[0:03] Good morning everyone. Thank you so much
[0:05] for being here. We are going to get
[0:08] started with our regional growth
[0:09] committee. I am not the chair of
[0:12] regional growth committee. So if you're
[0:13] going, what are you doing? Uh chair
[0:16] Tammy Tran, Mayor Tammy Tran is unable
[0:18] to attend today and asked me as chair of
[0:20] the Wasatch Front Regional Council to
[0:23] conduct this meeting instead. My name is
[0:24] Don Ramsey and I I chair the council. a
[0:27] member of the regional growth committee,
[0:29] a former chair of the committee, but not
[0:31] the current chair of the committee. So,
[0:32] I'm happy to be able to substitute and
[0:33] fill in and we'll do my best to try to
[0:35] fill the uh very big capable shoes of
[0:37] Mayor Tammy Tran. Appreciate the chance
[0:40] to be here. Today is Thursday, May 21st,
[0:42] 2026. Uh we're going to have
[0:44] introductions both here around the table
[0:46] and then Andrea, if you'll please uh
[0:48] call out the names of everybody who's
[0:49] here online. Let's let's start over here
[0:51] with Rosie and go around the table and
[0:53] then we'll go around the room and then
[0:54] online. Rosie Hernandez and I'm part of
[0:57] the admin team at the Wasatch Front
[0:58] Regional Council.
[1:00] >> Jordan Chandler, also part of the admin
[1:02] team at WFRC.
[1:06] » Gayen Ben, I'm mayor of Cottonwood
[1:07] Heights. I'm an alternate.
[1:10] >> Marie Dhy, mayor of Clinton.
[1:14] >> Genie Groberg, mayor of Fruit Heights,
[1:15] also an alternate.
[1:18] >> Pete Bradshaw, mayor of Bountiful.
[1:22] >> Bla Ferril, Oregon County Commissioner.
[1:24] And I'd like to know why Kendall is not
[1:26] here in person.
[1:29] [laughter]
[1:32] » Andrea Pearson. Um, WR
[1:35] I work here and I'm an admin. [laughter]
[1:37] Sorry.
[1:39] >> Good enough. Good morning everybody.
[1:41] Andrew Guber. I'm executive director
[1:43] here at WFRC.
[1:47] » Good morning. Ted Nolson, uh, WFRC chief
[1:50] planner and deputy director.
[1:53] >> Good morning. Beth Hullbrook, Utah
[1:54] Transit Authority, and I wear some other
[1:57] hats, too, but I'm excited to be here.
[2:00] >> Nicole Berto, chief planning and
[2:02] engagement officer for UTA.
[2:05] >> Tiffany PCO, UDOT.
[2:08] >> Alan Perry, White City Mayor. I'm an
[2:10] alternate.
[2:12] >> Jason Brown, I'm the CEO of Envision
[2:14] Utah.
[2:17] » Byron Head, I'm on staff here at WFRC in
[2:19] the community and economic development
[2:21] group.
[2:23] Sam Taylor, I'm a consultant planner
[2:25] with Landmark Design.
[2:28] >> Marsha White, I'm in the community and
[2:30] economic development um team as well.
[2:34] >> Holly Pearson, director of planning and
[2:35] transportation with Salt Lake County.
[2:39] >> Cody Lutz, I'm a planner with Envision
[2:40] Utah.
[2:42] >> Anna McIntyre, I'm the managing director
[2:44] of the Janet Quinny Lawson Institute for
[2:47] Land, Water, and Air at Utah State.
[2:50] >> Hi, I'm Haley Kurlin. I'm an
[2:51] environmental planner with the Division
[2:53] of Water Resources.
[2:56] » I'm Adam Olsson, uh, community
[2:58] development director with Midbell.
[3:02] » Jory Jonner, long-range planning group,
[3:04] WFRC.
[3:06] >> Miranda Jones Cox, government relations,
[3:09] WFRC.
[3:11] >> Hi, Tim Watkins, community planner with
[3:13] Wasatch Front Regional Council. Uh
[3:16] special guest is my father today
[3:18] >> Richard
[3:20] >> Paula Aguilera Community and Economic
[3:22] Development WFRC
[3:24] >> Joel Temple Long Range Planning WFRC
[3:28] Van Wagon and WFRC staff
[3:31] >> Bert Granberg the analytics group at
[3:34] WFRC
[3:36] >> Ren Erdman intern in the analyst group
[3:39] uh WFRC
[3:42] >> Sultani short range planning WFR RC
[3:46] John A. Nardone, communications manager
[3:48] with WFRC.
[3:59] » Great. Thank you. Andrea, would you go
[4:00] through for us everyone who's online?
[4:02] >> Uh, certainly. On the line today, I'm
[4:04] going to read three of you and have you
[4:05] introduce yourselves. Mayor Christy
[4:07] Overson,
[4:09] Council Member Kendall Thomas, and Mayor
[4:12] Braden Mitchell.
[4:16] Good morning, Mayor Christy Overson.
[4:18] Good intentions to be there in person. I
[4:20] think I have a council hangover from
[4:22] last night, so I'm zooming today.
[4:32] Council member Thomas
[4:40] Kendall Thomas to County Council
[4:42] representing the west side of the state
[4:44] south of Morgan County. Thank you,
[4:46] Commissioner.
[4:50] » Mayor Mitchell.
[4:52] >> Uh yeah, Mayor Braden Mitchell,
[4:53] Riverdale City, Utah.
[4:56] And now, uh, Council Member Allison
[4:58] Straoud and Katherryn Caner.
[5:02] >> Uh, Council Member Allison Straoud,
[5:04] Sandy City.
[5:09] » Good morning, everyone. Katherine Caner,
[5:10] Deputy Mayor Regional Operations. I'm
[5:12] representing Mayor Jenny Wilson. I'm
[5:14] actually in the parking garage and I
[5:15] will be up shortly to be with y'all in
[5:17] person. [laughter]
[5:19] >> And, uh, Julie Bjornstead with WFRC.
[5:23] And mayor, I'll also note we have
[5:24] several members of the public attending
[5:26] online as well. And Mayor Zultansky and
[5:29] Commissioner Bolos who were trying to
[5:32] get into the Zoom for their ability to
[5:36] participate, but I wanted to acknowledge
[5:37] their participation. Thanks.
[5:40] >> Thank you so much. Once again, my name
[5:42] is Don Ramsey. I'm the mayor of South
[5:44] Jordan City, a member of the regional
[5:46] growth committee and uh filling in for
[5:48] Chair TR uh because I chair the Wasach
[5:51] Front Regional Council. So, welcome to
[5:52] all of you and thank you for being here
[5:54] with us. Okay, we have an action item.
[5:56] The minutes from the regional growth
[5:57] committee meeting held March 19th, 2026
[6:00] have been sent out in draft form. Has
[6:02] anyone had an opportunity to review
[6:04] those? Hopefully, not anyone. Everyone
[6:05] has had an opportunity to review those?
[6:07] Anyone have any questions, comments,
[6:09] amendments, or is there a motion to
[6:11] approve those draft minutes?
[6:16] » Motion to approve.
[6:16] >> Thank you. We have a motion by Beth
[6:19] Brook. Is there a second? Second from
[6:21] Mayor Bradshaw. Any discussion to the
[6:23] minutes? All right. Seeing none, all in
[6:25] favor, please say I.
[6:26] >> I.
[6:29] >> Any opposed?
[6:31] Those minutes are approved. Thank you.
[6:33] Okay. Uh before I open public comment, I
[6:36] just want to extend a special welcome to
[6:38] Richard. Richard, I don't know if
[6:39] Watkins is your last name, but um Bert's
[6:43] dad. Richard, we are very happy to have
[6:45] you here. Thank you for joining us. We
[6:47] welcome you and we appreciate you being
[6:48] here and thanks for giving us Bert.
[6:51] We're grateful for him too. Okay. Um
[6:54] next up we have our public comment
[6:56] period and this is when we are happy to
[6:58] hear from anyone who has anything they'd
[7:00] like to share with the regional growth
[7:01] committee. Um anyone who'd like to speak
[7:03] will be welcome to come on up and to the
[7:06] microphone give us your name. Tell us
[7:07] where you're from and everyone gets
[7:09] three minutes if there's anything you'd
[7:11] like to share with the regional growth
[7:12] committee. The time is now yours.
[7:25] Good morning everyone. Again, I'm Holly
[7:26] Pearson with Salt Lake County and I just
[7:29] wanted to invite everyone to the
[7:31] county's regional solutions event which
[7:33] is coming up on September 30th. Um it's
[7:36] a regional event. It's intended for
[7:37] planners and policy makers, elected
[7:39] officials, practitioners. Um and it's
[7:42] the county is convening this event as an
[7:44] opportunity to come together and work on
[7:46] a specific policy issue that is has a
[7:49] lot of salience for local jurisdictions.
[7:51] Um so this year our um theme is the
[7:54] topic of the event is finding middle
[7:56] housing. And so it's a practical really
[7:59] interactive workshop with practitioners.
[8:01] It's focused on how to facilitate
[8:02] construction of middle housing. um
[8:04] really understanding the barriers, the
[8:06] market barriers, the regulatory barriers
[8:08] um that deter this type of housing from
[8:10] being built. Um so at our first regional
[8:12] solutions event back in 2021, we had a
[8:14] keynote speaker, Daniel Perole from uh
[8:17] Optigos Design in Berkeley, California,
[8:20] and he's the the founder of the missing
[8:22] middle housing concept. So missing
[8:24] middle housing is I'm sure you're all
[8:26] familiar with it. It's not exactly
[8:27] synonymous with moderate income housing,
[8:29] but the two are very relevant, closely
[8:31] related, and very synergistic. middle
[8:34] housing. It refers more to the the
[8:36] physical form, the sort of the prototype
[8:38] of housing. But the reason it's
[8:40] important is because this housing type
[8:42] can fit better into smaller lots in
[8:45] infill situations, better into the um
[8:47] you know existing uh communities where
[8:50] there's not a lot of density and um it
[8:54] is more just naturally more affordable
[8:56] by design. So it is really one of the
[8:58] key ways that uh we can facilitate the development of moderate income
[9:03] housing without needing any type of
[9:05] subsidy. So um at at the regional
[9:08] solutions event, we'll hear directly
[9:09] from planners, developers, um financial
[9:12] experts about market dynamics and um
[9:15] what local leaders can do to kind of
[9:16] work with these forces rather than
[9:18] against them. So um again, it's uh
[9:20] regional solutions. It's on September
[9:22] 30th, which is a Wednesday. It's from
[9:24] 11:00 a.m. to 4 pm and the um the
[9:28] registration fee is $55. And our guests
[9:30] will again be um from Opticost Design,
[9:33] the the experts on metal housing and we
[9:35] would love to have you all there. So if
[9:37] you are interested um let me know. I can
[9:39] text you or email you um a registration
[9:42] link. Thank you so much,
[9:45] >> Holly. Thank you. We appreciate it. And
[9:48] >> quick note on that, mayor. We will
[9:50] include that information uh as a
[9:52] follow-up with the committee.
[9:54] >> Great.
[9:54] >> We're also looking forward to being a
[9:56] co-sponsor of the event as we usually
[9:57] are, Holly. So, thanks a lot.
[10:00] >> Is there anyone else here that would
[10:01] like to speak during public comment?
[10:05] >> Okay, seeing none, we'll close public
[10:07] comment and
[10:08] >> just make sure
[10:11] >> I see no hands raised nor questions
[10:13] online.
[10:14] >> In the past, we have decided not to.
[10:16] >> Okay.
[10:17] >> But nobody's asking to.
[10:18] >> Okay. All right. All right. We're going
[10:20] to close the public comment period and
[10:21] move on to the chair report as the
[10:24] substitute chair. Um [laughter]
[10:26] my today for the report um I'm asking
[10:29] the Wasatch Front Regional Council staff
[10:31] to give us two brief updates. There's a
[10:32] lot of good work taking place. Uh the
[10:35] first is the regional transportation
[10:37] plan preferred scenario of projects.
[10:39] Many of us have been engaged in this for
[10:41] uh quite some time as we work to review
[10:43] these draft project ideas for the RTP in
[10:45] our workshops last fall. Right. 10
[10:47] workshops held all across the the
[10:50] region. Uh we appreciate everyone who
[10:52] participated in those and WFRC recently
[10:55] concluded a public comment period. Asked
[10:58] Jory Joner if he'll give us an update.
[11:00] Uh Jory's the long range planning
[11:02] manager give us an update on that. We
[11:04] received a great number of comments, a
[11:06] lot of engagement on that. And then
[11:07] after Jory, I've asked Julie Bjornstad,
[11:09] who's online with us, to update us on
[11:11] the criteria that will be used over the
[11:12] coming months to phase or really to
[11:15] prioritize these projects. And uh this
[11:18] committee provided feedback onto the
[11:20] criteria back in January. And so things
[11:22] are moving along well. Bert or I'm
[11:24] sorry, Jory, I'm now I've got Bert on my
[11:26] brain. Jory, please take it away.
[11:28] >> We're all Bert today. Um okay. 2027 to
[11:32] 2055 regional transportation plan. Um we
[11:36] update and adopt a new plan every four
[11:39] years. So we're about threearters of the
[11:41] way through. So uh we're going into year
[11:44] four. Um there's no formal action from
[11:48] the regional growth committee or the
[11:49] council until we adopt the plan in May
[11:52] of 2027. But we do take uh significant
[11:56] impact or input throughout the planning
[11:58] process from uh as the mayor mentioned
[12:01] uh workshops we do in the fall with our
[12:03] local communities. We meet with uh over
[12:06] 20 regional and statewide local
[12:09] stakeholders. Those stakeholders range
[12:11] from the universities and colleges to
[12:14] key landholders
[12:16] uh Riotinto, Larry H. Miller, um
[12:19] advocacy groups, um and a lot of other
[12:23] uh agencies um transportation partners
[12:26] uh that's UD do and UTA um through the four-year pro planning process. We
[12:31] also work with our regional growth
[12:33] technical advisory committees. So that's
[12:35] your planners on the local communities
[12:37] and the statewide the agencies and we
[12:40] also um periodically come to the
[12:43] regional growth committee for input um
[12:45] and feedback on uh certain parts of our
[12:48] process. Um so over the last uh couple
[12:51] years we have a new um category of
[12:54] projects called exploratory concepts.
[12:57] We've uh done some strategic um testing
[13:00] of all three modes um of the of the plan
[13:05] and we've also um worked on trying to uh
[13:09] on transportation and land use and how
[13:10] they interact together with the Wasatch
[13:12] Choice vision and the center
[13:13] specifically.
[13:15] Um and then just most recently uh we've
[13:18] drafted a preferred scenario um out to
[13:21] 2055. So this is what projects are
[13:23] needed between now and 2055.
[13:27] and and this is kind of just the first
[13:30] um draft of the updated new plan. So,
[13:32] the last plan went to 2055 or 2050. This
[13:35] new plan goes out an additional 5 years.
[13:38] Um with that, we just held a 30-day
[13:41] public comment uh period that Mayor
[13:43] Ramsey mentioned. Uh we received over
[13:46] 2600 comments. Most of those comments
[13:49] came in opposition of the gondola um up
[13:52] Little Cottonwood Canyon. We're not
[13:54] surprised. We heard a lot of feedback
[13:56] three years ago when we adopted the plan
[13:58] and included the uh the little the
[14:01] Little Cottonwood Canyon EIS projects
[14:03] within our transportation plan. We also
[14:05] did get a significant amount of comments
[14:07] on uh the Rio Grand Plan and support for
[14:10] it. Um and uh over the last 30 days or
[14:14] so, we've been reviewing uh comments as
[14:17] they as they've been coming in with our
[14:18] transportation partners. So, we've been
[14:20] meeting closely with UD do and UTA and
[14:22] we've also reached out to local
[14:24] communities um on projects um that fall
[14:28] within uh the cities and counties. So,
[14:31] with that, that's kind of a high level
[14:33] overview. Again, we'll ask for action in May of 2027. Um offer up to Andrew if
[14:41] you have anything more to say on the
[14:42] comments and then we'll turn it over to
[14:44] Julie.
[14:44] >> Yeah, Mayor, may I make a brief comment?
[14:46] Thank you. Yeah, Jory, thanks for the
[14:48] highle update. We wanted to make sure
[14:50] even though like Jory said, there's no
[14:51] action on the regional transportation
[14:53] plan until 2027. That's the regular
[14:56] cycle. We just wanted to give you an
[14:58] update because the regional growth
[14:59] committee shephardds the plan
[15:01] development process along. Um, and as
[15:05] Jory noted, even though there's no
[15:07] action now, we're we are continuously
[15:10] having input and engagement from the
[15:12] committee, from the communities, and
[15:14] from the public. And we ask for and love
[15:17] getting input from the public. And we
[15:21] got by our standards a lot of input as
[15:23] Jury noted over 2,000 comments and a lot
[15:26] of folks who continue to say that Little
[15:29] Cottonwood Canyon in particular is
[15:31] really important to them and that they
[15:33] are not supportive of a gondola being
[15:35] constructed. And so I just wanted to
[15:37] just briefly remind everybody the the regional transportation plan
[15:43] includes when there is an environmental
[15:46] impact study done, the full results of
[15:50] that environmental impact study, which
[15:51] is a federally established process, are
[15:53] incorporated into the regional
[15:55] transportation plan. That was the case
[15:56] in 2023. It remains the case now. And so
[16:00] all the results of the UD doled EIS
[16:03] process for Little Cottonwood Canyon are
[16:06] pulled into and are in the regional
[16:08] transportation plan. Um those are the
[16:11] phased approach in the EIS and WFRC
[16:17] has already stated that we are
[16:19] supportive of taking that phased
[16:21] approach implementing and evaluating
[16:23] phases one and two before moving on to
[16:25] phase three. And you all remember phase
[16:27] one is increasing bus service, tolling
[16:32] in the canyons, mobility hubs so that
[16:35] people have other options for accessing
[16:38] the canyons. Um, so that's still the
[16:40] case. The really great news, I think, is
[16:44] uh, and I'm looking at Tiffany from UD
[16:46] do here. The great news is the real
[16:49] progress that's happening on phase one
[16:51] that the state has identified some $350
[16:55] million for phase one investments in
[16:58] little and big cottonwood canyons. Uh
[17:01] that's targeted for completion in uh
[17:05] 2028 for the ski season. And so I think
[17:08] that all of us can be working together
[17:10] to do everything we can to make that a
[17:12] success. And I know there's a lot of
[17:13] people in this room that care a lot
[17:15] about that. um as well. So, it's just a
[17:18] brief update on that just because we got
[17:20] so much input and we've had really great
[17:23] dialogue with a lot of stakeholders, the
[17:25] groups that are involved, Central Wasach
[17:27] Commission, um and other people that
[17:29] care a lot about this as do we. Thanks.
[17:33] Yeah, Jory, do you have anything else or
[17:36] do you want to turn to Julie? May it
[17:38] >> over to to Julie um to talk about our
[17:41] next steps, what we're going to do in
[17:42] the next year.
[17:43] >> Thanks so much. Oh, we have a question.
[17:45] Yes.
[17:50] Thank you, Madam Chair. It's not so much
[17:51] a question as more of a statement. Um,
[17:53] and I just since I'm here on behalf of
[17:55] Salt Lake County, by the way, hello
[17:56] everyone in person. Nice to see you. Um,
[17:59] Councilman Caner representing Deputy
[18:01] Mayor, excuse me, representing Mayor
[18:04] Jenny Wilson. Um, Andre, I appreciate it
[18:07] what you how you just laid out the
[18:09] process and the time period with within
[18:12] what you're in right now. Clearly, you
[18:14] could argue it's it's premature to um
[18:19] uh obviously try to pass this uh
[18:22] regional plan. Um that's not going to
[18:24] happen until 2027. It's my
[18:26] understanding. Right. So, it would be
[18:27] premature for probably any of us to take
[18:29] a formal position on whether or not the
[18:32] gondola should be in that plan or not.
[18:34] But I just want to reiterate that Salt
[18:36] Lake County, as everyone probably
[18:37] recalls who was here 3 or four years
[18:39] ago, um was very much opposed to the
[18:42] gondola being in the in the plan. Um and
[18:44] together with uh Mayor Zhansky and I
[18:47] believe it was Mayor um Mendenhal, Mayor
[18:49] Wilson um opposed having that language
[18:52] in the plan. And that's still very
[18:55] important. And I appreciate that you
[18:56] mentioned it, the idea that phase one
[18:59] needs to happen first. It needs to be
[19:01] measured before phase two or phase three
[19:03] would happen. So, I just wanted to
[19:04] articulate that since we are on the
[19:06] record and I know there may be other
[19:07] people in the room who share my
[19:09] thoughts. Um, but I appreciate the time
[19:10] to say that.
[19:11] >> Yeah, thanks for emphasizing that.
[19:14] >> Thank you.
[19:15] >> Can I can I edit something as well?
[19:17] >> Yeah, mayor, please.
[19:18] >> Okay. So, it's very important that phase
[19:21] one be adequate and work well. And it
[19:27] now that I've had a little time in my
[19:29] office as mayor of Cottonwood Heights,
[19:31] the it is important that our city get a
[19:34] ski bus priority lane on Wasuch
[19:36] Boulevard headed south for this to work
[19:39] for phase one to work. We need to have
[19:41] that. So I will be engaging with you DOT
[19:44] and anyone to see how we can have this
[19:47] happen. Thank you.
[19:50] >> Thank you.
[19:52] Anyone else? Okay. Thank you.
[19:55] Appreciate that, Jory. And we'll go
[19:57] ahead and and turn if Julie's Julie's on
[20:00] deck, we'll turn to Julie.
[20:01] >> Okay, cool. So, yeah, our next step in
[20:04] the RTP process is to sort um the
[20:07] projects within the draft preferred
[20:08] scenario into these 10-year phases. And
[20:10] we do that through a two-step process.
[20:12] Um first, we phase based on need and
[20:14] then we phase based on anticipated
[20:16] funding availability. So, I'll share my
[20:18] screen for a second.
[20:25] Sorry, this is taking longer than I
[20:26] thought it would. Um, there we go.
[20:32] Okay, so um, this phasing is guided by
[20:35] the Wasatch Choice Vision Goals. Really
[20:37] broadly, I wanted to give you an update
[20:39] about how we're prioritizing each of
[20:41] these goals. Um, as Mayor Ramsey
[20:43] mentioned, you'll recall that in
[20:44] January, we brought you draft phrasing
[20:46] criteria and asked you for your feedback
[20:48] and priorities. We've also sought
[20:50] feedback and priorities about the
[20:52] criteria
[20:54] um from local planners on our technical
[20:56] advisory committee. So these are local
[20:57] planners from our communities throughout
[20:59] the Wasatch Front. Um UD do UTA and the
[21:02] active transportation committee. Um and
[21:04] this what I'm showing you here is how
[21:06] we're landing on these priorities um by
[21:09] the goal and by mode.
[21:12] More um detail about the actual criteria
[21:15] and specific weights can be found on our
[21:16] website. So, I won't walk through in
[21:18] detail, but you can just see sort of um
[21:20] kind of where we're landing.
[21:23] And then I also wanted to say thank you
[21:25] to all of you and to all of our partners
[21:27] um for thinking through this process
[21:28] with us um and providing really
[21:30] thoughtful feedback. Um we've made a
[21:31] number of changes based on on that
[21:33] feedback that we've received. Um so
[21:36] after we phase projects using these
[21:39] goals and these weights um we will bring
[21:43] you the results of the that phasing at
[21:46] this fall's workshops. Um we will then
[21:48] measure the the performance of the plan
[21:50] based on regional and federal
[21:52] performance measures. Um we are required
[21:54] to also complete an air quality
[21:55] conformity determination and then um
[21:58] we'll work to finalize the documentation
[22:00] of the plan and um a targeted adoption
[22:02] date of next May. So May of 2027. So,
[22:05] there's a lot of work to be done over
[22:06] the next year. Um, but we look forward
[22:08] to um walking you guys through the
[22:10] process and then meeting with you back
[22:12] at this fall's workshops.
[22:14] And that's um all I wanted to update you
[22:16] guys on Mayor Ramsey.
[22:20] >> Thank you. Thank you so much. Cool,
[22:23] Julie. That's cool. [laughter] That was
[22:25] great. I love that. On the wrong side.
[22:28] No, thank you so much for all the work
[22:30] on this. We appreciate it. and um a lot
[22:32] of good work taking place in a in a very
[22:34] public process. We appreciate it and
[22:37] thanks for the comments that have been
[22:38] shared as well. Please Nicole,
[22:42] >> thank you and thank you Julie for
[22:44] recognizing the work we do together. I
[22:46] just want to um let everyone know that
[22:48] UTA is in the same process with their uh
[22:51] regional transit uh planet long range
[22:55] planning and so we'll be working with
[22:57] your communities along with WFRC to get
[23:00] that feedback regarding our long-term
[23:03] and short-term transit plan. So, uh
[23:06] we'll get you more information about
[23:08] that and u the outreach we'll be doing
[23:10] over the next year. So, thank you,
[23:11] Mayor.
[23:12] >> Thank you so much.
[23:14] >> Anyone else?
[23:16] Okay, thank you. All right, for our next
[23:18] update, um, in the last couple of days,
[23:21] the first draft of the federal
[23:22] transportation authorization bill was
[23:25] released. And one thing I love so much
[23:27] about Miranda is how she's so on top of
[23:29] things that when she sent a text Monday
[23:33] and said, I'm sure you probably saw
[23:35] yesterday that the 1,05 page
[23:38] transportation reauthorization was
[23:40] released yesterday on Sunday. And I
[23:42] thought, I did not see that. I did. I
[23:44] was not watching for that to come out
[23:46] today and I love that you knew and sent
[23:48] it right out and Monday morning here we
[23:50] are and you probably already saw and I
[23:52] thought I had not already seen and so I
[23:55] so appreciate that. That was that was
[23:56] great and we are in very good hands my
[23:58] friends. We have good folks here keeping
[24:00] up on all the things and Miranda is one
[24:02] of those. She does such a good job as
[24:04] government affairs manager and she's
[24:05] here to give us a brief update on that
[24:07] thous05 page. It's a big deal and it's
[24:10] great to have that at least finally
[24:12] released. things are a little bit behind
[24:13] schedule for them uh back there with
[24:15] that, but we're going to turn to Miranda
[24:16] for an update.
[24:17] >> Yeah, thank you, mayor. I suppose some
[24:18] of us have better things to do with our
[24:20] time than waiting for for these bills to
[24:23] drop. So, uh well, I appreciate that.
[24:26] Appreciate the opportunity to share a
[24:27] little bit about what is happening back
[24:29] in Congress right now. I usually get to
[24:30] talk about what's happening up on our
[24:32] Utah uh Capitol Hill. Um, but like Mayor
[24:35] Ramsey mentioned, the surface
[24:38] transportation reauthorization bill has
[24:40] been released by the House
[24:42] Transportation and Infrastructure
[24:44] Committee. Um, this isn't going to be
[24:46] the final bill. This is one piece of a
[24:48] much larger puzzle. The Senate also has
[24:52] uh will have versions of the bill that
[24:54] they'll be releasing. And like Mayor
[24:56] Ramsey mentioned, they're a bit further
[24:57] behind than the House is on releasing
[24:59] this. So, as a reminder of what the
[25:01] surface transportation authorization is, that it's a five-year funding bill uh
[25:08] bill that authorizes funding and
[25:10] programs for transportation
[25:13] uh programs nationwide. So, the programs
[25:15] that WFRC has, that our partners at UDOT
[25:19] and UTA have as well, the funding and
[25:21] programs uh are funneled through that
[25:24] bill. Um, for the past several years or
[25:28] I'd say maybe year, year and a half,
[25:30] we've been working really closely with
[25:32] our our transportation partners at U.UTA
[25:34] UTA or other metropolitan planning
[25:36] organizations uh to work with our
[25:38] congressional delegation in uh messaging
[25:41] to them what Utah's top priorities are
[25:45] regarding transportation
[25:46] reauthorization, what funding is
[25:48] important and critical for us to
[25:50] continue um and what we'd like to see in
[25:52] this next 5-year reauthorization bill.
[25:55] Um, and so we worked really closely with
[25:58] all of our members of Congress, but
[25:59] specifically with the members that have
[26:02] authority uh on these committees,
[26:04] including Representative, sorry,
[26:06] Congressman uh Mike Kennedy, Burgess
[26:09] Owens, uh, and Senator Curtis for um for
[26:12] their roles that they play. So, the
[26:14] House TNI committee are actually right
[26:17] now marking up the reauthorization bill
[26:20] as we speak. They'll be offering
[26:22] amendments this morning. We anticipate
[26:24] some of that, but I just wanted to
[26:25] highlight a few key things in the bill
[26:28] that we think is relevant to WFRC and to
[26:31] Utah. Uh some of those key takeaways is
[26:34] one the and it's called the Build
[26:37] America 250 Act. That's what House TNI
[26:39] has named this their uh reauthorization
[26:42] bill. It uh prioritizes traditional
[26:45] highway and bridge infrastructure uh and
[26:48] it actually continues uh some of the
[26:50] bridge formula funding that we saw from
[26:53] the infrastructure investment and jobs
[26:55] act. So uh additional significant
[26:57] funding going to uh bridges with a
[27:00] requirement that a portion of those
[27:02] funds go to uh local bridges
[27:06] uh which is important for our local
[27:07] governments. Uh unlike the
[27:09] infrastructure investment and jobs act,
[27:11] the bill prioritizes federal funds
[27:13] coming through formula funding. So not
[27:16] uh not primarily through discretionary
[27:19] grant programs. That tends to be the
[27:21] case, but the infrastructure investment
[27:22] and jobs act did see a lot of
[27:24] discretionary grant programs that I I
[27:27] assume and hope many of you have been
[27:29] competing for over these last several
[27:30] years. Uh overall, the funding and the
[27:34] structure in the bill is largely status
[27:36] quo. uh the programs that are important
[27:38] to WFRC to some of our transportation
[27:41] partners. We want to continue to see
[27:43] funding going to those programs. We are
[27:45] seeing that um with uh with some you
[27:49] know minimal increases in some of those
[27:51] programs. For example, the metropolitan
[27:54] planning uh funding program. This is our
[27:57] core program at WFRC and was our top
[28:00] priority at WFRC was increasing the
[28:03] funding for this program. We saw a
[28:06] modest increase of about 9% um you know
[28:09] potentially and hopefully we'll see that
[28:11] uh increase moving forward. Uh surface
[28:14] transportation block grant program which
[28:16] provides funding for local
[28:18] transportation projects uh continues to
[28:21] move forward with a slight increase. Um
[28:24] the safe streets and roads for all grant
[28:26] program which provides funding for local
[28:29] safety projects and planning for local
[28:31] projects uh is a grant program that was
[28:34] identified in IIGJA that will continue
[28:37] under this pro proposal. Um and then a
[28:40] few other things I want to highlight. It
[28:42] extends uh the eligibility for a uh
[28:45] Olympic and World Cup uh grant program.
[28:49] uh before with the initial uh proposal
[28:52] for that, Utah wouldn't have been
[28:54] eligible for 2034, but in under this
[28:56] bill, Utah would be an eligible
[28:58] recipient of those grants. Uh and then
[29:01] lastly, and this one is near and dear to
[29:03] Mayor Ramsey's heart, um we're hoping uh
[29:06] we're anticipating that an amendment
[29:08] will be added to today uh in the
[29:10] committee markup uh that will make some
[29:12] changes to the capital investment grant
[29:15] program which provides uh transit uh
[29:18] grants, transit funding. Um, and the
[29:21] amendment would allow for local uh would
[29:24] allow for fast growing areas to uh like
[29:28] southwest Salt Lake County, like other
[29:30] areas in Utah to com to be a little bit
[29:32] more competitive in the grant program.
[29:35] um because of the way the the current
[29:37] formula is structured to prioritize
[29:40] existing
[29:42] uh transit ridership as opposed to
[29:44] anticipated or growth in ridership
[29:46] because of um because of uh population
[29:50] growth. So, we're excited to to
[29:52] hopefully see that included today. I'd
[29:55] say overall this is really positive news
[29:57] that we're seeing language released. Uh
[30:00] this is uh like I mentioned maybe you
[30:03] know one of the first steps in actually
[30:05] getting to a past reauthorization. We're
[30:08] likely not to see it reauthorized on
[30:10] time when the bill expires in October of
[30:12] this year just because the Senate is
[30:14] moving quite a bit slower than the House
[30:16] is on this. But there's still
[30:17] opportunities for negotiations moving
[30:19] forward both with our congressional
[30:21] delegation um and amongst uh
[30:24] congressional committees and our
[30:25] national association. So, uh, appreciate
[30:28] the opportunity to share that. Uh, lots
[30:30] more to come over the next several
[30:32] months. So, thank you, Mayor
[30:34] >> Miranda. Thank you. Please go ahead.
[30:39] >> Thank [clears throat] you so much, uh,
[30:40] Madam Chair. Um, um, in addition to
[30:43] being a board member for Utah Transit
[30:45] Authority, I'm also the APTA, American
[30:47] Public Transportation Association
[30:49] legislative chair. So nationwide, this
[30:51] is a large large issue, obviously a key
[30:54] funding strategy that we want to
[30:56] continue to be investing in and and
[30:58] thank you Miranda for doing that um
[31:00] presentation. This is still obviously an
[31:02] ongoing negotiable uh strategy for the
[31:04] build America 250. And um one of the
[31:07] things one of the number one things that
[31:09] I just want to emphasize that as a
[31:11] transit agencies across the country
[31:13] looking at this, the key thing is the
[31:16] funding. Um the request for CIG funding
[31:20] is going to continue on and the goal is
[31:22] to get that public transit to become 138
[31:26] billion over the next five years. And
[31:28] that's this this whole build America is
[31:30] a five-year um uh program and then 130
[31:34] billion in rail. Now obviously both of
[31:36] those are are very um potentially
[31:38] valuable for UTA um and the state of
[31:41] Utah. And um I was just asked a question
[31:44] from Mayor Bradshaw about uh the
[31:46] projects that we also have ongoing. So
[31:49] just for context, all transit um
[31:51] projects are a competitive grant process
[31:53] and that's why the funding is so key um
[31:56] in order to be able to get funding for
[31:58] our projects. For instance, the Davis
[32:00] Salt Lake connector, the goal is to get
[32:03] the CIG program to be funded at that
[32:06] same level that I just told you about.
[32:08] So public transit that would that's
[32:09] where the Davis Salt Lake connector
[32:11] would come from and that competitive
[32:13] grant process is 138 billion across the
[32:16] country. So we compete um as transit
[32:19] agencies for that funding. So this is
[32:21] our number one goal um and as I don't
[32:25] know if this is really all all out there
[32:27] but um Davis Salt Lake Connector
[32:29] actually rated as a medium high which is
[32:31] almost the highest gold standard you can
[32:34] get. So, we know how critical it is and
[32:36] this is all part of the strategy and the
[32:38] discussion that we're doing on a
[32:39] nationwide basis. Um, and we want to be
[32:43] as supportive and collaborative as we
[32:45] can be with all of our other priorities,
[32:47] but knowing that the whole entity, all
[32:50] of us in the state of Utah are looking
[32:52] forward to getting this moving forward
[32:53] is a great first step. So, I just want
[32:55] to thank you for that.
[32:58] >> Thank you so much. Um, I appreciate your
[33:01] role that you have, Beth, on APTA. uh as
[33:04] legislative chair um you know apta I was
[33:07] looking at apta this morning after the
[33:09] news came out that you know about this uh potential amendment to the CI
[33:14] and a lot of work's been done to try to
[33:15] reach the point where we could get that
[33:17] language amendment I mean maybe someday
[33:21] across the finish line and get that
[33:22] added into federal statute because this
[33:25] I've been doing this long enough now
[33:27] that it took a few years before I really
[33:29] figured out we will never be able to be
[33:31] competitive enough to qualify for any of
[33:33] that money. That's the problem. It it we
[33:35] have to get to the heart of where it's
[33:37] at. And the heart of where it at it's at
[33:38] is this language being able to expand
[33:41] the language to allow for fast growing
[33:44] communities who don't already have the
[33:46] full population and the full wrership
[33:48] because they don't have anything to
[33:50] ride. Uh being able to expand that
[33:52] language to include us here in the west
[33:54] in fast growing areas has been key. And
[33:56] it's been a lot of work by a lot of
[33:58] people the last couple years to try to
[33:59] get there. But um appreciate
[34:03] your work, all the work from everyone
[34:05] from Utah and uh Congressman Owens and
[34:08] his team and and a bipartisan coalition
[34:11] that they've worked to create back in
[34:13] Washington. Uh because this doesn't just
[34:15] impact Utah and it doesn't just impact
[34:17] my part of the state of Utah. This
[34:19] there's a lot of the West that this
[34:21] could really benefit and not just the
[34:22] West, other areas in the country are
[34:24] growing as well that would not be as
[34:26] competitive. So just recognizing that
[34:28] APA's mission is to expand opportunities
[34:30] and connections across communities and
[34:33] to support policies that promote funding
[34:36] to do so. I appreciate that that today
[34:38] was big news, a great first step. Well,
[34:41] a huge step. There's been a million
[34:43] steps, but a big first step to um maybe
[34:47] get getting this there and giving us a
[34:49] fighting chance to to be able to be more
[34:52] competitive in this grant process so
[34:54] that maybe maybe we can start to receive
[34:57] some federal money to expand transit to
[35:00] other areas north and south from where
[35:02] we have it right now. It's a big deal
[35:03] for the state of Utah and we'll keep
[35:05] working on it. Everybody will keep
[35:06] working on it. So, thank you.
[35:08] >> Mayor, can I add briefly? Some of you
[35:10] are probably thinking, "Wait a second,
[35:13] didn't Utah get federal transit money?
[35:16] Why is this an issue?" And the answer is
[35:18] yes. Nicole's nodding. Yes, Utah did
[35:21] receive significant federal dollars for
[35:24] the buildout of the current rail transit
[35:27] system. But that was before the rules
[35:31] were changed. Several years ago, the
[35:34] policy was modified to disfavor fast
[35:38] growing areas that have relatively less
[35:40] existing service and to favor areas that
[35:44] have existing service in corridors. And
[35:47] so what we're talking about here is a
[35:50] modification to the formulas that gives
[35:53] us again as a fast growing community and
[35:57] communities the ability to better
[35:59] compete. The other thing I'll just note,
[36:02] this is a big bill. There's a lot of
[36:04] money proposed in it, but the revenue
[36:07] picture has not been fixed in Congress.
[36:11] This uh the the gas tax, which is the
[36:14] principal source of revenue for federal
[36:16] transportation spending, does not come
[36:18] close to covering the actual spending
[36:21] levels. Why is that? Because the federal
[36:24] gas tax, Okay, this is a pop quiz. Let's
[36:26] see if anybody can answer this question.
[36:28] When was the last time the current
[36:30] federal gas tax, which is 18.4 cents per
[36:33] gallon, was increased? Anybody? Anybody?
[36:39] 19. Close. Close enough. Byron. 1993
[36:44] was the last time, and I don't remember
[36:46] what the average price of a vehicle was
[36:49] in 1993, but it was a lot less. So, we
[36:53] have fallen behind. This bill doesn't
[36:55] really address that. It does some modest
[36:57] things. Um so this is a big issue to
[36:59] tackle as well but uh positive
[37:01] development for today on this long
[37:03] journey.
[37:04] >> Thank you. And it is a long journey and
[37:06] it this base draft is a thousand5 pages.
[37:09] This is an amendment that we're even
[37:11] talking about just this there's I mean
[37:12] there's a lot to it a lot of
[37:14] stakeholders and everyone cares about
[37:15] different things. So there's a lot of
[37:17] work to be done but uh good progress
[37:20] that uh we weren't even sure we'd reach
[37:23] this point. uh and if not it'd be
[37:25] several years before we could even try
[37:27] again. So very happy about this and
[37:30] we'll keep working on it. So thank you
[37:31] to everyone working on it. Okay. Um we
[37:35] love certifying station area plans and
[37:37] working on the process to get us there.
[37:40] So as part of our station area planning
[37:42] program, we'll now consider
[37:43] certification of Midvail's portion of
[37:45] the historic Sandy Track Station. We are
[37:47] grateful to have Adam Olsen here,
[37:48] community director development, excuse
[37:50] me, community development director from
[37:52] Midvil joining us. First, I'm going to
[37:54] turn to Byron Head with WFRC to
[37:56] introduce this item.
[37:58] >> Mayor, and good morning everyone. Um, as
[38:01] said, we we have a a short item today,
[38:03] just one station area. Um, a brief
[38:07] refresher on the kind of what stationary
[38:10] planning is. This is required for all
[38:12] jurisdictions that have a portion of the
[38:15] half mile or quarter mile radius around
[38:17] a station area, half mile if it's a
[38:19] train, quarter mile if it's a bus rapid
[38:21] transit. And these plans need to address
[38:23] things like housing, environmental
[38:25] conditions, um access to opportunities,
[38:27] and transportation choices. Um we have
[38:31] already made a lot of progress uh
[38:33] together as as a group uh the past two
[38:36] or three years now. Um, and I taken a
[38:39] little bit of a liberty here in
[38:41] celebrating preemptively that if we
[38:43] certify this uh today and next week,
[38:44] we'll hit the 100 mark out of our 127 uh
[38:48] station areas. Um,
[38:51] and uh to go along with that, again,
[38:53] celebrating our our work to date, we've
[38:55] certified plans that would support over
[38:57] 100,000 over 108,000 new homes uh all
[39:00] across the Wasatch Front from from Ogden
[39:02] all the way down to Provo. Um, and then
[39:05] one more new bit of news, um, kind of
[39:08] the another fruit of the labor that's
[39:10] been born here is the, um, regional
[39:12] infrastructure accelerator program award
[39:14] that we got from the US DOT. We just
[39:17] found out a couple weeks ago, it's still
[39:18] very early stages, but basically, this
[39:20] is a a award to help identify projects
[39:24] that are ready that just need a little
[39:26] help with financing. Uh, this is really
[39:28] Meg Pageants's um, she did all the the
[39:31] work on this. Unfortunately, she's not
[39:33] here. Are you about to say Meg Pageant's
[39:35] baby? This is me Pad's baby.
[39:36] >> This is Meg Pageant's baby. Yes. No, she
[39:38] is not with us today because she has
[39:40] welcomed a new baby into her family. So,
[39:41] we're
[39:41] >> a literal baby.
[39:43] >> This is her figurative federal baby.
[39:45] Yes.
[39:46] >> They are both named Ria. [laughter]
[39:50] » For the record, Meg's literal baby is
[39:52] named Satie, just for the record. Okay.
[39:54] >> [laughter]
[39:55] >> Yeah.
[39:57] >> Um so that we'll be working on getting
[40:00] that grant agreement um finalized and
[40:02] then working on the grant project itself
[40:04] uh in the coming months. But um just
[40:06] wanted to let everyone know about that
[40:07] and uh how excited we are to be moving
[40:10] forward with some implementation coming
[40:12] from all this planning that we've been
[40:14] doing. Now uh the order of the day um
[40:18] Midvail's portion of the historic Sandy
[40:20] track station. Sandy uh has had their
[40:23] portion of this certified uh at the
[40:25] beginning of last year. Um this portion
[40:28] is just, you know, a couple acres on the
[40:30] wrong side of State Street from the
[40:31] train. Um but I'll now invite Adam up to
[40:34] the the podium to say a few words about
[40:37] this resolution of impracticability.
[40:44] » Thank you for having me today. Uh we
[40:46] took this to our council a few weeks
[40:47] ago. Um, this is just a very tiny
[40:50] portion of Midvail, just west of State
[40:51] Street. I believe it encompasses maybe
[40:53] three parcels and a portion of a fourth.
[40:56] Um, so the council passed a resolution
[40:58] of impracticability just because of the
[41:00] location. Um, and just it was such a
[41:03] tiny portion of the radius. Um, and so
[41:06] if this is approved here, um, then we
[41:09] will have, um, all of our station areas
[41:12] will have been certified or approved in
[41:14] Midville. um if this area does
[41:17] redevelop, it is within our area of
[41:19] mixed use and so we do anticipate one
[41:21] day uh whether it's commercial or higher
[41:24] density residential when if and when
[41:26] this does redevelop. But again, thank
[41:27] you for your consideration today.
[41:31] >> Thanks, Adam. Uh so WFRC staff has
[41:34] reviewed the materials submitted by
[41:36] Midvail and and collabor uh consult
[41:38] consulted, that's the word, with UTA uh
[41:41] and put forth a positive recommendation
[41:43] to to the council. We have a suggested
[41:45] motion on screen for you. All the
[41:47] information is in your meeting packets.
[41:48] So, I'll now turn it back to the chair.
[41:50] >> Byron, thank you so much. Okay. Um,
[41:53] thank you to Midvil for all the work
[41:55] that you've done on this and Byron and
[41:57] team, everybody here. Um, is there a
[41:59] motion on this station area?
[42:04] » I'm so excited to make this motion. I um
[42:07] I move to recommend certification of the
[42:09] Midval Historic Sandy Tracks Resolution
[42:11] of Impracticability to the Wasatch Front
[42:14] Regional Council.
[42:15] >> Thank you. Is there a second?
[42:18] >> Second.
[42:21] >> Was that Mayor Overson?
[42:22] >> Mayor Overson.
[42:23] >> Thank you very much. Okay, we have a
[42:25] motion and a second on this. Is there
[42:27] any discussion to it?
[42:30] Okay, seeing none, all in favor of uh
[42:33] recommending certification of the
[42:34] Midbell Historic Sandy Tracks resolution
[42:36] of impracticability to the Wasatch Front
[42:38] Regional Council, please say I.
[42:40] >> I
[42:42] opposed.
[42:45] Great. Thank you. That passes and that
[42:47] will move next week uh to it will come
[42:49] before us as a full council body next
[42:52] week um and hopefully be certified.
[42:57] Thank you.
[43:00] All right. Next, uh we're going to have
[43:01] a discussion uh and and it's a a
[43:05] discussion I'm glad that we're going to
[43:06] have here. It's one that I've never been
[43:08] part of at this kind of discussion here
[43:11] and lots of other places around the
[43:13] state and around the region, but but not
[43:15] here at Wasatch Front Regional Council
[43:17] at our regional growth committee. We're
[43:19] going to talk about the realities of our
[43:20] water scarcity, what's going on. And you
[43:23] know, we've got um we've got really good
[43:25] people here who who uh work hard on on
[43:28] land use and transportation and transit
[43:30] and and that intersection and how it
[43:32] intersects with economic development and
[43:34] water is a factor that many of us also
[43:38] are always have to we're always working
[43:40] on it. We're always considering it. It's
[43:42] always a reality, but um it's not always
[43:46] discussed in concert with everything
[43:48] else. And so I'm really grateful to have
[43:50] the opportunity to have this discussion.
[43:51] Um during our March meeting, this
[43:53] committee recognized water as a vital
[43:55] regional priority for the regional
[43:57] growth committee committee to consider.
[44:00] And uh as we continue to navigate our
[44:02] severe and historic drought, which the
[44:04] governor today, just while we've been in
[44:06] this meeting, made a a declaration, an
[44:08] emergency declaration, drought
[44:11] declaration. Um there's there's a lot
[44:14] happening as we speak quite literally
[44:16] right now about this. And and this isn't
[44:20] a this isn't a political issue. This
[44:22] isn't a partisan issue. This is reality.
[44:24] This is our lives. This is whether or
[44:25] not we have enough water. And I'm glad
[44:26] we get to talk about it today. Um while
[44:29] agricultural consumption represents a
[44:31] large share the largest share of Utah's
[44:32] water use, the regional growth committee
[44:34] and the Wasatch Front Regional Council
[44:35] are focused on urban growth and
[44:37] development patterns which impact water
[44:39] consumption. That's where we focus. But
[44:42] keeping in mind though that we've got a
[44:44] large portion of our region here that
[44:46] also has you know agricultural
[44:49] agriculture use in it. So this isn't
[44:52] this is an intersection that we all um
[44:54] live at right that we all work on. So
[44:56] today we're going to have a conversation
[44:58] that we're going to discuss the needs of
[45:00] local government in addressing water
[45:01] scarcity and our potential shared
[45:04] responses. Um we have some folks here to
[45:07] share a few thoughts with us to kind of
[45:09] seed the conversation and we've got some
[45:11] water experts attending and so
[45:14] um
[45:16] I don't know that I'm going to read off
[45:17] all these names. Yeah, probably not. But
[45:19] we'll turn to them and and also as a
[45:21] trustee for the Jordan Valley Water
[45:22] Conservancy District. I've I've done
[45:24] that for the last six years and I served
[45:26] four years on the state of Utah drinking
[45:27] water board. I'm in my seventh year on
[45:29] the um Jordan Valley Water as a trustee.
[45:34] Um just just a few thoughts. I have gone
[45:40] from meetings uh when I served in the
[45:42] role that Mayor Bradshaw's in as
[45:43] president of the Utilago cities and
[45:45] towns. come here and now it's my
[45:47] opportunity to chair the regional
[45:48] council and then I go to my water
[45:50] district meetings as a trustee and the
[45:52] conversations about growth about housing
[45:54] about transportation about our needs are
[45:56] very real. I come from the legislature
[45:58] up at the capital during their session
[46:00] as they're working and I I've spent a
[46:02] million hours in these meetings about
[46:04] these things. And then I go to my water
[46:06] district meetings and we have this
[46:09] reality about water that it just is is
[46:13] not always considered at the policy
[46:16] levels. We're talking about land use and
[46:17] housing and transportation and all of
[46:19] it. And those of us that this is what we
[46:21] do, we face that all the time. It's felt
[46:24] like there's been a bit of a disconnect
[46:26] in that conversation. And so bringing
[46:28] the water discussion here to the
[46:30] regional growth committee here at the
[46:32] Wasetfront Regional Council is great. It
[46:35] is great. It's and it's timely. It is
[46:37] time that we make sure that we're having
[46:38] these discussions and and collaborating
[46:42] together including water in our
[46:44] consideration of our land use and
[46:46] things. It's something we have to do,
[46:48] but it's something that we get strong
[46:52] policy proposals about one and about the
[46:55] other, but there's not always a marriage
[46:57] of consideration between well, there's
[46:59] rarely a marriage of consideration
[47:00] between the two. I'm going to go that
[47:02] far. And so, I was thrilled that we get
[47:04] to have this conversation and and we'll
[47:06] talk about it because it really is a
[47:08] challenge. It's a challenge that we at
[47:09] the local level face. It's a challenge
[47:11] that we all face, but it's it's
[47:13] something that comes down to it and our
[47:14] public our residents come in and say,
[47:16] "How are we going to do that if we don't
[47:18] have this? Are you thinking about that?"
[47:20] We are thinking about that. It's time
[47:23] for us to have that conversation here
[47:24] and so I appreciate the chance to do it.
[47:26] We're going to turn to Ted Nolton who's
[47:27] our deputy director here at Wasatch
[47:29] Front Regional Council to discide
[47:31] discuss um he's going to guide this
[47:33] discussion to explore these critical
[47:34] water issues for us. So Ted.
[47:39] » Cool. Okay, mayor. Thank you so much. I
[47:42] appreciate that and I'm really excited
[47:44] about this uh conversation. Um I am not
[47:48] a water expert. Uh WFRC is not does not
[47:53] have deep expertise in water, but this
[47:56] is the quality of life issue that our
[47:59] communities are facing and you want to
[48:01] explore this as a council and I love
[48:03] that and it is consistent with WFRC's
[48:06] role to do this. If you look over there
[48:09] on my right, you'll see at the bottom it lists some of our roles. One of them
[48:13] is a convenor. Uh and so let's convene.
[48:17] Let's talk about how we uh can address
[48:20] these things. The mayor talked about
[48:23] this basic notion that we're focusing on
[48:26] not the totality of water use, but the
[48:28] urban water use, which is 25%.
[48:32] I guess the good news though is we do
[48:34] have a lot of control together uh on
[48:37] addressing that uh 25%. And so let's uh
[48:41] roll up our sleeves here a little bit.
[48:43] Um we'll come back to these questions,
[48:45] but I wanted to just put them in front
[48:47] of you. So so to preview them, okay? Uh
[48:52] one question that we could start with is
[48:54] what critical needs must be met to
[48:57] reduce urban area water use. You know,
[48:59] it could be tools, resources,
[49:03] um
[49:05] things to help us reach out to our
[49:08] publics in our communities. Could be
[49:11] things like funding for secondary
[49:12] metering. Really, let's discuss. And
[49:15] then are there shared responses that we
[49:17] want to explore together? uh and you can
[49:20] see some options that are up there, but
[49:22] really um this is your discussion, but
[49:26] here's a couple of questions that we
[49:27] could start with. Now, to seed the
[49:30] conversation, we're going to do
[49:32] lightning presentations. Lightning and
[49:34] water. What could possibly go wrong?
[49:38] Very short. So, we're aiming for five
[49:40] minutes uh on each of these to leave us
[49:43] with about 25 minutes hopefully to
[49:46] discuss this together as a committee.
[49:48] water in the Wasuch Choice vision, uh,
[49:51] local water planning, you know, there's
[49:53] new general plan requirements, training
[49:56] opportunities, and collaborative
[49:58] strategies. We're going to hear from
[50:00] myself and Tim Watkins from WFRC, Sam
[50:03] Taylor with Landmark Design. So glad to
[50:06] have Sam here. Really pleased to have
[50:08] Anna McIntyre, who is the new incoming
[50:11] director uh with uh the Institute for
[50:14] Land, Water, and Air at Utah State. and
[50:16] then Jason Brown and I maybe also Cody
[50:19] Lutz, I'm not sure with Envision Utah.
[50:22] Um, and Jason is our is a committee
[50:24] member here. So really excited for these
[50:27] uh presentations.
[50:29] When we were talking to uh Ram Mayor
[50:32] Ramsey, when we were talking before this
[50:34] meeting, the mayor reminded me of a very
[50:37] basic fact which I know which is that
[50:40] you all are experts too on water. like
[50:43] commu local governments talk about water
[50:45] a lot and there is a lot of expertise
[50:49] already. So a lot of what you're going
[50:51] to hear in the next few presentations
[50:53] will be familiar to you but it's just
[50:55] sort of like getting it all out on the
[50:58] table as a table setting.
[51:00] Here's fact one which I think is widely
[51:02] known. As development intensity
[51:05] increases
[51:07] per household water use falls per
[51:09] household water use falls. So that's
[51:11] this dark blue line uh falls as you move
[51:14] from larger lot single family uh units
[51:18] to smaller lot to townhouse to condo.
[51:21] Okay, that falls which we all
[51:23] understand. Th this other part here of
[51:27] the curve that is bending upward is the
[51:30] per acre water use by unit type does
[51:34] increase. Okay, the per acre
[51:39] does increase as you move from unit to
[51:41] unit, but we'll get back to that.
[51:45] But understanding it on a per unit
[51:47] basis, not per acre. You follow me? A
[51:50] per unit understanding of it falls as
[51:53] you move from one h um housing type to
[51:55] another is important because there is a
[51:58] substitution effect. If if you know,
[52:01] let's say there are more homes that are
[52:03] built more town homes that are built in
[52:05] the Jordan uh River Basin, it might mean
[52:09] it likely does mean that there are fewer
[52:12] homes built, let's say, in the West
[52:14] Desert. And so understanding that
[52:17] consideration is really key, especially
[52:19] when it all uh comes together,
[52:22] understanding what's the impact on the
[52:24] Great Salt Lake.
[52:27] Now here's the second big point I want
[52:30] to hit. The first we already know per
[52:33] capita demand falls as the unit type
[52:36] goes up. Um the second big point is that
[52:40] this basic understanding that a lot of
[52:42] us already have which is that there's an
[52:44] important difference between the water
[52:46] that we use indoors versus outdoors.
[52:49] When we use it indoors, a lot of that
[52:51] water returns to our water bodies. And
[52:53] when we use it outdoors, a lot of it is
[52:56] consumed and does not return to our
[52:57] water bodies. We already know that. So
[52:59] now let's go back to this graph. So you
[53:02] see that that that
[53:04] curve that bends up that shows water
[53:07] demand increasing as we move from
[53:11] increase in our density. But look at
[53:13] this dark green
[53:15] uh wedge. Is that a wedge or a worm?
[53:18] What is it? But that dark green, it
[53:21] actually falls um even on a per acre
[53:24] basis. So, here's the thinking here.
[53:27] Let's say that you have a 5 acre block
[53:30] and it's right next to your town center
[53:32] in your community.
[53:35] If you as a community decide, you know
[53:37] what, on that 5 acre block, let's allow
[53:40] town houses where we were going to have
[53:43] uh single family living just on that
[53:45] 5acre block. your actual outdoor water
[53:48] use per acre is actually going to fall.
[53:51] So the consumed water falls even on a
[53:54] per acre basis. I wasn't even totally
[53:58] aware of that before even a year ago. Um
[54:01] that that added up to that. Um what does
[54:04] this have to do with the Wasuch Choice
[54:06] vision? the Wasa choice vision.
[54:09] Throughout that that effort, communities
[54:12] have said, you know, let's identify the
[54:15] focal points in our community where we
[54:17] want to see a mix of destinations and
[54:19] housing types that um help us create a
[54:23] great sense of place and a destination
[54:26] for when people come to visit our
[54:28] community. And they vary dramatically,
[54:31] small town centers up to metropolitan
[54:33] centers. The development of those city
[54:36] and town centers through the Wasage
[54:37] Choice vision does impact urban water
[54:40] use. We estimate that from the current
[54:43] city and town centers that we have in
[54:45] place today because we have those that
[54:48] we save 30 million gallons of water per
[54:51] day. And that as you look forward, if we
[54:54] were to implement today's Wasage Choice
[54:56] vision, we could see that go up to about
[54:58] 38 or 40 million uh gallons of water per
[55:02] day saved because we would develop
[55:05] strong um vibrant city and town centers
[55:08] to complement our quiet single family
[55:11] neighborhoods in our communities. So,
[55:13] those are a couple of things. I hope
[55:15] that was lightning enough on the water
[55:18] and the Wasatch Choice vision. Now we're
[55:21] seating this conversation local water
[55:23] planning and then training then
[55:24] collaborative strategies. So now I'm
[55:26] going to turn over to Tim Watkins and
[55:29] Sam Taylor to talk about best practices
[55:32] in local uh planning. Gentlemen,
[55:38] » that one.
[55:40] >> All right. Great to be with you and Sam
[55:43] and I will do our best to split time and
[55:46] uh find the right pace to share what we
[55:48] learned as we provided uh support to Roy
[55:52] City. Uh the city requested technical
[55:54] planning assistance in 2024 and 25 to
[55:57] prepare their water preservation element
[56:00] update to their general plan. We learned
[56:02] a lot. It is in the context of Roy City
[56:04] which is mostly buildout. Most of their
[56:07] future growth and development will be
[56:09] infill or redevelopment, but uh the
[56:12] majority of the growth in the community
[56:14] is existing single family residential.
[56:16] And you'll see some examples that Sam
[56:18] will share of not just future uh more
[56:22] compact infill development
[56:23] opportunities, but what existing
[56:24] residents can do to conserve water as
[56:27] well. Uh this project was supported by
[56:30] it was a great support and collaboration
[56:32] effort. uh Haley Kurlin with the
[56:34] division of water resources, state of
[56:37] Utah is here and she provided uh great
[56:40] support and that also allowed for Sam
[56:43] Taylor to come on as a consultant and uh
[56:45] then Utah State University this Roy City
[56:48] had the opportunity to participate in
[56:49] the growing water smart program. All
[56:52] right, so with that I just want to touch
[56:53] a little bit more on what Ted was
[56:55] sharing about the indoor water use and
[56:57] borrowing from Envision Utah's water use
[57:00] rule of thumb number two. If you haven't
[57:02] seen that toolkit, it's great to check
[57:04] out. And so on the left you see the
[57:06] water coming the snow pack from
[57:08] mountains and rivers. 30% is used indoor
[57:12] and that's for cleaning and cooking and
[57:15] then that water gets collected, treated
[57:17] and returns to the water bodies. You see
[57:19] on the right 70%
[57:22] is and I emphasize that 70% is a trend
[57:25] of the past. It doesn't necessarily need
[57:27] to be 70% moving into the future. But
[57:29] that water is applied to landscapes and
[57:33] 90 plus percent of that evaporates into the air. And uh so that is the the
[57:39] water spent.
[57:41] There are we've learned that there are
[57:43] three primary drivers or components that
[57:46] determine outdoor water use. First would
[57:49] be the size of the landscape and that's
[57:51] largely influenced by the size of a
[57:52] single family lot or uh the type of
[57:55] landscape area in different development
[57:57] types. Uh the second factor component is
[58:02] the um landscape type. The turf grass is
[58:06] usually easiest and cheapest, but it
[58:08] requires the most water. And so you see
[58:11] there's kind of a turf grass or bed
[58:12] choice, the ratio of the two. But Sam's
[58:15] also going to touch on natural
[58:17] landscapes and provide some interesting
[58:19] and compelling examples of going a
[58:21] little more natural and using much less
[58:22] water that way. A third important
[58:24] component that we will not spend time on
[58:26] today, but it's still important to keep
[58:28] in mind is the water use practice. And
[58:31] that has to do with are we keeping our
[58:33] irrigation systems uh in good operation
[58:36] and efficient? Are we airrating turf
[58:38] grass? Are we tilling soil before
[58:40] planting and so forth.
[58:42] All right, so let's just touch on this
[58:44] first component of the landscape area as
[58:46] a driving factor for outdoor water use.
[58:48] And I need to emphasize we're only
[58:51] primarily addressing outdoor water use
[58:53] in in our lightning round here. But you
[58:56] see from left to right a graph of
[58:59] different single family lot sizes
[59:01] ranging from half acre on the left all
[59:03] the way down to even less than a tenth
[59:04] of an acre on the right. And uh then you
[59:08] see the corresponding
[59:10] amount of that lot that is the actual
[59:13] landscape area. And so um it can get be
[59:16] as high as 16,000 square feet. And these
[59:18] are typical. They can average plus or
[59:21] minus. Uh also note the little blue line
[59:24] which indicates the the uh length of
[59:26] water pipe serving these homes. Much
[59:28] less water pipe is required on the right
[59:31] end of that spectrum, more water pipe on
[59:33] the on the left.
[59:35] And then similar uh notion with town
[59:39] homes that you see couple of town home
[59:42] styles on the left. multif family and
[59:44] mixeduse
[59:46] urban development that that the amount
[59:49] of landscape per housing unit continues
[59:51] to decrease.
[59:55] Something to keep in mind with with
[59:57] smaller lots that they tend to be more
[59:59] conducive to water wise landscaping. You
[1:00:02] see here an example in Farmington where
[1:00:04] uh there's no turf grass in the front.
[1:00:06] It's just drip irrigated plant beds, but
[1:00:09] it's a smaller area and it's easier to
[1:00:11] apply that type of landscaping. And then
[1:00:13] the example of a couple homes in
[1:00:14] Leighton that are 10 feet apart. These
[1:00:16] are single family homes. There's really
[1:00:18] no need for landscaping and irrigation
[1:00:20] between the homes and the homes actually
[1:00:23] provide shade and a little bit of a
[1:00:25] cooling effect there.
[1:00:28] And then Ted mentioned centers and kind
[1:00:30] of urban spaces for landscaping. And in
[1:00:33] many cases those can be plazas with
[1:00:35] plant beds and trees but also nice
[1:00:37] places to congregate and uh eat and
[1:00:41] relax and visit. And one more uh factor
[1:00:45] to keep in mind is uh when we talk about
[1:00:48] lot sizes and landscape areas is that uh
[1:00:51] there's an opportunity to put landscapes
[1:00:53] to more beneficial use and absorb more
[1:00:55] water and reduce the need for large
[1:00:58] detention areas. So,
[1:01:01] um, I'm going to turn it over to Sam to
[1:01:03] start with this slide.
[1:01:05] >> Thank you, Tim. Um, this next slide here
[1:01:09] shows gives you sort of the framework
[1:01:12] with Hutchin. We are looking at outdoor
[1:01:14] water use. And we've categorized things
[1:01:16] into high, moderate, and low um for
[1:01:19] their consumption. I think we're all
[1:01:20] very familiar with high water use
[1:01:21] landscapes. They're prolific throughout
[1:01:23] our state. It's very traditional. Um
[1:01:26] many of our uh municipal facilities have
[1:01:29] a lot of lawn as well. Um and so how are
[1:01:33] we shifting the needle in in in the
[1:01:35] water use on those? Um the moderate
[1:01:37] sector there tends to get into more of
[1:01:40] the local scapes approach where we still
[1:01:41] have a certain amount of lawn and then
[1:01:44] as we get low into the low water use
[1:01:46] we're starting to turn over that turf
[1:01:48] grass for more drought uh tolerant
[1:01:50] plantings. Um [clears throat] so we as
[1:01:54] part of the Roy project we wanted to
[1:01:55] look at how do these actually shape out
[1:01:58] in terms of their water use. And so we
[1:02:01] looked at a range of different
[1:02:02] development types um and in lot sizes
[1:02:06] and how applying the high water use, the
[1:02:09] moderate and the low uh conceptual
[1:02:12] designs for each of these, what did they
[1:02:14] actually shape out to in terms of their
[1:02:16] water use um in terms of acre inches per
[1:02:19] year consumed. And so, um, we did this
[1:02:21] for halfacre and quarter acre single
[1:02:24] family, uh, 6,500 square foot lots, um,
[1:02:28] both suburban town homes and and more
[1:02:32] urban town homes, uh, mixed use
[1:02:36] commercial and residential,
[1:02:38] uh, and then, uh, finally, you know,
[1:02:40] more of a multif family, mixed
[1:02:42] residential, uh, mid-rise kind of
[1:02:45] project. Um and [clears throat] taken
[1:02:48] all all all together and and plotted uh
[1:02:51] on a chart you can see uh how how these
[1:02:55] numbers sort of shake out in terms of
[1:02:56] their use. And uh no surprise that as we
[1:02:59] move towards the more compact
[1:03:01] development we are obviously seeing less
[1:03:03] outdoor water use. Um, but I think it's
[1:03:06] also interesting to note that um there
[1:03:09] is sort of like a sweet spot in in uh we
[1:03:12] don't necessarily have to have a a
[1:03:13] future where we are all living in
[1:03:14] high-rise apartments um but we can still
[1:03:17] enjoy uh you know a very happy place in
[1:03:20] the middle and enjoy a functional
[1:03:23] amenity rich landscape.
[1:03:26] So how does this shape out um how how
[1:03:28] can we
[1:03:30] strike this balance? Um was front's
[1:03:33] working on some conceptualizations
[1:03:36] uh looking at compact single family and
[1:03:38] mixed uh develop mixed residential
[1:03:41] development that prioritizes an amenity
[1:03:43] rich landscape that is also water-wise.
[1:03:46] So here we have a shared land uh amenity
[1:03:48] area um by all the the homes fronting
[1:03:51] this and all the little front yards are
[1:03:53] then flipped to a privacy screened very
[1:03:58] uh you know focused amenity rich spaces
[1:04:00] that don't have the turf grass. The turf
[1:04:02] grass is now shared by all the all the
[1:04:05] homes within a common park area. Um
[1:04:09] another example of how we can move this
[1:04:11] needle uh in the moderate framework.
[1:04:14] This neighborhood here is an an example
[1:04:16] of applying local scapes principles
[1:04:19] where we have reduced an amount of front
[1:04:21] uh lawns and swap that out for more
[1:04:24] water-wise plantings. Um and we can even
[1:04:27] take this to the low use uh scale at at
[1:04:30] a full development scale. Um,
[1:04:33] [clears throat] so this is a new
[1:04:34] development that's being constructed now
[1:04:36] in uh West Jordan called Terrain. And uh
[1:04:39] the entire development is uh based on
[1:04:42] low water use plantings. Even the uh
[1:04:45] sort of turf grass in the the park area
[1:04:47] in the middle there is a a native sort
[1:04:49] of meadow mix. Um so this this is a
[1:04:52] example of how we can actually embrace
[1:04:55] sort of a native aesthetic and uh I mean
[1:04:59] it's different, right? But uh this this
[1:05:01] landscape uses a mere fraction of what
[1:05:04] our traditional high use landscapes do
[1:05:07] and it's not covered in rocks.
[1:05:10] So um
[1:05:14] so how can cities sort of influence
[1:05:16] this? Uh one is really getting back to
[1:05:18] our landscape ordinances. I think
[1:05:20] there's been a lot of progress made on
[1:05:22] this and uh you should all be
[1:05:23] congratulated for the progress you've
[1:05:25] made. Um, so, uh, we have our local
[1:05:28] scapes model ordinances which the water
[1:05:30] conservancy districts have provided.
[1:05:31] Those are a great starting point. Um,
[1:05:33] but we're still we still have some work
[1:05:36] to do to try and get away from zero
[1:05:38] scapes to, you know, more uh,
[1:05:42] water sensitive and and also cooling
[1:05:45] landscapes. Um, rock mulch we tend to be
[1:05:48] overdoing it with. We're creating urban
[1:05:49] heat and that tends to stress out the
[1:05:53] plants and the trees in those landscapes
[1:05:55] and triggers behavioral overwatering. So
[1:05:57] people are cranking up the irrigation
[1:05:59] systems to combat that heat. Um so we
[1:06:02] can combat that by planting more densely
[1:06:04] and also shifting to uh obviously drip
[1:06:07] irrigation, smart irrigation controllers
[1:06:09] and so forth. And um also I think
[1:06:13] there's opportunity for us to reward
[1:06:14] those that are going above and beyond.
[1:06:17] So um
[1:06:19] we can also from the municipal side look
[1:06:22] at opportunities to change the way we're
[1:06:24] practicing uh our landscape management
[1:06:27] within uh municipal owned facilities and
[1:06:30] a a lot of you have made some
[1:06:32] significant strides in this area and you
[1:06:33] should be congratulated for that. Um
[1:06:35] there's sort of a toolbox here on the
[1:06:37] screen. We can look at things from a
[1:06:38] turf grass perspective reducing
[1:06:40] non-functional turf grass switching our
[1:06:42] fields and parks to water wise turf
[1:06:45] grass varieties. um getting serious
[1:06:47] about trees uh both planting more and
[1:06:50] but also ma taking better care of them.
[1:06:52] Many of our trees are not irrigated well
[1:06:54] or maintained well. Um storm water Tim
[1:06:57] kind of touched on getting double duty
[1:06:59] from the landscape. So um making them
[1:07:02] functional to treat storm water rather
[1:07:04] than big lawn detention basins. uh with
[1:07:07] maintenance, you know, giving our
[1:07:09] equipping our parks and wreck
[1:07:10] departments with opportunities and
[1:07:12] resources to for training, but also to
[1:07:14] make minor upgrades to help our
[1:07:17] facilities become more streamlined. And
[1:07:20] finally, using city properties as a way
[1:07:22] to educate and inspire uh the public
[1:07:25] through demonstration gardens,
[1:07:26] workshops, uh educational materials, and
[1:07:28] so forth. So,
[1:07:31] um that
[1:07:32] concludes our lightning round on that.
[1:07:34] And maybe maybe as these are happening,
[1:07:37] uh if you're thinking to yourself, gosh,
[1:07:39] that resonated with me or oh, I have a
[1:07:42] question about that or I have a push
[1:07:44] back on,
[1:07:47] keep track of those and and we could
[1:07:49] just kind of flush them out like birds
[1:07:51] in a meadow after we're done.
[1:07:52] >> Or if you're thinking my community is an
[1:07:54] example of uh of doing those things and
[1:07:57] you can use us as an example, you could
[1:07:59] think that as well.
[1:08:05] Thank you. I'll just spend just a few
[1:08:07] quick minutes to talk about Utah Growing
[1:08:09] Water Smart. My name is Anna McIntyre.
[1:08:11] I'm the incoming former managing
[1:08:14] director, incoming executive director of
[1:08:16] the Janet Quinny Lawson Institute for
[1:08:17] Land, Water, and Air at Utah State
[1:08:19] University. Many of you are familiar
[1:08:21] with the institute, but if you are not,
[1:08:24] just a very quick overview. Our mission
[1:08:26] is to help connect expertise, research,
[1:08:30] uh, quality information with people who
[1:08:32] can use it to make better informed
[1:08:34] decisions. And so we're trying to be
[1:08:36] that middle space between, uh, our
[1:08:39] university as well as other
[1:08:40] universities, other experts, and people
[1:08:42] who need that information to make it
[1:08:45] formatted or digestible or brought in
[1:08:47] the way format shape that is useful for
[1:08:50] better management of land, water, and
[1:08:52] air resources throughout the state of
[1:08:53] Utah. One way, and we've got pillars,
[1:08:56] one way that we do this is through the
[1:08:59] Utah Growing Water Smart program. Uh I
[1:09:01] am the principal investigator on this
[1:09:03] project. It has been uh managed and I
[1:09:07] did not originate the project, but I'm
[1:09:09] happy to take it on and be a part of
[1:09:11] this. But the goal of Utah Growing Water
[1:09:13] Smart is to help communities plan for
[1:09:17] their resilient water future through
[1:09:19] integrated land use and water planning.
[1:09:21] And it's what Mayabber Ramsay was
[1:09:23] referring to on a micro scale. It's not
[1:09:26] just having this group talk about water
[1:09:28] and integrating that with with land
[1:09:31] decisions and transportation decisions,
[1:09:32] but having individual communities bring
[1:09:35] their land use planners, their water
[1:09:37] planners, their economic developers,
[1:09:39] their elected officials together to talk
[1:09:41] about water. Uh the approach of Utah
[1:09:45] growing water smart. We do not come in
[1:09:48] and say how communities should do their
[1:09:51] integrated land use and water planning.
[1:09:53] We provide the resources and tools for
[1:09:56] communities themselves to be able to
[1:09:58] author their future, decide what their
[1:10:00] values, goals, and strategies are. and
[1:10:04] we just help hold their hand and provide
[1:10:06] them the expertise and resources when
[1:10:08] they have a question or when they need a
[1:10:10] particular insight or a particular tool
[1:10:12] that they have that at their fingertips
[1:10:14] while they're participating in the
[1:10:16] program. We are really grateful that we
[1:10:20] have such great partners on the program.
[1:10:22] This uh the growing water smart program
[1:10:24] was started uh by the Senorian Institute
[1:10:27] and is being helped and managed by the
[1:10:30] Babbitt Center for Land and Water
[1:10:32] Policy. This is being supported and
[1:10:34] funded by the division of water
[1:10:36] resources. Uh and we've been in working
[1:10:38] with uh in close partnership with water
[1:10:40] districts as we bring our communities
[1:10:42] together for these workshops. Uh it's
[1:10:45] called a workshop, but I the very first
[1:10:48] thing when I inherited this program is that's not at all what it is. Uh we
[1:10:53] do bring these communities together for
[1:10:55] three days to work on this, but we have
[1:10:58] a really significant on-ramp as far as
[1:11:00] providing them support for onboarding
[1:11:02] and making sure that they have the right
[1:11:04] team that they're bringing to the
[1:11:05] workshop. And then we work to provide a
[1:11:08] significant amount of of resources and
[1:11:10] support after they leave the workshop.
[1:11:13] So we have reunions, we have technical
[1:11:15] support, we have shareouts and webinars
[1:11:18] to be able to provide uh the the
[1:11:22] resources. So it's not a oneanddone
[1:11:24] activity, but it's something that's
[1:11:25] integrated into way the way that their
[1:11:28] community operates. Uh
[1:11:31] the reason that it works so well is that
[1:11:34] it's meant to be team-based. So we for
[1:11:37] each workshop we bring in six to eight
[1:11:40] different communities uh to be working
[1:11:42] at the same time. And so they have a
[1:11:44] mixed amount of time between just
[1:11:46] meeting with their communities and then
[1:11:49] coming and doing shareouts among the
[1:11:51] groups of communities and being in
[1:11:52] plenary sessions with experts talking
[1:11:55] about specific issues that are germanine
[1:11:57] to that cohort. At any given time, each
[1:12:01] community is asked to bring five to
[1:12:03] eight strategically chosen community
[1:12:06] planners or members. But the goal is to
[1:12:08] make sure that we are integrating the
[1:12:10] land use and the land planning with the
[1:12:13] water planning, but also making sure
[1:12:15] that we do have an elected official
[1:12:17] representative, that we do have someone
[1:12:19] who can understand what the economic
[1:12:21] needs are of the city, and that we can
[1:12:23] have that conversation about water that
[1:12:26] touches all different points of the
[1:12:27] city. So it's a holistic plan that suits
[1:12:30] everyone. Uh, additionally, each
[1:12:32] community is paired with two or three
[1:12:34] expert facilitators that spend the full
[1:12:37] three days connected with them and it's
[1:12:40] just to be their champion, their
[1:12:42] advocate, someone who can run outside
[1:12:44] and grab a subject matter expert if they
[1:12:46] need to be talking about a specific area
[1:12:49] that they want to move into. the types
[1:12:51] of topics that they can work on. For um
[1:12:54] the last phase, it was a really
[1:12:56] significant emphasis on developing the
[1:12:58] water preservation element as part of
[1:13:00] their general plans. Uh now it may be
[1:13:03] something more along the lines of what
[1:13:05] is the action plan now that that's part
[1:13:07] of the general plan or we have some
[1:13:09] communities that are coming up on
[1:13:10] renewal of their water conservation
[1:13:12] plans. So whatever it is that's their
[1:13:15] goal, that's what we help them
[1:13:17] accomplish. they set what their agenda
[1:13:19] is and we just facilitate what that
[1:13:22] looks like.
[1:13:23] Uh so far there's been two phases of the
[1:13:26] Utah Growing Water Smart uh program
[1:13:29] within Utah. Over those first two phases
[1:13:32] we've worked with 25 different
[1:13:33] communities including Roy which I
[1:13:35] believe was mentioned and uh our goal is
[1:13:39] over this phase three to double this. So
[1:13:42] we will have five workshops uh with six
[1:13:45] to eight communities each that we'll be
[1:13:47] continuing to work with from now through
[1:13:50] the end of 2028. But our goal is that
[1:13:53] this is not again a oneanddone thing
[1:13:55] that we continue growing water smart and
[1:13:58] it's part of the way that we think about
[1:14:00] our how our communities function
[1:14:02] throughout the state in perpetuity. Uh
[1:14:05] so what is next for us? We are in a mad
[1:14:09] dash to be ready for uh our next
[1:14:11] workshop which is going to be just a
[1:14:13] little over a week from now. Uh we are
[1:14:15] working with eight communities in the
[1:14:17] service ever cerebrous area of the
[1:14:19] central Utah water conservancy district.
[1:14:22] So Utah County communities, we've got
[1:14:24] eight of them who are participating.
[1:14:26] We're very excited. They've got some
[1:14:28] wicked water problems and we're hopeful
[1:14:30] to be able to uh to help them find some
[1:14:34] pathways forward and some solutions. We
[1:14:36] are we've been in discussions about uh
[1:14:40] working with Jordan Valley Water
[1:14:41] Conservancy District next. We've had
[1:14:43] some conversations about that. It may be
[1:14:45] fall or maybe spring. They're rolling
[1:14:47] out their new water budget right at the
[1:14:49] same point in time and it will be well
[1:14:51] timed uh when they're beginning to
[1:14:53] socialize that. Uh following those two
[1:14:56] cohorts, we've got three more that we
[1:14:58] have planned. It's a statewide program,
[1:15:00] so we'll be working with some rural
[1:15:02] communities as well as additional
[1:15:03] communities along the Wasatch front.
[1:15:06] Uh
[1:15:07] it something that we believe is that
[1:15:10] this is this is something that every
[1:15:12] community needs to do but deserves to
[1:15:15] support to be able to accomplish in a
[1:15:17] way that's strategic and that meets the
[1:15:19] goals, the values, and the priorities of
[1:15:21] each community. But water challenges are
[1:15:24] not something that's going to be going
[1:15:26] away in Utah. And the more that we can
[1:15:28] be smart about it, the better we can
[1:15:30] have a resilient future. Um, I always
[1:15:34] have this up for anyone who wants to get
[1:15:36] a little bit more information about the
[1:15:38] program or how your community can be
[1:15:40] involved. It's just a quick form, but
[1:15:42] you can reach out to me directly, Anna
[1:15:45] McIntyreusu.edu.
[1:15:49] » Thank you. And congratulations, Anna.
[1:15:51] This is a new appointment, brand new.
[1:15:53] You are brand new in this role. We're
[1:15:54] just throwing you right into the fire
[1:15:56] and uh very able and capable of this. We
[1:15:59] congratulate you on this new
[1:16:01] appointment. Thank you. Look forward to
[1:16:02] working with you in this role.
[1:16:04] >> Thank you.
[1:16:09] » Okay. Uh I'm gonna talk to you about the
[1:16:12] I was going to say cool. Uh I'm going to
[1:16:14] talk to you about the Great Salt Lake
[1:16:15] Basin integrated plan. So um as I think
[1:16:19] we all know, if you find yourself in the
[1:16:21] light blue on that map, or I guess
[1:16:24] technically in the dark blue, you are in
[1:16:26] the Great Salt Lake Basin. uh meaning
[1:16:28] your water uh is connected to the Great
[1:16:30] Salt Lake and connected to all of the
[1:16:34] other uh water in the basin as well. So
[1:16:37] uh we have had and seen plans from water
[1:16:40] districts, from cities and communities,
[1:16:43] from counties and others uh for managing
[1:16:45] water and uh in responsible
[1:16:48] future-looking ways. But we have not had
[1:16:51] a unified integrated plan for the entire
[1:16:54] Great Salt Lake Basin. And that is what
[1:16:56] we're trying to do here. It's not, if I
[1:16:58] may, it's not too dissimilar from the
[1:17:01] Wasatch Choice vision, but just for how
[1:17:03] we're going to manage water. So, um,
[1:17:05] what is the Great Salt Lake Basin
[1:17:06] integrated plan? It is a roadmap for
[1:17:09] managing water in ways that, uh, promote
[1:17:12] a healthy lake and a high quality of
[1:17:14] life. And I want to underscore uh, that
[1:17:17] point there that this is not a um, a
[1:17:20] save the lake only plan or just a a plan
[1:17:22] to figure out how to get more water to
[1:17:24] the lake. It is a plan to ensure that we
[1:17:28] have a resilient water supply for the
[1:17:30] lake. Yes. Uh but also for the needs
[1:17:33] that we as communities have. So it is so
[1:17:36] we are definitely looking at these two
[1:17:39] goals here that it's not just about
[1:17:41] making sure we have a healthy lake but
[1:17:42] it's about making sure that we can have
[1:17:45] the thriving quality of life the growth
[1:17:47] that we anticipate uh and and do so in a
[1:17:50] way that that uh provides a resilient
[1:17:53] water supply or ensures a resilient
[1:17:54] water supply looking to the future. Um
[1:17:56] this plan ties into the governor's uh
[1:18:00] Great Salt Lake 2034 initiative. uh it
[1:18:02] will be adopted or is meant to be
[1:18:04] adopted as the long range strategic plan
[1:18:06] by the office of the great salt lake
[1:18:08] commissioner uh and we are fortunate
[1:18:11] that we have some support from the US
[1:18:13] Bureau of Reclamation to do some
[1:18:15] modeling work that's never really been
[1:18:17] done before that will give us uh better
[1:18:20] insight than we've ever had into how our
[1:18:23] changes to water use or decisions around
[1:18:25] water use will affect our water supply
[1:18:28] uh moving into the future. So um it is a exciting and I think very timely
[1:18:33] opportunity that we have to to all be a
[1:18:35] part of this. Um I want to talk or use
[1:18:38] this sort of uh phase calendar here to
[1:18:41] uh talk about where um where we need the
[1:18:45] engagement from local communities. So
[1:18:47] we're in the middle of phase one right
[1:18:48] now and the goal here is simply to
[1:18:50] gather and understand what are people's
[1:18:52] priorities. So, as we're building this
[1:18:54] model, this unprecedented model, we want
[1:18:56] to know what are the things that you
[1:18:58] would like to have measured or or come
[1:19:00] out at the end of the model and what are
[1:19:03] the things that you're willing to put
[1:19:04] into the model in terms of um strategies
[1:19:07] or or approaches for water management.
[1:19:10] Uh phase two then is the longest phase
[1:19:12] and it's where we're going to do a
[1:19:14] process that I think those who have, you
[1:19:15] know, been uh here for a long time will
[1:19:17] recognize uh that we're going to be
[1:19:20] developing some scenarios. Uh and it's a
[1:19:22] long process because the first part is
[1:19:24] going to be figuring out okay what what
[1:19:26] are the things that we're all willing to
[1:19:28] try and do and what are the outcomes we
[1:19:29] want to see and then the uh the actual
[1:19:32] model itself isn't going to be finished
[1:19:34] until early next year. People are
[1:19:36] working feverishly on getting all of
[1:19:38] that. Um but uh then we can actually
[1:19:40] plug in the decisions, you know, pull
[1:19:43] the lever or however the models work and
[1:19:45] get the outcomes that we can all then
[1:19:47] examine uh so that we can decide, okay,
[1:19:50] we're willing to make these trade-offs.
[1:19:51] This sounds like what we want to do uh
[1:19:53] or we don't want to do these steps. Um
[1:19:55] and then and then uh after we have the
[1:19:58] chance to look at that, then we get the
[1:20:00] real fun happens and we have to actually
[1:20:02] create a plan. Uh now this plan itself
[1:20:05] um we expect that there there may be as
[1:20:08] part of the plan some uh some state
[1:20:10] regulatory actions. There will almost
[1:20:12] certainly though be some policy and
[1:20:15] budget or spending priorities but there
[1:20:18] has to be for this to work uh local
[1:20:21] commitment both by uh municipalities and
[1:20:24] by residents uh business owners others.
[1:20:28] um otherwise this doesn't work and and
[1:20:30] we have a a plan that that isn't going
[1:20:32] to actually do anything. So um
[1:20:36] we're gonna we have just two questions.
[1:20:38] I know we're really quick. We we don't
[1:20:40] have
[1:20:40] >> I questions.
[1:20:41] >> I am wondering Jason if we do a modest
[1:20:46] tweak to the game plan and actually show
[1:20:49] those questions but not
[1:20:51] >> All right, that's fair and you don't
[1:20:53] need to sign.
[1:20:54] >> We can we can dig into them in
[1:20:56] discussion. So do you want to just
[1:20:57] mention the two questions?
[1:20:59] >> Yeah. All right. So we we'll look at the
[1:21:00] two questions here. So like I said,
[1:21:02] there are two two buckets of things
[1:21:03] we're looking for right now. One of
[1:21:05] those is what are your priorities for
[1:21:08] water management um as you think about,
[1:21:12] you know, how we move forward in the
[1:21:13] future. So, um, for instance, there are
[1:21:15] some communities that say, well, the
[1:21:16] most important thing is we want to make
[1:21:17] sure that we have, uh, agriculture or we
[1:21:20] want to make sure that we have, uh,
[1:21:22] residents that or or places where people
[1:21:24] can enjoy some grass outside or we want
[1:21:27] to make sure that we have, uh, that
[1:21:29] we're maintaining or supporting
[1:21:30] shoreboard shore bird habitats or that
[1:21:32] we want to make sure that we are
[1:21:34] supporting um, economic development in
[1:21:36] the region. So whatever your priorities
[1:21:39] are, we want you to think at the end of
[1:21:40] the day, what matters most to you and
[1:21:42] your communities. Uh and then the second
[1:21:45] uh bucket of questions that that we
[1:21:47] really want to understand are what are
[1:21:49] the um strategies that you think uh that
[1:21:54] you would like to employ here? Uh what
[1:21:56] are the things that you would like to do
[1:21:57] to help get to your priorities, the
[1:22:00] outcomes you want to see? So for
[1:22:02] instance, there's been a lot of things
[1:22:03] that have uh been worked on that have uh
[1:22:05] or that have been in the news or that
[1:22:06] have been brought up. Everything from oh
[1:22:08] look we have some people signed in. So
[1:22:10] uh but we have uh yeah things like
[1:22:12] reducing outdoor water use a
[1:22:14] optimization or um let's see fragmitees
[1:22:18] removal or other invasives removal. So
[1:22:20] those are the kinds of things that we're
[1:22:21] looking for. I think we can uh address
[1:22:23] some of those in the discussion. Uh and
[1:22:26] then just to kind of show you where this
[1:22:28] is going to be uh come into play, the
[1:22:31] priorities fall into this metrics
[1:22:33] bucket. These are some of the obvious
[1:22:34] one. This is just a straw man. This is
[1:22:36] not uh what the scenarios are
[1:22:38] necessarily going to look like, but but
[1:22:40] the structure of the scenarios. We want
[1:22:42] to know what are the things that you're
[1:22:43] going to be looking at to say, okay,
[1:22:45] this is these are the outcomes that
[1:22:47] matter to me, the metrics that that I
[1:22:48] care about. And and we want to figure
[1:22:50] out what are the strategies and levers
[1:22:52] we want to pull to do that. And
[1:22:57] I don't think I need to talk too much
[1:22:58] about the complications of this. Again,
[1:23:00] looking at the map, I think we get a
[1:23:01] sense of why this might be so
[1:23:03] complicated. Um, I don't know if I have
[1:23:06] time for shameless plug, but I'm going
[1:23:07] to shamelessly plug anyway. Uh, if you
[1:23:09] want to be involved in this uh
[1:23:11] discussion, and we would love to have
[1:23:12] you be involved in this discussion more
[1:23:14] than just the few minutes that we have
[1:23:15] left for discussion here. um tomorrow.
[1:23:18] So that's not on the screen, but
[1:23:19] tomorrow you can attend the uh the
[1:23:21] Jordan River Wershed Council meeting at
[1:23:23] 10 a.m. in Lehi. Uh it is open for
[1:23:25] anyone where we will be having a deeper
[1:23:27] conversation on this. Uh you can also
[1:23:29] join the Envision Utah Spring Breakfast
[1:23:31] next Wednesday morning. We have
[1:23:32] discounted uh tickets available for uh
[1:23:35] elected officials. Uh or if you that's
[1:23:37] still a barrier, come talk to me. We'll
[1:23:38] work something out. Um
[1:23:42] and with that, lightning's over. I'm
[1:23:44] handing it to back to Ted.
[1:23:45] >> Jason, thank you. And mayor, if you
[1:23:47] don't mind, I can get this started and
[1:23:49] then hand it to you. But um maybe just
[1:23:53] for starters, what what resonated with
[1:23:55] you or or when you think about this
[1:23:58] question of how we might collaborate
[1:24:00] together, this question too, what are
[1:24:03] potential shared responses, how we might
[1:24:05] collaborate together to
[1:24:07] do more and better to address urban area
[1:24:10] water use. Where does your mind go or
[1:24:12] what are your reactions from what we've
[1:24:14] heard today?
[1:24:16] I have a whole list of things.
[1:24:19] >> Please, mayor, go ahead.
[1:24:21] >> So, um
[1:24:24] I get to spend my time in a lot of uh
[1:24:27] meetings at different levels of
[1:24:28] government and so water has been a topic
[1:24:32] for the last several years, a
[1:24:33] significant topic in meetings the last
[1:24:36] few months. And I think the
[1:24:39] presentations that we've heard, and not
[1:24:40] to be in any way critical of the the
[1:24:42] lightning round, but a lot of it seems
[1:24:45] to just focus on kind of landscaping
[1:24:48] options. And one of the frustrations
[1:24:51] that I have um in being the the
[1:24:55] practical connection point of where
[1:24:57] residents, you know, get water is some
[1:25:00] of the things we never end up talking
[1:25:01] about or where they talk about at the
[1:25:02] legislative level and then never want to
[1:25:04] talk about how it actually impacts us.
[1:25:06] So, in my part of the county and in your
[1:25:09] part of the Davis County, sitting here
[1:25:11] on Davis County, Newbie Row here, um we
[1:25:13] never talk about the challenges of
[1:25:15] subsidance that we're having in our
[1:25:17] communities from um impact of well use
[1:25:20] and the significant costs of depending
[1:25:22] on wells. Well, why are we depending
[1:25:24] more on wells? Because they've closed
[1:25:26] the basin to water reuse. And I feel
[1:25:28] like that was a decision that was done
[1:25:30] and made without discussions with
[1:25:32] locals. And I know that there are
[1:25:35] concerns in South Davis County and in
[1:25:36] particular North Utah County um about
[1:25:40] water reuse and having that cost benefit
[1:25:43] really broad discussion about the
[1:25:47] impacts on the Great Salt Lake which are
[1:25:50] clearly as communities that live right
[1:25:51] alongside of it very impactful. But
[1:25:54] there is a a different set of impacts
[1:25:56] that we seem like we just shoved aside
[1:26:00] and that those are all in a category
[1:26:02] that concerns me. Um there was a slide
[1:26:04] with the overlapping districts,
[1:26:06] overlapping secondary water districts
[1:26:08] all have different relationships with
[1:26:10] metering, different timings with
[1:26:11] metering. No one, none of the three
[1:26:14] water districts in my city have
[1:26:16] completely finished metering and so
[1:26:18] they're not metering yet because they're
[1:26:20] still in process and one is hostile to
[1:26:22] metering. So, I don't know what we're
[1:26:23] going to do with that, but I don't have
[1:26:25] control or authority over that. Um,
[1:26:28] enforcement on water restrictions is
[1:26:30] incredibly challenging. I don't know of
[1:26:32] any city that does proactive code
[1:26:34] enforcement. If you are one of those
[1:26:36] cities, I'd love to hear about your
[1:26:38] experience, but everyone does reactive
[1:26:40] complaint-based code enforcement. And
[1:26:43] I'm sure every city's um and county's uh
[1:26:48] favorite community social media page has
[1:26:51] just been full for the month of May of
[1:26:53] neighbors being mean about other
[1:26:54] neighbors on water usage. But there's no there's no comprehensive plan
[1:26:59] for enforcement
[1:27:01] on how we're doing restrictions. And
[1:27:03] secondary is different than culinary and
[1:27:05] we're never on the same page. And I
[1:27:06] think we leave residents in um
[1:27:08] showcasing them the worst of neighborly
[1:27:11] behavior. Um, finally, uh, I'm going to
[1:27:14] get done with the end of my little list
[1:27:16] of concerns, but cost. I feel like we
[1:27:19] don't spend enough time talking about
[1:27:20] cost. We want cities to be examples in
[1:27:22] our park space. Um, but none of us have
[1:27:24] enough money to do all the things. I'm
[1:27:26] spending a significant amount of money
[1:27:27] in Bountiful, upgrading all of our
[1:27:29] irrigation systems in all of our parks
[1:27:30] over a three-year time period to be
[1:27:32] smarter irrigation systems to go to to
[1:27:35] drip irrigation and do a lot of things.
[1:27:38] uh and and that's taking a significant
[1:27:40] capital cost for us. That doesn't though
[1:27:42] mean that we are moving towards
[1:27:44] different landscaping because that's
[1:27:46] somewhere further down the cost impact
[1:27:50] um of just getting existing uh
[1:27:53] irrigation systems upgraded to be more
[1:27:56] water efficient. And so we you know we
[1:27:59] need help with those costs and we'd help
[1:28:00] with the messaging. Uh, and the other
[1:28:02] area of messaging I would say we need
[1:28:04] help in is that parks are much more we
[1:28:07] someone hit on this and they're
[1:28:08] lightning around just a teeny bit. Parks
[1:28:10] are a very efficient way for us to use
[1:28:12] water in spaces that all enjoy whether
[1:28:14] it's um play play areas or fields or um
[1:28:18] the efficiencies you get from a
[1:28:20] community water feature versus
[1:28:22] individual kitty pools or personal pools
[1:28:25] or running through the sprinklers. Um,
[1:28:27] but every single city deals with the
[1:28:29] myriad of uh complaints of well, you're
[1:28:32] watering the park or you're you're not turning off your splash pad.
[1:28:37] H, even though those are more efficient,
[1:28:39] we'd rather drive people there. And so,
[1:28:41] we could use global help from all of the
[1:28:42] different groups to to help the public
[1:28:45] see that as as an efficient use and that
[1:28:48] they should congregate there versus the
[1:28:49] other uh places. And then finally, um,
[1:28:53] because I live so much of my time with
[1:28:55] the League of Cities and Towns and the
[1:28:56] realm of bad cities, I would like to,
[1:28:59] uh, highlight bad contractors. The Flip
[1:29:02] Your Strip program, it feels only fair.
[1:29:04] the flip your strip program I think are great but there is a whole host a
[1:29:08] subset of contractors the bad
[1:29:10] contractors who pitch people not on
[1:29:12] doing the program where you're replacing
[1:29:14] your strip and you're using uh native
[1:29:17] plants or drip irrigation and and
[1:29:19] reducing those heat islands but instead
[1:29:21] the contractors pitch we'll just rip
[1:29:23] everything out we'll cap the sprinklers
[1:29:25] and we're just going to dump gravel in
[1:29:27] it and in two years those are full of
[1:29:29] weeds and their heat islands and there
[1:29:31] seems to be again since we're
[1:29:34] complaining based enforcement and we're
[1:29:35] going to catch this well after a
[1:29:38] homeowner has paid significant money to
[1:29:40] have this done. An education on the
[1:29:43] contractor community and going after bad
[1:29:46] contractor so that we don't end up with
[1:29:48] um a whole Salt Lake Valley filled with
[1:29:51] just gravel park strips. So those are
[1:29:54] the list of things I feel like we never
[1:29:55] get to and I will stop because that was
[1:29:58] a long list.
[1:30:01] >> Oh that was a good list. That was Did
[1:30:03] you see me just nodding emphatically so
[1:30:05] much through that? I'm like, "Yep,
[1:30:07] agreed. Agreed. Agreed. Agreed." Yeah,
[1:30:08] that was good. That was really good.
[1:30:11] Thank you. Okay, so what are your
[1:30:12] thoughts, please?
[1:30:14] >> Um, one of my and I agree with
[1:30:16] everything she said just like everybody
[1:30:19] else probably does. However,
[1:30:21] I think what we need to do is in this
[1:30:24] planning,
[1:30:25] I think a major portion has to go
[1:30:27] towards education
[1:30:29] starting from kindergarten or before
[1:30:33] and start teaching
[1:30:36] people how to use water effectively,
[1:30:39] which is going to be hard, but I think
[1:30:40] that's where we need to get the
[1:30:41] education, the state education on board
[1:30:43] with teaching that and trying to teach
[1:30:47] kids you don't waste water. Even though
[1:30:49] that might become more efficient as time
[1:30:51] goes on, I see it even even in my own
[1:30:54] house and I have water, but
[1:30:59] and nobody else gets the water because
[1:31:01] it's mine.
[1:31:02] But that is an area that I think we need
[1:31:05] to look at is in the education area,
[1:31:08] teaching kids from young ages on up how
[1:31:12] to turn off the water when you know
[1:31:13] they're brushing their teeth or or when
[1:31:16] they're uh you know maybe
[1:31:19] just you know when they're out playing
[1:31:22] you know fix times like you said you
[1:31:24] know put have times when they can they
[1:31:26] can do watering or water. Uh, one of my
[1:31:29] problems is is when I was a a mailman a
[1:31:32] long time ago, this was my biggest
[1:31:35] problem is people would be watering
[1:31:38] their lawns multiple times and they had
[1:31:42] more green moss than they had lawn and
[1:31:45] they were watering the streets and all
[1:31:48] those kinds of things. And those
[1:31:49] irritated me because of course I got wet
[1:31:52] but it cooled me down. Um, but it got
[1:31:54] their male wet too. And so those are
[1:31:57] things I think education is a big part
[1:31:59] of our water usage. And I think and this
[1:32:02] is something with Utah State that I know
[1:32:05] they've developed programs up there and
[1:32:08] they've developed some grasses that are
[1:32:10] very water efficient grasses that don't
[1:32:13] take as much water as
[1:32:16] our traditional Kentucky bluegrass. Uh
[1:32:20] there are those that they I think
[1:32:21] they've done a program at Weaver State
[1:32:23] where they changed some uh some items in
[1:32:25] their landscaping to where now they only
[1:32:27] have to water once every three weeks and
[1:32:30] they only mow once every 3 weeks. And so
[1:32:33] those are kinds of programs I think we
[1:32:35] need to get minds out there and start
[1:32:38] thinking of the alternative ways in
[1:32:40] which we can help with water situations.
[1:32:42] I know in irrigation and agriculture,
[1:32:45] yes, we are doing our share, but if we
[1:32:48] don't if we don't
[1:32:51] have water, we don't eat. Even these pig
[1:32:55] bars cannot be made without water and
[1:32:59] they can't be made without food. So even
[1:33:02] agriculture might become a big factor
[1:33:05] that everybody thinks about water usage
[1:33:07] in the agriculture. I mean I water. Yes,
[1:33:11] I water I water for 12 hours on each
[1:33:15] shift for a big whole two or three acres
[1:33:18] or five acres or 10 acres, but it's a a system that we can use if we
[1:33:23] have to cut it back to six hours. we may
[1:33:26] not we may get down this far in our in
[1:33:29] our landscape in our fields and we need
[1:33:32] to build those roots and that's where
[1:33:33] you have to look at when in agriculture
[1:33:36] and I know you guys don't have that but
[1:33:38] in agriculture I try to go deep and
[1:33:40] water once every three weeks
[1:33:42] >> two to three weeks so those are things
[1:33:44] that I think and and even though we
[1:33:47] baser
[1:33:51] basin I hate to say it they're not
[1:33:54] teaching us enough and they're not doing
[1:33:57] enough, they need to get a hold of Utah
[1:33:59] State and start following what Utah
[1:34:00] State tells them to do and and quit
[1:34:03] wasting the water wherever it is,
[1:34:06] whether it is in landscaping, um,
[1:34:09] whatever it is. And also with the stuff
[1:34:11] that Utah State has done, they also
[1:34:14] because of grass, it keeps our
[1:34:15] temperatures cooler, which means we
[1:34:17] don't have to use energy for air
[1:34:19] conditioning. we don't have to use, you
[1:34:21] know, you can go outside and actually
[1:34:22] enjoy life on a small bit of ground that
[1:34:25] you don't have to worry about and it's
[1:34:27] cooler. So, those are just some thoughts
[1:34:29] I had. I have a whole list also, but
[1:34:32] that's fine for another time.
[1:34:34] >> Commissioner, thank you. Can I Mayor,
[1:34:36] please?
[1:34:37] >> So, I really am glad that we're talking
[1:34:39] about water today. And um one of the
[1:34:42] things that I learned during my time at
[1:34:45] the legislature listening to people is
[1:34:47] that water
[1:34:49] once we change it from agriculture to
[1:34:52] human use agriculture is flexible,
[1:34:55] right? So they canow fields, they can
[1:34:58] lease some water to the Great Salt Lake.
[1:35:01] Once we've dedicated it to human use,
[1:35:03] it's set
[1:35:05] and we can reduce that a bit, but it's
[1:35:08] more set in concrete what the need is.
[1:35:10] So that's when I've heard some people
[1:35:12] say we can just build and build in our state. I don't believe that's
[1:35:15] true because of that um set use. I also
[1:35:20] um I've heard in presentations from our
[1:35:25] professors in our state that we are not
[1:35:27] forecast to have snow by 2050. And if
[1:35:31] that is the case, then our whole dynamic
[1:35:35] of how we use water in our state changes
[1:35:37] because our our the snow is our
[1:35:39] reservoir. So I hope that we're taking
[1:35:42] that seriously as we're looking ahead as
[1:35:44] a council. These are realities forecast
[1:35:46] by our professors and we should be
[1:35:49] taking that very seriously. Um, and I
[1:35:52] congratulate everyone that is doing what
[1:35:55] they can um to mitigate and change like
[1:36:00] through the Utah renewables community.
[1:36:03] Um,
[1:36:04] but th this is something we should be
[1:36:06] considering.
[1:36:09] >> Thank you.
[1:36:12] >> Madam Chair, please go ahead. And then
[1:36:14] Katherine,
[1:36:14] >> I'll just be super quick. Um, yes to
[1:36:17] what Kate said. Yes, education. Um, I'll
[1:36:20] just add one little thing that was
[1:36:21] interesting. We, my city put together
[1:36:24] new ordinances regarding landscaping,
[1:36:26] um, with the help of Weber Bas and Water
[1:36:28] Conservancy District a few years ago in
[1:36:30] order to qualify our city for their turf
[1:36:33] replacement programs, which is great.
[1:36:35] And I noted at the time there was a
[1:36:36] reluctance to
[1:36:38] um, regulating backyards. So most of the
[1:36:43] regulations that we implemented for new
[1:36:44] development going forward or
[1:36:46] redevelopment
[1:36:47] um were limited to front and sideyards
[1:36:51] and I had that conversation with the
[1:36:52] Weber based people at the time but it
[1:36:54] seemed like there was like a whole scale
[1:36:55] reluctance across you know legislative
[1:36:59] bodies to regulate that way in probably
[1:37:02] because they didn't feel they could
[1:37:04] enforce it if it's a backyard but I
[1:37:06] think it's an interesting part of the
[1:37:08] equation. So, just a thought.
[1:37:11] >> A thought. Thank you, Katherine.
[1:37:14] >> Thank you, Mayor. So, um I want to
[1:37:16] direct my observations to Mayor
[1:37:19] Bradshaw. By the way, your list was
[1:37:21] amazing. I was feverishly writing it
[1:37:23] down. Okay. Okay. Please send it to me.
[1:37:26] Um because here's what here's what you
[1:37:28] did. Um, I think we've been focused on
[1:37:31] exactly what you were saying, you were
[1:37:33] suggesting before, which is what I'm
[1:37:34] going to call sort of the lowhanging
[1:37:37] fruit, the micro level of what can we be
[1:37:39] doing, right, to conserve water. We can
[1:37:42] check it off, right? Each one of our
[1:37:43] jurisdictions can be implementing our
[1:37:46] own internal conservation rules and and
[1:37:49] expectations and modeling for others. We
[1:37:52] can do full-blown education campaigns.
[1:37:54] How do you conserve water right at the
[1:37:55] tap and in your yard?
[1:37:57] We're doing I think that well. Could be
[1:37:59] doing it better. Yes. But we're doing
[1:38:00] that well. What you're talking about is
[1:38:02] a more macro
[1:38:04] um highlevel conceptual. How do we
[1:38:08] actually really identify some of the
[1:38:10] harder pieces that are systemically
[1:38:13] causing the block to conservation? Okay.
[1:38:16] And you and you mentioned some of them
[1:38:17] metering secondary water, right? I
[1:38:20] didn't I don't even know what you're
[1:38:20] talking about with the wells, but I'm
[1:38:21] curious as to what that is. Um, so my
[1:38:24] question is, how do we turn what I'm
[1:38:27] going to call those brilliant
[1:38:28] observations into practical
[1:38:30] implementation? What does that look
[1:38:32] like? Is it a certain group that takes
[1:38:34] ownership of it? Is it a convening? Is
[1:38:37] it a convening here? Is it somebody
[1:38:38] else? Is it through, you know,
[1:38:40] department of uh natural resources or or department of, you know, water or
[1:38:45] Great Salt Lake Commission or advisory
[1:38:47] council? Like there's people out there,
[1:38:49] right? So, how do how do we kind of turn
[1:38:51] what you're talking into into action?
[1:38:53] That's the question.
[1:38:54] >> So, glad you asked. Um,
[1:38:58] I'm a big believer in local government.
[1:39:00] Um, and
[1:39:03] obviously,
[1:39:05] but
[1:39:06] >> I Why would I have come up with that
[1:39:08] belief structure? I don't know. Um, one
[1:39:11] of the challenges I because I get to
[1:39:13] spend so much time at the legislative
[1:39:14] level is I think sometimes our
[1:39:17] legislative friends because many of them
[1:39:20] have not served in the local government
[1:39:22] level. I mean, we have a a reverse
[1:39:24] example of going from a legislative
[1:39:26] level to a local government level. That
[1:39:28] doesn't happen very often either. But we
[1:39:30] have less and less of our legislative
[1:39:32] friends that have served at the local
[1:39:33] government level before they become
[1:39:35] state legislators. and our roles and our responsibilities are just
[1:39:39] significantly different. Um, and so a
[1:39:42] lot of the things that I mentioned on my
[1:39:44] list are some of these very practical
[1:39:45] where the rubber meets the road
[1:39:47] challenges we deal with, but we're often
[1:39:49] not included in those discussions when
[1:39:51] the legislature is making these some of
[1:39:53] these big decisions. For instance, you
[1:39:55] know, um when the decisions were made a
[1:39:59] few years ago on water reuse,
[1:40:03] um I was with some of the sewer
[1:40:05] districts that were very concerned about
[1:40:07] um water reuse and plans that they were
[1:40:10] putting in place and ways they would do
[1:40:11] that and how that would um help with,
[1:40:15] you know, subsidance issues and
[1:40:16] different things like that. and and they
[1:40:19] were almost summarily ignored and just
[1:40:22] told we're doing this and your input is not needed and wanted and and so that
[1:40:27] the discussion didn't happen. And so
[1:40:28] you've got these festering problems
[1:40:30] because the the policy discussion versus
[1:40:35] the practical application of the people
[1:40:38] who deal with those things wasn't
[1:40:39] included and was missed in my opinion.
[1:40:41] And so going back and trying to have
[1:40:43] those discussions once you've made these
[1:40:44] declarations of well we've saved the
[1:40:46] lake because we've done x y and z it's
[1:40:49] harder to unwind those and um you know
[1:40:53] we get to spend time with our public
[1:40:54] utilities directors our our water
[1:40:57] engineers our parks departments and and
[1:41:00] I just don't feel like they've been in
[1:41:02] invited enough to the to the table in
[1:41:04] many of these uh discussions that happen
[1:41:07] at the state level. And so I'm always a
[1:41:09] fan of encouraging and I I do think
[1:41:11] they're our friends. They just have a
[1:41:12] different lens in a hat they wear that they're not including they're not
[1:41:17] including us at the local government
[1:41:18] level and they're not hitting the
[1:41:20] practical
[1:41:21] people the the utility teams that we
[1:41:24] have and the parks teams that we have.
[1:41:27] >> So what do we do to change that? Do you
[1:41:30] have any re
[1:41:30] >> I hope they're listening to this meeting
[1:41:32] and you got someone with a hand raised.
[1:41:34] Um madam chairman.
[1:41:36] >> Yes. Holly, if you want to come up to a
[1:41:38] microphone.
[1:41:44] » I had a question that's directly related
[1:41:46] to that. Um, at Salt Lake County, we
[1:41:49] have a water conservation committee
[1:41:51] that's it's internal. It's people from
[1:41:53] different departments, interdep
[1:41:54] departmental water conservation
[1:41:56] committee and we met um I think it was
[1:41:58] last week and one of the materials they
[1:41:59] shared was a summary of bills that had
[1:42:03] been introduced during the legislative
[1:42:04] session this year that impact water uh
[1:42:08] water supply, water conservation and
[1:42:10] there were something like 15 or 16 bills
[1:42:12] introduced and the vast majority of them
[1:42:14] did not pass. And so I was interested in
[1:42:17] knowing what kind of what is the
[1:42:18] temperature at the legislature around um
[1:42:23] around legislation related to water
[1:42:24] conservation and and what is holding up
[1:42:27] the the political will especially given
[1:42:30] the winter we just had.
[1:42:39] Yes, please. Anna. Anna,
[1:42:42] do you prefer Anna? It's Anna, right? I
[1:42:44] want to say your name right. That
[1:42:46] matters.
[1:42:48] Okay, great. Thank you.
[1:42:51] >> We had a a whole team of students who
[1:42:53] were tracking land, water, and air bills
[1:42:54] during this last legislative session.
[1:42:56] And that's exactly right. There were a
[1:42:58] lot of bills that were passed that were
[1:42:59] conservation minded or that were that
[1:43:02] were put forward that were
[1:43:02] conservation-minded that did not pass. I
[1:43:05] think it's a that the temperature of the
[1:43:07] legislature is complicated right now,
[1:43:11] but that uh not everyone even in this
[1:43:14] room I think has the same idea of what legislation is needed to be able to
[1:43:19] assist municipalities in what their
[1:43:21] conservation goals are. I think more of
[1:43:23] these types of conversations to figure
[1:43:25] out where the broader eg Great Salt Lake
[1:43:30] discussions can have win-wins with
[1:43:32] municipalities. I think that there has
[1:43:34] been a a um
[1:43:38] less communication, less coordination on
[1:43:40] where are those places where where
[1:43:43] everyone can win on certain pieces of
[1:43:45] legislation that would make sense.
[1:43:50] So, uh I for those that don't know, I
[1:43:52] serve as this year as president of the
[1:43:54] League of Cities and Towns, following a
[1:43:57] few steps behind Mayor Ramsey and having
[1:43:59] that role um a few years ago. You know,
[1:44:01] the league has a robust tracking list as
[1:44:03] well. Many of these bills were on there.
[1:44:04] I mean, one of those that what that was
[1:44:06] really challenging was HB501,
[1:44:09] which um would have included just huge
[1:44:12] significant fees for um for cities, for
[1:44:16] counties, for uh different water
[1:44:19] providers um with a with a goal that
[1:44:22] didn't seem like it it matched up. And
[1:44:24] we we spent so much time and energy on
[1:44:27] that one bill. And maybe there were
[1:44:29] other bills with with a little more
[1:44:31] effort. You know, the legislative
[1:44:32] process in my opinion is one with some
[1:44:35] sandpaper in the system so ideas come
[1:44:36] out better, but you only have so much
[1:44:38] time in seven weeks. Um, and so if you
[1:44:40] introduce one that's like just a
[1:44:42] straight block of wood with no shape to
[1:44:44] it, needs a lot of sandpaper, um, then
[1:44:46] it takes up all the time and 501 did in
[1:44:49] my opinion and it wasn't it wasn't
[1:44:51] ready. Probably shouldn't have have
[1:44:54] taken up the time it did. But there's I
[1:44:56] think there's plenty of room for that
[1:44:57] discussion. um to take place and
[1:45:00] hopefully
[1:45:01] the right groups and if WFRC can serve
[1:45:04] as one of those conveners for
[1:45:07] better com uh conveners. Um but I know
[1:45:11] that u UAC and uh the League of Cities
[1:45:14] and Towns both have subcommittees on
[1:45:17] water issues as well. Um it's just
[1:45:20] whether or not they're always uh
[1:45:22] included early on and enough in the
[1:45:24] process of the water buffaloos at the
[1:45:26] state level and that is an official
[1:45:28] term. We call them water buffaloos.
[1:45:33] Awesome. Thank you.
[1:45:36] Okay, we're a little bit past our time
[1:45:38] and so unless anybody else has anything
[1:45:40] you really want to say right now, this
[1:45:42] is a conversation I'd love to have us
[1:45:44] consider continuing. I think we need to.
[1:45:46] I mean, it's not a one and done. campy.
[1:45:48] We're at the, you know, we're at the
[1:45:50] beginning of things changing maybe
[1:45:52] forever. I grew up just west of the
[1:45:55] Great Salt Lake and lake effect snow was
[1:45:58] just reality. It's just what it is. It's
[1:46:00] what we always heard. It's what it
[1:46:01] always was. And we just don't hear that
[1:46:03] anymore. We don't hear the lake effect
[1:46:05] snow. We don't get the lake effect snow.
[1:46:07] And and if things really are going to be
[1:46:09] changing permanently the way they have
[1:46:11] been the last handful of years, the way
[1:46:13] we've been seeing, um, this is a
[1:46:16] conversation we need to continue to
[1:46:17] have. And mayor, I appreciate you uh
[1:46:19] bringing up uh the realities of the
[1:46:23] importance of having those of us with
[1:46:25] the boots on the ground, the practical
[1:46:27] realities of actually managing water
[1:46:29] systems and delivering water to our
[1:46:31] residents and and and also what comes
[1:46:33] theoretical and policy ideas and best
[1:46:36] practice ideas that are um great, but we
[1:46:40] got to have a marriage of those
[1:46:41] conversations between the people who,
[1:46:44] you know, we got a lot of good people
[1:46:46] working hard on and and bringing more of
[1:46:49] those voices together and including some
[1:46:51] of some of those other voices I think is
[1:46:52] important. Um if I may really quickly I
[1:46:55] just want to share a couple of ideas
[1:46:56] that that we're doing at South Jordan.
[1:46:58] We've started um converting our
[1:47:01] publicowned spaces. So we've converted
[1:47:03] all the landscape at city hall and at
[1:47:04] our public works building and we're
[1:47:06] doing like one major building facility
[1:47:08] every year converting to water wise
[1:47:10] landscaping. We received a $ 1.5 million
[1:47:14] grant from the state of Utah and we're
[1:47:15] using it to convert the park strips on
[1:47:17] both sides of the entirety of 114th
[1:47:20] South through South Jordan, which is a
[1:47:22] very long road, and all of Redwood Road
[1:47:24] through South Jordan. With that money to
[1:47:27] Water Wise Landscaping, it'll save 13
[1:47:29] million gallons of water a year. It's
[1:47:30] not going to save the lake, but that's
[1:47:32] 13 million more gallons. And our crews
[1:47:35] that have been mowing those park strips,
[1:47:37] whatever, now it'll maintain them a
[1:47:39] different way now, you know. Um
[1:47:42] in uh Jordan Valley Water Conservancy
[1:47:44] District also each of the municipalities
[1:47:46] have have passed ordinances on water
[1:47:49] wise landscaping for new landscaping
[1:47:50] going forward and also tiered water
[1:47:52] rates. These are all things we can do.
[1:47:55] But I agree there are some macrolevel
[1:47:59] things that really do need to be
[1:48:00] addressed if we're going to get to the
[1:48:01] heart of this. And I couldn't help but
[1:48:02] think of the conversation we had earlier
[1:48:04] about the surface reauthorization,
[1:48:06] surface transportation reauthorization
[1:48:08] in the CI and getting to the heart of
[1:48:10] why are we never going to have the money
[1:48:12] to expand transit beyond what we have
[1:48:14] currently to expand it into Utah County
[1:48:16] to expand it in uh broader ways north
[1:48:19] through Davis County, things like that.
[1:48:21] You have to get to the heart of what it
[1:48:22] is. And once we really can narrow down
[1:48:24] these are some things that we can do to
[1:48:27] literally impact change to get us toward
[1:48:30] the goals that we all want to achieve. I
[1:48:32] think that's where we're at with water.
[1:48:33] That's what we're trying to figure out
[1:48:34] with water and I think we can. Yeah. So,
[1:48:37] thank you so much for this conversation.
[1:48:39] Thanks for being part of it. You have
[1:48:41] something you'd like to share? We'd love
[1:48:42] to hear it.
[1:48:43] >> Yeah. Briefly, thank you. the so at WFRC
[1:48:47] we are transportation
[1:48:49] people and land use people we're not
[1:48:53] water people we we are not water experts
[1:48:55] and we're not we're not trying to be
[1:48:58] water experts but we recognize as we've
[1:49:02] been noting the relationship between
[1:49:04] development patterns and water
[1:49:05] consumption we we all get that and as
[1:49:10] Ted said up front when we asked you in
[1:49:12] the first meeting of the year for
[1:49:14] regional growth committee, what are
[1:49:15] issues that you think we need to be
[1:49:16] focusing on? Overwhelmingly, people said
[1:49:19] water. So, that's part of why we're doing this. Um,
[1:49:24] and my head hurts when I think about all
[1:49:27] of the groups that are working on water
[1:49:29] issues. There are so many groups and
[1:49:32] committees. I can't keep them straight.
[1:49:34] Glasses half full. That's terrific. Um,
[1:49:37] we're not trying to step in and do like
[1:49:40] yet another water group. Um but if there
[1:49:44] are things that you any of you think now
[1:49:46] or later that we could do to be helpful
[1:49:51] um in this important issue or that there
[1:49:55] are better ways in which we can
[1:49:57] incorporate water considerations into
[1:49:59] transportation and land use planning. We
[1:50:01] want to do that. Uh we'll do anything we
[1:50:04] can uh to be helpful in collaboration
[1:50:06] with all of you that have your boots on
[1:50:08] the ground or feet in the pool.
[1:50:11] >> All of it. um and the groups that are
[1:50:13] working on this
[1:50:14] >> water for pools. [laughter]
[1:50:16] >> Go ahead, Madam Chair. I just want to do
[1:50:18] one more real quick plug, very practical
[1:50:20] plug, and it's about water restrictions
[1:50:22] with respect to whether or not uh
[1:50:24] residents and businesses are subject to
[1:50:25] water restrictions. That is a very
[1:50:27] confusing concept because it's like Salt
[1:50:30] Lake County can't um impose water
[1:50:32] restrictions. We're not a utility
[1:50:33] provider, right? Um that's typically
[1:50:36] done by the water providers themselves.
[1:50:38] Um, but we do have a map online if
[1:50:41] people are interested in what could the
[1:50:44] restrictions be that are applicable to
[1:50:46] me. You can go online sal.org
[1:50:49] or and find a restrictions map so you
[1:50:52] can figure out what's applicable to your
[1:50:55] home or business. And it might be a
[1:50:56] helpful tool for people as we continue
[1:50:59] to um uh just work through the rest of
[1:51:02] the year when water restrictions might
[1:51:04] actually become right now they're more
[1:51:06] voluntary um as opposed to mandatory.
[1:51:09] There's a little bit of some instances
[1:51:11] there are but it might be a good
[1:51:12] resource for the public. Great. Thank
[1:51:13] you. Seems like we should do a Ted, we
[1:51:16] should do a compilation of concepts that
[1:51:18] were brought forward here and share that
[1:51:20] out, right?
[1:51:21] >> Yeah, great idea. So, it'll be uh, you
[1:51:24] know,
[1:51:26] not a traditional minutes kind of
[1:51:28] document.
[1:51:29] >> Yeah.
[1:51:30] >> Great, Beth.
[1:51:32] >> So, I really appreciate this discussion.
[1:51:34] I'm I'm My comment is not on water, so I
[1:51:36] think you guys did an excellent job. Um
[1:51:38] I I just have one comment uh based on
[1:51:43] all of the discussions that we've been
[1:51:44] having over the last several years about
[1:51:46] the land use pieces to that and um one
[1:51:49] of the elements that I think can be an
[1:51:52] effective strategy moving on is the heat
[1:51:55] island discussion. Um, for instance, um,
[1:51:58] roofs of residential, roofs of
[1:52:01] commercial, making them white is a
[1:52:03] strategically far superior way to
[1:52:06] minimize heat, um, challenges. It's not
[1:52:09] something that's discussed, but it
[1:52:11] certainly is something again talking
[1:52:13] about all of these concepts and and not
[1:52:15] wanting to just be um, you know, these
[1:52:18] are the things that bleed out, including
[1:52:20] the water discussion certainly because
[1:52:21] they're all inter interconnected. So, I
[1:52:24] just wanted to put that out there
[1:52:25] because if there is an opportunity to do
[1:52:28] something that has a comprehensive like
[1:52:30] ideal or best practices for for an for a
[1:52:34] state like ours, a desert state, a high
[1:52:37] mountain desert state, um those could be
[1:52:39] valuable in the land use piece. So, I
[1:52:41] just wanted to put that out there.
[1:52:43] >> Um and then this other thing I just want
[1:52:45] to say is incredibly personal. Um, as
[1:52:47] many of you know, there is there was a
[1:52:50] governance change for Utah Transit
[1:52:51] Authority and um the uh full-time board
[1:52:56] positions are going to be transitioning
[1:52:57] out effective June 30 and I myself just
[1:53:01] wanted to uh say thank you for the
[1:53:04] incredible opportunity to be in this
[1:53:05] role. I have absolutely loved it. I
[1:53:08] loved engaging with everyone and and
[1:53:11] really having these really indepth
[1:53:14] discussions about how does transit
[1:53:16] interact into your community? How can we
[1:53:18] fund it? What can we do? Where can we
[1:53:20] plan? Right? All of these things I have
[1:53:23] just so loved and I just wanted to say
[1:53:26] thank you to everybody. So, I don't
[1:53:27] really know how else I'm going to get
[1:53:29] this out, but um anyway, really
[1:53:31] appreciate it. And I know that there
[1:53:33] will be different iterations we will see
[1:53:34] each other again in and so I'm not
[1:53:38] worried about that. I just wanted you to
[1:53:40] know how much it has meant. So, thank
[1:53:42] you. We're grateful for you, Beth. Thank
[1:53:45] you.
[1:53:45] >> Thank you for um you have done an
[1:53:47] amazing job reaching out. I know your your responsibilities have included
[1:53:51] particularly reaching out to the Davis
[1:53:54] County area, but you've done a great job
[1:53:56] engaging with us. and I I think the
[1:53:59] other area the other counties inside the
[1:54:01] UTA footprint and um so I really have
[1:54:04] appreciated your connection and
[1:54:05] leadership in in your role as a
[1:54:07] commissioner.
[1:54:10] >> Thank you. Can I also thank Commissioner
[1:54:13] um she was at our high school class
[1:54:16] reports on human geography seeing their
[1:54:20] reports. I'm just so impressed with your
[1:54:22] passion and service.
[1:54:25] >> Thank you. Um, Commissioner Hull Brook's
[1:54:27] also gone above and beyond and
[1:54:28] represented UTA on the HTRZ committee
[1:54:31] around the state. So, the HTRZ's that
[1:54:33] have happened across the region. Um, she
[1:54:35] put a lot of time and effort. We have
[1:54:37] one of those in my city and and it's not
[1:54:39] in Davis County and she just really um
[1:54:42] has gone above and beyond. We really do
[1:54:44] appreciate everything that you've done.
[1:54:46] >> Yeah. Thank you.
[1:54:47] >> My expectation is we're going to
[1:54:48] continue spending time with Beth.
[1:54:50] >> I look forward to it. This is certainly
[1:54:52] not goodbye.
[1:54:53] >> Yeah. Thank you. I I appreciate that. In
[1:54:55] whatever the iteration, I I love it. So,
[1:54:58] that'd be great.
[1:54:58] >> Yeah.
[1:54:59] >> Thank you.
[1:55:01] >> Okay. Um
[1:55:04] uh the only other business we have, our
[1:55:06] next regional growth committee meeting
[1:55:07] is August 20th and next Thursday in one
[1:55:11] week, um on May 28th, we convene the
[1:55:13] full Wasatch Front Regional Council
[1:55:15] right here at 1:30. So, uh we have that
[1:55:18] meeting um a week from now. And unless
[1:55:21] there's anything else, I will ask for a
[1:55:22] motion to adjurnn.
[1:55:26] Second.
[1:55:27] >> All right. All in favor, please say I.
[1:55:29] Okay. This meeting is adjourned. Thank
[1:55:31] you all so much. Thanks everybody.
[1:55:32] Everyone online, thank you for being
[1:55:34] with us.