Okay, okay, apologies to The Polar Express and to you all, while these are the first land use bills of the session, they are certainly not what many would consider gifts!

So, as promised in a previous post, here’s the rundown on the bills filed so far in this legislative session that have some impact on local land use planning and regulation.

First, just to get everyone back in the swing of it all, here’s a local news story that summarizes the obvious bills filed so far.  I’ve just copied the entire portion of the story on the land use bills:

As Utah’s housing crisis continues amid high interest rates and a lag in construction, lawmakers want to tweak land use rules and improve existing programs to make it easier for people to buy a home.

One bill would make it easier to build accessory dwelling units and modular homes.

Ward, the Bountiful Republican, is proposing HB88, which would require cities in the first- and second-class counties of Davis, Salt Lake, Utah, Washington and Weber to allow:

Accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, on lots with detached, single-family homes. These smaller units often are touted as a way to increase the state’s rental housing stock.

Modular units in residential zones. Modular homes are houses built off-site in sections and transported to a location. Builders then assemble them and install them on foundations. The process is often faster than building a home on location.

Another bill, HB37, would create an optional overlay tool for cities to provide a density bonus in exchange for units being affordable and owner-occupied. That legislation, from Rep. Jim Dunnigan, R-Taylorsville, also aims to improve data collection about housing, zoning, development, and infrastructure and would require the creation of regional plans around housing by next summer.

A pair of bills from Sen. Wayne Harper, R-Taylorsville aim to expand the definition of affordability and make other changes to existing programs that let local governments use tax increment financing — or TIF, which is tax revenue beyond an established base in a given area – to support development and infrastructure. SB23 would make changes to First Home Investment Zones, and SB26 would modify rules for Housing and Transit Reinvestment Zones.

And two lawmakers – Republican Tyler Clancy and Democrat Gay Lynn Bennion – want to add language to state law clarifying who can buy a single-family home in Utah. Clancy, a Provo police detective, has proposed HB149 to add language prohibiting institutional investors like hedge funds from buying homes. Investors have been buying more single-family homes since the coronavirus pandemic and often buy cheaper homes available on the market, according to a study from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

Bennion, of Cottonwood Heights, is sponsoring HB151, which would require most people purchasing a home within the first month it’s on the market to sign a legal document saying they intend to live in the house.

Experts say the real “meat and potatoes” housing bills weren’t filed as of Thursday afternoon.

Now here are some other bills, about different topics, that have included in them some potential ramifications for local land use.

HB122 – National Guard and Military Amendments – this bill has a lot of provisions about governance and operation of the Utah National Guard, and it also has some local planning provisions, primarily related to the Sentinel Landscapes program (remember that from a bill a few years ago?)  This bill would create a Great Salt Lake Sentinel Landscape area, and encourages local governments, service districts, business groups and others to participate in planning for the areas around those military bases, and for the acquisition and nature of easements on private property around those bases, among other things.

HB198 – Highway Expansion Impacts on Signage Amendments – for billboards that are affected by highway expansions or modifications, there are provisions in state code that allow for the relocation of those signs by right to other areas, within specified distances.  This bill would eliminate those distances, essentially making it possible to relocate those signs anywhere (with local consent, in commercial or industrial zones).

HB241 – Solar Power Plant Amendments – this bill would establish a number of standards for major solar power plant facilities.  It would also require that such proposals be submitted to the local planning commission, to assure compliance with local zoning requirements for such facilities.  The bill would also stipulate that local zoning requirements for such plants can be more restrictive than the provisions in this bill, but cannot be less restrictive.

HB255 – Local Land Use Modifications – this bill would modify the provisions in the County LUDMA for Exemptions from Plat Requirements, to make allowable minor subdivisions on land parcels of at least 50 acres instead of 100 acres, and no closer to another such minor subdivision than 500 feet rather than 1,000 feet.

HB256 – Municipal Zoning Amendments – makes changes to the provisions regarding short-term rentals.

SB104 – Boundary Line Amendments – this bill makes substantial changes to the procedures for adjusting property lines between lots, and between parcels.  It would be a rather involved process that would be set up by this bill.  I’m interested to know what you folks at the local level that would have to deal with this think about it.  Send your cards and letters!

SB129 – Higher Education Development Areas – authorizes state higher education institutions to designate areas of property that they own as development areas, and then enter into development agreements for development of those properties.  It requires that once the area has been designated by the institution’s board, it is to provide notice to the municipal clerk of the community in which it is located, but does not require any kind of consultation, collaboration, or consideration of local plans and regulations.  I guess the one aspect of control a local government may exercise over such areas may be if local services such as sewer, water, storm drainage, etc. are required.

And that’s what we have so far.  Absolutely more to come.