Delta council advances Creekstone water-service letter 3-1, with one abstention

The Delta City Council voted 3-1 with one abstention on Oct. 7 to approve a will-serve letter for Creekstone, a developer that has filed an intent to petition for annexation, contingent on the city attorney making proposed changes, a council review, and then sending it to Creekstone, according to the council minutes ^[1].

Council Members Brian Huber, Nick Killpack and Nathan Taylor voted yes, Council Member Kelly Carter voted no, and Council Member Natalie Stefanoff abstained. Stefanoff had recused herself from discussion and decisions in an earlier work session. Creekstone's representative Steve Styler told the council that what was filed was an Intent to File a Petition for Annexation, the first step in requesting annexation, and that the next step is a pre-annexation meeting with city staff. He said the county has already given the property a zone designation ^[1][2].

Residents and others commented on the item. Ron Larsen said a will-serve letter is a non-binding conditional letter that shows the city intends to serve the project. Carter and Mayor Bogue asked Larsen about possible conflicts of interest involving his work for Jones & DeMille, the Millard County Commission and Creekstone contracts; Larsen said his focus is on serving communities. Another resident, Debbie Visser, cited the state's data center framework, which she said calls for large data centers to secure outside water rights and give them to the city. She said she was concerned that Creekstone was asking for more water than needed for culinary purposes. A 42-year resident said he would like Creekstone to secure its own water and sewer as the company originally stated. Another speaker, Adam Richins, said special assessment areas can be created so that costs for areas that incur extra expense are borne by that area rather than by all users, and that Millard County is open to more collaboration. Killpack suggested a quarterly city and county meeting ^[1].

Before the vote, the council discussed an engineered water study by Creekstone with independent peer review, the time frame for an annexation application, vested water rights before annexation, volume limits, easements and size of lines. It also discussed bonding and insurance, dedication of improvements to the city on annexation, cross-connection control and backflow prevention, administrative expenses, transparency of funds, and the difference between surface water and underground water. Carter said the city's annexation policy requires bringing some water rights ^[1].

In the earlier executive work session of the council and Planning and Zoning Commission, the council members were polled on moving ahead with a water service agreement, with Carter saying no and Huber, Taylor and Killpack saying yes. Carter said any data center using more than 75 acre-feet of water must report all usage to the state and advocated for annexation because of its effect on current infrastructure and the tax base it would provide to plan for future upgrades. Mayor KC Bogue said he had heard many different tax numbers and that he wants to know every detail. The minutes say the Delta land use code does not currently have a code that would allow a data center, and Planning and Zoning Commission member Frank Lathrop suggested meeting with other planning commissions where a data center has been developed ^[2].

In other business, the council approved resolutions 26-500 designating a chief administrative officer and records officer and 26-501 adopting a social media policy, both unanimously. It voted 5-0 to have the Planning and Zoning Commission discuss storm drains and solicit proposals for a Storm Drain Master Plan after Carter said current policy only requires a 100-year storm plan with no engineering. Mayor Bogue said the drainage district budget is $8,000. A consultant from Better City also presented the first phase of an economic development plan focused on preserving small-town character, with next steps to be carried out with Killpack and a steering committee ^[1].