Utah League details compromises on major housing and land-use package including HB 368; staff to work toward support

League staff gave a detailed briefing Feb. 10 on a suite of housing and land-use bills, describing negotiated changes to land-use noticing, plan-review timelines, bonding and other provisions and saying the League is working toward support on a substitute for House Bill 368.

League presenters said the board has discussed housing policy repeatedly since late 2023 and that the organization’s approach is to resist state preemption of local zoning while engaging in negotiated, statewide solutions where appropriate. The League urged members to provide input on the state housing plan by March 19 so the League can aggregate feedback for phase-two meetings.

On HB 368, staff said initial draft language was broad and difficult to parse; through negotiations they identified several compromises. Noticing changes would narrow circumstances that require large-area notice when land-use text amendments are minor or technical. For building-permit plan review the substitute would create a three-day screening period to determine application completeness; if no notice of incompleteness is provided in that screening window a 14-day plan-review clock would begin. The framework allows additional time when applicants provide missing materials late: documents submitted within the last five days of the review period extend review by the number of days the applicant delayed submission.

Staff described bonding and warranty changes in HB 368. The substitute would split bonding returns by infrastructure categories (water, sewer, storm drain), shorten initial warranty-response windows in some jurisdictions (to 15 days for first-through-fourth-class cities; 30 days for fifth-class and towns) with winter-weather and workload exceptions, and allow incremental additional time when sites require multiple reinspections. If a city rejects infrastructure and fails to provide a specific, written list of deficiencies within 15 days, the substitute would require returning a portion of applicant security; staff said they negotiated the proposal down to returning 20% in that circumstance. The substitute also would encourage a 90/10 completion/warranty release model where practicable and require cash bonds to be placed in interest-bearing accounts.

On other housing bills, staff said: - HB 37 (Rep. Dunigan) would allow an optional density bonus for owner-occupied affordable housing and align certain data reporting with the state housing plan; League staff recommended moving to support because the sponsor accepted League proposals. - HB 360 may carry language for a "legacy city" pilot that would use state matching funds to help cities buy rental units and convert them to owner-occupied housing; League staff said a pilot is under discussion. - SB 181 (a parking/garage bill) is still in negotiation; staff said earlier public language that "can't require garages" is not consensus language and they expect many clauses limiting local parking authority to be removed; the League is defending cities' ability to set parking minimums and off-street requirements.

League staff said their recommendation across the package is to "work toward support" for the amended HB 368 substitute and related bills while continuing to oppose or push back on items that preempt local authority, such as mandatory parking minimums or broad preemption of zoning decisions.

The League urged members to continue providing technical feedback (for example, on vesting language) and said staff and sponsors are continuing negotiations; substitutes and final texts remained pending at the time of the meeting.

Less-critical details: staff noted prior bills the League opposed or influenced (for example, HB 88 and HB 90) and summarized Slido survey results used to prioritize League negotiating positions.