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Council adopts four FrontRunner station area plans after multi-year planning and MAG review
Summary
Provo City Council approved four station area plans related to FrontRunner and transit corridors — 400 South, University Avenue, Joaquin, and 2230 North University Parkway — voting 4–2 on each plan; staff said the plans are conditioned on state reporting and MAG certification and will guide targeted rezones and moderate-income housing reporting.
The Provo City Council voted to adopt four station area plans tied to FrontRunner and transit corridors, approving each plan individually by 4–2 votes. The plans cover the 400 South Station, the University Avenue Station, Joaquin Station (Fourth East & Seventh North, near BYU), and the 2230 North University Parkway station.
Hannah Salts, city planner, presented the four station area plans together and said they had completed local steps and that the council’s adoption at this meeting was the final local action needed before sending the ordinances to Mountainland Association of Governments (MAG) for state certification. “Each of these four station area plans need to be voted on individually for state certification,” Salts said. She described consistent themes across the plans including higher-density mixed-use development near stations with tapering densities toward outer perimeters, goals for housing, sustainability, transportation choices and access to opportunities, and an implementation pathway that includes rezones to implement land-use maps.
Salts said the plans were developed with dozens of stakeholders and public input over several years and that MAG had given unanimous conditional approval subject to the council’s formal adoption. She also said that substantive land-use changes proposed in the plans will be implemented through rezones, which staff plans to bring forward for districts where the rezonings occur.
Council debate focused on the tradeoff between local control and preemptive rezoning. Councilor Katrice McKay and Councilor Becky Bogdan voted no on some plans, citing concerns about pre-zoning and loss of local discretion; Councilors Craig Christiansen, George Handley, Rachel Whipple and Gary Garrett voted yes on the four plans. The recorded votes for each plan were: 400 South Station — Yes: Christiansen, Hanley, Whipple, Garrett; No: McKay, Bogdan (4–2). University Avenue Station — Yes: Hanley, Whipple, Garrett, Christiansen; No: Bogdan, McKay (4–2). Joaquin Station — Yes: Whipple, Garrett, Christiansen, Hanley; No: McKay, Bogdan (4–2). 2230 North University Parkway Station — Yes: Whipple, Garrett, Christiansen, Hanley; No: McKay, Bogdan (4–2). MAG will provide certification and these adopted plans will be used in the city’s moderate-income housing reporting.
Salts and other staff emphasized that the adoption does not automatically change the current use of properties: rezoning actions will be required to implement changes on specific parcels, and existing uses would be grandfathered until redevelopment.
The council’s adoption completes a multi-year planning process and sets the framework for future zoning work and rezones that staff said would be presented in subsequent meetings.
