Vision 2020 +

Growth, Land Use, Public Lands and Open Space
Sub-Committee 5/24/2008
Final Draft

Overview

The population of Cache Valley is growing and is expected to double in the next 25 to 30 years. With this anticipated growth and development, Cache Valley will continue to change. Unless current density rates and growth patterns change, the amount of lands developed into new homes, businesses, and roads would also double from current amounts. Citizens and their public officials have the opportunity to make that change better for existing residents and for our future neighbors.

The Cache Vision 2020+ Growth, Land Use, Public Lands, and Open Space Sub-Committee encourages Cache Valley citizens, real estate developers, and public officials to consider and plan for the broader issues of growth management and land preservation in their decisions. They should learn from past experiences and from successful results in other communities. Cache Valley residents will not only want suitable places to live, work, produce, and procure, but also opportunities for learning, places for recreation and contemplation, clean air and water, the means to move about safely and efficiently, and the variety of services provided primarily by governmental agencies.

Cache Valley residents have the opportunity to plan and to make decisions in the context of Cache Valley’s unique history, culture, climate, and natural resources. Many decisions can be improved by considering the area as a “region” and by anticipating the needs of future as well as current residents. The following goals, objectives, and actions are this sub-committee’s recommendations for addressing growth management and land preservation issues. These recommendations are not necessarily in priority order and any incompatibilities reflect the diverse views of committee members.

Goal #1. – Plan for Anticipated Growth Community growth may contribute to residents’ well being in many ways, but it also has the potential to complicate or even negatively affect their quality of life, the pattern of development across Cache Valley, and individual and public property rights and responsibilities. Planning for quality growth necessitates better communication and coordination amongst Cache Valley communities. To address these concerns, a number of tools to help plan for growth should be developed and implemented, while balancing the rights of residents, land owners, future owners, and their neighbors, allowing for individual innovation and diversity in development while meeting public safety responsibilities.

Objective 1a. – Promote Communication Among City and County Governments.

Action 1.a.1. – Support the Cache Valley Regional Council to help foster better communication between Valley communities and the County governments.

Action 1.a.2. – Provide appropriate planning staff to work with communities throughout Cache Valley (e.g., circuit-rider planner).

Action 1.a.3. – Provide the best available information on health and economic implications of various development scenarios for citizens, developers, and government officials.

Objective 1b. – Determine Cache Valley’s Carrying Capacity for Growth.

Action 1.b.1. – Investigate carrying capacity for such issues as air quality, water quality and quantity, farmland, and infrastructure.

Action 1.b.2. – Develop and implement tools that prevent growth from exceeding resource carrying capacities in constrained areas.

Action 1.b.3. – Develop policies and make investments to ameliorate these resource constraints when feasible and prudent.

Objective 1c. – Guide Development to Locate within Incorporated Areas.

Action 1.c.1. – Identify and change taxation, regulatory and infrastructure policies that encourage sprawl.

• Develop and implement a transfer of development rights (TDR) program between willing unincorporated (sending areas) and incorporated (receiving areas) areas.
  
• Develop and make available a valley-wide purchase of development rights (PDR) program for targeted lands. This program should be approved by the citizens.
  
• Develop and implement an impact fee program, or other guarantee of financial responsibility, for unincorporated areas of Cache Valley to ensure that development pays its way in these areas.
  
• Encourage in-fill development of lands currently serviced by existing infrastructure.
  
• Encourage consistency between land use patterns and the regional transportation plan.
  
• Revise zoning and land use ordinances that reduce density, inhibit compatible neighborhood commercial activities, and increase transportation distances and costs.
  
• Identify and eliminate taxation and regulatory burdens on the private sale, exchange, and consolidation of lands to provide for more rational and higher valued uses of lands, including their preservation.
  
• Manage access to public roads so as to maintain or improve their transportation function.
  
• Promote innovative designs and streamlining of development approvals within incorporated areas.

Goal #2. – Preserve Critical Lands Committee members are interested in identifying and preserving Cache Valley’s “sense of place.” Many residents value the aesthetic quality of Cache Valley and appreciate its agricultural heritage. Although interest in land preservation has been strong for many years, there are many issues remaining to be addressed including understanding the economics of agriculture and land preservation, defining what Cache Valley “open space” is and how to prioritize and enhance it, incorporating recreational facilities into land preservation projects, designating and conserving critical lands, and establishing roles for both public and private lands in land preservation efforts. To address these concerns, a number of tools for preserving critical lands should be developed and implemented, while balancing property rights and public safety responsibilities.

Objective 2a. – Define Cache Valley’s Sense of Place.

Action 2.a.1. – Engage citizens through a process of open and inclusive community involvement process in defining Cache Valley’s Sense of Place and the qualities that should be preserved.

• Help citizens to identify what characteristics make their individual communities unique and desirable that establish their sense of place.
  
• Identify the natural features of each community (e.g., wetlands, rivers and streams, geologic formations, other unique features).
  
• Identify the cultural features of each community (e.g., landmarks, historic buildings, cultural festivals).
  
• Identify the patterns of public circulation that establish the citizens’ movement to public destinations such as parks, plazas, waterways, etc.
  
• Help citizens to think outside their individual community boundaries and appreciate how community decisions affect the entire Cache Valley.
  
• Identify the movement of citizens from their communities to destinations within and outside of Cache Valley.
  
• Identify the connections that would enhance Cache Valley as a regional entity (e.g., signage and marketing to reinforce the attributes of the region).
  
• Identify the connections that would enhance Cache Valley as a regional entity (e.g., signage and marketing to reinforce the attributes of the region).
  
• Develop a series of future growth scenarios to illustrate various growth patterns and the costs/benefits of each.
  
• Reference USU Bioregional Planning Department’s graduate student work exploring Cache Valley’s growth scenarios, view sheds, and natural resources.
  
• Reference Envision Utah Smart Growth case studies of communities facing similar issues.

Objective 2b. – Develop Ordinances to Protect Sensitive/Critical Lands.

Action 2.b.1. – Implement critical lands policies that prevent growth from placing residents in harm’s way and that protect the cultural and natural heritage of Cache Valley.

• Define the cultural and natural heritage components that should be protected. Likely components include landmarks (buildings, open lands, natural features), hunting grounds, fishing areas, critical wildlife habitats, historic buildings, prime and important farmlands, etc.
  
• Invest public funds in protecting these cultural and natural components to the extent warranted by their value to the public.
  
• Identify lands that pose a hazard to the health, safety, and welfare of Cache Valley residents. Likely components include floodplain's, wetlands, fault zones, recharge zones, steep slopes, geologic hazards, unstable soils, etc.
  
• Develop better ways to notify prospective purchasers or developers of these hazards and their implications.

Objective 2c. – Improve Farm/Working Lands’ Profitability.

Action 2.c.1. – Explore opportunities for improving farm profitability, including identifying niche markets, marketing local products, and increasing value-added agribusinesses.

Action 2.c.2. – Review restrictions on the locating of agriculture-related commercial production and supply facilities where they can best serve the farming industry.

Action 2.c.3. – Revise restrictions on the multiple-use of farming properties to allow compatible small commercial activities, resource extraction, and small-scale subdividing that enhance overall farm wealth and farm reinvestment potential.

Objective 2d. – Develop County-wide Open Lands and Recreation Master Plan. Action 2.d.1. – Identify a Valley-wide system of open lands and parks connected by trails

• Identify and prioritize those lands within Cache Valley that should be preserved.
  
• Identify Cache Valley’s existing recreational assets, future facility needs, and recreation activities.
  
• Incorporate this information as a component of the County-wide General Plan.

Objective 2e. – Promote the Formation of Citizens Groups to Interact with Public Land Managing Agencies.

Action 2.e.1. – Form citizens-based groups of Cache Valley residents to promote better communication with State and Federal land managing agencies. Sponsor ad hoc groups to explore specific issues as they arise.

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