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State Rep. Calvin Roberts outlines housing infrastructure fund and other bills in Draper update
Summary
State Representative Calvin Roberts told Draper council he is championing a housing infrastructure financing bill to help cities fund regional infrastructure tied to housing projects, described efforts to entitle state land for development, and said one gas tax proposal would seek a 50% cut but is revenue-neutral to transportation funding.
State Representative Calvin Roberts, introduced to the Draper City Council as the city’s newly elected representative and chair of the Commission on Housing Affordability, briefed the council on several bills he is sponsoring.
Roberts framed one major proposal as an infrastructure financing mechanism to partner the state with cities to "unlock more housing supply," offering below-market loans for large regional items such as water-treatment facilities and tanks that otherwise make entitled projects financially infeasible. "We're working really hard on a bill that would make available a basically a fund to cities… They’ll be below market interest rates," Roberts said.
He also described an effort to make developable state-owned land (including parcels UDOT holds) easier to entitle for housing by creating processes for closer collaboration with local government. On taxation, Roberts said he is running a bill favored by some state leaders that would cut the gas tax by as much as 50 percent; he acknowledged the plan is aggressive and under negotiation with industry groups and leadership.
Council members pressed Roberts on fiscal consequences for local budgets if the state changes property-tax exemptions or caps. The mayor warned that a larger residential exemption could create a significant budget shortfall for Draper (citing an estimated $1.6 million gap), concerns Roberts answered by saying one proposal shifts revenue burden toward commercial properties and is designed to be revenue-neutral for cities.
Why it matters: Roberts’ bills seek to address housing affordability partly by funding regional infrastructure that developers and cities currently cannot easily finance, and by exploring state-owned land entitlements; the outcome could affect local planning, capital projects and tax incidence.
Next steps: Roberts invited the council to submit project priorities for infrastructure funding discussions and said he will continue briefing local officials as bills develop.
Ending: Roberts thanked the council for the opportunity and offered ongoing communication channels for Draper’s priorities.
Quote: "Housing prices are a problem and we first have to concede to that… We're trying to figure out ways to get more supply online," Roberts said, adding the infrastructure bill is intended to be a state–city partnership rather than state preemption of local land-use authority.
