The biggest item on this week’s council agenda is an hour-long discussion regarding what’s called a housing and transit reinvestment zone, or HTRZ.
Right now in Summit County, HTRZ is code for Dakota Pacific Real Estate’s proposed mixed-use development in the mostly-vacant Tech Center lot at Kimball Junction.
The item is discussion only; the council isn’t voting or taking public comment on the subject.
Deputy County Manager Janna Young said the discussion will be an opportunity to hear from financial institutions that have put together HTRZs elsewhere in Utah. The council will learn more about how the zones work, how to create one and what this could look like around Tech Center Drive in particular.
Zions Bank Vice President Brian Baker, Summit County’s financial advisor, will present some of the information.
HTRZs are financial tools that allow state and county officials to encourage development around transit hubs. The idea behind the policy is that an HTRZ can reduce traffic by funneling more people into the public transit system.
When it was passed in 2021, the HTRZ legislation was aimed at concentrating future development in the Wasatch Front around the commuter rail stations between Ogden and Provo.
But in 2022, lawmakers changed that. They required Summit County to submit a plan for creating an HTRZ. At the time, county officials said the changes targeted Summit County, forcing them to create a development plan.
The county submitted a plan, but it was not a development plan for Kimball Junction. Summit County could create an HTRZ at any of its transit centers.
Before the council’s work session, Young will update the council on several bills working their way through the state legislature that could affect Summit County.
The council will also consider directing the county’s snow removers to service recent developments and subdivisions. These are scattered around the county, but most of the areas in need of snow removal are concentrated along the eastern edge of State Highway 40 between Interstate 80 and state Route 248.
The meeting will run from 3:40 p.m. to 7:10 p.m. at the Ledges Event Center in Coalville and on Zoom.
