Bountiful council refines general plan goals; clarifies 'active transportation,' parks and tree canopy language

Bountiful City Council members on April 8 reviewed and revised language in a consolidated draft of the city's general-plan goals, focusing discussion on how the draft references "pedestrian" facilities versus the broader term "active transportation," where to place preservation language for the urban tree canopy and clarifying several action items on parks, water-wise landscaping and utility planning.

The discussion began after Francisco Astorga, identified in the meeting as city planning staff, reminded council members that the goals were compiled from earlier element reviews and a community vision drafted at the council retreat in January 2024. "We copied and pasted the exact wording from state code," Astorga said when explaining why one welcoming-community goal retained statutory phrasing used in the moderate-income housing report requirement.

The council debated where the phrase "active transportation" should appear in the document. Councilwoman Bradshaw said the two action items were intentionally different: one is intended to improve pedestrian safety on constrained, high-capacity streets and the other to support full complete-street approaches where right-of-way allows. "We should make improvements where we can even if we can't make as many improvements as would make it a complete street," Bradshaw said.…