Phil Lyman urges transfer of federal land to boost housing, criticizes Great Salt Lake spending

Phil Lyman, a Republican candidate for governor, told the Utah County Republican Party podcast that transferring federal and state trust lands into local control could dramatically increase Utah's housing inventory and lower building costs. "The Bureau of Land Management owns a 150,000 acres inside city limits of various towns in Utah right now," Lyman said, adding that opening prime parcels and about "1,000,000 acres on the outskirts" could double available land for development and support homesteading-style pathways to homeownership.

Lyman also criticized what he described as an opaque distribution of a 2023 legislative appropriation. "The legislature allocated $40,000,000 to save the Great Salt Lake," he said, and "a week after session...gave $40,000,000 to the Nature Conservancy and the Audubon Society to buy up the water shares of alfalfa farmers." He said the transfers and funding choices harmed local agricultural economies and said legislators were not sufficiently informed about where the funds would go.

On housing policy, Lyman argued that large developer subsidies and current building codes raise costs for small builders and homebuyers. "We meet and decide to give $300,000,000 to developers...that money just drives the prices up," he said, and recommended revising the uniform international building code to a state-specific code and reducing regulatory barriers. He described a proposal he credited to Sen. Mike Lee (referred to in the interview as the 'houses bill') as one tool to shift some federal land into local development use and to enable people who lack capital to improve land to earn the right to build.

Lyman framed his land policy as tied to schools and local revenue, noting that changes in how public land is managed can affect school trust income. He raised SITLA (the State Institutional Trust Lands Administration) as a locus of debate, accusing some recent moves of aligning with conservation groups rather than local beneficiaries.

The interview included policy specifics largely presented by Lyman and framed as his campaign proposals; there were no formal votes or endorsements recorded during the episode. Lyman asked listeners to review his platform at lymanforutah.com and to return mail-in ballots in the ongoing primary.

The host, Charles Max Wood, introduced Lyman and asked a series of policy-focused questions; Lyman frequently responded with long-form explanations and policy proposals. The podcast did not include responses from state agencies named in the interview, including the Bureau of Land Management or SITLA.

What happens next: Lyman said he supports pending federal and state legislation that would free additional acreage for development and urged voters to evaluate those proposals as part of the primary decision-making process.