Still nothing showing up on the major land use bills we are waiting for, but plenty of behind-the-scenes talk and discussion going on about them.  Just waiting…

Utah Lake continues to grow as an issue at the legislature this year.  Some legislators are apparently having second thoughts about making it easier in the past to transfer ownership of lakebed land to private interests, and this has prompted some clashes in committee meetings and in demonstrations held by citizens at the Capitol.  Here’s a news story outlining what’s happening, at least in part.  There’s other stuff happening too, like the suit-countersuit folly going on in the courts.  Stay tuned…

Another land use-related issue is starting to show its head again – homeless shelters.  In this case, it has to do with temporary shelters, to handle wintertime need to house overflow numbers.  Interestingly enough, Craig Call and I got a question about this very topic – can the state override local land use regulations to allow homeless shelters – in last night’s land use seminar in Taylorsville.  You may recall a few years ago the issue of locating and building new homeless shelters in dispersed locations became a big controversy, in part, of course, because no one wants one.  The legislature eventually stepped in and passed bills stipulating where and how such facilities would be located, overriding much of the local regulatory authority.  Apparently the same issue is cropping up again this year, over temporary facilities intended to relieve pressure on the permanent facilities during winter months.  Here’s a story about this issue.  Relevant to the land use topics we discuss in this blog, here’s a couple of clips from the story:

…local resistance to these new shelters has been such a persistent problem that a leader in the Coalition to End Homelessness wonders if top-down pressure from the state might ultimately be necessary to make progress. …

Hill says the coalition has a “shortlist” of potential sites for a shelter specifically targeted to older or medically frail people.

To advance much further with the plan, though, providers will need the local approvals for a facility like this, and Hill has her doubts that one will step forward voluntarily.

“My fear is we’re going to need legislation to make that actually work,” she said. “Because getting through zoning processes in areas where no one really wants to see these facilities … we’ve experienced that many times.”

Oregon’s legislators last year passed a bill removing local land use barriers that made it difficult to open homeless shelters in the state, so Hill said her suggestion isn’t unprecedented.

Hill says advocates aren’t pushing Utah lawmakers to pass such a bill just yet — but they do want to pick a facility by sometime this summer and are hoping for a breakthrough soon in their conversations with Salt Lake County cities.