ECCC News Letter May 2023

Flood Mitigation Efforts Continue

While most of this update looks forward to the drier spring and summer to come, we are currently still in the middle of an ongoing flood emergency. There is still a great deal of snow on the higher canyon rims, and much of it will melt over the next few days in the predicted higher temperatures. If you need assistance with encroaching flood waters or sliding soils, please visit www.ecmetro.org, the Metro Township Council website, for emergency contact information. If your own home is secure, visit the site to volunteer or to report your volunteer time.

Thanks to everyone in and around this community who have recently given so much to help their neighbors in need. Your generosity is deeply appreciated.

Canyon Firewise Day Is Saturday June 17

I know we’re still sandbagging and nervously watching mudslides, but our spring floods will soon give way to high, dry weather and rising wildfire risk. To help make that transition, please set aside the morning of June 17 for Canyon Firewise Day. Join your neighbors at the fire station from 9:00 a.m. to noon for a full slate of Firewise favorites including a family-sized pancake breakfast courtesy of Mayor Joe Smolka, kid-friendly activities, firefighting equipment displays, and essential insights on fire-adapted living from a who’s who of wildfire professionals. Firewise Day is an annual opportunity for every canyon household to reassess its own wildfire preparedness. Are our homes fire-hardened and protected by defensible perimeters? Have we subscribed to the community's emergency communication service? Have we made and practiced an evacuation plan? At Firewise Day we'll have the chance to learn from local authorities, including members of Unified Fire Authority, the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, and the U.S Forest Service. It's fun, it's informative, and it's a great way to help make Emigration Canyon safer for all this fire season.

The Chipping Crews Will Come Again, Probably In July

The spring runoff is complicating summer schedules for all our first responders, but Unified Fire Authority has assured us that its Fuels Crew will return this year for a canyon-wide chipping service, probably in early July. This is our opportunity to maintain or expand the defensive space around our homes without the labor or expense of transporting thinned material out of the canyon. Just stack your brush neatly at the roadside for processing into chips that will be left in place.

As always, the crew will make just one circuit of the canyon, including the main road and all paved secondary roads. Material brought to the roadside after the crew has passed will not be processed.

As we get closer and the schedule becomes more certain, we’ll ask all who plan to participate to register by email, so we can provide the crews with a street-by-street itinerary to ensure that every home is served. Watch your inboxes for updates.

Let’s Get Leashed!

Contributed by Salt Lake County Animal Services

Spring is here and it’s time for you and your pup to roam the neighborhood, the parks, and the trails. Before you bound out of the house grab a leash and those poop bags.

Leash Laws

Many violators of this ordinance will claim that they’re pet is friendly, or less aggressive when on leash. But Salt Lake County Animal Services would remind you not everyone likes a “friendly” off-leash dog, nor do other dogs that are on leash. A leash is not an optional accessory, it’s the LAW to wear one. If you and your dog are caught being off-leash, and it’s not a designated off-leash dog park, you will get a ticket and will pay a fine.

Pack Out the Poo

It’s the law to clean up after your dog, if you get caught not picking up their poop, expect to pay a fine. This is another public nuisance violation. Be a considerate neighbor or hiker and carry poop bags to clean-up after your dog when they defecate out on an adventure, whether it’s in the neighborhood or on a busy hiking trail, you must pick it up.

The Laws

Curious about the ordinances in your city or township? Check out AdoptUtahPets.com and visit our “Laws” section to look up the ordinances in your area.

Need to contact an officer? Call dispatch at 801-840-4000.

ECCC NewsLetter February 10, 2023

February 10, 2023

Doesn’t it already feel like it’s been a very long winter? Well, take heart, weary shovelers, we’re only one more month and change from the vernal equinox, daylight savings time, and the first day of spring. Astronomically speaking, anyway. I’m not sure we can expect early daffodils this year, but there will be flowers aplenty next week for Valentine’s Day, and green shoots and warm breezes can only be just so far behind. In the meanwhile, here are a few timely bits of community news and events to fill the idle minutes between snowblower laps.

Public Comment on High-Rise Rezoning at Canyon Mouth Closes February 18

Many of you are probably aware of the zoning change request, now before the Salt Lake City planning commission, that would allow the construction of a high-rise, high-density residential tower just inside the mouth of Emigration Canyon and just outside the township boundary. The request involves two parcels totaling 5.96 acres that sit immediately east and below the towers on Donner Hill. The current zoning is FR-2/21,780 Foothills Residential District, which allows single-family detached homes on lots of at least 21,780 square feet (one half acre). The requested zoning is RMF-75 High Density, Multifamily Residential. The owner’s petition describes one potential use as an eight-story student housing development with two levels of parking and approximately 550 residences.

More information on this request is available on the planning commission’s website. Comments may be submitted through February 18 by email to Kristina Gilmore at: kristina.gilmore@slcgov.com. All four of the township’s representative bodies (the Metro Township Council, community council, planning commission, and EID) have submitted letters opposing the request, and all concerned residents are urged to do likewise. After the comment period ends, the planning commission will schedule a public hearing before making a recommendation to the city council. Don’t miss this opportunity to weigh in on a development that could dramatically affect traffic volume and safety on the canyon road.

CERT Training for Neighborhood Disaster Resilience Starts March 1

The effort to relaunch a Community Emergency Response Team in Emigration Township takes off this month with a hybrid online-classroom training program for all volunteers. The online portion is available today and will be followed by six, two-hour classroom sessions held on alternate Wednesday evenings, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m., at Millcreek City Hall starting March 1. A final course review and disaster simulation will be held on May 13 or 20 at a location to be determined.

This is part of a county-wide effort to increase CERT participation following the 5.7 Magna earthquake of March 2020. The county’s response to that event was seriously hampered by the lack of trained and organized local volunteers who could support professional first responders with neighborhood-level intelligence and response capabilities. This vacuum certainly exists in Emigration Township, and it is made even more serious by the possibility that some canyon neighborhoods could be isolated for days or even weeks in the event of a significant natural disaster.

If you’d like to help make your neighborhood—and your neighbors—safer and more disaster resilient, we urge you to join the new CERT team. For more information, contact Tyler Tippetts at tyler@tippetts.cc ASAP.

Fire Hydrant Access: The Home You Save…

It’s a safe bet that you’ve spent a lot of time and energy moving snow this winter. By now you may be on better terms with your snowblower than your significant other, but your driveway and deck are clear for the moment, right? But what about the fire hydrant that might be the difference between minor damage and total loss in the event of a mid-winter fire? Can you even still find it? Some hydrants in the upper canyon are now so deeply buried that even their tall reflective marker stakes are disappearing like the periscopes of diving submarines. How far might a fire spread through your house while firefighters probe the snowbanks in search of water?

Whether the hydrant nearest your home belongs to the EID, the Pinecrest Pipeline Company, or Salt Lake City, the responsibility for keeping it clear and accessible belongs to you and your neighbors. If we don’t do it, nobody else will. Unified Fire Authority suggests that we maintain a three-foot clearing all around the hydrant and all the way down to the base. This allows fire crews enough room to quickly connect their hoses and saves critical minutes. The department’s Information Outreach Division has created a video that demonstrates exactly how much time can be lost when firefighters have to excavate before they can extinguish. Please take a look, then grab your neighbor and a shovel and let some daylight in around your local hydrant. The home you save might be your own.

Recycling Hygiene: How Clean Is Clean Enough?

You’ve probably heard that one contaminated item can condemn a whole truckload of recyclables to the landfill. That’s true, but it raises the question of just how clean is clean enough for recycling. To clarify, our friends at Wasatch Front Waste and Recycling offer the following tips on cleanliness and recyclability:

• Does anything drip or leak out of your recyclable item? If yes, pour it out and dry before placing it in the blue can

• Do not run your recyclables in the dishwasher

• One good wipe with a paper towel or dishrag is good enough for the recycling can

• Ask yourself, "Can what is still in here smear or soil other paper recyclables?" If yes, then it’s too dirty to recycle

• If cleaning a recyclable item would take too much water, then throw it out

• Never put a plastic bag into your blue can, even to hold other recyclables

They’ve even produced a short video to eliminate any trace of transferrable uncertainty. Check it out, then take those extra few seconds to be sure the items you recycle go back into the materials supply chain, not into the landfill.