IN THIS ISSUE

• Wasatch Choice Vision: Moving Centers Forward
• Roy City Adopts New General Plan
• Map of the Month: Housing + Transportation Cost Index from the Center for Neighborhood Technology
• Government Affairs Update
• Regional Zero-Fare Transit Study Released
• From Our Partners
• Podcast: WFRC Recognized for Championing Women
• Welcome to WFRC, Sarah!



Wasatch Choice Vision: Moving Centers Forward

The Wasatch Choice Vision is our communities’ shared vision for transportation investments, development patterns, and economic opportunities. The Vision is built on four key strategies, one of which is to link economic development with transportation and housing decisions. One exciting way communities along the Wasatch Front are making this a reality is by creating great centers for their residents and workers. In a video recently prepared by WFRC, we highlight four exciting existing and new centers taking shape. These centers will provide new employment, resident, commercial and entertainment opportunities connected to a variety of transportation options. Click here to fly around the region!

Roy City Adopts New General Plan

A big shout out to Roy City, who by recently adopting a new General Plan, has demonstrated care and perseverance in planning for their community’s future. The General Plan update was awarded technical assistance funds in 2018 through the Transportation and Land Use Connection (TLC) program, and incorporated previous TLC plans such as Focus Roy which outlines strategies to implement Roy’s center as identified in the Wasatch Choice Vision. Throughout the process there was significant input from the public. Meetings were held, revisions were made, additional public engagement took place, and after all their hard work the General Plan has now been adopted. This plan will help the mostly built-out community continue to evolve while helping the city recognize its vision for a thriving downtown. Additionally, the Plan honors the history and character of its neighborhoods, enhances housing diversity to meet the needs of a variety of homeowners and families, and creates a place where people want to live, work, and play. Congratulations Roy!

Housing + Transportation Cost Index from the Center of Neighborhood Technology

Where to call home? In choosing a location to live, cost factors into almost every household's decision. There's the cost of owning or renting your home, and the cost–in time and money–of the trips you'll need to make, some of them nearly every day. Housing and transportation are the two biggest household expense burdens and have a significant impact on a family's financial outlook. The Wasatch Choice goal “Housing Choices and Affordable Living Expenses” is stated broadly to acknowledge that much more goes into determining affordability than just housing expenses.

The Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) maps the average housing plus transportation cost (a.k.a. H + T, for short) at county, city, and neighborhood (census block group) levels. To create the metric displayed in their H + T Index interactive map, CNT leverages census, transportation, employment, and other economic data across each region of the nation.

You can explore the landscape of H + T cost across the Wasatch Front by typing any place name into the search box to quickly get started. But to pique your interest, CNT estimates that H + T is greater than 45% of a family's budget, for 46.3% of WFRC-area households. 

If you want to work with the new 2020 H + T dataset in your own affordability and other analyses, CNT has made their new updated 2020 H + T dataset downloadable at no cost, under a simple data license agreement.

State and Local

Less than one week remains of the 2023 Legislative Session which ends no later than midnight on Friday, March 3rd. While a few days may not seem like much time to wrap things up, hundreds of bills will be passed, and billions of dollars appropriated over the next several days as the legislature finalizes their work. 

Legislation: Out of the hundreds of bills currently proposed this legislative session, WFRC has identified our priority bills, a number of which came out of legislative interim discussions and the Unified Economic Opportunity Commission (UEOC). You can find our priority bills, along with a number of other pieces of legislation we are tracking in our WFRC 2023 Bill Tracker. A few worth noting include:

• SB185, Transportation Revisions (Harper) This bill would provide stable, ongoing funding for a Utah Trail Network, a statewide network of paved trails to provide safe and easy options for people to get around on bike and walking.
• SB260, Transportation Funding Requirements (Cullimore) This bill modifies the .20% local option transportation sales tax, also known as the “5th 5th” to allow counties to impose the .20% to go all to transit or to divide the funds between transit, cities, and counties.
• HB301, Transportation Tax Amendments (Schultz) This bill provides temporary gas tax relief over the next few years, while also establishing a 12.5% tax on the retail sale of electricity at an electric vehicle charging station, and increases vehicle registration fees by $7.
• SB175, Rural Transportation Infrastructure Fund (Owens) This bill creates the Rural Transportation Investment Fund (RTIF) with a $40M one-time General Funds appropriation, and roughly $6M in ongoing funds from a $2 increase in vehicle registration fees to be apportioned out to cities and counties in rural areas based on the B&C formula.

Appropriations: WFRC has highlighted some key funding items coming out of the appropriations process most recently funded by the Executive Appropriations Committee. You can find the amounts and relevant details in our WFRC Appropriations Tracker. Big picture is that there’s a lot of funding going towards transportation this year! 

• $45M one-time, and $45M ongoing for the Utah Trails Network
• $800M one-time for Transportation Debt Repayment in FY24, FY25, and FY26
• $60M one-time for Corridor Preservation
• $140M one-time for Cottonwood Canyons Transportation infrastructure, including enhanced bus service, tolling, a mobility hub, and resort bus stops for Big and Little Cottonwood Canyon
• $200M one-time for Commuter Rail (FrontRunner) Improvements
• $40M one-time for Local Roads

There’s much more detail on these items than can be included here. If you’re interested in learning more, you can read through our latest Government Affairs Update, sign up for future Government Affairs Updates by reaching out to Mike Sobczak(msobczak@wfrc.org), and keep your eyes open for our end of session wrap up summary where we’ll detail the big-ticket issues of the session that are transportation and growth related. 

Federal

• Preparing for Upcoming USDOT Discretionary Grant Opportunities: USDOT recently hosted a webinar on preparing for federal grant applications, highlighting resources available to help potential grant applicants navigate these opportunities. You can find recordings and more resources under the DOT Navigator Webpage.
• Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Thriving Communities: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released the application for the new Thriving Communities technical assistance program. This program aims to help local governments, especially those serving disadvantaged communities, coordinate housing needs with transportation and infrastructure investments. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, starting March 15, 2023. For more information, review the Notice of Funding Opportunity.
• Community Project Funding: We anticipate that in the coming weeks, Congress will be accepting applications for Community Project Funding, formerly known as earmarks. While guidance has not yet been released, these funding opportunities tend to be smaller in size/amount, and can require a very quick turnaround time once information is released. As we receive information about this funding opportunity, we will be certain to share it with you all.

Regional Zero-Fare Transit Study Released

In the Wasatch Front Region, zero-fare transit has been the focus of recent conversations locally, regionally, and at the state level. Case in point, in February 2022 UTA instituted “Free Fare February” and saw significant ridership gains across all transit modes. This month, transit was also zero-fare as the world came to Utah for the NBA All-Star Game. WFRC, along with its partners at the Mountainland Association of Governments (MAG), the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT), and the Utah Transit Authority (UTA), have released the Regional Zero-Fare Study that evaluates the financial, operational, and community-related tradeoffs of various fare alternatives, including zero-fare, partial zero-fare, and other fare structure alternatives. This report does not make specific recommendations but is intended to provide the necessary information for decision makers to make informed policy decisions regarding zero-fare transit.

Join our partners from the Intersections Initiative on Thursday, March 9th from 12 noon - 1:00 PM:

Looking to build safer streets, better bike lanes, and walkable routes that connect people to where they need and want to go? New federal funding is available for your community to layer on top of existing state and local sources! The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides billions of dollars for investments in active transportation infrastructure that promotes regular physical activity, keeps families safer, and connects people to the places they live, work, learn, and play.

Join the partners of the Intersections Initiative (America Walks, the League of Americans Bicyclists, and Safe Routes Partnership) to learn about new federal programs for walking and biking infrastructure, the upcoming opportunities you need to know about, and the initial steps you can take to prepare your community to apply for funding.

Helping Cities and Towns Best Use Their Municipal Public Assets

From our partners at the Utah League of Cities and Towns on March 14 and 15 from 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM:

The Utah League of Cities and Towns (ULCT) is offering a new opportunity to municipalities across the state called “Your Land, Your Plan.” This program was created to help cities and towns learn how to better utilize and become stewards of their municipal public assets, sponsored by Intermountain Health Care and supported by Zions Bank.

Your Land Your Plan applies to all Utah communities and is designed to help attendees understand how to best utilize their public assets for the benefit of your community, whether it’s a bus barn or large parcels of land.



Please join ULCT for a hands-on workshop series in Brigham and Provo on March 14 and 15 from 9 am to 4 pm. Lunch will be provided. These statewide regional workshops, provide content that is designed and presented with our partners at Urban3 and Strong Towns. It will be a full day of learning as we dive into asset management, case studies and success stories based in Utah.

Utah Growing Water Smart Workshop

Join our partners from the Growing Smart Water Team on June 6th, 7th, and 8th:

The GWS workshop brings key community staff and decision-makers on water and land use planning together to collaborate to help build a more resilient and sustainable water future. This 3-day workshop uses a range of public planning, communication, and policy implementation tools to help community teams realize their water efficiency, smart growth, watershed health, and water resiliency goals.

The Utah Division of Water Resources along with our partners at the Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy a center of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Western Resource Advocates, and the Center for Water Efficient Landscaping at Utah State University, are accepting applications from communities in the Great Salt Lake Watershed that are interested in participating in the GWS workshop. Applications are due Friday, March 17th.

• Location: Maverick Stadium at Utah State University in Logan
• Dates: June 6th, 7th, and 8th
• Eligibility: Municipalities, towns, and counties located in the Great Salt Lake watershed
• Community teams (7-10 people): Senior staff from land use planning, water management, economic development, and sustainability offices, local elected officials, community organizers, etc.
• Costs: No cost to selected teams. Lodging and some meals will be provided. Participants cover their own travel.
• Learn more and apply: growingwatersmartutah.org
• Application Deadline: Friday, March 17th
• Questions: waterandland@utah.gov

Have you heard? WFRC was named one of Utah’s top 100 companies championing women. This month, the Utah Women & Leadership Project and the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity released a podcast episode highlighting WFRC’s work to empower and support the talented and dedicated women who work at WFRC and serve on our Council and committees. It features the familiar voices of Marian Florence, Julie Bjornstad, and Andrew Gruber. Click here to listen. 

WFRC is excited to welcome Sarah Lawless as she joins our Analytics team as a Data Scientist II. Sarah's impressive GIS technical and coordination skills will position her right away to contribute insight and information to WFRC's planning work, as well as to communities across our region.

Prior to joining the WFRC team, Sarah worked as a GIS Analyst for Planning Communities LLC,  Mountainland Association of Governments (MAG), and the Utah Division of Emergency Management. She is an active member of local and national GIS professional organizations, and co-led last November's GIS Day event at UVI which hosted over 500 elementary school students, teachers, and volunteers. 

Sarah currently lives in Lehi with her husband Kaleb, and two fat cats named Teddy and Atlas. She gets her “serotonin boosts” from red rock, road trips, naps, and pizza. She is eager to join the team at WFRC and looks forward to serving Wasatch Front communities. Welcome, Sarah!