SOUTH SALT LAKE - The City Council has bumped up business fees charged on apartments of three units and larger from $25 to $64 per unit.
A recent city-funded study showed that the city's rental units - 62 percent of residents in the community rent rather than own - use a disproportionate amount of services, especially in terms of police and fire calls.
"This is a thorough study. I'm convinced the $64 fee identified is a minimum in regard to disproportionate impacts," said Councilman Bill Anderson. "The problems in apartments have caused our more law-abiding citizens to shoulder those costs for too long."
In other council action, members voted unanimously to ban smoking in city parks, and on ball diamonds, soccer fields and trails.
The no-smoking zone also extends to within 50 feet of mass gatherings of 50 people or more that are either city-sponsored or take place on city-owned property.
Smokers who light up in the wrong spot could receive a warning - or be fined $25.
At the request of some of the council members, golf courses were dropped from the ban.
"They were taken out of the ordinance so people could enjoy tobacco there - not that the city owns a golf course," said City Attorney Dave Carlson.
The ban is intended to limit the ill-effects of secondhand smoke, which contains class A carcinogens and impacts children in particular.
The council also passed a resolution pledging $30,000 toward an alternatives analysis study for the Sugar House Transit Corridor - an east-west, two-mile route that could run in the vicinity of 2200 South from 250 West to 1100 East.
Partnering in the study is Salt Lake City and the Utah Transit Authority.
The two cities will pay $35,000, with corridor owner UTA kicking in $65,000.
The corridor could one day connect Market Station, a mixed-use development under way in South Salt Lake, to the Sugar House commercial district.
According to UTA Project Manager G. J. LaBonty, the study will take six to nine months and will compare various vehicle options - rapid-transit buses, trolleys, streetcars. Such vehicles travel at speeds lower than 30 mph and can make frequent stops.
Trolley proponent and Rose Park resident Douglas White, who has studied that option for several years, said he hopes that the nostalgic form of public transport becomes the preferred vehicle to service the route.
cmckitrick@sltrib.com