City Council Work Session - July 2024

Meeting Summary

At this monthly work session, Lehi Power Director Joel Eves briefed the Council on a significant transmission cost increase imposed by PacifiCorp, Lehi's electricity transmission provider. PacifiCorp implemented a 45 percent increase on transmission rates starting June 2024, resulting from over $8 billion in wildfire liability judgments tied to the 2020 Oregon fires, where PacifiCorp was found grossly negligent for failing to de-energize lines during high-risk conditions. This increase translates to approximately a 2.8 percent rise in Lehi City's overall power costs. The city's power consortium, UAMPS, is legally challenging the rate hike and working to change accounting rules to prevent such costs from being passed to customers in the future. City staff does not anticipate needing to raise resident electric rates at this time. Finance Director Dean Lundell also presented the city's annual fraud risk assessment, which returned a very low risk score, and noted the creation of a fraud reporting hotline required by the Utah State Auditor. The work session's longest discussion focused on how Lehi can advance moderate income housing affordability. Council members expressed concern that recent mixed-use developments have not delivered the residential units needed to improve housing access for residents. The concept of "gentle density" was introduced — favoring smaller-scale infill and incremental neighborhood investment over large master-planned developments. Ideas discussed included lowering minimum lot sizes for detached accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and creating an affordable housing overlay zone to incentivize homes at attainable price points. Concerns were raised about whether existing infrastructure could support higher residential density in targeted areas. These discussions were preliminary; no formal action was taken. The session closed with the Council voting unanimously to enter a closed session to discuss pending or reasonably imminent litigation and a potential real property purchase, exchange, or lease. The closed session ran from approximately 5:36 p.m. to 6:25 p.m.