Envision Utah works with residents to balance the built and natural environments. Photo courtesy of Kennecott Land.
Envision Utah is a unique initiative for at least two reasons. First, the Salt Lake City region is conservative in its views on private property and government regulation – making it at first glance one of the least likely candidates for successful, progressive land use planning. Second, the region’s leaders found their way to an atypical structure for regional planning that is perfectly tailored to the region’s culture.
Envision Utah, as a process, has no official government standing. It is instead administered by a private nonprofit (the Coalition for Utah’s Future) and is led by a steering committee of forward-thinking citizens, business people, elected and appointed public officials and nonprofit community leaders. Envision Utah is a “nonregulatory public/private partnership” in the words of the project’s executive director.
It has been particularly important for this initiative to win and retain public support, so local governments will implement their pieces of the regional plans through their traditional land use powers. Envision Utah is famous for its intensive public visioning initiative and continuing devotion to sustaining public interest in its recommendations.
The Quality Growth Strategy does not use growth boundaries or a master plan that designates various growth and preservation zones on the landscape. Rather, building on public desire for “smart growth” outcomes, however, Envision Utah’s Quality Growth Strategy advocates compact, pedestrian-friendly and mixed use community design, infill rather than greenfields development, and transportation choices and water conservation measures which local governments are encouraged to implement by adopting model ordinances.
Vital Statistics:
Chapter of the Book: 13
State: UT
Year Established: 1997
Geographic Scale: Statewide
Mandatory or Voluntary over Local Government: Voluntary
Authorizing Laws: None
Agencies and Organizations:
Resources:
Robert Charles Lesser & Co., Wasatch Front Development Trends
Calthorpe Assocites, Envision Utah work
US Department of Transportation, Envision Utah Case Study
Selected References:
Coalition for Utah’s Future. 2007. The Coalition for Utah’s Future: Its History and Impact. Salt Lake City: Coalition for Utah’s Future.
Envision Utah 2003. The History of Envision Utah. Salt Lake City: Envision Utah. www.envisionutah.org/historyenvisonutahv5p1.pdf.
Flynn, E. 2005. Thinking and Acting Regionally in the Greater Wasatch Area: Implications for Local Economic Development Practice. Salt Lake City: Envision Utah.
Harris Interactive 2007. Utah Values & Future Growth. Harris Interactive.
Salt Lake City Chamber. 2007. Downtown Rising: A New Vision for Salt Lake City. Salt Lake Chamber.
