Source: KSL News —
SALT LAKE CITY — Along with hundreds of city leaders across Utah and its Wasatch Front, Farmington Mayor Brett Anderson knows as well as anyone what haunts the debate over how in the world the rapidly growing state will confront its housing problems.
He knows firsthand how, inevitably, attempts to up density in a northern Utah city known for its agricultural land and suburban sprawl is met with pitchforks. How difficult it is to reconcile Utahns’ desires to safeguard their current quality of life with the reality that the state of over 3.3 million is already on track to exceed 5.5 million by the year 2060 — more than double the state’s population from the year 2000.
“You can imagine, Farmington has the word ‘farm’ in it,” Anderson told a panel of regional planners called the Wasatch Front Regional Council last week, “and people don’t always embrace change.”
And yet that day, Farmington became the first city to see one of its housing developments become certified for meeting all four pillars the Wasatch Front Regional Council has outlined in its Wasatch Choice Vision, a plan based on widespread input from Utahns to help the state grow sustainably by orienting different housing types, including higher density housing, where it makes sense.
To win such a certification, a development must:
- Increase availability and affordability of housing
- Promote sustainable environmental conditions
- Enhance access to opportunities
- Increase transportation choices and connections
The Farmington North FrontRunner Station area plan hits all of those points. It’s designed on a 550-acre strip around the FrontRunner station that sits just west of I-15, where three major highways converge.
The project itself isn’t new. It’s been making its way through Farmington City planning processes for over a decade now — and 200 acres of the project are already built out. It includes Station Park, a commercial area spanning south of the FrontRunner station that currently features a concentration of restaurants, shopping outlets and a movie theater.
But to the north is over 330 acres of open land that’s slated to be developed into more than 4,400 residential units, including multi-family housing and townhomes, by the time the development is complete in the next 20 or so years. It also calls for over 2.4 million square feet of office space and 542,000 square feet of retail or other commercial space.
The residential units are estimated to bring 15,000 people to Farmington City. “Our city has roughly 27,000 right now, so that’s a big bump for our city,” Anderson said. “That will build us out. We’re going to be hitting around 45,000 when we’re built out.”
The highest density housing is concentrated closer to the train station and trails, Anderson said. “We’re trying to put it where it makes sense, where it would be helpful for the whole area, attractive to the people that want that kind of life, and at the same time preserve the more open field the further you get away from it.”
That’s not all. The plan also calls for a network of trails, pocket parks, bike paths, as well as eventually a “people mover,” or a “small-scale automated guideway transit system,” to help connect people to the FrontRunner station. Farmington also intends to expand its Lagoon shuttle, which currently links Station Park to the Lagoon amusement park on the east side of the freeway. The station area plan qualifies Farmington, Utah Transit Authority and others to pursue funding to expand that to other areas.
What makes Farmington’s plan different?
It’s an effort to build more housing — housing types that are more dense and more affordable than single-family homes — in areas with transportation options other than a car. In other words, it’s an effort to plan for density where it makes sense and where residents will have options to either live where they work or use transit to avoid further clogging freeways.
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