Gov 4: Land Use Planning
LAND USE PLANNING IN UTAH WILL MEET THE NEEDS OF THE CURRENT POPULATION WITHOUT COMPROMISING THE NEEDS OF FUTURE GENERATIONS Other Information:
Due to rapid growth of population and housing in Utah, the increased costs of providing infrastructure to a growing population,
and the disappearance of farm land and open space, the Legislature and the Governor passed and signed the "Quality Growth
Act of 1999." The Act provides for the establishment of a Quality Growth Commission with the responsibility to make recommendations
to the Legislature on how to define and establish "Quality Growth Communities" in Utah. The Commission is currently completing
work on the Quality Growth Communities Program. This program will give priority access to all state funds to communities that
meet specific planning requirements and receive designation as a Quality Growth Community. This will mean that communities
wanting state funds will have an incentive to plan for growth more effectively. More information about Quality Growth Communities
is included in the appendix of this report. The Commission adopted "The Principles of Quality Growth" in 2001. A copy of the
principles is included in the appendix of this report. These principles establish the framework under which the State will
support local efforts to plan and prepare for growth. This signals a significant change in state policy from encouraging planning
to influencing how communities plan for their futures and how they implement those plans. Our existing performance measures
show data on numbers of plans. Performance measures to be developed will indicate quality of planning and plan implementation.
• Utah's population is projected to increase from 2.1 million in 1998 to 3.3 million 2020. • 22 of Utah's 29 counties have
current general plans. • 126 of Utah's 234 municipalities have current general plans. Looking Ahead: It is anticipated that
based upon recommendations from the Quality Growth Commission, most state funding will be tied to Quality Growth Community
Designation. We believe that the Legislature will take steps to facilitate local control with state coordination over land
use issues in the future.
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