SALT LAKE CITY PLANNING COMMISSION
Long Range Planning Issues Meeting
In Room 326 of the City & County Building
451 South State Street, Salt Lake City, Utah
Present from the Planning Commission were Chair Jeff Jonas, Tim Chambless, Robert “Bip” Daniels, Babs DeLay, Craig Galli, Peggy McDonough, Prescott Muir, Laurie Noda, Kathy Scott, and Jennifer Seelig. John Diamond was excused.
Present from the Planning Staff were Planning Director Louis Zunguze, Deputy Planning Director Brent Wilde, Zoning Administrator Larry Butcher, Planning Programs Supervisor Cheri Coffey, Planning Programs Supervisor Elizabeth Giraud, Planner Greg Mikolash, Housing and Zoning Supervisor Craig Spangenberg, Office Manager Lucille Taylor, Planning Commission Secretary Kathy Castro; and Deputy City Attorney Lynn Pace.
A roll is being kept of all who attended the Planning Commission Long Range Planning Issues Meeting. Chair Jonas called the meeting to order at 5:43 p.m. Tapes of the meeting will be retained in the Planning Office for a period of one year, after which they will be erased.
REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR
Mr. Zunguze gave a brief explanation of a number of issues that the Planning Staff is hopeful to resolve during the Long Range Planning Issues Meetings to come. He said that the first goal is to give the Planning Commission a complete overview of all of the plans for Salt Lake City, current plans, plans that are about to be drafted and plans that are being thought of for the future. The second goal they hoped to accomplish is to establish an overall long range theme for the City. He noted that collectively the current Master Plans do not have synergy from one master plan to the next. The third goal is to overcome a consistent complaint from the City Council Office, which is that it is taking too long to complete master plans. Mr. Zunguze said that the current process must be reviewed and perhaps refashioned to shorten that timeline. He stated that we need to examine the final documents and decide if the material reflects what the community’s needs are and how those needs are being addressed. The final goal that the Planning Staff would like to accomplish is to itemize two or three major topics of a long range nature that we can focus on in the months to come. He referred to the direction given by the City Council Office to the Planning Commission regarding the need to increase housing in the downtown area. He suggested holding a workshop to help achieve that. Mr. Zunguze said that he is concerned with the way preservation issues in the City are perceived; he stated that he would like the Planning Commission to have a better understanding and appreciation of historical assets in the community. He referred to the importance of the Planning Commission having a better understanding of how the Historic Landmarks Commission works. He stated that as Staff, there is a need to get a sense of order in these areas so that it would be easier to put into context our day to day activities and be able to account for why we do things. This will make for a better working relationship all around.
Mr. Zunguze introduced the supervisory staff of the Planning and Zoning Office to the Commission.
LONG RANGE PLANNING ISSUES
Planning Programs Supervisor Cheri Coffey presented a power point presentation to the Planning Commission reviewing the following topics. A hard copy of the power point presentation will be retained in the SLC Planning and Zoning Office indefinitely.
a) Overall review of current status of all the City’s Community Master Plans.
b) Discussion regarding the establishment of overall City Long Range Land use theme(s) and policies.
c) Discussion regarding current and future City Master Planning process.
d) Discussion regarding current and future format of City Master Plan documents.
e) Discussion regarding priority Long Range topics for review by the Planning Commission.
Commissioner Chambless asked if it is envisioned to expand the total area of the City through annexations of land to the east or west of current City boundaries.
Ms. Coffey replied that in 1979 the City provided an Annexation Declaration Policy, showing prospective areas that the City would like to incorporate.
Mr. Wilde said that the State Legislature allows for Cities to declare their possible interests of annexation. He said that common practice is to wait for property owners to make the request rather than the City initiate the annexation. Ms. Coffey added that State Law expresses that the City can not proactively seek annexations.
Mr. Zunguze asked the Commission to help Staff devise policies for an overall theme for City Land Use Plans. He said that this would insure that when the Community Master Plans are reviewed, they would collectively reflect the overall City theme.
Commissioner Seelig wondered whether the priority is to tackle the overall City theme prior to starting new Master Plans. She inquired what the timeline is to get an overall theme.
Mr. Zunguze answered that in terms of a timeline that would depend on the aggressiveness of the Planning Commission. He said that the Planning Office is prepared to send out communication to the Community Councils and return to the Commission within the next two months to share feedback.
Commissioner Galli asked why that approach is superior to producing a Comprehensive City Master Plan. Mr. Zunguze answered that the Planning Office deals with a wide range of planning issues throughout the communities. It would be difficult for the Planning Office to prepare a comprehensive plan that would be capable of addressing those diverse issues. It is important to examine the current Community Master Plans to get a sense of what common trend of issues the different communities are dealing with and prepare a general plan to give synergy to current plans. He said that he would not recommend a Comprehensive Plan to completely replace the current practices.
Chair Jonas said that if we do not have an overall vision, we will never get an overall plan in place to guide the smaller community plans.
Mr. Zunguze said that he is suggesting an overall theme. We have plans but they do not have a context. He asked how detailed the Commission wants the theme to be. He said that given the current practice, community participation is vital and they have invested so much already. It is important to define a theme, direction, and issues to focus on and have the community plans reflect those themes and development direction.
Chair Jonas said that we need to stop the existing process so we do not continue to send forth plans that are not supportive of the vision.
Mr. Zunguze said that what ever is decided it must be clear to the Planning Staff, Planning Commission and Community Councils as to what is expected.
Mr. Wilde added that the guiding principles can be approached on a City wide basis and then decide the level of specificity within the communities.
Commissioner Galli said the Commission needs to decide how detailed the City plan should be. The Commission should look at other Cities Comprehensive Plans.
Commissioner McDonough stated that she supports Mr. Zunguze’s plan. She suggested that we look at the National trends of what Cities have done to create a Comprehensive Master Plan. She said that the Commission needs to establish a vision first and then a Comprehensive Master Plan based on that vision.
Chair Jonas said that the Planning Staff should study the role of Salt Lake City in the Valley. He said that the plan should reflect how the Capitol City affects the outlying areas and how the outlying areas support Salt Lake City.
Commissioner Seelig stated that she supported the idea of drawing from the established shared principles from City Wide policy and documents.
Commissioner Daniels stated that the meeting of actions and timelines will happen after a vision is established. He added that the current plans are flexible and not so specific that they cannot adapt to growth and amendment.
Chair Jonas asked if it is appropriate to modify the Downtown area to be its own Planning Community.
Mr. Wilde answered that we need to keep that area consistent with the new trends.
Commissioner Muir stated that he did not feel we should go to the Community Councils, we need a broader approach.
Mr. Zunguze said that the Zoning Ordinance needs to be consistent with policies of the Comprehensive Plan.
Commissioner Scott stated that the existing plans’ policies should be examined and be guided by the City Wide policies.
Chair Jonas concurred with Commissioner Scott and added specifically the Open Space Master Plan and the Transportation Master Plan. The Planning Commission needs to have a better understanding of them.
Commissioner Daniels made reference to a study done by Envision Utah to develop a vision of Salt Lake City. He said that it would be helpful to have the technological tools available to key in scenarios to see what Salt Lake City would look like if they were to happen.
Mr. Zunguze stated that we can get the software but we need the vision and direction, to simulate scenarios.
Commissioner Muir agreed with Mr. Zunguze and said that the Planning Commission must work with Staff to create a benchmark and then go to the communities and get feedback.
Chair Jonas said that the Salt lake Valley has evolved and we need to determine what the City has become. The Planning Commission must understand the valley better before we can come up with a vision. The Planning Commission struggles because it has not been apart of the vision.
Mr. Zunguze said that we must establish a format for the guiding document. It is important to review examples of what other communities have done.
Commissioner Noda agreed. She said that the Planning Commission has a responsibility to establish a vision.
Commissioner DeLay felt it is important to understand the vision of other Cities.
Commissioner Muir felt it is important to take a look at the current Master Plan in Portland for the Central District specifically the growth and limits. The Salt Lake City geography is similar to Portland although the Portland suburbs are more prone to development.
Mr. Zunguze felt it is important to look at the Western States and their State Legislatures which have adopted enabling legislation that provide guidance on what cities can do as far as land use.
Commissioner Chambless stated that Salt Lake City is the capital and largest City as well as the Hub for transportation. He also mentioned that the professional and recreation sectors must be taken into account.
Commissioner Galli suggested that we get the Quality Growth Strategy document from Envision Utah.
Planning Commission determined that they would review examples of other Cities Comprehensive Master Plans. The Commission also asked Staff to collect City Wide Plans, Regional Plans, and vision statements of other Cities for the Planning Commission to review.
OTHER BUSINESS
The Planning Commission had a brief discussion regarding the next meeting scheduled for August 27, 2003 and what they should expect in regard to the Gateway item on that agenda.