Perhaps the most significant thing Envision Utah is doing is getting people to seriously think about Utah's future.
That is a substantial accomplishment for the nonprofit organization dedicated to quality growth. Now in its third year, Envision Utah this week unveiled a number of land-use recommendations to assist in achieving that quality growth.Helping communities along the Wasatch Front make the right choices about growth is Envision Utah's mission. That requires an informed citizenry led by men and women of wisdom and vision at the state and local level.
It must also be understood that what best suits Salt Lake City may not be what best suits Farmington, Draper or Brigham City.
But there are growth principles regarding housing, business development and transportation that are applicable to all. And there is a way to integrate them in a regional concept while still maintaining an individual sense of community.
Finding the best way to do that will not be easy. It will require patience and education.
Appropriately, that's Envision Utah's next major effort -- facilitating the education process. A public awareness campaign will begin in January.
Envision Utah is a resource that has already provided plentiful and valuable data -- the kind that will allow local communities to make informed decisions.
For example, it notes reducing the average lot size from 0.35 acres to 0..29 acres would result in reducing housing space for the next million people from 325 square miles to 126 square miles. That doesn't mean lots cannot be larger than 0.29 acres. Many are larger than the 0.35 average now. But as the population along the Wasatch Front is projected to climb from 1.7 million to 2.7 million by 2020 and to 5 million by 2050, that is the type of information officials, planners and residents need to have.
As education is an ongoing process, so is Envision Utah. Additional updated data will be forthcoming.
The people of Utah can either do nothing and let growth occur as it will or do something to control how it occurs.
Utahns need to do the latter. Envision Utah is a good tool to help bring that to pass.