Community Character and Open Space Preservation Tools

Are you concerned about what your community will look and feel like in 10 or 20 years?  Have you thought about your town becoming all subdivisions one day? Does your community wish to manage the growth in a way that could retain some of the characters that you know and love in your area? This issue is facing many communities in our State.

There are tools and techniques that can help you address the progressive loss of community character.  The intent of this seminar is to educate and expose community leaders to several different practical techniques that have worked in Utah and all across the country to help preserve the history, the culture, and the places we love.

This seminar will cover:

• Transfer of Development Rights programs (within a city or town and county-wide)
• Purchase of Development Rights programs
• Conservation Easements via Land Trusts and other non-profits
• Flexible Agricultural Zones
• Cluster Development concepts
• Overlays

The seminar is in-person and on-line. Sign up through a link at http://utahlanduse.org/workshops/. Please register so that we can provide the Zoom seminar links before the event.  There is seating for 100 in the Cache County Administration Building: 179 North Main, Room #186. in Logan. It will be held on February 22, 2023, at 4 pm.  It is anticipated to be about a 2 hour session.

Panelists include: Larry Jacobsen (Nibley City Mayor), Wendy Fisher from Utah Open Lands, Tim Watkins (Cache County Planning Manager), Levi Roberts (Nibley City Planning Director), John Janson (consultant), and an attorney.  There is no charge for the seminar.  We are seeking continuing education credits for attorneys and planners.

This is the first of more than a dozen seminars on topics related to growth, housing and land use regulation.  Future topics will include

• water in the general plan;
• short term rentals;
• accessory dwelling units;
• updating local ordinances;
• exactions on development;
• holding public hearings;
• land use appeals;
• impact fees;
• annexation;
• financing infrastructure and
• referenda and initiatives.

For more details – utahlanduse.org/workshops/.