OH MY HECK, THERE’S ANOTHER ONE!

And then there were three…

Early this morning I got a notice from my bill tracking program that a substitute bill for SB168 was available online.  I took a quick look, and holy cow, it was a LONG addition to the bill.  After reading through for a while, it was clear that this substitute bill would create another optional program for cities and counties similar to HTRZs and FHIZs, this one to be called the Home Ownership Promotion Zone Act (HOPZs).  SB168 Third Substitute comparison, not yet adopted.  The bill as is has passed the Senate, is now over in the House awaiting a committee hearing, where this third substitute will be considered.

My immediate reaction was, where the heck is this one coming from?  But I was subsequently reminded that Cameron Diehl had alerted everyone at Monday’s LPC meeting that something like this was in the works.  And here it is.  I then thought, this is getting really crazy and complicated.  If all these proposals pass, there would be three different programs to promote housing affordability and other community enhancements.  But then one of our APA Utah legislative committee members told me that this is probably a good thing – nothing mandatory, just different options for communities, depending on what they think would work best.  Viola!  Lots of carrots, no sticks!

Now, I have gotten comments back from some planners who have looked over the FHIZ bill and have suggested some tweaks to make it more effective to accomplish particular goals, so the bills aren’t perfect.  But upon reflection, I’m thinking this is a pretty remarkable turn of events in the movement toward land use reform in Utah.

So, if all these proposals pass, communities will have three options to consider implementing, with associated benefits (carrots):  HTRZs – Housing and Transit Reinvestment Zones, around transit stations; FHIZs – First Home Investment Zones, everywhere outside HTRZs to encourage mixed use centers and more affordable housing; and HOPZs – Housing Ownership Promotion Zones, about anywhere in a community (I think, haven’t really been able to study the bill in detail yet) to enhance affordability and home ownership.  There’s lots to chew through on these bills first, and I’m sure in subsequent sessions there will be tweaks and adjustments, but it’s an interesting and encouraging approach.

Obviously, more to come about these!

On the mining/gravel pits bill – H.B. 502 Critical Infrastructure and Mining – it was substituted in committee yesterday and now becomes just a requirement to study the issue.  What a change!

Oh, and by the way, no sign of the annexation recodification – sigh!

And just to let you all know, at this point it’s looking like there will be four post-session legislative updates around the state:

  • March 15, joint APA Utah/ULCT update, Utah Local Government Trust, North Salt Lake
  • March 22, ULUI Spring Conference, Abbey Inn, St. George
  • April 18-19, ULCT Midyear Conference, St. George
  • May 10, APA Utah Spring Conference, Cedar City