Together with the Utah Inland Port Authority (UIPA), we just released our findings from several months of public engagement that occurred earlier this year!
View the report here.
We joined the project in February as a public engagement consultant for the UIPA. Our process focused on engaging stakeholders and members of the public to hear different concerns, perspectives, and ideas related to the 16,000 acres in the Northwest Salt Lake County. We heard from a broad spectrum of stakeholders, met with hundreds of members of the public, and heard from over 3,000 Utahns in an online survey.
During our outreach, four key issues consistently rose to the surface:
- Air quality. Primarily as it relates to port operations and increased traffic.
- Potential impacts to wetlands, habitat, wildlife, and water quality in the Great Salt Lake ecosystem.
- Ongoing political conflicts. There is distrust among the public and stakeholders stemming from a perceived lack of transparency from the UIPA.
- Fossil fuels. Some members of the public see the UIPA as a potential funding mechanism for fossil fuels to be processed, stored, or handled in Salt Lake County, although there is little market demand for such activity.
We also did considerable research into baseline conditions in the area, including zoning authority, current development patterns and more.
Phase Two of the outreach process involved convening six working groups to help generate ideas for solutions to concerns we heard from the public.
We'd like to thank everyone who participated and shared their voice! We believe that by working together, we can build a future that Utahns can enjoy for generations to come.