WFRC highlights $52 million in local investments, rapid growth of city and town centers

At its August meeting, the Wasatch Front Regional Council heard an annual activities and accomplishments report from Executive Director Andrew Gruber that emphasized regional planning achievements, funding delivered to local governments and new tools for center planning.

Gruber told the council WFRC provided about $52,000,000 in capital funding and technical assistance to 45 communities during fiscal year 2025. He said staff tracked a 172‑unit increase in the number of planned city and town centers across the Wasatch Front and noted that 50,000 new homes are in planning across the region.

Ted Knowlton and Meg Padgen summarized the Wasatch Choice centers work, reporting the region now maps roughly 150,000 housing units located within centers (about 15% of the region’s housing in those geographies). Staff estimates attributed regional benefits to centers, including shorter average travel distances, an estimated avoidance of about 800,000 additional miles of driving and roughly 30 million gallons per day of water saved through more compact development patterns.

WFRC also unveiled new visual and technical resources for local governments: a web-based, interactive set of over 30 three-dimensional center models and a missing-middle housing toolkit (prepared with the Mountainland MPO and the Land Use Training Fund). Meg Padgen said the materials are intended to help elected officials, planning staff and communities visualize center types, explore context-appropriate housing types and implement zoning and design approaches.

Gruber and staff said the centers work and toolkits will be highlighted at upcoming conferences and webinars and that WFRC provides technical assistance and funding programs to help cities implement station-area planning and center strategies. Staff urged communities with pending station-area plans to pursue certification ahead of year-end deadlines to remain eligible for assistance.