Spring City hiring planning consulting firm to get much-needed general plan

By Suzanne Dean

SPRING CITY—The Spring City Council voted last week to hire a planning consulting firm in Salt Lake City to revise the town’s general plan.

During the 2025 municipal election campaign, critics of said government said lack of a professionally prepared general plan was one of the city’s greatest deficiencies.

At a meeting Thursday, Oct. 1, Councilman Michael Broadbent, the council liaison with the Spring City Planning and Zoning Commission, said the planning commission had held a work meeting where members talked with City Design Group of Salt Lake City and was “quite satisfied.”

The planning commission voted 4-0 to recommend to the city council approve an “engagement” agreement with the firm. The company’s bid was $120,000, which was lower than other companies that the planning commission investigated.

“You can use them, I would assume, to help with grant work, or if we wanted to get going faster, we could line up other funds,” Broadbent said.

Broadbent said a donation of $10,000 had been left over from restoration of the junior high school. With those funds, and another $10,000 from city coffers, “we could get going,” he said.

Mayor Paul Penrod said he thought the city had other funds that could be channeled into the planning project.

With the council about to vote, Councilman James Baker brought up a concern. Besides approving the planning firm and the bid amount, he said, the council needed to “make it clear what we want included” in the plan.

“One of the specific things that I feel should be included is that we’re a National Historic District, which is unlike other communities where they (City Design) have provided these services.”

He said the plan should address topics covered in plans for other communities with historic districts.

Councilman Chris Anderson moved that the council approve an engagement agreement with City Design subject to working out payment arrangements with the stipulation that they (the firm) are given the direction to make the plan specifically for an area that has an historic district.”

The motion passed unanimously.

On another topic, Police Chief Chad Huff presented plans for using about $22,000 in grant funds, the remainder of a $33,000 grant the city received two years ago, to create a wellness program for first responders, including members of the town’s exceptionally large fire department.

Huff said he had discovered a cell phone app, created by the same company that publishes policies for police departments. He said he had been impressed by the app, which contains questions, answers and videos about “all areas of wellness.” The cost is about $5,000 per year, which would give the city a three-year subscription.

The police chief said the company that publishes police policies and offers the app also offers a training and certification program for peer support volunteers who assist their fellow first-responders following critical incidents. The cost is $399 per participant, not including travel.

Chief Huff said he would like to spend the remaining money after spending the $15,000 for the wellness app to get some Spring City first responders trained and certified as peer support specialists.

“State law does (now) require, just this year, that we have to provide our first responders (with) mental health access,” within 48 hours after a critical incident, Huff said.

“And that’s a good thing” Mayor Penrod said. “…We had a head-on crash just before Christmas out on 89, and we had a fatality. We had several first responders who had never experienced a fatality.

“For me, it was the most violent crash I’d ever been on. We had to wait for the medical examiner…and then help with the deceased. And for some of these young guys, I was really concerned….(I thought) it would be good for them to go talk with someone, process that out.”

In other discussion, Councilman Broadbent reported that “rotomill,” road base made from ground up asphalt, had been laid on 700 East from 500 to 700 North. That was one block more than originally planned, because the road “did need it and it was within our budget.”

“As late as it is in the year, we probably won’t be able to start new projects, but we do need to start thinking about what we want next year and get the bid process going on those projects.”

A transportation master plan adopted in August found that the average condition of roads in Spring City is poor. It included a rundown of road work needed in the next couple of years.