By Dallin Koecher

November 5, 2007 | HYRUM -- It was four weeks in the making but the City Council came to a conclusion Thursday as it voted to approve a change in the sidewalk ordinance for new subdivisions.

"We can beat this to death," said Mayor Dean Howard noting that a decision needed to be made. "If we think we can get if perfect the first time we are dreaming."

The debated started back in October when Jay Stocking, a developer, proposed giving the city a bond so the city could put in the sidewalks as needed if the subdivision he is working on didn't fill up with in a given amount of time.

Stocking was hoping to avoid unnecessary waste of material. He didn't want to install sidewalks on a lot where construction on the home hadn't started, because he knew that damage to that sidewalk was more than likely to occur during construction.

"I just hate wasting that much stuff," Stocking said Thursday. Stocking suggested that his bond would take the responsibility of installing sidewalks out of the city's hands and into the homebuilder, which would allow Hyrum city to stay firm with its ordinances.

"You don't have to be the nice guys," Stocking said.

Councilman Craig Rasmussen didn't agree with the changes to the cities ordinances. "To me if seems like a step backwards to help one developer," he said. He eventually voted against changing the ordinance.

The main worry the council had was when to grant occupancy permits and the time period before sidewalks had to be installed. According to the ordinance passed at Thursday;s meeting sidewalks have to be installed 12 months after initial construction on the home is started. Occupancy permits will still have to wait until the sidewalks are completed.

In other business, the council discussed the pros and cons of switching to an online bill pay for utilities. It was decided that further research and discussion would be needed before the city could suggest making the switch.

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