LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Hello friends!
I know there is a lot going on in the city with the recent meetings and I plan to do a recap soon. But as promised, I wanted to alert you to some legislative action taking place tomorrow - January 29th at 2:00 pm.
What it is: HB0082 Single-Family Home Modifications
What it does: Requires cities and counties to allow accessory dwelling units (ADU's) in all residential zones.
What happens next: Tomorrow at 2pm, this bill will be presented to the House and Business Labor Committee.
Why it is being proposed: Affordable housing and land use is one of the top topics this legislative session as the supply for housing, particularly affordable housing, continues to fall well below the demand. Accessory dwelling units (like mother in law apartments or basement rentals) is just one aspect that is being pursued to help bridge the gap between supply and demand.
How it will affect South Weber: This bill will impact cities that have ordinances that set a limit on the number of non-related persons living residing in a residential unit. This bill has been substituted - meaning it has already been changed due to feedback. The new substituted bill would mandate all cities to allow internal ADU's in any single family residential zone. The ADU's will be required to stay within the footprint of the home and require them to be owner occupied.
Why I am worried about this bill: While this bill is meant to offer more housing abilities and options, the state is taking the ability for the cities to decide for themselves how they want to implement ADU's. While the substitution addressed and fixed some things, there are still plenty of concerns left. It is removing the ability that cities have to impose their own ordinances and requirements, like parking, number of people in a household, and the types of neighborhoods/homes ADU's would be permitted just to name a few. While I can understand the value of offering ADU's in many respects, I believe that every city is unique and one size certainly does not fit all. This is why it is important these decision happen at a LOCAL level, not a state level. What works well in SLC may not work well in South Weber, and vice versa. The substitution is not clear if it will exclude short term rentals. We already have some of these problems in SW now - this has the potential to definitely enhance them and leaves us with no ability to control or mitigate!
What can you do? The Utah League of Cities and Towns is working on this bill, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't too! You may join the call tomorrow - register to sign up for public comment and give your reasons to the committee why they should not recommend this bill to the floor. Furthermore, you may also email the reps of this committee. There information is below. **The best place to stop a bill is in committee. If it doesn't get through committees, it will not get to the floor for a vote.***
Register for public comment: Click this link and scroll down. Select HB0082 and input name and email address. The speaker will allow public commment to take place after the committee has a chance to deliberate. Camera is not required - the will unmute your mic when it is your turn. https://le.utah.gov/interim/publicComment.jsp?mtgid=17372
Email the committee: Below are the committee members emails. Email them ASAP, and definitely before the meeting starts so they can address your concerns in the meeting (and they will!). Keep your email short and to the point - they have a lot of stuff on their plate at this time. Encourage them to vote NO to this bill and allow these allowances, along with their restrictions and ordinances, to happen at the local level, not the state.
Use HB0082 committee meeting as your subject line. Include your name and address.
jferry@le.utah.gov
wbrooks@le.utah.gov
bbrammer@le.utah.gov
jdunnigan@le.utah.gov
thawkes@le.utah.gov
briansking@le.utah.gov
corymaloy@le.utah.gov
amatthews@le.utah.gov
cmusselman@le.utah.gov
csnider@le.utah.gov
mstrong@le.utah.gov
jteuscher@le.utah.gov
normthurston64@gmail.com
markwheatley@le.utah.gov
Thank you to Jo Sjoblom
for reporting on this at Tuesday's meeting and relating the substitution changes. You can see her remarks during the legislative review. 