Cedar Fort Town Council revises Commercial Business License Ordinance

  May 25, 2018, 10:07 am

By Charlynn Anderson

CEDAR FORT -- The Cedar Fort Town Council unanimously passed revisions to the Commercial Business License Ordinance at the monthly Town Council meeting on February 22, 2018. Mayor David Gustin said that the revisions changed only the process of obtaining a commercial business license and the procedures of dealing with the town. The ordinance requires the applicants to notify all neighbors around the business location so that the neighbors have an opportunity to respond to the Town with any objections. If there are any objections to the planned business, the license application needs to become an agenda item at Town Council meeting and be reviewed by the Council. Otherwise, if no objections are registered, the license can be approved by the Council member over business licenses.

The procedure of notification now requires that all information and materials for notifying neighbors be supplied by the business license applicant. When businesses are found to be disregarding any town ordinances, they now have only ten calendar days after they are notified to remedy the problem, or their license will be suspended.     

Cedar Fort Town Council members reported on their assignments at the February meeting. Councilman Richard Stark reported that he had opened a new bank account for the Activities Committee funds. He also said that the Town needs a new treasurer since the former treasurer had resigned.

Councilman Harry Draper asked for volunteers for the cemetery map project for March 10 and 17 at the Town Hall. He gave an overview of the task of consolidating five separate maps into an accurate and complete map of the actual cemetery layout. "We need to know where the graves are and where the foliage is, and we need to be able to read and access that information," Draper said.

Draper said that he would like to see the town apply for a portion of the Utah State Department of Transportation grant for safe walkways for students walking to and from school. He said that more than a dozen Cedar Valley Elementary School students must cross SR73 to get to school, so the area of town between the east side of the highway and the school is a safety issue. He pointed out that the Town must own the property where any improvements are made. Mayor David Gustin said that the Town has already requested that UDOT install a streetlight at the Post Office, using a different grant.

Mayor Gustin reported that the Town had installed an upgrade in the phone system which includes a phone tree that forwards calls and voice mail to town officials' cell phones. Councilman Wyatt Cook reported that the Town's FaceBook page is going well.

Jed Berry presented the Council with documentation of the Town's communications with him concerning his application for a water connection. He expressed his frustration over his application which he showed had been provisionally approved then later rescinded. Councilman Draper said that he had met with Berry individually and reviewed all his documentation before the meeting. He said that it was his opinion that Mr. Berry had been dealt with unfairly, "and in some cases with a mean spirit."

Mayor Gustin asked Draper if he had spent equal time researching the Town's side of the disagreement. "No matter how thin it is, a pancake still has two sides," Gustin said. The Mayor encouraged Draper to listen to Council meeting recordings where Berry's water application was discussed. "He simply failed to follow the law," said Gustin. The Mayor said that the water connection application had been approved contingent upon Berry applying for a residential building permit. Since the Town did not receive a residential building permit application from Berry within the specified time of 180 days, the water connection approval was rescinded.

The Cedar Fort Town Council concluded the meeting with a training session on open meetings according to the Utah State Open Public Meetings Act.