State Codes and Statutes
Statutes > Utah > Title-17 > Chapter-27a > 17-27a-40317-27a-403. Plan preparation.
(1) (a) The planning commission shall provide notice, as provided in Section17-27a-203, of its intent to make a recommendation to the county legislative body for a generalplan or a comprehensive general plan amendment when the planning commission initiates theprocess of preparing its recommendation.
(b) The planning commission shall make and recommend to the legislative body aproposed general plan for the unincorporated area within the county.
(c) (i) The plan may include planning for incorporated areas if, in the planningcommission's judgment, they are related to the planning of the unincorporated territory or of thecounty as a whole.
(ii) Elements of the county plan that address incorporated areas are not an official plan orpart of a municipal plan for any municipality, unless it is recommended by the municipalplanning commission and adopted by the governing body of the municipality.
(2) (a) At a minimum, the proposed general plan, with the accompanying maps, charts,and descriptive and explanatory matter, shall include the planning commission'srecommendations for the following plan elements:
(i) a land use element that:
(A) designates the long-term goals and the proposed extent, general distribution, andlocation of land for housing, business, industry, agriculture, recreation, education, publicbuildings and grounds, open space, and other categories of public and private uses of land asappropriate; and
(B) may include a statement of the projections for and standards of population densityand building intensity recommended for the various land use categories covered by the plan;
(ii) a transportation and traffic circulation element consisting of the general location andextent of existing and proposed freeways, arterial and collector streets, mass transit, and anyother modes of transportation that the planning commission considers appropriate, all correlatedwith the population projections and the proposed land use element of the general plan; and
(iii) an estimate of the need for the development of additional moderate income housingwithin the unincorporated area of the county, and a plan to provide a realistic opportunity to meetestimated needs for additional moderate income housing if long-term projections for land use anddevelopment occur.
(b) In drafting the moderate income housing element, the planning commission:
(i) shall consider the Legislature's determination that counties should facilitate areasonable opportunity for a variety of housing, including moderate income housing:
(A) to meet the needs of people desiring to live there; and
(B) to allow persons with moderate incomes to benefit from and fully participate in allaspects of neighborhood and community life; and
(ii) may include an analysis of why the recommended means, techniques, or combinationof means and techniques provide a realistic opportunity for the development of moderate incomehousing within the planning horizon, which means or techniques may include a recommendationto:
(A) rezone for densities necessary to assure the production of moderate income housing;
(B) facilitate the rehabilitation or expansion of infrastructure that will encourage theconstruction of moderate income housing;
(C) encourage the rehabilitation of existing uninhabitable housing stock into moderate
income housing;
(D) consider general fund subsidies to waive construction related fees that are otherwisegenerally imposed by the county;
(E) consider utilization of state or federal funds or tax incentives to promote theconstruction of moderate income housing;
(F) consider utilization of programs offered by the Utah Housing Corporation within thatagency's funding capacity; and
(G) consider utilization of affordable housing programs administered by the Departmentof Community and Culture.
(c) In drafting the land use element, the planning commission shall:
(i) identify and consider each agriculture protection area within the unincorporated areaof the county; and
(ii) avoid proposing a use of land within an agriculture protection area that is inconsistentwith or detrimental to the use of the land for agriculture.
(3) The proposed general plan may include:
(a) an environmental element that addresses:
(i) the protection, conservation, development, and use of natural resources, including thequality of air, forests, soils, rivers and other waters, harbors, fisheries, wildlife, minerals, andother natural resources; and
(ii) the reclamation of land, flood control, prevention and control of the pollution ofstreams and other waters, regulation of the use of land on hillsides, stream channels and otherenvironmentally sensitive areas, the prevention, control, and correction of the erosion of soils,protection of watersheds and wetlands, and the mapping of known geologic hazards;
(b) a public services and facilities element showing general plans for sewage, water,waste disposal, drainage, public utilities, rights-of-way, easements, and facilities for them, policeand fire protection, and other public services;
(c) a rehabilitation, redevelopment, and conservation element consisting of plans andprograms for:
(i) historic preservation;
(ii) the diminution or elimination of blight; and
(iii) redevelopment of land, including housing sites, business and industrial sites, andpublic building sites;
(d) an economic element composed of appropriate studies and forecasts, as well as aneconomic development plan, which may include review of existing and projected county revenueand expenditures, revenue sources, identification of basic and secondary industry, primary andsecondary market areas, employment, and retail sales activity;
(e) recommendations for implementing all or any portion of the general plan, includingthe use of land use ordinances, capital improvement plans, community development andpromotion, and any other appropriate action;
(f) provisions addressing any of the matters listed in Subsection 17-27a-401(2); and
(g) any other element the county considers appropriate.
Amended by Chapter 168, 2008 General Session
