IN THIS ISSUE

• Wasatch Choice Vision Op-Ed + Farmington Case Study
• Comprehensive Safety Action Plan
• Government Affairs Update
• Thank You For Engaging with WFRC!
• Map of the Month: City and Town Centers
• Congratulations Mayor Ramsey!
• Utah's Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP)
• Webinar: Guide to Modernizing Parking
• Better Cities Film Festival
• ULCT Newly Elected Officials Trainings

“Utah Is Growing and We Have a Plan” + Farmington Wasatch Choice Vision Case Study

Our future quality of life depends on the choices we make today, and the Wasatch Choice Vision is our communities’ shared vision for coordinated transportation investments, development patterns, and economic opportunities. 

The Vision was highlighted in the media last week as WFRC Chair and South Jordan Mayor Dawn Ramsey, along with Mountainland Association of Governments MPO Chair and Provo Mayor Michelle Kaufusi, penned a Deseret News op-ed emphasizing the importance of the Vision and its impact on our plans for Utah’s growth. 

Curious about the Wasatch Choice Vision in action? See the Farmington case study below:

Farmington is a charming city located in Davis County. Farmington is conveniently located within the regional transportation network, with access to Interstate 15, Legacy Parkway, the FrontRunner commuter rail line, and UTA’s bus network, not to mention numerous bike and pedestrian paths. The city boasts a rich history, visible in its well-preserved historic district, which features a variety of architectural styles. Farmington residents can access numerous outdoor recreational opportunities, such as hiking, biking, and skiing, thanks to the city’s proximity to the Wasatch Mountains. The city is also known for being home to the Lagoon amusement park and numerous shopping options at Station Park lifestyle center. As the city grows, efforts are being made to respect and enhance important existing elements while adding a wider variety of modern workplace, shopping, and housing options.

Overview of Lessons Learned

• North Farmington Station center: The North Farmington Station center is poised to become a significant asset to the region. The center will provide a hub for transportation, retail, and community services, making it an ideal destination for both residents and visitors. The center is anchored by the Farmington FrontRunner station that connects riders to downtown Salt Lake City and other areas in the region. The FrontRunner station also serves to anchor our region’s first Station Area Plan (SAP) which the WFRC Council certified in October of 2022.
• Richards Grist Mill Preservation: As many areas of the community grow, Farmington continues to preserve open space for the enjoyment of all. In spring of 2023, the city purchased the historic Richards Grist Mill and the surrounding grounds.

Comprehensive Safety Action Plan

A critical aspect of designing and maintaining transportation systems is to make them safe for all users. During the summer, WFRC began to develop a WFRC-area Comprehensive Safety Action Plan (CSAP) to provide local governments the means to make strategic roadway safety improvements. The consultant team recently completed the safety analysis phase of the CSAP and is beginning to identify potential strategies and project types to address safety needs. Geographic Focus Area meetings were held in October with city and county engineers, planners, and law enforcement from eleven different subareas throughout the six-county WFRC area. In addition, a meeting with UDOT, UTA, UHP, bicycle groups, school districts, health departments, and others was held to gather insights on roadway safety needs.

WFRC contracted with Kimley-Horn to complete the CSAP as part of the federal Safe Streets for All program. Brent Crowther is leading the consultant team effort and the project is being managed for WFRC by Senior Transportation Engineer and Air Quality Analyst, Kip Billings.

The CSAP will identify roadway safety improvement recommendations for each community in the WFRC area. In addition, the CSAP will include relative costs and benefits for various strategies for other safety needs that may be of particular concern in each jurisdiction.

An early draft of the CSAP will be made available in spring 2024 so it can be used as a resource by jurisdictions to apply for SS4A funds to implement safety projects in their community. The final CSAP will be completed by August 2024 and will include adoption on a regional scale of a commitment to reduce fatal and serious injury crashes. Provision for ongoing reporting of roadway safety improvements will also be defined in the CSAP.

STATE & LOCAL

The countdown begins as we are merely six weeks away from the start of the 2024 General Legislative Session. As we prepare for the upcoming session, we are currently tracking legislative bill files and appropriations that appear to be related to transportation, land use, air quality, housing, and economic development (again, issues encompassed in the Wasatch Choice Vision) through our WFRC 2024 Bill Tracker and WFRC 2024 Appropriations Tracker. Here’s what you need to know:

• This week, the Governor will release his FY2025 budget and policy recommendations which will be considered along with other legislative priorities during the 2024 General Legislative Session. 
• The Legislature met in mid-November for their last interim meetings of the year, where they considered committee bills for the upcoming session. Notably, they heard a Performance Audit of Utah Housing Policy from the Legislative Auditor General’s Office (OLAG), considered legislation regarding canal trails from Rep. Lesser, and heard a proposal to establish reasonable parameters for transportation utility fees from Rep. Karen Peterson.
• The House of Representatives also elected new leadership, with Representative Mike Schultz replacing outgoing Speaker Brad Wilson. Speaker Schultz served as a member of the Wasatch Front Regional Council, and he has been a strong advocate for investment in Utah’s multimodal transportation system. We look forward to continuing to work with him in his new capacity. Congratulations Speaker Schultz!
• A special congratulations to our new and continuing elected officials for a successful election season! We look forward to working with you in the coming weeks, months and years as we all strive to ensure Utah’s quality of life remains strong as we grow. And to our outgoing elected officials, a sincere thanks for your dedicated service to your constituents, the region, and our state. It has been a pleasure working with you!

FEDERAL

• Utah’s Second Congressional District elected Congresswoman Celeste Maloy in November’s special election to replace Congressman Chris Stewart. Congresswoman Maloy was sworn into office last week and will get to work quickly given the seat has sat vacant for the past several months. Congratulations Congresswoman!
• Congress averted another federal shutdown last month by passing another short term spending bill that will fund appropriations at current levels for some agencies and programs through January 19, 2024 – and others through February 2, 2024. Lawmakers, now returned from the Thanksgiving Recess, will have just three weeks to advance work on other pressing items before the Holidays. 

Thank You For Engaging With WFRC!

We’d like to extend our gratitude to all of our partners for the continued support, engagement, and interest in working with our team to plan for the future of our region and state. The work that we do together to accomplish the Wasatch Choice Vision is centered around our collective purpose of ensuring Utah’s quality of life as we grow. WFRC appreciates the opportunity to convene our cities, counties, and other partners to weigh in on the needs of your individual communities and our region. Thank you!

Click here to view moments from our fall workshop series

City and Town Centers and Regionally Important Land Uses

Our map of the month highlights the 'Centers and Land Uses' tab in the Wasatch Choice Vision interactive map. One of the four key strategies of the Wasatch Choice Vision is to create and enhance City and Town Centers as the hearts of our communities – walkable areas where activity is focused, with places to live, work and play.

City and Town Centers are areas that communities have identified as their desired locations for walkable, more intensive mixes of housing, employment, and amenities. Centers offer valued resources to their residents, workers, visitors, and neighbors including places to gather, shop, and otherwise replenish. 

The four different levels of Wasatch Choice Centers – Metropolitan, Urban, City, and Neighborhood – reflect local communities choosing the size of development that best suits current and planned land use objectives for their Centers. Creating more opportunities for growth to occur in Centers will also help to preserve the character of existing suburban and rural neighborhoods.

Our region continues to grow and City and Town Centers are one of the four key strategies of our plan for future growth – the Wasatch Choice Vision. And, Centers provide great venues to advance the other three strategies: Transportation Choices, a variety of Housing Options, and Parks and Public Spaces. Accordingly, the Wasatch Choice Centers are featured across many of the Vision Map's 'map tabs'. But, perhaps the best place to view them is from the Centers and Land Uses tab which features additional information about centers and map labels for each Center's name.

Congratulations Mayor Ramsey!

Congratulations South Jordan Mayor and WFRC Chair Dawn Ramsey on receiving the first Martha Hughes Cannon Award for Outstanding Leadership in State and Local Government from Utah Women Run and the Hinckley Institute of Politics!

We'd also like to give a shoutout to WFRC Regional Economic Development Planner and Ogden City Council Member Marcia White, who was also nominated for the award, along with numerous other community leaders.

Utah's Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP)

The Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation (DOR) is developing Utah's Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP) and is looking for input from recreation providers and users. This is a strategic plan that guides outdoor recreation, planning and management across the state. The SCORP is a requirement of the Land & Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and will primarily guide LWCF investment priorities. It identifies priority outdoor recreation needs, trends and opportunities to enhance outdoor experiences for the state's residents and visitors, and will focus on:

• An assessment of statewide recreation assets, use, and availability.
• Community/stakeholder engagement through surveys and online workshops.
• Establishing a long-term strategy for sustainable recreation growth.
• Defining the role of recreation in conservation, community health, and economic development.

There are two surveys available: one for Recreation Users and one for Recreation Providers. Please fill out the user survey and the provider survey, if applicable. Please share these surveys with others in your organizations.

If you would also like to involve your community in this effort, please share the Recreation User Survey. There is an Outreach Kit in English and Spanish available.

Parking 2.0: Using Modern Parking Approaches to Maximize Community Benefits

On Thursday, December 14, at noon, ULCT and WFRC (with the support of many other partners) are hosting a webinar on new approaches to parking.

The topic of parking may seem boring, but parking occupies more than 25 percent of our developed land! Parking dynamics have changed significantly in recent years. As an example, think of how much you needed parking on Black Friday this year (with a large portion of shopping now being done online) versus 10 years ago.

Parking is a hot topic, and Utah’s transportation agencies have just released a "parking modernization" resource for communities as you seek to understand current dynamics and solutions to right-size parking for your distinct contexts.

The webinar will also outline the consequences of both too much and too little parking - like impacts on city revenue per acre or housing affordability. The webinar will also touch on the community reaction to trying new parking approaches by looking at Clearfield's experience.

ULCT Newly Elected Officials Trainings

You can find more information about the trainings, HERE.

Better Cities Film Festival

Congress For the New Urbanism (CNU) Utah will be hosting a screening of the Better Cities Film Festival at the Salt Lake City Public Library Auditorium on Thursday, December 7th.  

This is a free event open to the public. The films being shown are a series of short films that focus around topics of community building, around the US and world. You can see the short film line-up on the Better Cities Film Festival website (CLICK HERE).