Staff proposes general‑plan amendment to prioritize life‑sciences and health care growth in Provo
Loading...
Summary
A city analyst urged the council to amend the general plan to explicitly prioritize health care and life‑sciences growth, citing BYU, NORDA, Rocky Mountain University and IHC as local assets; options discussed include a life‑science overlay zone, targeted marketing and streamlined review processes.
City staff told the Provo City Council on Jan. 13 that the city is well‑positioned to compete for life‑sciences and health‑care employers and proposed a general‑plan amendment to make that an explicit economic priority.
Management analyst Caitlin Johns outlined a case that Provo’s concentration of medical and health‑education institutions — including BYU’s health and life‑science programs, NORDA College of Osteopathic Medicine, Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions and Intermountain Health (IHC) — creates a durable talent pipeline attractive to diagnostics, medical‑device, bioinformatics and biotech firms. Johns argued that prioritizing life sciences could attract higher‑wage jobs, reduce macroeconomic exposure and keep graduates in the city.
Johns offered two implementation alternatives: (A) explicitly prioritize health care and life sciences in the general plan language and create a dedicated life‑sciences overlay (or bio‑innovation overlay) that signals market clarity and enables streamlined, predictable review; or (B) retain a broader technology emphasis while adding life sciences as an explicit priority. Johns said stakeholders — academic and health‑care leaders — expressed interest in partnering on lab‑space and residency expansions and highlighted a shortage of lab space and shared facilities for startups.
Councilors expressed strong interest but also urged that the initiative be integrated into a citywide economic‑development study. Some asked for a short timeline and for staff to explore whether existing economic‑development capacity can meet the work or whether outside consultants should be retained. Johns said marketing, event sponsorships and targeted studies would likely require modest additional economic‑development funding if the council pursues the concept.
Council direction: staff will fold this work into the broader FY27 economic‑development priority process, provide video/material links requested by councilors, and return with more detailed zoning and implementation options if the council wishes to proceed.
