Envision Utah released its first comprehensive report of transportation and land-use recommendations Monday, advocating regionwide transit, mixed-use, walkable development and the preservation of open lands through economic incentive.
"This document is a road map for future growth in Utah, " said chairman Jon M. Huntsman Jr.But the Quality Growth Strategy held no definitive instructions for guiding the state through the next 20-50 years.
"We're talking mostly about carrots, not sticks," said vice chairman James R. Clark, the retired chief planning officer for American Stores and one of many Envision Utah officials who walked a fine line between gentle recommendations and clear directives when talking about the report.
No one wanted to use the word "mandate," or even appear to tread on local authority over land-use decisions.
The most vocal critics of Envision Utah over the past two years have been city council members who feel guidelines for growth management will lock them into "one-size-fits-all" decisionmaking.
"I don't see in this report any mandates or even recommendations for mandates," Gov. Mike Leavitt, Envision Utah's honorary co-chairman, told the state and local officials gathered for the release of the report. "The next phase of this process will be more difficult, as decisions are about to be made. But it is not Envision Utah that will make those decisions. That is up to you."
Something easier said than done, according to Colleen Bliss, a Bluffdale City Council member.
"It can be difficult to work this through with people who don't want apartments anywhere in our city," she said.
But the Quality Growth Strategy estimates that if the size of an average residential lot could be reduced from .35 acres to .29 acres, the total land area consumed by the next million people in Utah would drop from 325 square miles of new land to 126 square miles.
"And the amount of agricultural land consumed by this growth could drop from 143 square miles to just 65 square miles," Clark said.
But local planning and zoning commissions are more often motivated by the immediate concerns of commercial tax revenue than goals of regional land use.
"We could choose to do nothing, to just let the market drive this process of growth," said Weber County Commissioner Camille Cain. "But that's not what we're going to do in Weber County."
Envision Utah has made local officials face these growth issues, said Provo Mayor Lewis Billings.
"We're talking about things we never would have before," he said.
"But now it's time to ask the hard questions," Cain added.
And clearly one of the most difficult will be how to revise the state's tax structure to promote the kind of decisions the report advocates.
"Municipalities' reliance on sales tax revenues as a major source of income spurs counterproductive competition among communities for regional retailers, often resulting in sprawl development," reads the last paragraph of the report. "If we do not seek to address this issue (revising tax structure), all of the other strategies listed here could be hampered by current policy."