If you are concerned about the direction the state is taking with regard to planning and development, please read this.

There is an alarming trend taking place during this year’s Utah State legislative session.  Utah states leaders, hand in hand with developers, builders and other businesses, are slowly trying to take planning and developing authority away from your city and put it into their own hands.  This is not being done in one sweeping bill, rather line by line in a number of bills in hopes of going unnoticed. 

The justification for this revolves around affordable housing, yet none of their proposed methods are supported by nationwide experts or historical data.  Many citizen groups have tried to speak out in support of proven methods to address affordability, but state leaders ignore resident voices and instead draft these bills in closed-door meetings with developers and builders.  Their primary goal is to have ultimate planning and zoning authority while removing your legal right to object to any of their decisions via a referendum process.  In other words, they want to be able to do whatever they want in your community without you having any say. 

As we speak, the door is being opened for this goal with Senate Bill 34 (SB3403).  This bill will empower the state to decide how much “moderate-income housing” each city and county must build in order to receive transportation funds (TIF).  Just think - your tax dollars withheld from your community if your city does not build a state-mandated amount of density! 

This bill is just the start.  When initially presented, the proposal was for each city to comply with two requirements listed in the bill.  Since that time, it has gone from two to three requirements.  Then last week, in a “closed-door meeting” with the Senate, lobbyists, the Salt Lake Chamber (businesses) and other special interest groups, the bill shifted to four requirements, double the original amount.  It will not stop here!  There are already discussions on the hill regarding additional power shifts and “modernizing” the referendum process, a.k.a. taking away your right to vote for or against their decisions. 

Senate Bill 34 (SB3403) will be presented to the House Business and Labor Committee on Tuesday 2/19 @ 2:00 p.m.  This is our BEST opportunity to kill this bill before it reaches the House floor.  It has already passed the Senate with a vote of 20-9, and was revised in ways that will shackle cities with even tighter land use requirements than were originally proposed.  But there are many in the House who still want to add requirements if given the chance. This bill must be stopped before local planning efforts are totally swallowed up by the state!

PLEASE CALL, TEXT, AND/OR EMAIL MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE BUSINESS AND LABOR COMMITTEE AND ASK THEM NOT TO APPROVE SB34!  (contact info below).

Here are some key points you can mention as reasons why SB34 should not be approved.  Please do not copy and paste:

·  Local Control is best!  = Citizens and local leaders know their communities best and should be able to maintain power over local landuse planning. Communities have a right to maintain the “feel” and character of their areas without being swallowed up by the state’s vision of housing.

·  Cities are already working hard to address moderate-income housing needs = The Utah League of Cities and Towns recently authored an op-ed showing how cities are already working hard to address housing needs in their communities.  We do not need state intervention to help us address this issue. ULCT opinion article

·  Density does not equal affordability! = State leaders see this bill as a way to “close the housing gap” and make housing more affordable.  While we agree that housing prices are high right now, we know it is a result of market factors and the problem will not be solved by adding more multi-family type housing units into the available inventory.  Numerous studies show that when governments try to force communities to adopt the “pack and stack” method of development, housing prices become even less affordable. (For more details on this see https://utahforresponsiblegrowth.org/policy.html  

·  SB34 policies cannot control external factors = Much of rising housing costs right now are due to labor shortages, increasing land costs, and rising interest rates.  This bill will not be able to influence or control any of these external factors. “Affordable housing” is a fluid concept that is relative to too many other considerations to be fixed by law.

·  Added expense for cities to comply with mandates = SB34 will force cities to divert funds from other budgets in order to comply with new “rules.”  City staff will likewise need to spend extra time and resources making sure they are in line with state demands.

·  Utahns should not be bribed with their own tax dollars = Our state leaders make a fuss every time the federal government tries to impose this same bribery tactic on us with our own tax dollars, or our own lands. This is hypocrisy at its best.  

·  SB34 is largely driven by developers and special interest groups = This bill is based on the results of a study by the Kem C. Gardner Institute - a project funded by the Ivory Corp. that relied on the Ivory-Boyer housing database.  It has been promoted by the Salt Lake Chamber, Envision Utah, the Wasatch Front Regional Council, and other special interest groups that are heavily funded by developer and real estate money.  This bill will pad the pockets of said developers and development-related groups, who already receive subsidies for building moderate-income housing, and do not have the best-interests of local communities at heart.

Please take a minute to reach out to these Representatives before Tuesday February 19th!  We will not be able to defeat this bill without significant public push back!

Dunnigan, James A. (Chair)
jdunnigan@le.utah.gov
801-840-1800

Maloy, Cory (vice Chair)
corymaloy@le.utah.gov
801-477-0019

Roberts, Marc K.
mroberts@le.utah.gov
801-210-0155

Schultz, Mike
mikeschultz@le.utah.gov
801-564-7618

Wheatley, Mark A.
markwheatley@le.utah.gov
801 264 8844

Winder, Mike
mikewinder@le.utah.gov
801-633-1300

Quinn, Tom
tquinn@le.utah.gov
435-709 2854

Snider, Casey
csnider@le.utah.gov
435-890-3383

McKell, Mike K.
mmckell@le.utah.gov
801-836-7597

Hall, Craig
chall@le.utah.gov
801-573-1774

Duckworth, Susan
sduckworth@le.utah.gov
801-250-0728

King, Brian S.
briansking@le.utah.gov
801-560-0769

Knotwell, John
jknotwell@le.utah.gov
801-449-1834

Brammer, Brady
bbrammer@le.utah.gov
801 389 4653

Musselman, Calvin
cmusselman@le.utah.gov
801-538-1029
 

Please share and spread the word!  We need to plan for growth, but we need a better and MORE RESPONSIBLE way to do it than SB34!

Thanks for your support!