The next phase of the State Housing Plan is now underway, and there’s some interesting stuff being considered. The first phase of the Housing Plan, completed in March, is a fairly broad statement of goals https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wIF7IZHubfqnNsesH6l8K5S9yIoiyF0M/view. The phase now underway is looking at a variety of actions and tactics that might be used to implement the goals of the plan. The state staff working on this plan are asking for input and comment on the list of tactics. There are about 5 working groups the state has organized to review different categories of actions and provide input, and they are also asking others who may have interest to review and comment as well.
The leadership of APA Utah feels that this is an important enough issue that APA as a body should provide input. The idea is that this input would come from the planning profession and community, in contrast to the input that may be provided by those who the planners may be working for, like cities and counties or private developers. Zach Smallwood, a planner with Murray City and co-chair of the APA Utah Legislative Committee, is putting together a work plan for how APA will gather comments and input from the chapter membership, so watch for that, it should be coming out shortly.
Laura Hanson, advisor to the Governor for long-range planning (and an APA member), has provided me the list of tactics being looked at currently, which at this point is a list of about 120 items, and as agreed that I can share some of those, but with the following understanding:
1) The tactics on this list are a compilation of ideas gleaned from a literature review of multiple different sources from across the country.
2) This list is in a very draft form, and in no way should be interpreted as a list of final recommendations.
3) We have several working groups actively reviewing, discussing, revising this list. Additional tactics are being added and some tactics are being subtracted from the list.
| 4) Our goal is to advance a short list of tactics as formal recommendations in the Housing Plan to policy-makers at both the state and local level that meet this four-part test:
– The tactic has the potential for meaningful impact. Okay, with that said, here are some of the tactics being considered related to planning and land use: – Remove owner-occupancy requirements for ADUs to allow for broader rental flexibility – Limit rear and side setbacks for external ADUs to 5 ft. maximum – Require impact fees or community benefits from single-unit and small multifamily buildings to contribute to local infrastructure for affordable housing – Promote, expand or establish zoning incentives for new developments that include moderate-income housing units, promoting mixed income neighborhoods – Track and review local entitlement processes to identify remaining bottlenecks and speed up construction. – Eliminate density limits in most areas to allow for more housing units. – Require 10% or more of new residential development in residential zones to be dedicated to moderate-income housing through land use ordinances. – Reduce minimum lot size (under 2000 sq ft) to allow for more housing units and increase density, particularly in areas with housing shortages. – Allow multifamily housing in more zoning districts. – Enable staff level project approvals for conditional uses and variances – Require the reporting of local government rezone and project approvals or denials – Require consolidation and reduction of the number of zones in each community, and make more uses “permitted” in those zones, specifically higher density housing. – Consider making single-family homes over 3,000 sq ft a conditional use – Update local zoning to allow residential above big box retail – Create a state land use appeal authority – Implement flexible parking requirements that reduce development costs… For multifamily, parking should be limited to no more than one space per unit… – Pre-approve multifamily designs, such as for duplexes or triplexes, that mimic appearance of single-family homes, allowing them as permitted uses in single-family zones – Allow residential in all commercial zones by right The list that these came from is currently at about 140 items, and includes everything from land use to financing to tax structure. There’s lots more things on land use I did not include. It will be interesting to see what ultimately makes it through into the Plan. Get ready to share your thoughts!
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