IN THIS ISSUE

Happy Holidays from all of us at WFRC

WFRC Staff with some of their significant others at this year's WFRC holiday party.

WFRC Receives Visionary Partner Award from Envision Utah

Top row, from left to right: Ari Breuning, Envision Utah; Andrew Gruber, WFRC; Dawn Ramsey, Mayor of South Jordon (and Chair of WFRC’s Regional Growth Committee); Jeff Silvestrini, Mayor of Millcreek (and Chair of WFRC’s Council); and Ted Knowlton, WFRC.

Bottom row, from left to right: Ginger Chinn, Salt Lake Chamber; Jarreau Smith, Rio Tinto; Simone Slade, Rio Tinto; Nicole Carlisle Squires, Rio Tinto; and Spencer Cox, Governor of the State of Utah.

On the evening of Tuesday, December 13, 2022, WFRC staff and members, along with a full house of partners, filled the ballroom of the Hyatt Regency in downtown Salt Lake to celebrate Envision Utah’s milestone 25th anniversary. WFRC has been a continual and strong partner of Envision Utah’s in helping to ensure that Utah maintains and strengthens its quality of life, particularly through providing transportation choices, supporting housing options, preserving open space, and creating community centers to link transportation and housing. 

In addition to celebrating a quarter century of important work, WFRC was proud to receive the Visionary Partner Award from Envision Utah, along with two other awardees Rio Tinto and the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce. 

WFRC’s work has been inspired by and advances Envision Utah’s efforts into the realm of transportation planning. Through the 18-year history of the Wasatch Choice Vision, Envision Utah has been involved the entire way. That was facilitated by Envision Utah on behalf of WFRC.

Our sincerest congratulations and thanks to Envision Utah on this incredible milestone and event. We look forward to working together with you over the next 25 years, and beyond!

FOX 13: "Utah Drivers are Killing Pedestrians, Bicyclists in Record Numbers"

Everyone should be able to move around our region safely without fear of accident or death. Yet this year, Utah has experienced an uptick in pedestrian and bicycle-related deaths on our roadways. Safety remains a top priority of WFRC and the communities we serve. Road design plays a critical role in protecting the most vulnerable on our streets, a point that WFRC transportation planner Hugh Van Wagenen emphasizes in his recent interview on Fox 13. Click here to view the interview. And as a reminder, WFRC, on behalf of our region, is pursuing a federal Safe Streets for All (SS4A) Safety Action Plan Grant.

 

Map of the Month:

Household and Jobs Forecast Web Map

What will the Wasatch Front look like in ten years? How about in 2050? 

In support of WFRC’s long-range planning work, our Analytics Group is responsible for projecting where people will live and work in our region in the future. Our forecasting is done for traffic analysis zones (TAZs), which average about one square mile in size, and relies on real estate development modeling software, a diverse collection of input datasets, and input/feedback from local government and other stakeholders.

Important inputs to the forecasting process include parcel-level data from county assessors, current job counts and locations, local government general plans, the Wasatch Choice Vision for transportation and land use, and county-level projections compiled by the Gardner Policy Institute.

WFRC’s current household and jobs forecast update is expected to be finalized in May of 2023 and will be used in conjunction with transportation investment decisions and other local and regional planning work. But you don’t have to wait until then to start exploring this current update at the TAZ and ‘city area’ levels in our Household and Jobs Forecast web map.

The web map lets you view projections for specific years, display and graph changes, intensities, and select from several geographic summary levels. Have fun touring our future projections, but don’t forget to come back to the present and do your part to keep us on the best path forward.

State

With a few short weeks until the start of the 2023 General Legislative Session on January 17, preparations are ramping up! If you’d like to stay up to date on all the happenings, reach out to Miranda Jones Cox (miranda@wfrc.org) to be added to our mailing list, or keep tabs on our 2023 General Session Bill Tracker. A few things to keep in mind as we head into the session:

• Utah Governor Spencer Cox released his Fiscal Year 2024 budget and policy recommendations earlier this month. The budget recommendations, which focus on tax relief, education, and growth, will now be considered by policymakers heading into the 2023 Session. For more details on the recommendations, find a copy of our government affairs email on that here. Some key transportation and growth-related highlights include:

• $100 million for a proposed Statewide Trail Network
• $100 million one-time for Point of the Mountain transit
• $25.5 million one-time for a statewide zero-fare transit pilot program
• $100 million one-time for corridor preservation and greenfield development
• $557 million one-time to pay down existing debt, including $400 million in transportation debt
• $150 million for housing affordability

• The Utah State Senate, and Utah House of Representatives named their House Majority, House Minority, Senate Majority, and Senate Minority leadership for the 2023-2024 term. Legislative leadership also announced the 2023-24 House committee assignments, and Senate Committee Assignments. Lastly, the Senate majority caucus has released their 2023 General Session Priorities, and we anticipate the release of the House Majority Caucus principles in the coming weeks.

Federal

After two short-term spending patches to temporarily fund the government and avoid shut-downs, Congressional leaders have finally unveiled the spending package to fund the federal government through next fall (for federal fiscal year 2023). This measure is the last opportunity for Democrats to make federal budget decisions while their party controls both chambers of Congress. It is anticipated that Congress will pass the budget at the end of this week, just before the Christmas holiday.



What makes Utah great also makes Utah grow. How do we preserve what we love about our communities, even as Utah grows? Help guide Utah's growth by sharing your opinions. Click here for additional information and to take the survey.

Your Land Your Plan Workshop Jan 9th: 9 AM - 1 PM

The Utah League of Cities and Towns' Your Land Your Plan program is a new opportunity for Utah's cities and towns to learn how to unlock the value of their real estate assets to enhance the well-being of their residents and improve fiscal stability. There will be two free workshops where national experts Urban3 and Strong Towns will provide information on how a city of any size can think differently about, and get more from, real estate assets it already owns. This program is made possible through a grant from Intermountain Healthcare and support from Zions Bank.

The January 9th workshop, featuring Joe Minicozzi of Urban3, will introduce the framework for making the most of your public assets and thinking differently about solutions to improve your community's health and financial resilience. 9 am – 1 pm at the Zions Technology Center, Midvale. This will be a hybrid event. Lunch will be served. This workshop is designed to make these concepts understandable no matter your experience with public assets and land use policy.

Division of Outdoor Recreation Virtual Grant Workshop Jan 9th: 11 AM - 1 PM

In case you missed the statewide grant workshop tour, the Division of Outdoor Recreation (DOR) will be holding a virtual grant workshop Monday, January 9th, 11am-1pm. The DOR offers unique grant opportunities to governments and nonprofits, including the Utah Outdoor Recreation Grant (UORG), the Recreation Restoration Infrastructure Grant (RRI), the OHV Recreation Grant (OHVR), the Recreation Trails Program (RTP), and the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).

Attend this workshop and learn about each of the Division’s funding programs, including who's eligible, funding amounts, planning a successful application, and how to write it in a compelling way. Additionally, attendees will learn how to leverage funding from these separate grant programs to lower their own cost! We'll also be sharing what's new for the 2023 grant season, including reduced matching requirements for Utah's smaller communities! All workshops include a Q and A to make sure your specific questions can be answered.

The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) is developing a Five-Year Service Plan. Our region is growing rapidly. Where and how we grow has impacts on the entire transportation network. This vision for the path ahead works to address these impacts through improvements to the transit system. The Five-Year Service Plan reflects UTA’s intended service based on the best information and resources available.

To learn more about the Five-Year Service Plan and to submit your comments by January 23, visit rideuta.com/FYSP.

The Plat of Zion: Salt Lake City History and Destiny

Click here to view on WFRC’s YouTube channel an hour-long video about the Plat of Zion. Presented to WFRC staff and transportation partners on Tuesday, November 15 by Brenda Scheer, FAIA, FAICP, Professor Emeritus and past Dean of the College of Architecture and City and Metropolitan Planning at the University of Utah. Scheer helps us see how the Plat of Zion put in place by Utah’s pioneers set the stage for how Salt Lake City’s growth would unfold in both obvious and less predictable ways. Growth and change keeps reacting to those early decisions about block size, orientation, streets, and public spaces. Seeing Salt Lake City through the lens of history helps us understand the profound impact of our planning decisions - even those we make today!