Utah Heritage Foundation

Despite the advocacy of Utah Heritage Foundation and our constituency requesting a veto of SB 243 Substitute 1, yesterday, Governor Herbert signed the bill into law.

This will put a one-year moratorium into effect for the Yalecrest neighborhood of Salt Lake City starting on May 10^th for considering any local zoning tools for teardowns, right-sizing additions and garages, or design guidelines, and while the moratorium is in place, implements a restriction against demolition by not allowing permits for wholesale “demolition” within the neighborhood.

However, the biggest change may come after the Land Use Task Force begins meeting during the summer to consider changes to the state statute for local historic districts.  Proposal that come from the LUTF can easily get made into bills for the next legislative session and are widely considered by Legislators as a vetting process for statewide land use policy, though it is a closed process from the public.

SB 243 Substitute – Historic Areas or Sites Amendments

If you’ve been keeping up with our advocacy alerts, you may already realize that Senate Bill 243 has morphed several times during the session, leading preservationists across the state from one confusing proposal to another.  Each time it changed though, similar questions arose time and time again:  Isn’t this only about Yalecrest?  Does the bill only affect Yalecrest?  Can you get it only to affect Yalecrest?

At the end of the day, the bill was narrowed such that it directly affected the Yalecrest Neighborhood during a one-year moratorium period.  From the wide ranging scope that SB 243 started with, the result that was arrived at by sponsor Sen. Niederhauser (R-Sandy) is likely the least impactful possible.

H

Preservation moratorium proposed at the local level

Senate Bill 243, Historic Areas or Sites Amendment, was released with text on Monday, February 7, 2011.  In brief, the bill proposes a year-long moratorium on designations, expenditures, and development agreements that involve historic structures at the city and county level beginning on May 10, 2011.  Utah Heritage Foundation believes that this bill has the ability to stop or seriously curtail preservation activities statewide at the local level - just at the time when policies are needed that encourage economic development through historic preservation and boost our economy.

Senate Bill 243 - Historic Areas or Sites Amendment