SALT LAKE CITY — From snarled traffic to housing shortage to nosiy nights, the growing popularity of three of the Beehive State's top tourist destinations has created a number of challenges that threaten to diminish livability for those who call those locales home.
Last week, civic leaders from Park City, Moab and St. George came to Utah's Capitol to tell members of the Legislature's Political Subdivisions Interim Committee about some of the development challenges that are occurring in their communities.
Their stories caught the attention of committee Chairman Rep. Steve Handy, R-Layton.
It's "a huge eye-opener for all of us to better understand the unique challenges that resort communities face," Handy said.
Park City and the act of balancing needs
Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
Roads under construction in the Park City Heights development in Park City are pictured on Wednesday, June 19, 2019.
Park City is one of the state's most recognizable places, boasting world-class recreation, dining, shopping and entertainment. But the city of 8,000 residents is also known for its high-end housing and high cost of living, both of which have generated significant issues, according to civic leaders, who are trying to develop solutions for the growing problems that imperil the long-term viability of the former sleepy mining town turned outdoor and vacation haven.
"As it's grown, it's started to really impact the balance we have between tourism and our residents," said Park City Mayor Andy Beerman. "We're relatively 'built out' as a town, so my main role as mayor is to work on mitigating those impacts of tourism and our growth."
He said much of his work revolves around developing transportation and affordable housing solutions that can help visitors to Park City and the people who live and work there.
"We've been aggressively building our bus rapid transit route where we're running buses down the sides of our roads — electric buses mostly — running on a 10-minute frequency," he explained.
The transit system provides some convenience for tourists and some workers, but isn't particularly convenient for local residents, he noted. A near-term goal is to have the system be more user-friendly for people who live in town, he added.
Beerman told lawmakers that just 15 percent of people who work in Park City reside there, which means about 15,000 people commute in and out of town daily. Because the cost of living is so high, the vast majority of the workforce can't afford to live in the city which has caused a crisis for local businesses, he said.
"Almost all of our businesses have fewer staff than they want or need, including our large resorts," he said. The city is working to address the issue of affordability by implementing a plan to build 800 housing units by 2026, he noted, in conjunction with local nonprofit partners and businesses.
How they reach that goal is still undetermined due to the complicated nature of the problem, he said.
"That's (the) challenge as the mayor and the City Council. How do we strike that balance?" Beerman said. "We don't want to kill our economy, which is tourism. On the other hand, we want to save the soul of our town, which is community."
He said the initial effort will be to take the money from tourism and reinvest it into the community in a positive way, he said.
Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
Construction in the Park City Heights development in Park City continues on Wednesday, June 19, 2019.
Moab eyes options to help locals
Another high-profile resort locale, Moab, has been struggling with fast-growing tourism and even faster-rising housing costs for locals. City Councilwoman Karen Guzman-Newton told the legislative panel that tourism growth has dramatically impacted the small rural community of 5,000, making life for locals more challenging in many of the same ways as Park City with high housing costs and traffic and infrastructure issues.
"Public transportation is something (the Legislature) could help us figure out," she said. There is also the matter of a state law that precludes local municipalities from regulating overnight rentals like Airbnb that have taken away housing options for local workers, she said.
Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
Building crews work on a house in the Park City Heights development in Park City on Wednesday, June 19, 2019.
"We don't want to take any more housing stock from our full-time residents because it's already such an issue," she said. The city hopes to apply for grants to help incentivize developers to come into the area and consider building units with an affordability component, she added.
Moab city manager Joe Linares said lawmakers could help rural communities like Moab by reconsidering the tax structure to allow changes that could help cities generate enough revenue to pay for infrastructure and other amenities that would support residents who live there and tourists who visit.
"The hard part is finding the balance between residents and their quality of life and letting tourists come in and take advantage of what we have in the area," he said. "It's public lands — everyone's lands. We really value them coming and want them to keep coming, but there are problems that we run into."
Linares also talked about recent law changes that allow ATVs to be driven on city streets. The off-road vehicles make noise into the late night hours, he said, and have "created havoc" for locals, prompting some hotels to issue earplugs to patrons.
"I believe the Legislature will be very open to promoting public policy and changes in the state code as necessary to accommodate them," Handy said. "For example, those of us who voted for the various bills over the past few years to make ATVs and UTVs 'street legal' didn't fully appreciate the challenges and unintended consequences that have been heaped upon Moab, and I think it would be reasonable to give them some sort of carve out."
The lawmaker said Moab residents and those who aren't into motorized off-road vehicles should be able to maintain a peaceful and quiet downtown, adding that he's personally interested in working with local leaders to figure something out.
Civic leaders are already working with the Utah Department of Transportation on a widening project along U.S. Route 191 — which runs through the center of town — due to increasing congestion.
"At this point, we need it widened because it can take you an hour-and-a-half to go from Arches (National Park) into town at the end of the day," Linares said.
Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
A new motion picture studio in Park City is pictured on Wednesday, June 19, 2019.
St. George's transportation puzzle to Zion
Meanwhile, St. George Mayor Jon Pike said his city needs help with transportation into Zion National Park and would like the Legislature to split the estimated $30 million cost of developing a transit shuttle between his community and Springdale.
"To get as many people as we can those 50 miles and avoid all those cars," he said. In recent years, Washington County's largest city has seen tourism grow significantly and civic leaders want to be proactive in mitigating what they see as a potential traffic and environmental problem in the years ahead.
"We want the experience (of going to Zion) to be good," he said. "We don't have the same problem Moab does. But if we don't figure out a (transportation solution), then down the road we're going have to build wider and wider roads, it's going to cost more money and we're going to have more pollution."
The Utah League of Cities and Towns, a nonpartisan organization that advocates for local municipalities, supports lawmakers' willingness to look into the challenges that resort communities are dealing with.
"These cities really are some of the biggest economic drivers in our state," said Rachel Ott, director of government relations. "There are ways the Legislature can help these communities mitigate some of these challenges to preserve the quality of life for residents and the visitor experience."
from Deseret News http://bit.ly/2WXSb4o
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