On Thursday, Governor Cox held his monthly news conference and addressed a number of issues, including the issue of water, drought and future growth.  A reporter from southern Utah made the statement that local officials in that part of the state are considering whether future “zoning” permits should be curtailed until the current drought situation has at least been addressed.  He asked the Governor if he was in favor of such curtailing of permits? (starting at about time 18:30 in the video).

The St. George News carried a good story covering the Governor’s response.  Regarding future growth and the drought, Gov. Cox said:

“We are certainly encouraging more building to lower the price of housing. We need more building, but we have to do that responsibly. We have to make sure that the water resources are available for the housing that is coming into that area.”

Gov. Cox noted that one of the bills passed during this year’s legislative session was a requirement for city planning that they must include water resources. (SB110 – Water As Part of General Plan).

“Any good mayor, any good city council would always look at the water resources that they have available, and the building permits that they’re looking at, and make sure that they’re not overextending in a way that would hurt everyone in that community,” Cox said. “On a temporary basis, as we work through these issues, not only should they do it, not only do I support it, it’s now the law that they have to do that.”

This is just the latest iteration in a theme that I’ve been seeing more and more frequently in recent weeks around the state, that of how water availability may affect future growth.  During the last few months, Craig Call, Jordan Cullimore and I have been conducting land use training sessions based on the updated Citizen’s Guide to Land Use Regulation book, retitled Ground Rules: Your Handbook to Utah Land Use Regulation, available through the very Utah Land Use Institute where this blog resides.  More and more during these sessions, I am hearing local officials make statements and ask questions about possibly curtailing future development because of limited water availability.

This concern was underscored in this year’s legislative session, where a number of bills were introduced regarding water issues.  The bills ranged from requirements and funding for statewide and basin water planning, to the aforementioned required water element in local general plans and a new section in LUDMA titled Water Wise Landscaping. The years’ long drought has certainly served to heighten these issues.  Nor has this been just a recent blip on the radar.

Over the last year or so, at least two Utah communities have made the news for imposing building moratoriums.

While many Utah communities are altering lawn irrigation days and pushing water-saving tips, Oakley and Henefer have prioritized current residents over new building, and halted new projects on city water all together.

The reasons are varied, but the bottom line is, these communities have determined that they just don’t have the water available to provide for any more new growth.  They are both working on getting more water, but until they do, new home building may be stopped.  In October, Oakley extended its moratorium, and may do so again.  Wait, I can hear some of you saying, isn’t the rule that development moratoriums are only allowed to run for six months, according to court rulings and state code?  Well, yes, for a “pending ordinance” type of moratorium.  But the other kind that can be imposed is for a “compelling, countervailing public interest,” which usually means some kind of serious threat to public health and safety.  A lack of water to serve any new residents (and which, if more residents were added, would take away from current residents) may well fall under this category, and the moratorium could remain in place as long as the threat exists.

Another community facing water issues is Cedar Fort.

It isn’t just cities and towns that are facing this issue, either.  Some local jurisdictions (mainly counties, but not exclusively) rely on service districts for water.  When that is the case, these entities usually require new development proposals to include verification from the service district that they will get the needed water to serve their development.  These are often provided by what are called “will serve letters.”  Well, some districts are facing the same problems that some communities are.

The Wolf Creek Water and Sewer (Service Dsitrict) moratorium has been in place since July 27, 2021. The onset of this moratorium stopped all lot owners from receiving Will Serve letters, a proof of water source required to obtain a building permit or develop a new lot. … It is our understanding that the current situation is strictly due to the availability of culinary and secondary water. This initial moratorium period was set to be in place until March of 2022. Property Owners were hopeful this would be the end of the moratorium and receive water.

Unfortunately, as of the March 10, 2022 review, Wolf Creek Water and Sewer announced they will not be issuing any letters presently and have postponed any future Will Serve letters indefinitely. With several homeowners ready to build, this has costly delays with building costs and interest rates climbing… . Utah is experiencing a drought and has been for 6 years; 2021 was the worst by far, sending Wolf Creek and Liberty water companies to pull back.

As I mentioned earlier, I am hearing more and more the concerns about water availability for future growth.  I’m even hearing it in regular Planning Commission meetings when new development proposals are under consideration.  I have said for a long time that whenever a development project comes up for public hearing in local PC meetings, the public comment almost always includes something about how the proposal will lower property values, increase traffic, and endanger the lives of children.  Lately, there’s been a new one added – it will use up scarce water.

Last week, our Utah Land Use Institute Board met and considered topics for this fall’s Land Use Law Conference.  We usually try to focus on what’s hot currently and address the thorny problems that accompany the latest hot land use issues.  Water was right there – in fact, the conference will likely feature a half day session devoted to problems related to growth and water availability.  We’re in a drought, our water is running low, and we’re still one of the fastest growing states in the country!  Anyone see a problem here?

Here’s a couple more media pieces that serve to emphasize this issue:

Will Utah Have Enough Water to Sustain Its Booming Population? from Utah Stories website

Drought-Stricken Western Towns Say No to Developers from Pew Stateline web service

BUILDING INDUSTRY EXPERTS EXPRESS CONCERN FOR THE FUTURE OF WATER from Builder Newsletter