Salt Lake County adopts general growth plan for its west side

SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake County leaders have given the thumbs up to a general long-range plan for future growth on the county’s west bench and Great Salt Lake shoreline. 

The West General Plan (plan) acknowledges past and future growth. Specifically,  growth in the area west of Bangerter Highway. Planners said that area saw the majority of the county’s growth in the last 20 years.

And it anticipates more growth in the county’s unincorporated areas.

The area in the West General Plan includes land that is west of Bangerter Highway and along the Oquirrh Mountains, and just south of the Great Salt Lake. 

The plan outlines possible future population density, transportation, and conservation needs.

Councilwoman Aimee Winder Newton told the council last week that the plan, already 4 years in the making, is not set in stone. 

“It’s not a zoning designation,” Winder Newton said. “But what we’ve tried to do is put density in place that makes sense, knowing that we want long-term transportation infrastructure to meet what that could possibly be, instead of the other way around.

Since 2018, when the West General Plan was first proposed, it has gone through multiple public comment periods. During that time, it received thousands of comments from the residents of Salt Lake County. 

Now, the plan is to move forward and begin implementing land use goals and strategies.

Related reading:

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