Guiding Our Growth: The Future of Open Space and Recreation in Utah
Delicate Arch. Angels Landing. Bear Lake. The Golden Spoke trail network. Liberty Park. Utah’s open spaces and recreational opportunities offer world-class reprieve for residents and visitors alike.
As Utah’s natural beauty attracts more residents and visitors, recreation sites can be overwhelmed and new development can crowd out open space. How cities are built will impact access to recreation and open space now and for future generations.
State and local leaders recognize the need to plan for growth and its accompanying challenges, including more crowded recreational areas and shrinking open space. Utahns are encouraged to share suggestions and input about how to address these impacts through the recently launched “Guiding Our Growth: Be Heard” campaign survey.
Open Spaces Close to Home
It’s not just the well-known attractions that provide Utahns breathing space away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Personal health and quality of life are enhanced by easily accessible parks, trails, and open space close to home where families can recreate together and individuals can exercise and gather outdoors.
It’s becoming increasingly important to plan for open space preservation as Utah’s population grows, the demand for housing increases, and development expands farther away from city centers.
Open space means different things to different people, especially at the neighborhood level. Some people treasure private outdoor spaces like yards, porches, and patios, while others value parks and trails, and still others want recreation amenities, from pickleball courts and lacrosse fields to baseball diamonds and golf courses. These many interests also compete with agricultural land, natural wildlife habitat, and flood mitigation areas.
In short, there’s a lot of demand for Utah’s open space.
Planning and Preservation: Weighing the Tradeoffs
The decisions about how to allocate and preserve open space are not easy and require tradeoffs. Does it make sense to build new neighborhoods with large yards if that means parks and trails are farther away or farmland is lost to accommodate those large lots? Should cities encourage constructing more condos and apartments on unused or empty commercial spaces close to city centers rather than on farmland near cities’ edges? Would strict restrictions on new home construction, intended to preserve open space, be worth the significant increase in home prices?
Prioritizing how Utah’s open land is used requires innovative thinking. One option to consider is holistic community planning that incorporates outdoor recreation areas, such as park space or community gathering venues, every time libraries, senior centers, or schools are constructed. Local jurisdictions can also work with farmers to preserve agricultural land by offering alternatives to lucrative development deals through Transfer of Development Rights, agricultural easements, or agricultural protection areas. And simply allowing more dense development, like condos or other housing on smaller lot sizes, can reduce the need for larger-lot housing in other areas within the same market, including agricultural regions.
There are also cases where outdated local zoning and development laws may force builders to create larger lots than demand would require or may prohibit the construction of master-planned communities that would integrate well-thought-out park and trail networks. More flexible zoning can facilitate a variety of development options and help preserve farmland and open space.
Leveraging opportunities for recreation in natural open spaces within urban communities where housing should not be built can be another inventive preservation approach. These areas could be wetlands, fault lines, under transmission corridors, steep slopes, floodplains, and stormwater detention basins. Community leaders can also plan ahead to include trail systems along creeks, canals, and old rail corridors. Murdock Canal Trail, Jordan River Parkway, Virgin River Trail, Denver and Rio Grande Trail Western Rail Trail, and Price River Trail are results of such planning.
Gateway Communities
Utah residents also flock to recreation areas farther from home. As Utah’s population grows, the strain from in-state visitors alone can be overwhelming. State and local leaders must grapple with many questions related to this demand. Are outdoor recreation facilities growing at the same rate as the population? Are the number of camping spots and trail miles per person keeping up with demand? State leaders are working to continuously update Utah’s Outdoor Recreation Plan to deal with these challenges.
It isn’t just Utah residents who enjoy top-notch natural wonders and outdoor recreation opportunities. They also attract increasing attention from those living outside of Utah, which provides an economic advantage over other states. According to a report on Utah’s Travel and Tourism industry in 2021, published by the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, those visiting Utah pumped $10.56 billion into the economy in 2021 and necessitated 89,600 jobs in the travel and tourism industry.
However, this growing popularity also comes with challenges.
In a statewide resident sentiment survey conducted by the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute in Fall 2021, Utah residents noted the importance of tourism to Utah’s economy. A majority of respondents reported that the positive effects of tourism outweigh the negative, that tourism has a positive effect on the state’s reputation, and that Utah offers positive experiences to visitors. The study also states that, “Large majorities felt that natural resources should be protected…” and that visitors should be educated on how to minimize the impact on the natural environment and travel responsibly.
While acknowledging the importance of tourism to their local economies, respondents from areas with high levels of visitors also reported concerns regarding crowding, traffic, housing affordability, access to recreational areas, quality of life, and environmental degradation. All areas showed high levels of support for long-term government planning to reduce potentially negative environmental impacts of tourism. For many other topics, the sentiment varied depending on the level of visitation a community is experiencing. What is happening in Moab and at Arches National Park isn’t necessarily the same as the situation at Tropic and Bryce Canyon National Park.
Finding Solutions
To help boost local economies and mitigate visitor impacts from tourists and recreationalists, state and local leaders could continue to encourage responsible travel and recreation practices, such as:
- Leave no trace
- Respect the power of nature
- Support local businesses
- Honor community, history, and heritage
- Share your knowledge to guide and enable others
- Celebrate the diversity of people and places
Tourism taxes on lodging, restaurants, car rentals, and OHV rentals are collected to support reinvestments into the visitor economy. This includes activities such as tourism development, management, and mitigation. These dollars are being stretched and are insufficient to also support the expanding demands from outdoor recreation. Leaders could also create alternative flexible funding streams to support outdoor recreation management, and local leaders can collaborate with the State to create community-led destination development and management plans that will enhance visitor and recreation economies to benefit residents and visitors alike. The plans need to be locally-led and appropriate for each community rather than take a “one size fits all” approach.
Guiding Our Growth
Addressing these challenges requires local planning and statewide support, and Utah leaders are committed to looking ahead, proactively gathering public input, and planning for the future. That’s what “Guiding Our Growth” looks like. It’s having a statewide conversation about the impacts of Utah’s population growth and working together to preserve Utah’s unique quality of life.