[0:00] We

[0:02] we'd like to welcome everyone out to our

[0:04] Wasatch Front uh meeting this afternoon.

[0:08] Uh it's good to see everybody. We do

[0:09] want to excuse Mayor Ramsey. Her son is

[0:13] getting married. Correct. Her son is

[0:14] getting married and so she's at a

[0:16] wedding right now. Good good for her

[0:19] >> on that. What we'd like to do is go

[0:21] around the table real quick and have you

[0:23] introduce yourself. And when we get

[0:25] through, those of you that are online,

[0:26] we're gonna ask you to please

[0:28] [clears throat] unmute your mic and

[0:29] introduce yourselves also. So, let's

[0:32] start.

[0:34] >> Hi everyone, Rosie Hernandez with the

[0:36] Wasatch Front Regional Council. I'm part

[0:38] of the admin team.

[0:40] >> Jordan Chandler, also part of the admin

[0:42] team here at WFRC.

[0:44] >> Jim Harvey, Weber County, Utah.

[0:46] >> Jim, are you saving those places around

[0:48] you or is nobody want to sit by you?

[0:52] I'm taking Bob back to the home when

[0:54] we're finished.

[0:57] Okay.

[0:59] >> Katherine Caner, deputy mayor of Salt

[1:01] Lake County. I believe Mayor Wilson may

[1:03] be joining us online, but I'm here to

[1:05] act in herstead until she's here. Thank

[1:07] you.

[1:08] >> Christy Overson, Taylor'sville mayor.

[1:11] >> Lauren Palmer, mayor and Herman.

[1:14] >> Sher Jackson, Mil Creek, Mayor.

[1:17] Andrea Pearson, WFRC admin staff.

[1:21] >> I'm Andrew Guber, executive director

[1:22] here at WFRC. Welcome everybody in

[1:25] person and online.

[1:26] >> Bob Stevenson, Davis County.

[1:28] >> Loren Kamalu, Davis County and UWAC,

[1:31] which if you don't know, Utah

[1:33] Association of Counties, I hate the

[1:35] acronym.

[1:37] >> Jay Fox, executive director, Utah

[1:39] Transit Authority.

[1:41] >> Sher Bingham, Her City Mayor.

[1:44] >> Monica Zultansky, Sandy City Mayor. Ben

[1:47] Hwitt with UD do

[1:49] >> Ivan Morero federal highway

[1:51] administration.

[1:52] >> David Brams, Immigration Canyon.

[1:55] >> Ted Nolton, WFRC, Deputy Director, Chief

[1:57] Planner.

[1:58] >> Ben Nadulski, Audience City Mayor.

[2:01] >> Mike Caldwin. I I kind of think I'm

[2:03] lost. They say when you're lost, you

[2:05] keep wandering in circles. And uh I

[2:07] don't know how I got back here, but this

[2:08] time it's with UTA.

[2:17] Bill Har was front regional council

[2:19] staff.

[2:20] >> Ben Wood City Weekly,

[2:23] >> Cody Lutz with the vision Utah.

[2:26] >> Miranda Jones Cox at WFRC.

[2:29] >> Jory John Longrange Planning Group WFRC.

[2:33] >> Roger Borgganick Utons for better

[2:35] transportation.

[2:37] >> Val Potter, US Senator, John Curtis.

[2:42] Josh Reynolds, WFRC staff. Kwander, WFRC

[2:46] Analytics.

[2:48] >> Barry McLaren, Senator Curtis.

[2:52] >> Ryan Mikum, Sandy City.

[2:55] >> Nicole Burau, UTA.

[2:58] >> Samantha Deilhorse, WFRC, Longrange

[3:01] Planning.

[3:03] >> Hugh Van Wagon, WFRC staff.

[3:07] >> Byron Head, WFRC staff.

[3:10] Paula Aguilera, WFRC staff.

[3:14] >> Bert Granberg, analytics team, WFRC.

[3:19] >> Benwith Rich, council staff.

[3:23] >> Sarah Lawless, WFRC staff.

[3:27] Susie Swim, WFRC staff.

[3:29] >> And Lee, WF,

[3:33] Sultan, WFRC staff.

[3:37] >> Wayne Ben, WFRC staff.

[3:40] Christopher Day, WFRC Analytics.

[3:44] >> Madison Ailis, WFRC staff.

[3:47] >> Sean A. Nardone, WFRC Communications.

[3:51] >> Marshia White, WFRC, uh, community and

[3:54] economic development.

[3:55] >> Chrissy Dolberg, WFRC, community and

[3:57] economic development.

[3:59] >> Marian Florence, WFRC, Finance and

[4:02] Administration. Is that everybody?

[4:03] >> And and we did have one late straggler,

[4:06] this beautiful lady next to me.

[4:09] Well, who you talking now?

[4:12] >> Jenny Wilson, Salt Lake County.

[4:14] >> She might call those here.

[4:16] >> Oh, there you go. Oh, wow. Hi.

[4:20] >> Anyway, one of the things that uh Oh,

[4:23] yeah. We need to go through the online

[4:24] people.

[4:25] >> Okay. Those of us uh uh joining us

[4:28] online, if you will just take a moment

[4:29] to introduce yourself, I'll read names

[4:31] off in threes. We have Mayor Manzion,

[4:35] uh, Mayor Ben.

[4:37] Julie Bjornstead,

[4:39] >> uh, Mara Manzion, mayor of Tula City,

[4:43] >> Gaylin Benan, Mayor of Cottonwood

[4:45] Heights. Julad, deputy first staff,

[4:49] >> Mayor Gtle, Mayor Gibson, Mayor Wampler.

[4:55] >> Hi, Dustin Gtle, Mayor Midell City.

[4:57] Sorry I couldn't be there in person. I

[4:59] see some of my favorite people in the

[5:01] world sitting around the table. I'll be

[5:02] there next quarter.

[5:06] » Commissioner Fer,

[5:08] >> Gage Fer, Weber County.

[5:12] >> Uh, Mayor Petro.

[5:14] >> Sorry, Mayor.

[5:15] >> Ogden Valley City.

[5:17] >> Apologies. Mayor Wapler. Um,

[5:20] Commissioner Newton. Uh, Mayor Pro.

[5:24] Mayor Mann.

[5:25] >> Mike Newton. Morgan County Commission.

[5:34] Okay. Um,

[5:36] >> Mayor Petro, Leighton City.

[5:38] >> Thanks, Mayor. Okay. Mayor M.

[5:39] >> Mayormon, Syracuse City.

[5:42] >> Then we have Mayor Groberg, uh, Senator

[5:44] Harper, and Representative Defay.

[5:48] >> Mayor Groberg, Fruit Heights City.

[5:52] >> Senator Wayne Harper, Taylor'sville and

[5:54] West Jordan.

[5:59] Representative Ariel Def, Davis County,

[6:02] Cisville, Leighton, and Syracuse.

[6:05] >> Thank you. And then we also have uh some

[6:08] attendees joining us as well.

[6:15] » Okay, we appreciate appreciate everybody

[6:17] online. Also, um, one of the things that

[6:20] you may notice, uh, is that Beth

[6:22] Hullbrook or Carlton are not with us

[6:25] because of the change in the UTA

[6:27] structure from our last meeting, but we

[6:29] do have the new board chair, Mike

[6:31] Caldwell, which we'd like to turn just a few minutes over to him to maybe

[6:36] introduce himself and give us any

[6:38] insights.

[6:39] >> Sure. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, Mike

[6:41] Caldwell. I did a run on this a number

[6:44] of years ago. I was chair with Andrew

[6:46] for a long time. Um, they were kind

[6:48] enough to invite me to participate with

[6:50] the UTA board, if you'll call it kind.

[6:52] Um, I was voluntic.

[6:56] UTA is a great organization. We're just

[6:58] learning how it all works and learn how

[7:00] we can be effective and thank goodness

[7:02] we have great leadership and Jay Fox who

[7:04] was here early

[7:05] >> right here.

[7:06] >> Okay.

[7:07] >> On the other end of the corner. So,

[7:09] we're very excited. We're in the

[7:10] learning phase right now. A lot to lot

[7:12] to get on in [clears throat] front of

[7:14] this board and I think that it's going

[7:16] to be great. they work well together and

[7:17] we're gonna attempt to do all the work

[7:21] we can. So, thank you.

[7:23] >> I appreciate you. Appreciate welcome,

[7:25] Mike. Uh we'll move down to items um 1A,

[7:28] which is uh approve over our minutes

[7:30] from our meeting held on May 28th. Uh

[7:33] then also our current financial report

[7:34] financial statements for April, May, and

[7:37] June. If I could have a motion on that,

[7:39] I'd appreciate it.

[7:41] >> So move, second.

[7:43] >> Okay, it's been moved and seconded. All

[7:45] in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Thank

[7:49] you. Appreciate that. We'll now move

[7:50] down to our chair report. Uh each year

[7:52] as the council sets goals for this

[7:54] organization. And after the year is

[7:57] over, the Wasatch Front team produces a

[7:59] report uh for us on the agency's

[8:01] activities and accomplishments towards

[8:03] these goals. We're going to ask Andrew,

[8:05] Ted, Miranda, and Marian if they'll

[8:07] maybe take a few minutes and go through

[8:08] this and enlighten us a little bit from

[8:11] last year this year.

[8:12] >> Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Um and

[8:14] again welcome everybody and just quickly

[8:17] to uh Mike Caldwell. Uh it is really

[8:21] nice to have you back in the fold. Mike

[8:23] was a former chair of WFRC and of the

[8:25] League of Cities and Towns and a

[8:27] three-time uh uh mayor of Ogden City and

[8:30] now uh Mayor Nadolski is aly carrying

[8:33] the torch for Ogden City and it's just

[8:35] great to have uh the you back here Mike.

[8:37] Uh welcome and doing the important work

[8:40] with Jay and the team at UTA. Okay. Um,

[8:43] so what we're going to do over the next

[8:44] few minutes is we're going to go over

[8:46] WFRC's fisc year 26 annual report. Uh,

[8:52] you may remember that you as a council

[8:55] set goals for us as an agency for the

[8:58] work that we are to accomplish over the

[9:01] course uh of a year. Uh, we obviously

[9:03] take those goals seriously. We think as

[9:05] a public agency, reporting back to you

[9:10] and also to the public about our

[9:12] activities is a core function of our

[9:14] accountability as a public agency. Um,

[9:18] candidly, we're also really proud of the

[9:20] work that our agency has done with you,

[9:22] for you, uh, and our region and its

[9:25] residents over the course of the last

[9:27] year. So, we're going to go over this

[9:28] annual report. um on the screens in

[9:31] front of you. Uh this is what you're

[9:34] going to see is the actual annual report

[9:35] itself. So these are not slides of this

[9:38] is the annual report.

[9:40] >> Oh, thank you, Mayor. It's so nice to

[9:41] see you, Mayor Dirk Burton from West

[9:43] Jordan blocking the sun and joining us.

[9:45] Thank you, Mayor. Um uh the uh the what

[9:49] you will see is the annual report. It's

[9:51] sort of hot off the virtual presses.

[9:53] We'll be sending this around to you um

[9:55] after the meeting. So, we're going to go

[9:57] through the whole thing. We're not going

[9:58] to talk about everything in the report.

[10:00] We're just going to hit a few

[10:01] highlights. Uh and then who's changing

[10:04] slides? Okay, the next next slide is um

[10:09] uh that and we all know this that

[10:11] working what WFRC does is we're working

[10:14] together for a thriving region. Our work

[10:17] starts with you working with you

[10:20] supporting your communities uh and our

[10:23] partners. I like to think of it that

[10:25] collaboration, working together, is in

[10:28] this organization's DNA. It's who we

[10:31] are. It's how we're created. And so, we

[10:34] start with our goal is to help serve you

[10:36] and your communities. Um the we you

[10:39] adopted for us last year three goals.

[10:42] You see them on the screen in front of

[10:44] you. Ted Nolton, our uh deputy director

[10:47] and chief planner, is going to talk

[10:49] about goal number one. Summarize.

[10:51] Miranda Jones Cox, our government

[10:53] affairs manager, is going to talk about

[10:54] goal number two and Marian Florence, our

[10:57] CFO and CEO, is going to talk about goal

[10:59] number three. So Ted, take it away.

[11:03] >> Okay, thank you Andrew. First goal is

[11:05] collaboratively advance the Wasatch

[11:08] Choice vision to accommodate growth and

[11:11] enhance quality of life. We know the

[11:13] Wasatch Choice vision, right? This is a

[11:16] locally generated vision for land

[11:19] development over the next 30 years and

[11:22] how that works well together with

[11:24] regional transportation infrastructure

[11:26] to ma maintain and enhance quality of

[11:29] life even in the face of growth. Now, as

[11:31] I talk about our accomplishments over

[11:33] the last year, I'm going to focus on two

[11:36] things in the advancement of the Wasuch

[11:39] Choice Vision, planning and

[11:42] implementation, which includes funding

[11:44] and other things. So on the planning

[11:46] front,

[11:47] uh, one of the things that we released

[11:50] in the last year, which sounds nerdly,

[11:53] but is actually super incredibly

[11:55] important, is the regional

[11:58] transportation plans preferred scenario.

[12:02] I paused for dramatic effect. The

[12:04] preferred scenario, the idea of a

[12:06] preferred scenario is what's the package

[12:09] of transportation investments and

[12:11] improvements? How do they work with

[12:13] anticipated growth that follows the

[12:16] vision over the next 30 years almost as

[12:18] if you've gotten your time machine and

[12:20] you landed in 30 years? What does it

[12:23] actually look like? It's a working

[12:25] draft, but it's meaningful and now we

[12:27] work on the details of advancing the

[12:30] preferred scenario and developing it

[12:32] into a well-rounded regional

[12:34] transportation plan. Um, we've done

[12:37] other things like a a really important

[12:40] deep dive into transit in southwest Salt

[12:43] Lake County that you can look at in the

[12:46] activities and accomplishments report.

[12:48] Now, planning together with

[12:50] implementation is not planning it is not

[12:53] an end in and of itself. It is intended

[12:56] to create changes on the ground. In the

[12:59] last year together, we celebrated the

[13:02] Mid Valley Express from vision to

[13:04] reality. So this tells the story of a

[13:07] project that was born in the regional

[13:08] transportation plan and then we worked

[13:11] together to implement it and uh it

[13:14] benefits and connects Murray Taylorville

[13:17] and West Valley City. These are the

[13:19] kinds of fruits that come out of the

[13:21] work that we do here at Wasach Front

[13:23] Regional Council and of course advanced

[13:25] by local governments and UTA. Uh you can

[13:29] look at

[13:30] >> Can I add something today? Yes, please.

[13:32] >> Add delivered. Thank you, J and under

[13:34] budget. Early and under budget.

[13:37] >> Add that.

[13:42] » That was a very good ad. Um you can take

[13:46] a look at some of the rural planning uh

[13:48] activities that we've done uh together

[13:52] with uh communities in T in Tilla and

[13:54] Morgan County as well like work on the

[13:58] mountain green interchange with UD do.

[14:01] That's all on the planning side. Now

[14:02] let's turn to the implementation of

[14:05] these plans and focus on that second

[14:07] half of advancing the Wasatch Choice

[14:10] vision. Um, now I'm going to talk a

[14:13] little bit about what we call the

[14:15] transportation improvement program. WFRC

[14:18] works with UDOT and UTA and local

[14:21] governments to think about what are the

[14:24] improvements we're going to fund over a

[14:26] six-year time horizon through something

[14:28] called the transportation improvement

[14:30] program. This is where the rubber meets

[14:32] the road almost quite literally. Can I

[14:35] do that? Is that fair to say?

[14:37] >> Fair.

[14:37] >> Okay. Thank you for that. So, this is a

[14:40] big deal and we do this every year and

[14:42] it is a labor of love. We love it and it

[14:45] really ties the plan to changes on the

[14:48] ground. Here is one of those changes in

[14:51] Roy at the intersection of 3100 West and

[14:54] 6,000 South. On the left is before the

[14:58] funding and on the right is what

[15:00] happened and got accomplished just in

[15:02] the last year. You can see it's more

[15:04] beautiful. It's safer. reduced a lot of

[15:07] crashes and it made it more inviting for

[15:10] bicycles and pedestrians and the like.

[15:13] We tell the story in the activity and

[15:14] accomplishments report of other

[15:17] improvements which I love and I don't

[15:18] have time to talk about as in Karns

[15:22] along Cougar Lane. All right, so that's

[15:24] on the funding space. Also in the

[15:26] implementation spaces, how do we go from

[15:29] the big blueprint of the Wasatch Choice

[15:31] vision into more detailed planning? A

[15:35] lot of that is through the

[15:36] transportation and land use connection

[15:38] program which in and of itself is a

[15:41] partnership with UD do UTA was front

[15:44] regional council. Lots of detailed and

[15:47] important plans. Um here is one that is

[15:50] sort of uh look I live in this area. Uh

[15:53] and so I love it for that reason. Uh but

[15:56] it also sort of tells the story of

[15:58] collaboration.

[16:00] Here's what this is. uh Utah Trail

[16:03] Network led by UD do has identified a

[16:07] network of safe and protected bike lanes

[16:09] so that we have real choices to get

[16:11] around by bike and ped jogging or what

[16:14] have you around the region. Well, the

[16:16] communities in South Davis County, North

[16:18] Salt Lake, Bountiful, Centerville,

[16:21] Farmington thought, let's take a look at

[16:24] this. How would we make this happen in

[16:27] our area? And through the transportation

[16:29] land use connection program, we

[16:31] facilitated the South Davis Greenway.

[16:33] This is in the middle of going to each

[16:35] community to say, "What do you think? Is

[16:37] this something we want to advance?" So,

[16:39] it's in progress, but this tells you the

[16:41] story of some of the work that we do

[16:43] collaboratively through the

[16:44] transportation land use connection

[16:46] program. Let me tell you about one other

[16:49] big thing in in sort of the kind of the

[16:53] transportation land use connection

[16:54] space. This is a huge deal.

[16:59] Um, how many of you around the room have

[17:01] been engaged in station area planning

[17:04] work in the last couple of years?

[17:08] So, this is a locally driven effort to

[17:13] ask and answer the question, what's the

[17:16] form of plans that welcome homes and

[17:19] jobs near transit?

[17:21] What should that those plans be as we

[17:25] like roll up our sleeves and think about

[17:26] how do we make the most out of these

[17:28] assets around the region? Stations for

[17:32] rail and high-capacity transit. And the

[17:34] amazing thing, if you think about the

[17:37] housing crisis that Utah has,

[17:40] collectively across all of these

[17:42] stationary plans in 29 communities,

[17:45] these communities have welcomed

[17:48] through these plans

[17:50] 18,000

[17:53] housing units.

[17:55] Now, that's a big deal in and of itself,

[17:58] but think about where these homes are

[18:00] being welcomed. They're being welcomed

[18:02] in places that create a like a gathering

[18:05] place in communities in a lot of cases.

[18:07] And it also puts enables the people that

[18:10] live and work in these station areas to

[18:12] be able to get around using less money.

[18:14] They have more choices, notably of

[18:16] course public transportation. We are so

[18:19] proud of this and it really is locally

[18:21] driven. We've seen over the last couple

[18:23] of years the story of the communities

[18:25] coming forward and saying, "Look, this

[18:27] is what we've done. We're proud of it."

[18:29] And the story is kind of unfolded here

[18:31] at WFRC.

[18:33] All right. There's other stories you can

[18:35] see like uh South Salt Lake's downtown

[18:37] connect effort uh through the station

[18:40] area planning process. Um lots of work

[18:43] that we've done through with within in

[18:46] uh with our small communities through

[18:48] the local administrative advisor program

[18:50] and our Madison of Elles who is amazing.

[18:53] um stories uh like this in Plain City

[18:57] associated with the local administrative

[18:59] advisor program, investing in small

[19:01] communities, uh community development

[19:03] block grant program. Uh there's stories

[19:06] in the activities and accomplishments

[19:08] report about building safer communities,

[19:11] including through advancement of active

[19:13] transportation and safety. Um a lot of

[19:16] stories like that in here which you can

[19:19] peruse. Okay. Now, I'm going to hit on

[19:21] two things that underpin

[19:24] all of the work that we do at WFRC. One

[19:26] of them is that we're constantly working

[19:29] to bring in data and inform our

[19:33] decisions. Let's understand the issues

[19:35] that we face together. Let's think about

[19:39] data and informing. Let's also think

[19:41] about how can we forecast

[19:44] the future. Are there models and you

[19:47] know mathematical equations that we can

[19:49] use that help us understand if we build

[19:51] this or that here or there what are the

[19:55] implications for the traveling public

[19:57] and our quality of life. We're

[19:58] constantly working on improvements uh to

[20:01] our ability to forecast. It's uh a lot

[20:04] of the people that sort of really know

[20:05] WFRC know that this is central to the

[20:08] work that we do here. Um, another aspect

[20:12] that is central to the work that we do

[20:13] here is public engagement. Public and

[20:17] stakeholder engagement. It underpins all

[20:19] of the work that we do. I don't have the

[20:21] story to tell you about this in detail,

[20:24] but I just want to note that and we're

[20:26] proud of the work that we do in that

[20:28] space uh and have been doing over the

[20:30] last year. Um, Andrew, I think that is

[20:36] the story of goal one. Ted, thank you

[20:40] very much. Let's roll right into uh

[20:42] Miranda on goal number two.

[20:45] >> All right, thanks Ted. Um the second

[20:48] goal, provide subject matter expertise

[20:50] to federal, state, and local officials

[20:53] like yourself and to policy makers. Ted

[20:56] shared some about the plans and products

[20:59] that we have and the work that we've

[21:01] been doing and communicating and

[21:03] informing uh decision makers about that

[21:06] work is critically important to how we

[21:08] implement our work. But it's more than

[21:10] information sharing. Um the work that we

[21:13] do with our elected officials helps

[21:14] shape the transportation policies and

[21:17] transportation related policies and

[21:20] funding and investment which is key. uh

[21:23] influencing policies and funding is

[21:25] critically important for Utah's

[21:26] transportation partners because in order

[21:28] to make the plans, the vision that we

[21:31] have a reality, we need resources to get

[21:34] those projects in the ground. Um in

[21:37] communicating and uh informing our

[21:40] elected officials, we also uh seek to

[21:43] build confidence in the collaborative

[21:45] planning processes that we have as

[21:48] transportation partners. We want our

[21:50] elected officials to um have confidence

[21:53] in the datadriven approach that we have.

[21:55] Uh confidence in how our projects are

[21:58] selected uh and confidence that

[22:00] transportation dollars and taxpayer

[22:03] dollars are used to the highest and best

[22:05] use.

[22:07] So what have been some of the core

[22:10] things we've been working on this year?

[22:12] to mention a few. Uh on the federal

[22:14] level, we've been working uh to advance

[22:16] the next surface transportation

[22:18] reauthorization bill um that will expire

[22:21] uh in September of this year here

[22:23] shortly and working to advance Utah's

[22:25] shared uh transportation priorities.

[22:28] We've been supporting our congressional

[22:29] partners in the legislation and bills

[22:31] that they've been uh advancing in the

[22:34] transportation space. We've been working

[22:36] with our national associations

[22:39] um and coordinating with them and our partners uh our metropolitan

[22:43] planning organization partners

[22:45] nationally. Uh and we also been working

[22:47] with our uh legislative partners through

[22:49] the legislative session and interim

[22:51] period to provide analysis and weigh in

[22:54] on the pieces of legislation um that

[22:57] they bring forward. Uh in the report it

[23:00] mentions some of the highlights from

[23:02] this this last legislative session. And

[23:04] I won't share more on that, but what I

[23:06] will say is that uh our our main goal

[23:09] when it comes to working with our

[23:11] legislative partners uh on on

[23:14] legislation is to really seek for the

[23:16] best outcomes. We may not always be

[23:18] supportive of exactly how a bill is

[23:21] written or drafted um but we work

[23:23] diligently with them uh to to seek for

[23:27] the best outcomes possible.

[23:30] Uh I want to highlight a few uh a few

[23:33] things that we've been doing. Uh one for

[23:35] example is that WFRC along with our

[23:37] partners our other AOG partners and the

[23:40] governor's office of economic

[23:42] development uh we've been working to

[23:44] help inform the federal opportunity zone

[23:47] designations uh to focus on areas that

[23:50] have already been established for

[23:52] visions of grow growth like city and

[23:54] town centers and station area plans.

[23:58] Uh we have partnered with some of our

[24:01] partners on um home ownership uh

[24:04] webinars and and sharing information

[24:06] about housing affordability.

[24:08] Um

[24:10] and then lastly, I just want to

[24:12] highlight um the visit of the former FTA

[24:15] administrator Mark Molinaro who came to

[24:17] Utah earlier this year for a roundt on

[24:20] the surface transportation

[24:21] reauthorization bill. uh WFRC and our

[24:24] partners and the business community that

[24:27] was involved in this were able to uh

[24:30] share with the administrator the

[24:31] importance of double tracking of

[24:33] FrontrRunner. And this is an example of

[24:35] the type of impactful engagement that we

[24:38] do to uh advance our priorities.

[24:41] And with that, I'll turn it over to

[24:43] Marian.

[24:49] Thank you. This is our third goal out of

[24:52] three and this one is centered

[24:54] internally. This is our organizational

[24:56] excellence and it's focused on

[24:59] budgeting, staffing, policies,

[25:01] procedures, professional development and

[25:03] it's all so that we can run a great

[25:06] organization to serve our region. And so

[25:08] we really feel like it's important to

[25:10] take that that look inward to um to

[25:14] achieve this goal of organizational

[25:16] excellence. There are two main efforts

[25:19] reflected in this goal. The first is

[25:21] stewardship. Um, and we highlight here.

[25:25] It's it's tiny print, but there's a

[25:26] whole document about it. Our 11 million

[25:29] dollar budget, which I come and present

[25:30] to you three times a year, and our clean

[25:33] audit, which I just went through, so I

[25:35] can I can report on that. We pride

[25:37] ourselves on our fiscal transparency,

[25:39] our accountability, and compliance. And

[25:41] we come to you as I said a few times a

[25:44] year with both budget updates and also

[25:46] with policy reviews which we will do

[25:48] shortly after this. All the work we have

[25:51] mentioned today along with much more in

[25:54] the report reflects the goal that you

[25:56] set for us to use our resources

[25:58] prudently and efficiently.

[26:02] The second is our remarkable staff. You

[26:06] set a goal for us to create and maintain

[26:08] a work environment that maximizes the

[26:10] health, happiness, and productivity of

[26:13] an excellent staff. And that's exactly

[26:16] what we're doing. So in our report, you

[26:18] can meet our four new staff members,

[26:21] Pukar, Fariba, Joel, and Paulo. And you

[26:24] can also

[26:27] marvel again as you did last year.

[26:31] Oh, it Yes. I'll get to the tuxedo

[26:34] first. We're admiring the trophy which

[26:36] you can see through the windows here.

[26:38] Sara for the second year in a row has

[26:41] been awarded as the um iron ctographer

[26:46] which we described last year and she did

[26:48] it again. Um, and Ted, yay, Sarah.

[26:55] And Ted, seen here in a tux, was

[26:58] recognized as a newly named fellow of

[27:01] the American Institute of Certified

[27:03] Planners, which is the highest honor of

[27:05] this professional organization. So, yay.

[27:12] So throughout the year, we also invite

[27:14] you to celebrate milestones of all of

[27:16] our staff as they hit 5, 10, 15, 20,

[27:19] even 30 years with WFRC.

[27:22] Our staff is talented, dedicated, and

[27:25] cares really deeply about this region.

[27:28] We pride ourselves on our transparency

[27:29] and our collaboration with you. And as

[27:32] we embark on a new fiscal year, we

[27:34] remain committed to excellence in all

[27:36] aspects of our work. To you,

[27:38] >> Maryanne. Thank you very much. I'll pick

[27:41] up just to close out on this annual

[27:43] report um update. I'll pick up where

[27:46] Marian left off, which is um I I am so

[27:50] proud of our team um and the amazing

[27:53] work that they do. We highlighted a few

[27:55] of them here. Um but the way that I that

[27:59] I think about our team and one of the

[28:00] things I'm so that I love most about

[28:02] them is that they don't we don't think

[28:05] of our work as just a job.

[28:07] uh you know this is our home too. We

[28:10] care about this place and um I think

[28:14] that the way that I've come to think

[28:15] about it over the years is that the role

[28:18] that we have at WFRC and that our team

[28:20] has we would have what I would consider

[28:22] an organizational ethos which comes in

[28:26] three parts. One is planning of course

[28:29] that's our the core of our work. We plan

[28:31] for the future. Uh the second is

[28:34] collaboration. We talked about that

[28:36] already, but our working together. And

[28:38] then the third, which maybe is the most

[28:42] important, is caring.

[28:45] We do this work not just as a job, but

[28:47] because we care about our community and

[28:50] its residents uh and its future. And I

[28:53] see that in all of our team. So, I'm

[28:54] going to ask if I can everybody who's on

[28:56] WFRC staff, can you stand up, please?

[28:59] Everybody on WFRC staff, stand up. And

[29:02] you guys, yeah, thank you. Thank you.

[29:05] They're dedicated. They're really

[29:07] talented. So, thank you very much. Wait,

[29:10] stay standing. Stay standing now because

[29:13] now what I want to note is that um we

[29:17] get to do this work, right? We get paid.

[29:20] It's a job. It's a full-time job to do

[29:23] this work. Uh but those of you that are

[29:25] elected officials,

[29:27] um it's practically volunteering for the

[29:30] job. We know this. the hours that you

[29:32] put in, the dedication um that you put

[29:35] in, and we sincerely could not be um

[29:39] more appreciative uh we could not admire

[29:42] more the work that you guys do uh in

[29:44] your communities. To paraphrase

[29:47] Teddy Roosevelt, you are people in the

[29:49] arena. You are stepping forward because

[29:51] you care about the future of your

[29:54] communities. Um, even if that means

[29:57] you're sometimes in the turbulent storms

[29:59] of politics, which can be challenging,

[30:02] uh, you do this work not for money and

[30:05] not for glory, but you do it because you

[30:07] care about your communities and we are

[30:09] deeply honored to be able to do this

[30:11] work with you. So, from our folks at

[30:12] WFRC, we are now going to give you a

[30:15] round of applause. Thank you.

[30:20] very much. Okay. Um uh just

[30:24] looking ahead uh we're going to send

[30:26] this report out to you. Looking ahead

[30:28] the next year is an important one. We'll

[30:30] finalize the updated regional

[30:32] transportation plan and updated unified

[30:34] transportation plan. We'll refresh the

[30:36] Wasach's choice vision. Um we'll work on

[30:38] keep working on federal reauthorization

[30:40] as Miranda mentioned and we'll keep

[30:42] providing resources and funding and

[30:44] technical assistance and partnering with

[30:45] you and all of your communities. Mr.

[30:48] Chair, that concludes the report on the

[30:50] annual report. Thank you. Thank you. Any

[30:52] comments anyone would like to make on

[30:54] that? Okay, we'll move down to our uh

[30:57] item B. Uh this is that we need to

[31:00] approve the Wasatch Front Title Six plan

[31:03] uh and the related appendences. Uh these

[31:06] are one of these things that uh comes up

[31:08] each year every so often that we have to

[31:10] reapprove. And I think Miriam's going to

[31:12] give us a little insight on this real

[31:14] quick.

[31:14] >> Yes, thank you. Just uh very briefly, as

[31:17] I mentioned before, we bring policies to

[31:19] you um for formal approval. The title

[31:22] six of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a

[31:25] federal law, as you all know, that

[31:27] states if an organization accepts

[31:29] federal funding, they must maintain a

[31:31] set of legal documents, operational

[31:33] policies, and public facing procedures

[31:35] that demonstrate a commitment to

[31:37] treating everyone without de

[31:39] discrimination. And so as an a

[31:41] metropolitan planning organization and

[31:43] recipient of Federal Highway

[31:45] Administration and Federal Transit

[31:46] Administration funds, WFRC is required

[31:49] to review, update, and formally adopt a

[31:52] title six plan every three years. That's

[31:55] where we are now. So we have a title six

[31:58] policy that has related appendices that

[32:00] cover required procedures,

[32:02] accommodations,

[32:04] and a plan for public participation in

[32:07] our planning process. that public

[32:09] participation plan. This is a lot of P's

[32:12] has been out for public comment. Um and

[32:15] we had one comment from UTA to make a

[32:18] clarification and otherwise um didn't

[32:21] receive any public comment on that and

[32:23] have done a formal review of that plan.

[32:26] So this year we prepared updates to the

[32:28] title six plan, the public participation

[32:30] plan, the limited English proficiency

[32:33] plan, and the ADA effective

[32:35] communication policy in compliance with

[32:38] federal requirements. Um, so what's

[32:41] changed and what hasn't? Uh, as many of

[32:44] you all of you probably know, the US

[32:46] Department of Transportation enacted a

[32:48] major regulatory change on June 11th of

[32:51] this year. Um and so that was a final

[32:54] rule eliminating disperate impact

[32:57] liability from its title six regulations

[33:00] um to shift to align US DOT with a

[33:03] broader federal directive aimed at

[33:05] limiting civil rights enforcement

[33:07] strictly to cases of intentional

[33:09] discrimination. So we've removed

[33:12] references to disperate impact from our

[33:14] document. We do, of course, continue to

[33:17] work to ensure that all of our

[33:19] communities have good transportation

[33:21] access and choices about how they move

[33:23] around the around the region. So, we've made those small changes and we've

[33:28] also made changes to reflect updated

[33:30] demographics. Um, as we've said, we're

[33:33] data driven. We look at that data, we

[33:35] incorporate that into our policies and

[33:37] align with any federal directives. And

[33:39] details about all of that were in your

[33:41] packets. I just wanted to give you kind

[33:43] of an overview. happy to answer any

[33:45] questions about our process or the um

[33:47] resulting policies and those are up for

[33:50] your approval with this uh motion.

[33:53] >> If there are no questions, I'll look for

[33:55] a motion to approve this.

[33:58] >> So move, Mr. Chair.

[34:00] >> Second, by Mayor Durk. All in favor say

[34:07] I.

[34:08] >> I opposed.

[34:10] >> Any opposed?

[34:12] Okay, thank you. That's unanimous.

[34:14] Appreciate you.

[34:20] » Okay, we'll move down to our public

[34:22] comment portion uh of our meeting.

[34:25] Uh this is the point in time if anyone

[34:27] wants to step forward and make any

[34:29] comments related to the Wasatch Front.

[34:31] This is time to please state your name

[34:34] and what city you're from.

[34:39] » Uh anybody online?

[34:42] No.

[34:43] >> Okay. With that, we'll move on to our

[34:44] next item.

[34:48] This will be our regional growth uh uh

[34:50] committee. And we've asked Commissioner

[34:52] Kamalu. Uh Tammy Tran is uh I think uh

[34:56] out of the country out of the country

[34:58] with her husband on an anniversary if I

[34:59] remember correctly. So Loren,

[35:02] >> thank you.

[35:04] We had as we always do great attendance

[35:07] to regional growth meeting last week and

[35:10] uh whole bunch of engaged leaders whole

[35:13] bunch and great staff support. So um the

[35:18] brief note first we had a discussion

[35:20] about a proposed amendment to the 2023

[35:24] to 2050 regional transportation plan the

[35:28] RTP

[35:29] to do an update. The update is fa the

[35:32] phasing of an interchange project in

[35:35] Farmington on the West Davis corridor

[35:38] that had always been imagined. Um the

[35:40] regional growth committee voted to

[35:42] release the proposed amendment for

[35:44] public com comment and um to add to that

[35:47] the tiniest bit, Ted um UD do already

[35:50] reached out to me, Mike Romero, and he

[35:54] uh he gave me even more information

[35:56] about how um how the city most involved

[36:02] with the construction that will happen,

[36:03] Farmington, with a high school not far

[36:05] away from that have they've they've

[36:07] certainly been a part of all of this

[36:09] already. So, good for you, Dot, to get

[36:12] back so quickly on that little comment.

[36:14] Um, so there is today one item to bring

[36:17] to this body.

[36:19] This is 4A, transportation's secret

[36:22] weapon, jobs, housing, balance. This was

[36:26] this took most of the meeting and it was

[36:29] fruitful um with everybody chiming in.

[36:33] So, this agenda item looks at an

[36:35] important dynamic. This will not this

[36:39] will not surprise you, but it's not

[36:40] something we've necessarily in our state

[36:42] been talking about as much. Um, Utah has

[36:46] been very successful in building

[36:48] transportation,

[36:49] but we can also look at how balancing

[36:52] the location of jobs and homes can

[36:56] improve our transportation outcomes and

[36:58] that is data driven. Andrew will open

[37:01] the discussion that we'll have here.

[37:02] Thank you.

[37:03] >> Okay. Thank you very much, uh,

[37:05] Commissioner. So, you know, at WFRC with

[37:08] all of our transportation partners, the

[37:09] focus of our work is on transportation

[37:13] and mobility. Uh, and I'm going to say

[37:17] in Utah, Utah is amazing at

[37:19] transportation, nationally recognized

[37:22] for being great at delivering

[37:24] transportation. Uh, but it is not

[37:27] enough. Being great at transportation is

[37:30] not enough in doing our work. And so

[37:33] what I want to do today is invite you to

[37:35] think a little differently about

[37:38] transportation.

[37:39] Uh and what I want to talk with you

[37:41] about, what we're going to talk with you

[37:43] about is what we would call

[37:45] transportation's perhaps not so secret

[37:48] weapon, the jobs housing balance.

[37:52] The basic premise of what we want to

[37:55] demonstrate to you today and talk about

[37:56] with you today is that balancing jobs

[37:59] and housing, balancing jobs and housing

[38:02] helps our transportation system as much

[38:05] as building more infrastructure.

[38:08] And why are we talking about this now?

[38:10] In part because you all know there is so

[38:12] much focus on housing appropriately.

[38:15] Well, how are we dealing with housing?

[38:18] How are we how are we dealing with

[38:19] economic development? And can we do

[38:21] those things in a way that actually

[38:22] helps the performance of our

[38:24] transportation system. Okay, before we

[38:26] dive into that, let me just acknowledge

[38:29] something that we are all experiencing

[38:32] acutely and that is that travel times

[38:35] are getting longer. This is data that

[38:37] comes from UD do statewide mobility

[38:39] dashboard. It's showing the delay

[38:42] statewide hours of delay on Utah's

[38:46] freeways. Okay, so on the on the

[38:48] highways. Now, what do we mean by delay?

[38:50] If at free flow speeds you're going at a

[38:52] certain rate of speed and then if

[38:54] there's congestion and you have to slow

[38:56] down, that's the delay. So, post

[38:58] pandemic, the delay on Utah's roads has

[39:01] gone up by 135%.

[39:04] Yes. A lot. A lot. Now, there are some

[39:07] of you that are online and we're we're

[39:10] watching you online, meaning we welcome

[39:13] you're chiming in here. That's what I

[39:15] mean. Um, and some of you just before

[39:18] this meeting got in touch and said,"I

[39:20] was going to come, but then I looked at

[39:22] the travel time and it's gone up and I thought I would have half an hour,

[39:27] but it's going to take 45 minutes." This

[39:29] is the reality of the situation that

[39:31] we're that we're confronting. We feel

[39:33] it. We know it. It's stressful. It saps

[39:36] time from our lives, and it also creates

[39:38] uncertainty, the lack of reliability of

[39:40] being able to plan accordingly. Yes.

[39:43] Mayor Burton, will you if you're gonna

[39:45] if you're going to speak, will you use a

[39:46] microphone? Particularly if it's a

[39:48] really good dad joke.

[39:50] >> I don't have any good dad jokes. I don't

[39:52] know what they are.

[39:52] >> Comment, please.

[39:54] >> Does this How does this fit in with

[39:57] bicycle riding? Has that time gone down

[39:59] or up for riding bicycles or is this

[40:01] just cars on the free? We don't have

[40:03] bikes on the freeway.

[40:04] >> We don't have bikes on the freeway. Uh

[40:05] active transportation utilization is up.

[40:08] Transit ridership is up. And that's part

[40:10] of what we do in Utah is provide

[40:11] transportation choices.

[40:12] >> So when the freeway backs up, the bike

[40:14] still rolls.

[40:15] >> Yes. There you go. Agreed. Agreed. So

[40:18] what do we do in Utah given the

[40:21] challenges that we face? There are three

[40:24] basic strategies that we utilize for

[40:26] transportation in Utah. Strategy number

[40:28] one is Utah builds. Utah builds

[40:33] transportation. We have a nationally

[40:35] recognized Utah unified transportation

[40:37] plan. We have a very high performing UD

[40:41] do and UTA. Uh we have the highest per

[40:44] capita transportation investment in the

[40:46] nation when you look at all funding

[40:48] sources. Um and we have hundreds of

[40:51] road, transit and trail projects over

[40:53] the next 10 years, I think before the

[40:56] Olympics that we will implement. So we

[40:59] have resources and we use them very

[41:01] well. But and I think this this may be a

[41:05] challenging but not a controversial

[41:06] statement. We cannot build our way out

[41:09] of congestion.

[41:11] So what do we do? So we get to our

[41:14] second strategy which is Utah innovates.

[41:17] So think signal timing optimization and

[41:20] ramp metering and connected and

[41:22] autonomous vehicles and advanced air

[41:25] mobility. Utah again is really really a

[41:30] leader around the country not just in

[41:33] building but also in innovating. So in

[41:36] this regard we innovate to make the most

[41:38] out of the transportation system that we

[41:40] have.

[41:42] But if you think about building and

[41:43] innovating they're both about increasing

[41:45] supply right they increase the capacity

[41:48] of the transportation system. They don't

[41:50] get at the demand on the system. So that

[41:53] takes us to our third of three key

[41:56] strategies. Utah balances jobs and

[41:59] housing. So now we all know this

[42:01] intuitively. When homes and workplaces

[42:03] are farther apart, trips are longer and

[42:06] roads are more crowded. But if we can

[42:08] have more balance in our system with

[42:12] jobs and housing, that means that we can

[42:14] have shorter trips and less strain on

[42:17] our transportation system. Now you may

[42:20] have noticed that we have a question

[42:21] mark on this balancing jobs and housing

[42:24] and the reason for that is that we think

[42:26] this is an area that we can do more. We

[42:28] can improve in a way that can impact

[42:30] demand. Now this relationship between uh

[42:34] land use and transportation. This is

[42:36] nothing new to WFRC and our work. Right?

[42:40] The Wasatch Choice vision is based on

[42:41] this premise of coordinating land use

[42:43] and transportation. Um, but what is a

[42:46] little different is thinking about

[42:48] balancing jobs and housing as an

[42:50] intentional strategy for transportation.

[42:53] And that's what we want to talk about

[42:55] with you and why jobs, right? Like

[42:58] people are traveling for all sorts of

[43:00] things all the time. But as Ben could

[43:02] tell you, we design our transportation

[43:05] system for the peak periods and that's

[43:07] when people are commuting uh for work.

[43:10] Now before I go on, I just want to note

[43:12] we are not in any way suggesting that we

[43:16] should restrict people's choices or

[43:18] freedom to move around. People should be

[43:20] able to travel where they want and when

[43:22] they want. What we are talking about is

[43:25] giving people more and better options if

[43:28] they want to live and work closer

[43:30] together uh to take shorter trips, give

[43:33] people more choices. So again, here's

[43:36] the three strategies building. We're

[43:38] doing great at that. innovating. We're

[43:40] doing great at that and balancing and we

[43:43] think we can do better in this area.

[43:46] Now, with that, I'm going to turn to

[43:48] Bill Har who's from our analytics

[43:50] department at WFRC. Um, he's going to

[43:53] set us up for some discussion that we

[43:55] want to have with you uh about and he's

[43:58] going to show you some new data and new

[44:00] analysis to inform some of our

[44:02] decisions. Uh, and then we're going to

[44:04] have some discussion how can we improve

[44:07] our jobs and housing balance. Well,

[44:18] thank you, Andrew.

[44:20] In a few moments, we're going to take a

[44:22] journey together through this web app.

[44:25] This app helps us understand the

[44:27] regional transportation impact of our

[44:29] housing job balance. And this app uses

[44:32] census data. The data shows where people

[44:35] live and where people work.

[44:38] Our focus in this app is on work trips.

[44:42] And why work trips? Work trips are the

[44:45] main reason that we have some of the

[44:46] busiest times on our roads. We build our

[44:49] transportation system to handle these

[44:51] busy times. And if we can reduce

[44:53] pressure on our roads during these

[44:55] times, we can make a big difference.

[44:59] But before we jump into the app,

[45:04] let's think a little bit about what

[45:06] housing and job balance looks like looks

[45:08] like in our region and our communities.

[45:12] Every morning, thousands of people leave

[45:14] the city that you live in to work

[45:16] somewhere else and thousands of people

[45:18] come into your city to work. So, let me

[45:21] ask you this question.

[45:23] Thinking about the Wasatch front,

[45:26] what percent of people both live and

[45:28] work in the same city?

[45:31] >> And if you were at the regional growth

[45:32] committee when we talked about this,

[45:34] you're not allowed to answer. Okay?

[45:38] Any guesses?

[45:42] 20%. Good guess.

[45:46] Okay.

[45:48] So in most surf cities, it's actually

[45:50] 10% or less in most Wasatch Front

[45:53] cities. So that means 90% of people are

[45:57] leaving the city they live in and going

[45:59] somewhere else to work.

[46:01] So let's jump into this web app um and

[46:04] explore some of the data.

[46:11] So there's a lot going on here. So let's orient first. This map in the

[46:16] middle is a map of our region, the

[46:19] Wasatch Front. The lines show where

[46:22] people are coming to and going. We're

[46:24] commuting to and from. So, right now

[46:27] we're showing people commuting out of

[46:29] Haramman. So, let's zoom in a bit.

[46:34] So, the thicker the lines, the more

[46:37] people making that trip. So, you can see

[46:38] from Herman to Salt Lake City. That's a

[46:40] big

[46:40] >> Herman loves Salt Lake City.

[46:45] So

[46:46] the number in the top left shows how

[46:48] many people 29,000

[46:51] airman residents leave the city every

[46:53] day to commute outside their city.

[46:58] And this number is also down here on

[46:59] this figure here. 29,000

[47:02] leaving. But we also have people

[47:05] remaining in Herman that work. So

[47:07] 1.6,600

[47:09] people live and work inside of Haramman.

[47:13] And that's 5%. So 5% of her hairman

[47:17] workers work in that city and 95% leave

[47:21] to work somewhere else. And they leave

[47:24] and travel on our transportation system.

[47:29] You can also see people coming into

[47:31] Herman.

[47:33] There are about 6,5800

[47:38] people commuting into Herman every day.

[47:40] And that's on this left side here.

[47:46] So that's a lot of people coming into

[47:48] and leaving Herman. Um so only 5% of

[47:52] people stay within Haramman. 95% commute

[47:54] out. We can also explore other

[47:57] communities. Is there anyone that want

[47:59] to see a community maybe not in Salt

[48:01] Lake County?

[48:04] >> Why don't why don't you show us how many

[48:06] people are leaving Davis County and

[48:08] going into Salt Lake County?

[48:13] Can we do a county? Okay.

[48:14] >> Using using legacy

[48:16] >> for fair of using the same joke at the

[48:18] other re previous meeting the regional

[48:22] growth commission. Um I hope you're

[48:24] bringing your wallets and purses.

[48:29] » So Davis County we have 1,200 almost

[48:32] 13,000 people. Oh that's Kisville.

[48:35] Sorry. County.

[48:40] This is why you don't do a live demo. I didn't practice this. Davis County.

[48:46] Okay, that's better. 106,000 people

[48:49] leaving Davis County. Going to Salt Lake

[48:52] County, we have 65,000

[48:55] people.

[48:57] Inside Davis County, we have 63,000

[48:59] working. So, 37% of Davis workers

[49:04] work within the county. And then coming

[49:06] into the county, we have 67,000

[49:09] people entering Davis County to work.

[49:14] >> And then after it'd be interesting to

[49:16] see Salt Lake City's core and if

[49:19] anyone's going out from there,

[49:20] >> if anyone leaves Salt Lake to go

[49:22] somewhere else. Okay.

[49:24] >> Okay. Weieber, we have

[49:27] 62,000 leaving, 68,000 staying. So

[49:30] that's 52% stay in Weber. Pretty good.

[49:34] Let's go to

[49:36] Salt Lake City. I don't know if we can

[49:38] do the urban core. Salt Lake.

[49:41] Okay. Alpine,

[49:47] Salt Lake City.

[49:50] We have 50/50. So, we have 49,000 people

[49:53] leaving Salt Lake City, 49,000 staying.

[49:56] So, 50%.

[50:01] Okay, let's go.

[50:06] It's alphabetically the the top.

[50:09] [laughter]

[50:10] Okay. So, Salt Lake County, is that what

[50:12] you're asking?

[50:15] So, we have 80 83% stay within the

[50:18] county to work.

[50:26] Okay.

[50:37] In Davis County, we had 37%.

[50:41] Sorry, you asked about how many people

[50:43] are coming in and leaving Davis.

[50:48] So

[50:50] that was Salt Lake. Salt Lake City was

[50:52] 50/50. Weber is 50% stay. Davis was 37%

[50:57] stay in the county.

[51:00] 67,000 come in. So 63 stay

[51:07] 106,000 leave.

[51:11] So this we've sorry yeah I just want to

[51:15] add one more thing because we just had a

[51:16] meeting in Herman and and so you brought

[51:18] that up another and we're starting to

[51:21] get our hands around cell data and

[51:23] tracking utilization as well. um and

[51:25] we're not ready for prime time on it,

[51:27] but we've got some initial numbers. And

[51:29] one of the things that we were able to

[51:30] talk about last night at Herman was

[51:33] here's a service we have there. We have

[51:34] route 126 we have on demand down there.

[51:37] But we're also able to show that a

[51:39] number of people leave Herman to board

[51:42] transit at park and rides, you know,

[51:44] tracks or FrontrRunner. That's true for

[51:48] pretty much all the cities down there,

[51:49] including Riverton. And so they are

[51:52] utilizing the system well. Um but again

[51:55] people are leaving uh to you know to go

[51:58] to other places in order to use utilize

[52:00] that system. So that's important for us

[52:02] because everybody'suh contributing tax

[52:05] revenue to what we're doing and so we

[52:08] want to ensure that that they're

[52:10] actually utilizing service and that's

[52:11] utilizing service doesn't necessarily

[52:13] mean that they're boarding in the city

[52:15] where they live.

[52:16] >> Yeah. Bill, let me just jump in for one

[52:17] sec. Yeah. There's there's nothing just

[52:20] to be clear there's nothing wrong with

[52:22] people living their city. I know you're

[52:23] not saying like and in fact providing

[52:25] choices in the way you're talking about

[52:26] is terrific. The majority of people 90%

[52:30] when you put it all together as Bill

[52:31] said 90% of the people that work are

[52:34] leaving their home city and the

[52:36] overwhelming majority of those people

[52:38] are driving and so as Bill was noting

[52:41] that is creating tremendous pressure on

[52:43] our roadway system. So that's the sort

[52:46] of underlying issue. I love the interest

[52:49] you have. We are going to share this.

[52:51] It's actually live on our website right

[52:52] now and if particularly if you're data

[52:54] nerds, you can dig in here and get lots

[52:56] and lots of uh information on this at

[52:59] your leisure.

[53:00] Thanks, Andrew.

[53:03] Okay. To better understand how improving

[53:07] the jobs and housing balance and

[53:09] creating shorter commutes can make a big

[53:11] difference on our roads, we used our

[53:13] regional travel demand model. We took we

[53:16] are looking at a hypothetical situation

[53:18] here. We looked to see what would happen

[53:20] if 10% of people who currently live

[53:24] currently work outside their city found

[53:27] an opportunity within their city and

[53:29] worked in the city. So for Haramman

[53:32] 30,000 people leaving this would be

[53:34] 3,000 people 3,000 of those people

[53:37] finding a new opportunity inside of

[53:39] Haramman to work and take that and apply

[53:42] it to all communities every city

[53:43] throughout the region. What kind of

[53:46] impact would that have on our

[53:47] transportation system and how much road

[53:50] congestion could we get rid of? So here

[53:53] we're taking 10% away.

[53:56] So that would result in a 23% reduction

[53:58] in delay.

[54:01] That's a very large impact.

[54:04] So just think of how much just think of

[54:07] how much it would take to make that big

[54:09] of a change using transportation

[54:11] projects alone. It would be very

[54:14] expensive. maybe tens of billions of

[54:16] dollars.

[54:16] >> Bill, it might be obvious, but that's a

[54:20] reduction in delay, not just for that

[54:22] 10%, but for every single person that

[54:24] drives on our roads.

[54:26] >> Yes, that's true. So, yeah, that's the

[54:29] average across the whole region, all the

[54:31] delay across the region. So, why such a

[54:34] big reduction with only 10%.

[54:37] Our roads work a little differently when

[54:39] they get crowded. I'm sure you've

[54:40] noticed when a road is empty, you get on

[54:43] early morning and drive, you can add

[54:46] more cars without big impact on on your

[54:49] speed. But once a road gets close to

[54:52] being full, every new car you add has a

[54:55] disproportionate impact. So as you add

[54:58] cars, when it's already full, it just

[55:00] the congestion gets much greater and

[55:02] much quicker.

[55:03] So the same applies in reverse. If you

[55:05] take a few percent off the roadways,

[55:08] that can have a big impact on our delay.

[55:11] And long commutes are especially

[55:13] important. They use they use more of our

[55:16] region's road capacity during the

[55:17] busiest times of the day.

[55:20] So, giving people more opportunities to

[55:22] work closer to home can reduce the

[55:24] strain on our roads. And our model shows

[55:27] us that can have a big benefit for the

[55:29] entire system.

[55:33] So, we've been talking a lot about data,

[55:35] numbers, percentages coming in and out

[55:38] of towns.

[55:39] So, let's switch gears a bit. What we're

[55:42] talking about has real impacts to all of

[55:44] us, to real people.

[55:48] So, I'm going to share the story of

[55:49] Cameron who lives in Haramman.

[55:53] Cameron's an accountant for a medical

[55:55] logistics company here at the Gateway

[55:56] just down the road here. Her commute

[55:59] during rush hour takes 39 minutes in the

[56:02] morning to drive in from Heramman and 51

[56:05] minutes to get back. That's 90 minutes

[56:07] of her day commuting.

[56:10] Cameron's hoping to get a job with a

[56:12] company that recently moved from out of

[56:14] state into the Haramman Town Center.

[56:18] So Cameron has an opportunity to work

[56:20] within Haramman and she takes that

[56:22] opportunity. So now with her new job,

[56:26] she only spends 15 minutes of her day

[56:28] commuting.

[56:29] So she gets back 75 minutes. Just think

[56:32] if you had an extra 75 minutes of your

[56:35] day. She can now spend more time with

[56:37] her family. She can work on her hobby,

[56:39] which is um making pottery. She makes

[56:43] mugs and hopes to sell them at the

[56:45] Heramman weekend crafts market. She

[56:48] drives 45 fewer miles per day. She saves

[56:50] money on fuel and wear and tear of her

[56:53] car, about $20 a day.

[56:56] But the benefit isn't just to Cameron.

[56:59] Her shorter commute takes pressure off

[57:01] the roads at a time when traffic is the

[57:03] worst. So that's a benefit to everyone

[57:06] that lives around Cameron that has to

[57:08] make that trek to Salt Lake City every

[57:10] day.

[57:13] So imagine this happening across the

[57:15] entire region. More people working

[57:17] closer to their homes could make a big

[57:19] difference in how well our transport

[57:21] transportation system works. It would

[57:24] help us get more out of the roads and

[57:26] other transportation options we already

[57:28] have and also more out of the

[57:30] improvements we are planning.

[57:40] Bill, thank you very much. Let's come

[57:42] back to the basic premise here again. Um

[57:46] and then let's have some discussion

[57:48] about how we can improve our jobs

[57:51] housing balance. Again the basic premise

[57:54] balancing h balancing jobs and housing

[57:58] helps our transportation system just as

[58:00] much as building more infrastructure. So

[58:03] let me let me seed this a little bit. Um

[58:06] we have been talking about city

[58:08] geography in this conversation. Uh the

[58:12] reason for that is just to illustrate

[58:14] well and county to some extent of course

[58:15] as well but to the reason for that was

[58:18] to illustrate these impacts but really

[58:20] the way to think about addressing these

[58:22] issues is one city cannot do this on its

[58:26] own. It really takes a combination of

[58:29] local governments, transportation

[58:31] agencies, land owners and developers,

[58:34] economic development agencies all

[58:36] working together. Achieving a better

[58:38] balance requires all of us. This is

[58:40] really inherently a regional issue,

[58:43] multiple stakeholders uh working

[58:45] together. So I'll show you just a few

[58:49] high-level concepts for ways that we

[58:51] could think about how to tackle this. Um

[58:55] and those highlevel concepts are not

[59:00] something that I'm going to show you

[59:02] evidently. I'll tell you instead until

[59:05] we can show them to you. Uh two things.

[59:07] The first would be um identifying

[59:11] strategic locations for balanced housing

[59:15] and job growth, right? Because this is

[59:18] not just one or the one action or the

[59:20] other, but if we can balance these

[59:22] things out and if we can add jobs in

[59:24] areas that are housing rich. So, I'll

[59:27] give you an example. Mayor Manzion, if

[59:28] you're if you're still on and hearing us

[59:31] from Tilla City, there are, let's see,

[59:34] uh 32,000 people that leave Tilla County

[59:37] every morning and come over to the

[59:38] Wasace front uh for work. That's a

[59:41] number of people that commute. Uh

[59:42] because the there's a jobs housing

[59:44] mismatch in Tilla County. Well, there is

[59:48] talk about developing a nuclear campus

[59:51] in Tilla County that would provide

[59:53] thousands of jobs and that could provide

[59:55] more opportunities for people to live

[59:57] and work uh in Tilla County. Think about

[1:00:00] our friends in Saratoga Springs or Eagle

[1:00:02] Mountain where there's so much housing

[1:00:04] but relatively low numbers of jobs and

[1:00:07] then of course that puts a lot of

[1:00:09] pressure on east west mobility coming

[1:00:11] out of uh Saratoga Springs and Eagle

[1:00:13] Mountain. Wouldn't that be a great idea

[1:00:15] area for an increase in jobs? So

[1:00:18] identifying locations and then aligning

[1:00:21] these activities or perhaps another way

[1:00:24] to think about it is getting at the

[1:00:26] disconnect that sometimes exists. What are we doing for economic

[1:00:30] development incentives? Uh state

[1:00:33] economic development incentives. What is

[1:00:35] the locationational consideration for

[1:00:37] where we're incentivizing jobs to occur?

[1:00:40] uh housing policy at the regional growth

[1:00:43] committee. Um multiple uh people talked

[1:00:46] about the extreme pressure that uh to

[1:00:50] build more homes from the state and from

[1:00:52] other actors to build more homes. Um

[1:00:55] does that crowd out the ability to try

[1:00:58] to seek more of a balance in our

[1:00:59] development? Of course, we need more

[1:01:01] homes. But if we uh only build homes in

[1:01:05] areas that don't have good job

[1:01:07] availability, then what happens? Well,

[1:01:09] then aren't we having people have to

[1:01:10] drive long distances to access work? And

[1:01:14] then land use actions, of course, at the

[1:01:16] local level, your general plans, your

[1:01:17] zoning development agreements, how do

[1:01:19] they consider these items? And then

[1:01:21] finally, within a community, if we're

[1:01:24] going to have a mix of uses and more

[1:01:26] homes and jobs within communities, how

[1:01:28] do we make sure that there's good road

[1:01:30] and transit and trail connections within

[1:01:32] the community so people can get around?

[1:01:35] So, you can drop the slide now. Drop the

[1:01:38] slides. Jordan, I will ask you uh we can

[1:01:41] have hopefully just a few minutes of

[1:01:42] conversation here. What are the barriers

[1:01:46] to creating more of a jobs housing

[1:01:48] balance? Uh what are you doing in your

[1:01:51] communities that's helped to achieve

[1:01:52] more of a balance? Uh and what could

[1:01:55] help what could help as we uh try to

[1:01:58] have more of a jobs housing balance? So

[1:02:02] we open it up to input from anybody in

[1:02:05] the room and also to our friends online.

[1:02:10] >> Andrew, I'll ask you a quick question.

[1:02:11] >> Yes, Commissioner.

[1:02:12] >> So when it comes to jobs and housing,

[1:02:14] you know, it's the old chicken and the

[1:02:15] egg. So which you got to have first, the

[1:02:18] housing or the jobs?

[1:02:22] » Is that actually a question you want me?

[1:02:24] I feel like that's more of a statement.

[1:02:25] Well, I figure you're the smartest guy

[1:02:26] in the room, so I figure that's

[1:02:28] >> Wait, I'm going to hand the mic off if

[1:02:30] you want the smartest guys in the room,

[1:02:31] Bill.

[1:02:32] >> Okay. I mean, you this I would state the

[1:02:36] obvious that you have to plan for both

[1:02:38] of them at the same time. Uh that's the

[1:02:41] magic of planning for jobs and housing.

[1:02:43] I know from from my experience and

[1:02:45] people can correct me on this, but

[1:02:46] usually at job centers, you know, the

[1:02:49] housing, the apartments and that are

[1:02:51] what become the most important thing to

[1:02:52] have those being built before a lot of

[1:02:55] office space and that, you know, anybody

[1:02:57] wants to build it because of the fact

[1:02:58] that you need to have people there to be

[1:03:00] able to fill those spots. And I think

[1:03:02] that's one of the problems in I think in

[1:03:04] all cities especially the smaller cities

[1:03:07] uh trying to they have their job centers

[1:03:09] or they're trying to create job centers

[1:03:11] is they try to work between the housing

[1:03:13] and the jobs on getting it and then

[1:03:16] there's always the fact that and again

[1:03:18] I'm I'm not a big apartment person but I

[1:03:20] do believe apartments are important when

[1:03:22] it comes to job centers and having that

[1:03:24] housing condensed around there. uh a lot

[1:03:27] of cities don't want to support you know

[1:03:30] the apartments in in various areas. So I

[1:03:32] think it I think that's one of the

[1:03:34] barriers that exists.

[1:03:36] >> Yeah, you raised a few important issues

[1:03:38] there. Part of what you're getting at,

[1:03:39] of course, is the time lag in

[1:03:41] development. You need to have rooftops

[1:03:42] to support business development. Um and

[1:03:46] of course those are market forces which

[1:03:47] impact all of these things. But then

[1:03:49] there's lots of intervention. Uh Steve

[1:03:52] Waldrip talks about how the housing

[1:03:55] market, it's a private market, but it is

[1:03:57] so affected by governmental policy. So

[1:04:00] are there policies that we could employ

[1:04:03] to help get at that time lag and have

[1:04:06] jobs come sooner as we're doing housing

[1:04:08] development in Greenfield area so we

[1:04:10] don't unintentionally exacerbate or

[1:04:13] create transportation problems. We have

[1:04:14] to chase those with transportation

[1:04:16] dollars. Is there a way to utilize some

[1:04:18] of that investment to have more balance

[1:04:21] from the beginning?

[1:04:23] Other thoughts? Mayor Burton,

[1:04:26] >> West Jordan has been dealing with this

[1:04:28] exact same problem with the construct

[1:04:29] with the east west challenge that we

[1:04:32] have on traffic. There was a time when

[1:04:34] UDOT came in and wanted to put

[1:04:38] changeable lanes on 90th South. We

[1:04:41] resisted that. But at the same time in West Jordan and our southwest

[1:04:44] quadrant, we've been adding additional

[1:04:46] industry and more business there. Not

[1:04:49] just restaurants, but but real

[1:04:51] businesses where people can have a

[1:04:53] suitable income to support families

[1:04:55] with. And as time has gone by, we had a

[1:04:58] study done just earlier this year that

[1:05:01] showed that changeable lanes aren't a

[1:05:02] good idea because we're getting

[1:05:04] increased traffic going both directions

[1:05:05] now, which means people are now coming

[1:05:08] into our southwest quadrant into those

[1:05:10] businesses that are actually employing

[1:05:12] people and doing it there. So that map

[1:05:15] you showed, I would like to see if we

[1:05:17] could go back in years and see the

[1:05:19] change that's happened.

[1:05:21] >> How how far back in history can does

[1:05:24] that map go? Yeah. It goes back how

[1:05:26] long?

[1:05:28] >> To 2003.

[1:05:29] Yeah. So you can we can evaluate the

[1:05:32] changes over time and associate them

[1:05:34] with different transportation

[1:05:35] investments as well.

[1:05:36] >> Right. Then we can see if it's working

[1:05:38] or if it's getting worse and if we need

[1:05:39] to shift or make some changes or keep

[1:05:41] going. So

[1:05:41] >> yeah, great idea.

[1:05:42] >> I think that's wonderful. And and which

[1:05:44] comes first?

[1:05:45] >> In my mind, the housing came first

[1:05:47] because people are going to get there.

[1:05:48] But then the businesses look for a place

[1:05:50] where they can have a good source of

[1:05:53] employees. Yeah, thank you. I see Mayor

[1:05:56] uh Petro from Leighton and then Laura

[1:05:58] Hansen from GOPB. Mayor.

[1:06:01] Okay, just to build upon that, I will

[1:06:05] say this, and this probably isn't really

[1:06:06] the forum for it, but I believe that a

[1:06:10] few years ago when the state took away

[1:06:12] the uh incentives for the cities to be

[1:06:16] able to attract businesses kind of

[1:06:18] really put a damper on us to work both

[1:06:22] the housing and the jobs simultaneously.

[1:06:27] That's just my my view.

[1:06:30] >> And a lot as as we talked about some in

[1:06:33] the regional growth committee, a lot of

[1:06:35] the uh tax incentives um that cities and

[1:06:39] counties have at their disposal have

[1:06:41] been affected, let's say, over the last

[1:06:43] few years by state policy. I'm not

[1:06:45] intending to attack our partners in the

[1:06:47] state. We have to all be in this uh

[1:06:49] together. And then the encouragement is

[1:06:52] strongly for a housing first focus,

[1:06:54] which again we understand why that is,

[1:06:56] but Mayor Petro, to your point, there's

[1:06:58] a challenge there about the use of

[1:07:00] tools. Uh Laura,

[1:07:05] » hello everyone. I'm sorry I'm not there

[1:07:08] in person. Um it's been a day, but hey,

[1:07:11] I I love this new map. I have pulled it

[1:07:14] up multiple times over the last couple

[1:07:17] of weeks um to illustrate things with

[1:07:19] colleagues and conceptually I really

[1:07:23] like the idea. I think it makes a lot of

[1:07:25] logical sense that you know the fewer

[1:07:27] people who have to travel to get to

[1:07:30] employment um the better and that does

[1:07:33] get more out of our our limited

[1:07:36] transportation network. a couple of not

[1:07:39] critiques, but just sort of sideboards

[1:07:42] or things to consider. Um, there's

[1:07:45] always going to be an employment center

[1:07:48] sort of heavy hitter, right? Downtown

[1:07:50] Salt Lake is always going to be this

[1:07:53] sink for bringing people in for jobs.

[1:07:56] Uh, there's always going to be places

[1:07:58] where [snorts]

[1:08:00] it just attracts folks from from all

[1:08:02] over the region. That I think we need to

[1:08:05] acknowledge. So you kind of have to take

[1:08:06] it as sort of like, you know, this is a

[1:08:08] rule of of thumb, but not a we have to

[1:08:11] get the math to balance out. Exactly.

[1:08:14] >> Agreed.

[1:08:14] >> The other thing that I would note is

[1:08:15] land values have a big uh a big impact

[1:08:19] on this as well. Um

[1:08:23] you may have noticed that the governor's

[1:08:25] office caused a bit of a stir uh in some

[1:08:28] Wasach counties over the last couple of

[1:08:30] weeks. I'll just like put it out there

[1:08:32] since it's out there. Um, you know, and

[1:08:35] I pulled up this map and I was actually

[1:08:37] looking. I said, "How many people

[1:08:38] commute into Summit and Wasach counties

[1:08:41] every day?" And a lot commute in because

[1:08:44] the land is very expensive. But a lot of

[1:08:47] people commute into Salt Lake County as

[1:08:50] well from those counties. Um, people,

[1:08:53] you know, want to live in in areas uh

[1:08:56] where they have more space sometimes and

[1:08:58] they work in a place that's that heavy

[1:09:00] hitter employment anchor. Um, [snorts]

[1:09:03] and also in Summit County in particular,

[1:09:06] you know, Park City is so expensive that

[1:09:09] just the ability for a lot of people to

[1:09:12] live there, it's just, you know, it's

[1:09:14] just hard to pack that many,

[1:09:16] [clears throat] you know, people in

[1:09:17] there and balance out the jobs. So,

[1:09:19] anyways, just a couple of of caveats or

[1:09:22] nuances for people to think about. Um,

[1:09:25] but in general, I I love the concept of

[1:09:29] thinking about how we can allow people

[1:09:32] to accomplish more of their daily needs

[1:09:34] and more of the the basic things to get

[1:09:37] through life in their own communities. I love that. I would be interested if

[1:09:42] through your searching of the map if

[1:09:44] there is an area where it's pretty

[1:09:46] 50/50, where there actually is a really

[1:09:48] good balance because that might be a

[1:09:50] good example for us to um to say, well,

[1:09:52] what does that community look like? How

[1:09:54] could we model that elsewhere?

[1:09:56] >> Yeah, Laura, thank you so much. Um,

[1:09:59] I should note Laura is is leading a lot

[1:10:02] of work in great partnership through the

[1:10:05] build coordinating council try to

[1:10:07] integrate the consideration of these

[1:10:09] issues and has been an amazing partner

[1:10:11] at the state level for us as uh local.

[1:10:14] So, Laura um thank you very much. I I'll

[1:10:18] say and Mayor Benian go to you in one

[1:10:19] moment and then maybe Mr. share. After

[1:10:21] that, we'll we'll uh wrap up this

[1:10:23] discussion. Um Laura, you just made the

[1:10:25] point about there's always going to be

[1:10:27] certain areas that are more uh

[1:10:28] employmentheavy. Uh Salt Lake, of

[1:10:31] course, Ogden City is a job center for

[1:10:33] Weber County, of course, and has great

[1:10:35] uh balance. Um so, it's this is why so

[1:10:39] and that's that is an appropriate thing.

[1:10:41] Uh but this is why we showed you the 10%

[1:10:45] analysis that if just 10% more of the

[1:10:49] people now are commuting out of their

[1:10:51] homes, out of their home cities for

[1:10:52] work, just 10% were able to work in

[1:10:55] their own cities, it would have a huge

[1:10:57] transportation impact. So we're not

[1:10:59] necessarily talking about a goal of

[1:11:02] every community has perfect balance.

[1:11:04] That's not realistic. but having even

[1:11:06] modest impacts that more people could

[1:11:08] live and work within their home

[1:11:09] community can have a huge impact on

[1:11:11] transportation. Mayor Benian,

[1:11:14] >> yes, I also think this is a great map

[1:11:17] and I thank you for all your work to

[1:11:19] create it and to have this discussion.

[1:11:21] And I think that's really crucial. And

[1:11:25] um just thinking about our city and many

[1:11:29] people in our city heading to the UD to

[1:11:30] work that we aren't going to be able to

[1:11:33] change things like that that are so set.

[1:11:35] I know they have satellite clinics and

[1:11:37] things and the same with Hill Air Force

[1:11:39] Base like it's just not moving and that

[1:11:42] you can't really have public

[1:11:43] transportation and like front runner

[1:11:45] going in there. But I'm wondering if

[1:11:48] we're um maximizing van pools and other

[1:11:51] things where we know we have big

[1:11:53] employers and maybe having incentives

[1:11:55] for those employers to because we could

[1:11:58] maybe get 10% more of or more of their

[1:12:02] employees using van pools that would be

[1:12:05] able to reduce the traffic on our roads.

[1:12:07] I think it's a great goal to reduce that

[1:12:10] traffic.

[1:12:10] >> Mayor Benny, thank you. transportation

[1:12:12] choices key satellite locations for

[1:12:16] medical facilities is another great

[1:12:18] example of this basic uh dynamic. So uh

[1:12:22] Mr. Chair, what happens next now? Um to

[1:12:25] be honest, we don't know exactly what

[1:12:27] happens next with this. We're trying to

[1:12:29] put this information out and have good

[1:12:32] dialogue with you all with all of the

[1:12:35] stakeholders in the community about how

[1:12:38] what policies we can implement that

[1:12:40] would be that would help you advance

[1:12:42] your goals and also try to improve this

[1:12:44] jobs housing balance. We'll talk about

[1:12:46] this more as we go forward uh at the

[1:12:48] transportation conference at UD do

[1:12:50] sponsors at the league of cities and

[1:12:52] towns conference at the UAC conference

[1:12:54] etc. Uh but if we want to solve our

[1:12:56] transportation issues, build, innovate,

[1:12:58] balance. We need to do all three. Okay.

[1:13:00] >> Okay. Thank you very presentation and

[1:13:03] it's interesting how technology is

[1:13:05] moving to allow these types of things

[1:13:06] for us to be able to see. I know there's

[1:13:08] probably a lot more questions. This is a

[1:13:10] subject we could carry on for a long

[1:13:12] time for all of us to be able to learn

[1:13:13] and see. But with that, we will move on

[1:13:15] to uh Commissioner Harvey and

[1:13:19] turn the time over to him for

[1:13:20] transportation.

[1:13:26] Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have actually

[1:13:28] four items today. Three of which require

[1:13:30] action uh regarding this. Um they're the

[1:13:33] modifications that were approved by

[1:13:35] Transcom in June. And the second is an

[1:13:38] opportunity to take an action which most

[1:13:40] was most recently heard just last week

[1:13:43] about the 2027 through 2032 tip. And

[1:13:46] then uh we'll have uh Ben help us with

[1:13:50] those things. So, first off, on the

[1:13:52] modifications of the 2026 to 2031 tip,

[1:13:56] for those of you who are prepared and

[1:13:58] familiar with that, are there any

[1:13:59] questions of that?

[1:14:02] Hearing none, then uh I'll go on to item

[1:14:04] number 5B. Uh if there's no questions,

[1:14:08] Ben, I'd like to turn the time over to

[1:14:09] you. Thank you for being ready at the

[1:14:11] mic so we can hurry along as our chair

[1:14:13] has asked us to. And so, go ahead, Mr.

[1:14:15] Wridge.

[1:14:16] >> Wonderful.

[1:14:18] Thank you, Commissioner. So, as the

[1:14:20] commissioner mentioned there, when when

[1:14:23] we have the opportunity to have a board

[1:14:25] modification or an amendment to the

[1:14:27] transportation improvement program,

[1:14:30] we try to bring that to the regional

[1:14:32] council. But in those months when the

[1:14:34] regional council doesn't meet, then the

[1:14:36] regional council has delegated that

[1:14:38] responsibility to transcom. Hence the

[1:14:41] action that the commissioner just

[1:14:43] related to. But this particular month,

[1:14:46] the month of August is a unique

[1:14:47] opportunity when we have both transcom

[1:14:49] and the regional council meeting. So we

[1:14:52] met with transcom and and in the meeting

[1:14:55] materials they had opportunity to review

[1:14:58] those three tables that identified seven

[1:15:01] projects for this board modification.

[1:15:05] But they made that recommendation for

[1:15:07] the regional council. But to enable you

[1:15:09] to understand the projects and to be

[1:15:12] able to prove those projects, we thought

[1:15:14] rather than going through each one

[1:15:16] individually with particular slide, we

[1:15:19] would show them in a list format and we

[1:15:21] would quickly go through them. So the

[1:15:24] first project that was part of that

[1:15:26] board modification is a new project.

[1:15:28] It's on 2700 North. This is for a future

[1:15:32] railroad grade crossing project on 2700

[1:15:36] North there. the Union Pacific and the

[1:15:39] light rail um or the commuter rail

[1:15:42] crosses. Um this is for phase one. It's

[1:15:44] concept design. The funding is $2.5

[1:15:48] million

[1:15:50] and there's a pending a federal aid

[1:15:52] agreement application out for the $2

[1:15:54] million for that project. The next

[1:15:57] project is also a new project. This is a

[1:15:59] project in Davis County on I-15. It's

[1:16:02] actually where I-15 goes over 650 north.

[1:16:06] This is to replace those structures that

[1:16:08] are just worn out. They've been rehabbed

[1:16:10] and repaired so often now that it's time

[1:16:13] to replace those structures. The funding

[1:16:16] for that project is 81 million estimate

[1:16:20] and there's a pending federal aid um

[1:16:23] grant application out for $64.8 million.

[1:16:30] The next project is a project in Salt

[1:16:32] Lake County and this is on I80. This is

[1:16:35] to address the climbing lanes between

[1:16:37] the turnoff there at Mountain Dell and

[1:16:40] it goes up east to the Lamb's Canyon

[1:16:43] turnoff. This project for those climbing

[1:16:45] lanes is estimated to be 71 million.

[1:16:48] There's also pending a federal aid grant

[1:16:50] application for 42.6 million. So those

[1:16:54] three projects are new to the tip. The

[1:16:56] next projects are projects that require

[1:16:58] additional funding. First project is a

[1:17:02] project in Salt Lake. This the

[1:17:03] Cottonwood Canyons grade separated

[1:17:05] interchange. This is an interchange on

[1:17:07] Wasach Boulevard at about 6900 South. Uh

[1:17:12] this project is currently on the

[1:17:14] program. This is going to help implement

[1:17:16] the mobility hub and the additional

[1:17:19] transit plus improve mobility in and

[1:17:21] around the canyons area. Uh the request

[1:17:24] is for an additional $16 million for a

[1:17:27] total of $72 million on this project.

[1:17:31] The next project requesting additional

[1:17:33] funds is on I-15.

[1:17:36] This is between 106 South and 90th

[1:17:38] South. There's a project that's ongoing

[1:17:41] right now. It's to repair the concrete

[1:17:42] panels and it's including some pavement

[1:17:45] grading, but there's been additional

[1:17:47] needs identified with this project. So,

[1:17:50] they're requesting that we add an

[1:17:52] additional million dollars to this

[1:17:53] project, making this total project 11.6

[1:17:57] million. The next project is also on

[1:17:59] I-15, just a little further north

[1:18:02] between 7200 South and 5300 South. This

[1:18:06] project is also to repair the concrete

[1:18:09] panels, do some pavement grinding, but

[1:18:13] in addition to that, there were some

[1:18:14] barriers that needed some additional

[1:18:16] attention. So, they're asking that an

[1:18:19] additional 1.7 million be programmed for

[1:18:21] this project, giving this project a

[1:18:23] total fund of 14 plus million. The last

[1:18:27] project then before you is a funding

[1:18:29] reduction. Back in 2025,

[1:18:32] the legislative session approved $300

[1:18:35] million for pedestrian crossing project

[1:18:38] on 300 West. This is somewhere between

[1:18:41] South Temple and First South. This is

[1:18:43] also to address the mobility and improve

[1:18:46] safety.

[1:18:47] This past legislative session in 2026,

[1:18:50] they reduced the amount of that project

[1:18:52] down to 250 million. So those are the

[1:18:55] projects before yet this time for this

[1:18:57] board modification.

[1:18:59] >> Perfect. Thank you board. Are there any

[1:19:01] questions with any of those? May Mayor

[1:19:04] Sotansky.

[1:19:04] >> Yes. I have a question. Is it the are we

[1:19:07] expanding the scope of these projects or

[1:19:09] is it construction costs that are

[1:19:11] increasing? What's happening out there

[1:19:13] in the capital projects land with

[1:19:15] respect to construction costs? I heard

[1:19:17] they were actually going down. Are we

[1:19:19] experiencing that?

[1:19:21] >> We are. Ben, maybe if you can on a

[1:19:26] deeper note.

[1:19:28] Yeah, like the the projects on I-15,

[1:19:31] these examples, the the cost, these are

[1:19:33] um mostly related to the scope of the

[1:19:35] project. Like when you get out there

[1:19:36] with the pavement, they um they get into

[1:19:39] the project and then they see the extent

[1:19:41] um they uncover some additional work. Uh

[1:19:44] construction cost index. I think that's

[1:19:47] a that's an interesting topic. Um

[1:19:50] overall over the you know over the last

[1:19:53] few years the construction cost index

[1:19:55] has gone up by quite a bit. I think that

[1:19:58] I was just pulling it up before the

[1:20:00] meeting is there has been a little bit

[1:20:01] of a flattening on the the construction

[1:20:04] cost index as far as the rate of how

[1:20:06] much it's going up. Um I think

[1:20:09] anecdotally I think the last little

[1:20:11] while on some of the UD do projects that

[1:20:13] we report with our transportation

[1:20:15] commission we've been seeing increased

[1:20:17] um number of biders which is always

[1:20:19] good. I think that that that competition

[1:20:22] usually has an effect on on cost and you

[1:20:25] know when we were in the highest levels

[1:20:29] of construction cost inflation there was

[1:20:32] fewer bidders you know less competition

[1:20:35] that types of thing. So I think it's um

[1:20:38] overall like I said it's it has

[1:20:40] increased but there has been a little

[1:20:42] bit of a leveling off recently.

[1:20:43] >> Hope the costs continue to go in that

[1:20:45] trend. Uh but you're saying that these

[1:20:48] are once you get into a project you're

[1:20:50] discovering more is needed and

[1:20:52] unexpected conditions.

[1:20:54] >> Yeah. Like the the I-15 ones

[1:20:56] specifically. I think we had when we

[1:20:58] went over these with our transportation

[1:21:00] commission, we had some pictures and

[1:21:01] things like that where, you know, you look at a panel, they remove the

[1:21:05] panel, they see some more extensive

[1:21:07] damage, and then they adjust the scope

[1:21:09] to to fix that.

[1:21:11] >> Needs to happen every time. Thanks.

[1:21:13] >> Great. And and and also just a sidebar

[1:21:15] comment on that, mayor, is uh we've seen

[1:21:17] the cost of we've seen the cost of iron

[1:21:19] mainly in buildings. smaller iron jobs

[1:21:22] may be flattened quicker than as so iron

[1:21:24] maybe so but asphalt not so much and

[1:21:27] that's related a lot of it related to

[1:21:29] oils and so at this that's what we've

[1:21:32] learned okay Ben I'm going to take

[1:21:34] action on I 5B if that's okay with you

[1:21:37] and thank you

[1:21:37] >> Mr. Chair, I'd like to make a motion to

[1:21:40] adopt the resolution to modify the 2026

[1:21:42] through 2031 transportation improvement

[1:21:45] program or the tip is presented. Like to

[1:21:47] get a second for that.

[1:21:48] >> Second.

[1:21:50] >> John Cross.

[1:21:52] >> Great.

[1:21:54] >> All in favor say I.

[1:21:56] >> I.

[1:21:57] >> Opposed?

[1:21:58] >> I should That's unanimous.

[1:22:00] >> Thank you. like to move on to item

[1:22:02] number 5C if there if I could please

[1:22:04] which is the 2027 through 2020 to

[1:22:08] through 2032

[1:22:10] tip or transportation improvement

[1:22:12] program so the next year thank you Ben

[1:22:14] go ahead perfect thank you commissioner

[1:22:16] so this is a big day this celebration

[1:22:19] here as we have opportunity to review

[1:22:22] and approve the 2732 transportation

[1:22:25] improvement program as well as the

[1:22:27] conformity I'd like to review real quick

[1:22:30] with you just some of the benefits or

[1:22:32] some of the the abilities or the

[1:22:35] opportunities that the document the

[1:22:37] transportation improvement program

[1:22:39] actually provide. So as we look at this

[1:22:42] year once you approve we'll have the

[1:22:45] 2732

[1:22:47] we will submit this information it'll go

[1:22:50] with you do with the full state all the

[1:22:53] tips making the state transportation

[1:22:55] improvement program or the stip that'll

[1:22:58] go to federal highways and federal

[1:22:59] transit for their review during the

[1:23:01] month of September. Then come October

[1:23:04] one we will be working under the 2732

[1:23:07] transportation improvement program. So,

[1:23:10] what is the transportation improvement

[1:23:12] program? As a reminder here, it is for

[1:23:15] all of the highway, active

[1:23:17] transportation, and transit projects

[1:23:20] over the next six years. It's those

[1:23:22] projects that were referred to when we

[1:23:24] were talking about the regional

[1:23:26] transportation plan. It's the urban

[1:23:28] areas. It's a Salt Lake Dog and

[1:23:30] Leighton. So, essentially from Utah

[1:23:32] County all the way up through Bigham

[1:23:34] City. It's funded with federal, state,

[1:23:36] and local government funds. And it's

[1:23:38] also for all of the cities, the

[1:23:40] counties, UDOT and UTA. So there's a lot

[1:23:43] of projects in there. And these projects

[1:23:45] include pretty much in these categories

[1:23:48] or silos there, the new construction,

[1:23:50] the rehabilitation, the maintenance,

[1:23:53] safety, intelligent transportation

[1:23:56] systems, transit, operating and

[1:23:58] maintenance, pedestrian and bike. Now,

[1:24:00] as an elected official, you plan, you

[1:24:03] program, you do a lot of work. Seldom do

[1:24:05] you have the opportunity to just sit

[1:24:07] back and see what's going on. You got

[1:24:09] too many things going on. So, real

[1:24:12] quick, I'd just like to show some

[1:24:14] pictures of the projects that have gone

[1:24:16] on or going on, let you reflect quick

[1:24:20] some of the things that are happening

[1:24:22] along the Watch front. So if you were to

[1:24:24] look at 5600 West, a project that's

[1:24:27] nearing completion, but the significance

[1:24:30] amount of work in the area,

[1:24:33] then we've got down on Bangar Highways.

[1:24:35] You're probably well aware of all the

[1:24:37] work that's going on in these areas.

[1:24:40] Some of this is amazing, right? Shepher

[1:24:42] improvements along here, project that's

[1:24:44] opening up in sections and in just in

[1:24:47] general, construction happening all

[1:24:49] around us. Well, if we were to look at

[1:24:51] the rehab and the maintenance type of

[1:24:53] activities that are going along, that

[1:24:55] white stuff's called snow. We look at

[1:24:58] forward to that. Uh the next here is

[1:25:01] operations and safety things that are

[1:25:04] happening.

[1:25:06] And then we've got our bicycle and

[1:25:08] pedestrian I sorry, skip the transit,

[1:25:11] the capital improvements and the

[1:25:13] operations and maintenance.

[1:25:15] And then we've got our pedestrian and

[1:25:17] bicycle facilities. So the

[1:25:20] transportation improvement program has

[1:25:22] all of these projects that have funding

[1:25:24] associated with them. This is the

[1:25:26] document that contains those projects.

[1:25:29] So as we were preparing this, we know

[1:25:31] and understand the TIP represents

[1:25:34] billions of dollars, hundreds of

[1:25:35] billions of dollars. We're looking at

[1:25:38] thousands, well not hundreds of

[1:25:39] billions, hundreds and millions, but

[1:25:42] several billion. thousands of jobs, the

[1:25:45] economic growth and development, the

[1:25:46] mobility and access, preservation of

[1:25:49] life, and the quality of life that we

[1:25:51] were referring to earlier in the

[1:25:53] discussion. All of this ties in with

[1:25:55] everything else we've been talking

[1:25:56] about. Well, so we needed to take this

[1:26:00] out for the public for their review.

[1:26:02] That's part of the requirements set by

[1:26:04] the federal highways

[1:26:06] uh transmit on the 18th and they said,

[1:26:09] "We want you to go out for public review

[1:26:11] and comment." and that initiated on the

[1:26:13] 27th. That concluded on August 2nd.

[1:26:16] During that time, we had three open

[1:26:18] houses, two, one in Ogden, one in Salt

[1:26:21] Lake, and one online.

[1:26:24] And in addition to this, collecting this

[1:26:26] information, these comments from people,

[1:26:29] we had the hard documents that we were

[1:26:31] able to. But one of our most effective

[1:26:33] ways to collect comments is through our

[1:26:36] interactive map where someone in the

[1:26:37] leisure of their own home, maybe with

[1:26:39] their family all around them, clicking

[1:26:41] on a button on the project, being able

[1:26:44] to reference that project, seeing the

[1:26:46] information, and then leaving a comment.

[1:26:49] Well, in your meeting materials, you

[1:26:51] also have a summary of all of those

[1:26:53] comments.

[1:26:55] And in addition to the summary, you also

[1:26:57] have a list of all of the projects we

[1:27:00] received. Now, this is something that

[1:27:02] occurred to me and I made a note and

[1:27:03] shared it with Transcom, but we have a

[1:27:06] little misunderstanding on our public

[1:27:08] comment. Sometimes we hear from the

[1:27:10] people, why I told you I didn't like the project and you build it anyway, so

[1:27:15] you didn't listen to me. Well, sometimes

[1:27:18] we don't have that choice to not build a

[1:27:21] project. We have a project that needs to

[1:27:24] happen. The reason for that comment,

[1:27:26] public comment review and opportunity is

[1:27:29] for you to tell us how we can make this

[1:27:31] project better. What do we need to see?

[1:27:34] What do we need to do? What's necessary

[1:27:37] to address the concerns that you have?

[1:27:40] There's a project that happened not too

[1:27:42] long ago, a couple of years ago. This

[1:27:44] was the improvements to US89.

[1:27:47] That had to happen. A lot of people

[1:27:50] didn't like it. But the comments that

[1:27:52] made a difference were those that come

[1:27:53] in and says, "We don't want to look out

[1:27:55] the back window and look right onto the

[1:27:57] highway. What can you do to make that

[1:28:00] not happen?" And so the department

[1:28:02] looked at that. They were able to

[1:28:04] analyze it to where they were able to

[1:28:06] drop the grade of 89. If you've driven

[1:28:08] on 89, they've dropped the grade. Well,

[1:28:11] in the analysis, that benefited two

[1:28:14] projects. one, we actually that 89

[1:28:17] project cost less, but then all that

[1:28:20] hall material, they used it to the west

[1:28:23] when they were building the West Davis

[1:28:25] Highway. So, we got a benefit from the

[1:28:28] public comment that come in and said,

[1:28:30] "We don't want to be looking at the

[1:28:32] road. We know you got to build it. How

[1:28:34] about this idea?" And so, those public

[1:28:36] comments are important. So when we get

[1:28:39] that public comment, we take those

[1:28:42] information or we take that we take it

[1:28:44] to the project management meetings and

[1:28:47] the appropriate project action happens

[1:28:50] and we're able to get a better product

[1:28:53] utilizing the funds that we've been

[1:28:54] entrusted with and we're able to make

[1:28:56] things happen. So with that

[1:28:59] understanding and on the very heel of

[1:29:04] the approval of the 2732 tip, I'd like

[1:29:07] all of you if you reach under the table

[1:29:09] about to your elbow right in front of

[1:29:12] you, you'll have a little something

[1:29:14] there that once you approve that

[1:29:16] document,

[1:29:18] all of you should have one around the

[1:29:20] table.

[1:29:23] So hopefully you got one. If you don't,

[1:29:25] I got extras in my pocket just in case.

[1:29:29] It was dark at night when I was

[1:29:33] You got them under there. Okay. So,

[1:29:38] >> Commissioner, if if if there's no

[1:29:41] further questions on that, that's all I

[1:29:43] have for this portion of the agenda.

[1:29:48] >> Thank you, Ben. Always very creative.

[1:29:50] they go along with their the first

[1:29:53] slides on this particular section on

[1:29:55] these little uh those of you who aren't

[1:29:57] in person you'll maybe have this

[1:30:00] excitement in your next lifetime but uh

[1:30:03] we always good and so I'm looking Mr.

[1:30:08] Chair, with your permission, are there

[1:30:10] any questions from the board, either

[1:30:11] online or here?

[1:30:13] Seeing none online, seeing none in here,

[1:30:15] I'll I I'll make the motion we approve

[1:30:17] the 2027 through 2032 TIP program as

[1:30:21] presented by Mr. Wridge today. Looking

[1:30:23] for a second.

[1:30:31] » I I

[1:30:36] » Thank you. Here we go. Ready?

[1:30:41] Oh, that was exciting.

[1:30:44] >> I wish all of you online could have been

[1:30:46] here.

[1:30:47] >> Thank you, everyone. Our liability

[1:30:49] insurance is uh up to date, so we're

[1:30:51] good.

[1:30:52] >> Uh-huh.

[1:30:53] >> I've got one thing. If I could,

[1:30:56] >> please uh buckle up. The next one, I'd

[1:30:59] like to turn a couple of minutes over to

[1:31:01] Wayne Benign, our ambassador of

[1:31:03] excitement. and uh if you could talk to

[1:31:06] us about the self-certification in the

[1:31:08] planning process. Wayne, go ahead.

[1:31:11] >> Thank you, Commissioner.

[1:31:13] When the TIP is submitted to Federal

[1:31:16] Highway and Federal Transit, as Ben

[1:31:18] mentioned, we also have the opportunity

[1:31:21] to submit a document that certifies that

[1:31:24] the regional council is complying with

[1:31:27] all the federal requirements in its

[1:31:30] regional transportation planning

[1:31:32] process.

[1:31:33] Uh that self-certification is in the

[1:31:37] meeting materials and transcom had the

[1:31:40] opportunity to review and discuss that

[1:31:43] last week at their meeting and has

[1:31:46] recommended an approval of that

[1:31:48] self-certification

[1:31:49] and I'm happy to answer any questions.

[1:31:53] >> Thank you. Are there any questions for

[1:31:55] Mr. Benyan?

[1:31:57] Hearing none, Mr. Chair, I'd like

[1:31:58] >> Well, I had a question. If it's

[1:31:59] self-certification, why do we need to

[1:32:01] approve it? That's that's something

[1:32:03] you'll have to self adjust in your own

[1:32:05] your sink. So there you go. Thanks,

[1:32:07] Mayor Burton.

[1:32:09] >> We appreciate that. Mr. Chair, I'll make

[1:32:11] that motion we approve the resolution

[1:32:13] certifying the transportation planning

[1:32:14] process.

[1:32:15] >> Do we have a second?

[1:32:18] » Second. All in favor say I.

[1:32:21] >> I.

[1:32:21] Any opposed?

[1:32:23] >> Mr. Chair, that concludes my report.

[1:32:25] Thank you, Mayor Burton. Thank you. By

[1:32:27] voting for that self-certification, you

[1:32:29] affirm that you've carefully read the

[1:32:31] entirety of the documentation and you

[1:32:33] agree that we are fulfilling all of the

[1:32:34] applicable requirements. Thank you very

[1:32:37] much.

[1:32:37] >> I did it myself.

[1:32:39] >> Thank you. Thank you. And just if I

[1:32:41] might really briefly before we move on,

[1:32:43] um Ben quickly went through uh the the

[1:32:49] transportation improvement program which

[1:32:51] includes as he said hundreds of millions

[1:32:53] of dollars for hundreds of projects in

[1:32:56] every community in the region. And the

[1:32:59] way and with little drama, a touch of

[1:33:02] fanfare, a little drama. And this is

[1:33:05] indicative of the way that we do

[1:33:08] transportation work. As I noted before

[1:33:10] in Utah with all of our partners working

[1:33:13] together from federal level Ivan to the

[1:33:17] state to UDOT to UTA to the counties to

[1:33:20] the cities to the MPOS's the elected

[1:33:22] officials and staff the level of

[1:33:24] partnership and effective collaboration

[1:33:28] is really terrific here. It is known

[1:33:30] around the country and tons of work goes

[1:33:33] into this from you and all of your

[1:33:35] teams, Ben uh and the other folks at

[1:33:38] WFRC.

[1:33:39] So, I just want to express appreciation

[1:33:41] and acknowledgement. These things don't

[1:33:42] happen on their own. It takes

[1:33:44] intentional collaboration and effort.

[1:33:45] Thank you.

[1:33:47] >> Appreciate that. We'll now move on to

[1:33:49] item six. Uh this deals with programming

[1:33:52] for funds for transportation. I think

[1:33:54] we're going to ask Wayne to come up uh

[1:33:56] again and maybe just give a little

[1:33:58] insight on this.

[1:34:01] >> Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[1:34:04] Uh, as we've got our annual funding

[1:34:06] cycle, the beginning of our annual

[1:34:08] funding cycle approaching, we just want

[1:34:10] to take the opportunity to uh review

[1:34:15] quickly with you uh the funding programs

[1:34:19] that WFRC administers for these first

[1:34:23] five. You'll note that a letter of

[1:34:25] intent is due September 30th.

[1:34:31] And then these others are on an ongoing

[1:34:34] or have different timelines, but uh

[1:34:38] please reach out if you have interest in

[1:34:41] and any of these uh last programs as

[1:34:45] well. Um we encourage you to talk with

[1:34:48] your staff, think about needs in your

[1:34:51] communities, and uh submit a letter of

[1:34:54] intent to help you address those needs.

[1:34:57] I'll note that there's an email coming

[1:35:01] uh next week with more information and

[1:35:04] we're also intending to go out to the

[1:35:06] councils of government and present a

[1:35:09] more detailed presentation.

[1:35:12] Thank you.

[1:35:13] >> Yeah, Wayne, we we did not want to do a

[1:35:15] detailed uh presentation about all these

[1:35:18] programs that we have to help you in

[1:35:20] this meeting because not everybody's

[1:35:21] here. So, we're as Wayne's noting, we're

[1:35:24] going to do it at the COG so every

[1:35:25] community can hear it. And then also,

[1:35:27] don't worry, we're also, as Wayne noted,

[1:35:29] communicating with your staffs directly.

[1:35:31] They get the information about these

[1:35:33] funding programs. So, um, you'll get it

[1:35:35] and they'll get it as well.

[1:35:37] >> Okay. Thank you, Wayne. Appreciate it.

[1:35:39] We'll now move down to item 6B, active

[1:35:42] transportation. Ask Mayor Troy Walker.

[1:35:44] And as he's unmuted himself and coming

[1:35:46] on, I had an opportunity uh here the

[1:35:48] last couple of weeks to spend some time

[1:35:50] in Amsterdam. And I don't know how many

[1:35:52] of you have ever been to Amsterdam, but

[1:35:54] I guarantee you there is more active

[1:35:55] transportation going on in that place

[1:35:57] than anywhere in this world. It was

[1:35:59] absolutely crazy the amount of bikes and

[1:36:02] the buses and everything else that uh

[1:36:04] realistically I think bikes had

[1:36:06] preference uh that they ruled. So with

[1:36:09] that uh we'll turn if Troy's ready turn

[1:36:12] the time over.

[1:36:13] >> Ready? Can you hear me?

[1:36:14] >> We can hear you.

[1:36:16] >> Great. I um have not been to Amsterdam,

[1:36:18] Bob, but I look forward to it someday.

[1:36:22] All right. So, my report would be um

[1:36:25] just a few things. First of all,

[1:36:27] celebrating some progress. Perry City

[1:36:29] and Boxeller County recently completed

[1:36:31] another section of the historic Orchard

[1:36:34] pathway which beginning at the existing

[1:36:36] trail to over three more miles. The

[1:36:39] committee has already embraced the new

[1:36:40] section which connects to Willard City.

[1:36:42] When totally complete, that historic

[1:36:44] Orchard Parkway will run over 10 miles

[1:36:47] through southern Boxelder County and

[1:36:48] connect into Wever County. So, that's

[1:36:51] cool. The Utah Trail Network, um Hugh's

[1:36:54] going to put up a map. You got the map,

[1:36:56] Hugh?

[1:36:57] >> That's up.

[1:36:58] >> In June, the Utah Transportation

[1:37:00] Commission approved the UDOT trails

[1:37:02] division to fund 25 new UT projects, 12

[1:37:07] F feasibility studies, and 13 projects

[1:37:09] for design and construction. Um, that's

[1:37:12] also cool. The Utah Trail Network

[1:37:14] program now consists of 46 total funded

[1:37:17] projects uh equating to over 314 miles

[1:37:21] and over $248 million in trail systems.

[1:37:26] I bet there's not any other state in the

[1:37:27] country doing that. That's that's uh

[1:37:29] hats off to our governor and our

[1:37:31] legislature and and you do DOT for uh

[1:37:34] and everybody. I mean, we are in a

[1:37:36] really really great place. It's amazing.

[1:37:38] That's the end of my report, Bob.

[1:37:40] >> Okay. Thank you. Appreciate it, Troy.

[1:37:41] Any questions for Troy before we move on

[1:37:43] to Gage? Okay. If not, we'll move on to

[1:37:46] Gage Fer.

[1:37:49] >> Good morning, chair, or good afternoon,

[1:37:50] Mr. Chair. Can you hear me?

[1:37:52] >> We can hear you.

[1:37:53] >> All right. I just want to give an update

[1:37:54] on the Wasatch Front Economic

[1:37:56] Development District meeting we had last

[1:37:58] June. Uh, I think we continue to see

[1:38:00] these meetings are real examples across

[1:38:02] our region of how our econom opportunity

[1:38:05] and goals of the Wasatch Choice Vision

[1:38:08] work together. Uh and in June we had

[1:38:11] actually two presentations. Lance Sophie

[1:38:13] with the governor's office of economic

[1:38:15] development provided an update on

[1:38:17] opportunity zone which would be 2.0 and

[1:38:20] the upcoming track designation process.

[1:38:23] He discussed how federally designated

[1:38:25] opportunity zones were intended to

[1:38:27] attract private investment and encourage

[1:38:29] development in our lower private

[1:38:32] investment uh communities as well as

[1:38:35] roll cities counties no AOGs and play

[1:38:38] that play in identifying eligible areas.

[1:38:41] Wendy Leone and Jake Wood of Jay Fisher

[1:38:44] Companies provided an overview of public

[1:38:47] private partnerships and how they could

[1:38:49] help our local governments address

[1:38:51] housing infrastructure and redevelopment

[1:38:54] needs. They highlighted the

[1:38:56] opportunities we have and u to work and

[1:39:00] continue to leverage our private uh

[1:39:02] public sector investment and innovative

[1:39:04] financing approaches to advance our

[1:39:06] local development priorities. They also

[1:39:09] showed various developments they are

[1:39:10] currently working on in both Utah and

[1:39:13] Idaho. And I believe uh Mayor Sodowski

[1:39:16] is there. She'd like to take a few

[1:39:18] minutes if she could to follow up. She

[1:39:19] actually had a meeting with Jay Fisher

[1:39:21] Companies and wanted to have her give

[1:39:24] her personal perspective of how that

[1:39:26] transpired.

[1:39:28] >> Thanks, Gage. Yeah. Uh Mayor Zultansky

[1:39:30] here. I was really looking forward to my

[1:39:34] participation on the economic

[1:39:35] development committee because for so

[1:39:38] long Sandy's been I'd say relatively

[1:39:40] conventional about working with

[1:39:41] developers where we sell the property

[1:39:42] and then trust that they're going to get

[1:39:44] this plan together and then in recent

[1:39:47] years we've seen the developers really

[1:39:48] struggling to get projects out of the

[1:39:50] ground because of interest rates,

[1:39:52] construction costs, what have you. So

[1:39:55] learning more about the P3 public

[1:39:58] private partnership opportunities um

[1:40:00] through the committee has been inspiring

[1:40:02] to me. I recently at the beginning of

[1:40:04] June attended the council of mayors in

[1:40:07] uh the national um con convention of

[1:40:11] mayors in Long Beach, California and

[1:40:12] toured their civic center and wow what

[1:40:15] an incredible urban redevelopment

[1:40:18] project that is $550 million rebuild of

[1:40:21] their civic center. new city hall, new

[1:40:23] port authority headquarters, parks,

[1:40:26] housing, uh all this incredible

[1:40:28] infrastructure

[1:40:29] on the same dollar year-toear, $12.6

[1:40:33] million they were paying to maintain

[1:40:34] their city hall. They had all this land

[1:40:36] that was in really rough condition. So,

[1:40:39] they put out to bid call for public

[1:40:41] private partnerships. Um said, "We'll

[1:40:43] pay the same $ 122.6 million a year for

[1:40:46] the next 40 years, but give us new

[1:40:48] buildings, new infrastructure." and the

[1:40:50] development community really responded.

[1:40:52] Um they have a beautiful lead standard,

[1:40:55] gorgeous new city hall and basically

[1:40:57] they're paying that same uh maintenance

[1:41:00] on&m costs line item for 40 years, but

[1:41:03] at the end of that term they get the

[1:41:04] building back with 85%

[1:41:07] new build standard. So it's going to be

[1:41:09] basically returned as a new building

[1:41:12] with uh high environmental standards and

[1:41:15] um efficiency standards. And that's just

[1:41:17] one aspect of it. So, when I saw that

[1:41:19] firsthand in uh Long Beach, came back

[1:41:22] and heard the um the presentation at

[1:41:26] this committee, I immediately called my

[1:41:28] friend, Mayor Nadulski, and said, "What

[1:41:30] the heck are you guys doing in Ogden? I

[1:41:32] got to come up and see it." So, we went

[1:41:34] up um took my team up for a tour of the

[1:41:36] Wonderblock in Ogden and the really

[1:41:39] impressive project, 25th in Quincy.

[1:41:41] Mayor Nadulski could speak better about

[1:41:43] it, but sometimes it's nice to hear what

[1:41:44] stands out from an outsider. Um what

[1:41:47] stood out to me and my team was that

[1:41:49] beautiful residential housing uh rentals

[1:41:53] you would not know it's afford

[1:41:54] affordable housing lower income housing

[1:41:56] or any type of subsidy subsidized

[1:41:59] housing because it's very modern

[1:42:01] lifestyle centered with meeting areas. I

[1:42:04] encourage everybody to if you're looking

[1:42:06] for a model for affordable housing

[1:42:08] what's uh developable in Utah to go

[1:42:11] check out that project. Uh the the

[1:42:14] developer

[1:42:15] JF Fisher Companies, they are looking

[1:42:18] for places that are kind of a little bit

[1:42:20] out of the Salt Lake City Salt Lake

[1:42:22] County urban core, more affordable um

[1:42:25] costs to enter the market as far as land

[1:42:28] values go. But with long-term land

[1:42:31] leases that you can do in these public

[1:42:33] private partnerships, you can do

[1:42:35] something as simple as a land lease to a

[1:42:37] fullon like lease, design, build,

[1:42:40] maintain project. A lot of flexibility

[1:42:43] under these P3 um relationships. So,

[1:42:46] it's inspired us. We're looking, we are

[1:42:48] reexamining in Sandy how we are putting

[1:42:50] our projects out to build. We have a a

[1:42:53] property that was a former u nursery.

[1:42:56] It's right by the state, the soccer

[1:42:58] stadium between the soccer stadium and

[1:43:00] our new fire station. So, we put that

[1:43:03] kind of re revamped that and put that

[1:43:05] out to build and now we're getting

[1:43:06] proposals on how those parcels can be

[1:43:09] developed with a mix of um ground lease

[1:43:11] for housing and mixed use. So, rather

[1:43:14] than just selling the raw land and

[1:43:15] hoping that you know the developers do

[1:43:17] the best that they can, it gives us more

[1:43:19] control, more flexibility, and

[1:43:21] potentially even a revenue stream. So,

[1:43:24] uh I'm learning and growing. Andrew as

[1:43:26] [laughter] a result of my participation

[1:43:28] with all of you. So hats off to you,

[1:43:30] Mayor Nadulski and your predecessor. Uh

[1:43:34] it was really inspiring afternoon we

[1:43:36] spent. We all had a lot to talk about on

[1:43:38] the way home. Sandy,

[1:43:41] >> I I'll just say it's an honor to have

[1:43:42] you in our city and we welcome any other

[1:43:44] city who wants to come and see how it's

[1:43:45] being done. These joint ventures are um

[1:43:48] intended to have benefits for everybody

[1:43:50] and and I think we're proving that. So,

[1:43:51] thank you for for sharing the thoughts

[1:43:53] of of your own and of the team.

[1:43:54] >> Building a grocery store right on 25th

[1:43:56] Street. Incredible.

[1:43:58] >> Yep. If you don't know what's happening

[1:43:59] in Ogden, come see Ogden and I think

[1:44:01] you'll have your eyes wide open.

[1:44:06] » Gage, back to you.

[1:44:07] >> Thank you, Mayor, for that presentation.

[1:44:09] It's a great uh to hear that these

[1:44:11] private uh public partnerships are

[1:44:13] working very well. So, with that, uh Mr.

[1:44:15] Chair, I'd be happy to answer any

[1:44:16] questions. That ends my report.

[1:44:19] >> Any questions for Gage? Uh Loren Kamalo

[1:44:22] has one question. Yeah, it's a it's just

[1:44:24] a super fast comment and that is um yes,

[1:44:28] we've seen Ogden transform anyone who's

[1:44:30] paid attention to Ogden over years and

[1:44:34] um just wanted to highlight especially

[1:44:37] maybe for Laura and others here

[1:44:41] when when Bob and I came into office

[1:44:43] there had already been effort in the

[1:44:46] economic development space with a little

[1:44:49] bit of criticism that Davis and Weber

[1:44:52] counties were punching below their

[1:44:54] weight in when it comes to economic

[1:44:56] development and opportunity for job

[1:44:57] growth. That is when the Northern Utah

[1:45:00] Chamber Coalition was formed with

[1:45:01] support from the legislature. And I

[1:45:03] think it's just important to realize

[1:45:05] that sometimes with neighboring cities,

[1:45:07] sometimes with neighboring counties. I

[1:45:09] mean, this is how we are now attempting

[1:45:12] to compete and we're having some success

[1:45:15] with the draw to Salt Lake City, Salt

[1:45:17] Lake County. Um, and that is by working

[1:45:20] with our neighboring local governments.

[1:45:22] I think it's super powerful.

[1:45:24] >> And municipalities, we've only got so

[1:45:26] much land and so much public financing

[1:45:28] incentive tools to use, but if you can

[1:45:30] optimize it and leverage that against uh

[1:45:33] with with lease agreements and other

[1:45:35] creative uh partnerships, it's that

[1:45:38] blows your options wide open.

[1:45:42] >> Okay. Appreciate that, Gage. Appreciate

[1:45:44] your time.

[1:45:45] >> Thank you, Mr. chair, members of the

[1:45:47] committee.

[1:45:48] >> Okay, that brings us down to uh item 6D,

[1:45:51] which is our executive director's

[1:45:53] report.

[1:45:54] >> Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I'll hit

[1:45:55] you with three really quick items. The

[1:45:58] first one, we have some representatives

[1:45:59] from Senator Curtis's office here. You

[1:46:01] may have seen in the news um that just

[1:46:03] last week we were able to host Senator

[1:46:06] Curtis along with the transportation

[1:46:09] other transportation agencies for a a

[1:46:12] roundt discussion and then a site visit

[1:46:14] out at the front runner North Temple

[1:46:17] Station platform. This was to recognize

[1:46:20] the fact that Utah will be receiving uh

[1:46:25] $1.3 billion dollar in funding from the

[1:46:27] F through the Federal Transit

[1:46:29] Administration um for the Front Runner

[1:46:32] 2X double tracking project. Now, the

[1:46:35] check isn't cut yet. Technically, we're

[1:46:37] moving into the engineering phase of the

[1:46:39] project, but it's a very encouraging

[1:46:41] sign that those funds will be uh

[1:46:43] committed to Utah. Lots of folks are

[1:46:45] involved in this. UD do of course UTA um

[1:46:49] and Senator Curtis and his team did an

[1:46:51] amazing job working on this with the

[1:46:52] federal government. So want to express

[1:46:54] appreciation for that. He also sponsored

[1:46:56] two other pieces of legislation which

[1:46:58] are important um to Utah. Um legislation

[1:47:02] that would help fast growing areas that

[1:47:04] are planning for transit in the future

[1:47:05] to compete better for federal transit

[1:47:08] grants. And then also another piece of

[1:47:10] legislation that would help enable

[1:47:13] federal financing tools to be available

[1:47:16] for communities to use for tod for

[1:47:18] transit oriented development. So a great

[1:47:20] package of um of uh support and

[1:47:23] leadership that the senator is working

[1:47:25] on for Utah. So I just wanted to

[1:47:26] highlight that. That's one. Number two,

[1:47:29] um we talked a little bit about Tilla

[1:47:31] County before and the how much people

[1:47:34] are traveling from Tilla Valley into the

[1:47:37] Salt Lake Valley. We have been having

[1:47:39] dialogue with uh the local elected

[1:47:42] officials in Tilla County uh with UDOT,

[1:47:45] with UTA, with other stakeholders about

[1:47:48] the possibility of the Tilla Valley

[1:47:50] being officially part of the WFRC

[1:47:53] Metropolitan Planning Organization. We

[1:47:55] work with Tilla County and their

[1:47:57] municipalities all the time, but

[1:48:00] technically they're not an urban area,

[1:48:02] so they're not part of our metropolitan

[1:48:04] planning organization. Um eventually

[1:48:07] they'll need to be under federal law,

[1:48:10] but they can come in sooner so that we

[1:48:12] can better integrate the planning

[1:48:15] between our that intercount uh

[1:48:17] coordination. Um and uh we're working

[1:48:20] with them. The reason I'm bringing it up

[1:48:21] now is a because I think it's really

[1:48:23] important what happens in Tilla County

[1:48:25] and affects what happens in on the

[1:48:27] Wasatch front and also because if that

[1:48:30] happens

[1:48:31] um then that would require action from

[1:48:34] WFRC from the council. So that is

[1:48:37] something that we'll we'll be looking at

[1:48:38] before. I know Mayor Manzion is on the

[1:48:40] line. We've talked with her. We're going

[1:48:42] to be talking more with her and the

[1:48:44] county and the other communities. So I'm

[1:48:45] just putting that out there as a FYI

[1:48:47] dialogue that's that's happening. Um,

[1:48:50] and then the last thing,

[1:48:51] >> Andrew, would we change the name to

[1:48:53] Ochref Front Regional Council then?

[1:48:55] >> Um, we'll take that under advisement.

[1:48:58] Uh, I don't think that was a motion

[1:49:00] though, so I'm going to move on. Okay.

[1:49:02] Um, and then the last item, you know,

[1:49:05] that every year we do a a series of

[1:49:08] workshops around the region, sub

[1:49:11] regional workshops. Um, yeah, we do them

[1:49:15] in the fall and the next round of

[1:49:17] workshops is planned. Uh, Jordan has

[1:49:20] already sent out invitations to all of

[1:49:22] you for those workshops. We're doing

[1:49:25] eight eight of them around the region.

[1:49:28] The map is on the screen. You have the

[1:49:30] um invitations.

[1:49:33] This year's round of workshops that we

[1:49:35] do, by the way, in collaboration with UD

[1:49:37] do and UTA as well. This year's round of

[1:49:39] workshops is going to focus on the

[1:49:42] phasing of transportation projects in

[1:49:45] the regional transportation plan. When

[1:49:48] are projects needed over the next 30

[1:49:51] years? When are they needed? And when do

[1:49:53] we anticipate we'll have the revenues to

[1:49:55] actually afford to move those projects

[1:49:58] forward? These are the meetings where

[1:49:59] you proverbally speaking roll up your

[1:50:01] sleeves and talk with some of your

[1:50:03] neighbors um and give feedback on the

[1:50:06] drafts of the transportation plan going

[1:50:08] forward. Cities, counties, your elected

[1:50:11] officials, city councils and county

[1:50:14] commissions um and uh key staff are

[1:50:18] invited to those meetings. So, we

[1:50:19] encourage you to participate in them for

[1:50:21] the meetings in your area. If you're

[1:50:23] like, "What? I don't know what you're

[1:50:25] talking about. I don't have a calendar

[1:50:27] appointment." I'll bet you do have a

[1:50:28] calendar appointment, but if you think

[1:50:30] you don't, just let us know and we're

[1:50:32] happy to follow uh up with you and with

[1:50:34] your teams. Okay, Mr. Chair, that

[1:50:37] concludes my update.

[1:50:38] >> Thank you. Just uh two little things

[1:50:41] here. First of our next meeting will be

[1:50:43] Thursday, October 22nd. Um, again,

[1:50:46] Andrew just talked about the fall

[1:50:47] workshops, but there is one last thing

[1:50:49] I'd like to bring up is that last

[1:50:52] Tuesday afternoon, uh, Andrew Gruber

[1:50:56] received an award from the, uh, chamber,

[1:50:59] Salt Lake Chamber. And Troy, are you

[1:51:01] still online?

[1:51:03] >> I am.

[1:51:04] >> Can you, uh, maybe just give us a little

[1:51:06] insight about this award that, uh, Mr.

[1:51:08] Gruber was able to receive?

[1:51:10] >> It was a major award. Um, first of all,

[1:51:13] um, so proud of Andrew. Um, it was a,

[1:51:17] you know, recogni Andrew was recognized

[1:51:19] with the group of folks that, uh, are, I think the best term is, uh, movers and

[1:51:24] shakers in the community, if you will.

[1:51:27] And, uh, Mr. Gruber as he as he's worked

[1:51:29] all these years for WFRC certainly

[1:51:31] entitled to recognition for his great

[1:51:34] ability to collaborate with uh local

[1:51:36] leaders, state leaders, federal leaders,

[1:51:39] and work together for the better and

[1:51:42] overall good of our county and our our service area, all of our county. So,

[1:51:47] it was a it wasn't a big enough award in

[1:51:49] my opinion. It could have been a maybe a

[1:51:52] foot taller would have been better, but

[1:51:54] I wasn't in charge.

[1:51:56] you know, if if it's up to me next time,

[1:51:57] it'll be a much larger award. It might

[1:51:59] even be similar to a lampshade type of

[1:52:02] award, but you know, we'll work on that.

[1:52:04] But no, Andrew, it was really good.

[1:52:05] >> So, Troy, now I I know I wasn't able to

[1:52:07] attend, but I I thought somebody said he

[1:52:10] got a car to be able to use for the next

[1:52:12] year. Is it was it a Mercedes, BMW,

[1:52:14] Lexus? What was it?

[1:52:16] >> He didn't get any car. No,

[1:52:19] >> I got I got a a very a very small award.

[1:52:22] It was not a It was not a a lampuh that

[1:52:25] was Italian or file or anything. Um it

[1:52:29] wasn't goldplated, but uh thank you.

[1:52:31] That's very nice of you to to mention.

[1:52:33] Uh the award was called Chamber

[1:52:36] Champion. And what it reflects is uh

[1:52:38] people who work uh very closely with the

[1:52:41] private sector and chambers of commerce.

[1:52:44] And the reason that I was really happy

[1:52:45] to receive the award was because it's an

[1:52:47] endorsement of the value of the public

[1:52:49] sector and the private sector working

[1:52:51] together. I believe strongly that that's

[1:52:53] how we get things done. Public sector,

[1:52:54] private sector, collaboration leads to

[1:52:57] success. So, um, uh, Mr. Chair, thank

[1:52:59] you. And it was at it was at the

[1:53:01] aquarium. Thank you,

[1:53:05] Mayor Mayor Walker was happy because

[1:53:07] the, uh, award ceremony was held at the

[1:53:09] aquarium with the giant um, fish and

[1:53:11] shark tanks going by. So, that was a treat. A good place to go.

[1:53:15] Thank you. That's nice of you. Anyway, I

[1:53:18] uh I think it's cool that there's a lot

[1:53:19] of people in this room who receive

[1:53:21] different types of accolades and Andrew,

[1:53:23] you're you're very deserving of it.

[1:53:25] Thank you, Troy. Appreciate it. With

[1:53:26] that, we'll conclude our meeting at this

[1:53:28] time and we'll see you all in the

[1:53:30] various meetings between now and October

[1:53:32] 22nd. Thank you.

WFRC Council Meeting - August 27, 2026

Transcript