churchill classrooms used to house the Jordan transfer students. of a motion maintaining tional $12,000 for sewer hookup. Landscaping the swimming pool will require a $60,000 expenditure, with $10,000 slated for a feasibility study for a golf course there and an additional $10,000 for a road to the adjoining Operation Conquest project. Projects scheduled to be initiated in Salt Lake City include $9,000 for painting the Kiwanis Felt Center, $325,000 and $6,000 to fence the ball diamond at the Northwest Community Center swimming pool and $5,000 for a playground at the Central City Community Center. In addition, $190,000 will be spent for drinking fountains, fence repair, sprinkling system renovations, family picnic units, tree plantings and play apparatus to improve other park facilities. This proposed construction schedule is an indication our parks department program is receiving said Gary Swensen, top priority, Recreation and Parks line and clearance would be required. -- Billboard signs: allow in M-- l and M-- zones in locations with a 300 square foot maximum size, mono-pol- e design, and well maintained copy face and spacing between signs; leave as presently provided for; impose different height restrictions and setback provisions. Commissioners decided to again put the issue on the waiting list as they consider the alternatives and make their own inspections during field trips. In other action, the commission gave approval to a zone change request from Clarence Thompson, who requested a C- designation for property at 4100 So. 5600 West. The current zone is A-Another request from Salt Lake Investment Co. received an okay from commissioners at 3800 West and 2700 South, wheje about 200,000 square feet was changed from an 0 to an M-- l zone. A used car sales lot was rejected by the commission on grounds that it did not fit in with the neighborhood at 3100 So. 3600 West. While commissioners agreed that the area is already an eyesore, they felt that the lighting during the evening hours and the concept of a used car lot itself did not fit in with the master plan for the southeast corner of that propety. It was also noted that 24 C-- C-- 2 300-fo- -l l. A-2- Library Site Suggestions Are Sought MAGNA. While it is the prerogative of the County Library Board to select a site for a new free standing library here, the Magna ad hoc library committee is putting together a list of possible sites. LaRee Pehrson, chairman, who noted land in this area is rapidly being earmarked for other types of development, feels it is important that the site be staked out now. She contends that it is also important to select a location that will serve the community as a whole. The list will be presented to the Library Board on Wednesday. Input will be accepted from the community until then. MOVING.. LIGHTEN your load with Classified. Call be in Salt Lake. Now it is even more concentrated to the south end of the county. he added, One other tradeoff, Is that we have to send prosecutors out into the areas where the JPs hold court, he went on, but Magna presents the most special case because it is the most like a city without being one. When you inconveninece the public for the sake of a few dolalrs, v you are making a big mistake, Conradsen countered. He claimed that it would increase the work load and create a backlog of cases similar to the situation that now exists in the other courts. Cannon defended his actions with regard to the Art Monson case, claiming that it turned into essentially a battle with the media. Responding to a question by Noall It boils Latimer, Cannon said, down to one old phrase, knowing , something and proving it are two different things. Maybe some things we could have done differently. But the legislature only criminalizes those things as a class B misdemeanor. One of our adaptations in the wake of the Monson case is to try to remedy it by suggesting corrective But the public just measures. doesnt take such actions seriously. Although it didnt result in a conviction, Cannon admitted that it was too high of a dollar cost. But we dont have a crystal ball to see into the future. he stated. To pursue it to that extent is the type of thing that infuriates the public, Latimer said. A quarter of a million dollars is too high of a price to pay. Most of the things people think are bad and criminal can be dealt with in that manner, he added. Cannon said that he couldnt talk much about the Hoffman case, but he noted that both Dick Forbes and Michael George from his office are two of the primary investigators and Don Sawaya has been handling all of the investigatiave reports. At this point, Rex Conradsen, local justice of the peace, talked about a proposal to move the justice courts and consolidate them. It is a travesty to our own individual autonomy not to have a local court to process local concerns, Conradsen said. Plans are to build three court rooms in the complex at 21st South and eliminate two JP precincts. Conradsen went on to say that if the proposal was put into practice, it would eliminate one in West Jordan, Riverton and Bluffdale and combine it with Magna. Our precinct already takes in to the Davis County line, to the West Valley border and half of Kearns. The problem is we dont want to see it moved out of Magna, Conradsen stressed. Consolidation does cause some inconveniences, Cannon said, but in these there are trade-off- s He fact the that the cited changes. county attorneys office will be moving from its downtown location into the 21st South site. The County Commission or whatever form of government succeeds it will make that decision, he continued. It is time to have some consolidated services, because in the past, most of the people used to Teen Suicide Rate Addressed By Board tempts are by adolescents. Only accidents, she explained, h have higher adolescent statistics, with suicide edging out homicide for second place. Adolescence is the only age group in the country in which the death rate is rising. Wednesday at 8 a.m. a two-da- y Youth Suicide Update conference will begin at Westin Hotel Utah. The conference will focus on the youth suicide problem in an effort to increase public awareness of the issue, she explained. and By sharing knowledge developing good strategies for dealing with the problem, the conference will hopefully develop ways to change these horrifying statistics, she said. Those desiring additional information on the conference may contact or Mrs. Voothees at GRANITE PARK. There is virtually no secondary principal in the state who cannot tell you about completed or attempted suicides in his Carol Voorhees said here school, Tuesday night. While not formally on the agenda, Mrs. Voorhees - who heads a suicide prevention task force for the Salt Lake County Commission - told patrons attending the Granite Board of Education meeting there were at least three known suicides last year by elementary age children in the district. Two actual suicides and one attempt have already been reported this school year among secondary students, she noted. Utah ranks 14th in the nation in youth suicide, she noted. This-i- a shocking statistic - suicide is the second leading cause of death in young adults between the ages of 15 and 24. Twelve percent of all suicide at cause-of-deat- -- -- 278-962- 277-862- 5 ame& fsnp' COMPLETE WEDDING PACKAGES Flowers, invitations, napkins, scrolls, catering, photography, wedding cakes. Cmmu If if 15 booked OFF by May FX.CX, l3t ALL BACKGROUND RENTALS Gazebos. Backdrops, etc. Mirror, Lattice, Wicker packages available FREE GIFTS CALL NOW FOR APPOINTMENT - 255-515- 2 |