I just listened to the committee hearing for HB462 – Utah Housing Affordability Amendments, which is commonly referred to as the SB34+ bill.  It was heard in the Natural Resources committee, which I think was maybe a tactical error because some of the legislators there were uncomfortable dealing with a bill this big on this issue this late in the session, and their more rural orientation (“this seems like a lot to put on the small rural communities”).  Rep. Waldrip and Cam Diehl confirmed that the station area plan provisions that have been worked on for some time now, will be added into this bill soon, which made the chair of the committee uncomfortable that they are considering a bill that will be changed substantially after they consider it.  One committee member even stated that this committee isn’t used to dealing with issues like this, they are better at things like animals (chuckles all around). The bill got a lot of support from speakers, but also some opposition, including some crazy opposition from a former legislator.  In the end the bill passed favorably out of committee, but with a lot of comments about how some members didn’t like how big this bill was coming out so late, and was going to be amended.  The chair vowed to stand in the way if the amendments weren’t “proper.”  Let’s see what happens when the station area plans provisions are added to the bill on the House floor.

Another story about what’s happening with the Utah Lake bills.

The League put out an action alert for HB85 – Eminent Domain Amendments, which would prohibit local governments from using the power of eminent domain for parks and open space.  This bill is circled on the House floor, which means it could come up anytime when the House is in session.  Contact your legislator if you have strong feelings on this bill!

We’ve been advocating for the more collaborative approach to dealing with the housing crisis that we seem to be undertaking here, as opposed to the top-down approach that has been taking place in other states around the country.  We still, however, get “bad” bills that try to do the top-down, such as HB416, trying to make the ombudsman’s office the state land use police.  Here’s a good object lesson about how badly such an approach can go, of course again from California, in the LA Times – Los Angeles must rezone to accommodate an additional quarter-million new homes by mid-October after state housing regulators rejected the city’s long-term plan for growth.