We are at crunch time at the legislature, with only a little over a week remaining in the session and a LOT of bills that need resolution, as well as new bills still showing up (how much meaningful review can really be done on these bills that show up in the last week or two of the session, huh? When people who would normally do this are fully engaged with the bills that are already out and running their course – we are currently tracking 37 bills – but I digress 😊☹).
In our first post on Feb. 20, we mentioned the increasing prevalence of legislatively-created entities with land use and other powers normally exercised by local governments. Like I waved a wand and broke the spell, another proposed one showed up that very same day. H.B. 562 Utah Fairpark Area Investment and Restoration District is a bill to basically incentivize and support new development south of the current State Fairpark, the most talked about feature of which could be a Major League Baseball stadium. Much like the Point of the Mountain, Port Authority, and MIDA entities, this new FAIR district would be overseen by a state-appointed body and would be given broad powers. This area has been the subject of a lot of discussion and fretting going back a long ways, to my time as SLC Planning Director (we oversaw the creation of a new North Temple corridor plan and this area was a key part of the plan) and before. Now, with the possibility of a new sports stadium (there’s a lot of literature out there about how good – or not good – sports stadiums have been for redevelopment and use of tax dollars), the state is taking control. A story in today’s Trib enumerates some of the concerns Salt Lake City officials have about this proposed bill, even though it may well “revitalize” a key area of the community. Yes, revitalize, but how? Once again, the power of collaboration is a principle that should be more engaged in in these kinds of measures. But, once again, this is all happening at the end of the legislative session when there is not much time for “collaboration.”
All right, on to other things. The FHIZ bill S.B. 268 First Home Investment Zone Act is up for a hearing in committee tomorrow morning. This is a bill that was crafted with a fair amount of collaboration (though many have not been able to see the details until just recently, again because of time constraints). We’ll see how it is received in the meeting tomorrow. I think this could be a model of how to do collaborative land use reform.
The mining/gravel bills – S.B. 172 Protection Areas Revisions and H.B. 502 Critical Infrastructure and Mining – are apparently back on track and up for hearing in committees, one this afternoon and one tomorrow morning. I’m predicting vigorous opposition. We’ll see how these go.
The general plan element requirement for riparian areas bill – H.B. 243 Riparian Amendments – is up for committee hearing this afternoon, and there are several proposed substitute bills listed, which would all take away the requirement for such a general plan element to varying degrees. It will be interesting to see which, if any, of the substitute versions is adopted by the committee.
The LUTF/CHA/UEOC bills also continue to move forward. Still haven’t seen anything in those bills, though, on the extensive annexation recodification that a working group proposed during the interim. That may be toast at this point – again!
Watch this space!