Utah lawmakers are planning to introduce legislation that would override local zoning rules and allow single-family homes between 1,000 and 1,400 square feet to be built on smaller lots statewide.
Building Salt Lake reports Steve Waldrip, senior advisor for housing strategy to Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, said the new legislation could be introduced in the next legislative session. The new bill would also create pre-approved housing plans designed to streamline city approvals and permitting.
“The theory is if we can get (the bill) so that a builder can have certainty that if they are going to build one of these approved floor plans, on an approved lot size, in an approved location in a city — they don’t have to go through the months of legal wrangling and council approvals and staff and all of the time and money that goes into every single home now,” Waldrip stated. “If we can ensure the outcome, then the cities I think are very comfortable that they’re willing to give on the process as long as that outcome is assured.”
Waldrip added, “One of the policy priorities we have for this coming year is to create a statewide starter home zone, where — anywhere in the state, in every city — you have a place where you can just go build small homes on small lots, without going through development agreements, without spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal fees.”
The Utah legislature has previously balked at changes to local zoning rules. Last year, a bill that would have allowed the creation of ADUs across the state failed to pass out of committee. Another bill that would’ve allowed homes to be built on 6,000-square-foot lots also died in committee.
“We’ve got legislators who are interested in supporting this,” Waldrip said, adding that “it’s not a blue issue, it’s not a red issue, it’s an us issue, and I think we’re starting to see things that way, which is really encouraging.”
Photo courtesy Jared / Flickr Creative Commons
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