Council Provided Information - 11/14/2023STAFF REPORT
BOARD OF THE REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY of SALT LAKE CITY
TO:RDA Board Members
FROM: Jennifer Bruno, Deputy Director
DATE: November 14, 2023
RE: Informational Update on Housing and
Transit Reinvestment Zone (HTRZ)
applications
PROJECT TIMELINE:
Briefing: Nov 14, 2023
Potential Action: Dec 12, 2023
ISSUE AT-A-GLANCE
The Administration’s transmittal provides an overview of the Housing and Transit Reinvestment Zone
(HTRZ) tool, and updates the RDA Board on two applications for HTRZs in Salt Lake City:
•900 South/200 West TRAX stop – ¼ mile radius around the TRAX stop
o Status: submitted earlier this year. Currently before state review committee for
consideration.
o Potential projects in application: affordable housing, Green Loop, Grand Boulevards,
infrastructure improvements, and/or public transit extension.
o Next steps: If the state committee approves this application, the next step will be an
interlocal agreement between the City and RDA (potentially at the December or
January Board/Council meeting). Taxing entity participation will then be set up as
directed by the HTRZ committee and potential projects can be considered, with the
policy guidance of the HTRZ reimbursement policy which will be considered by the
Board in December (see below).
•Intermodal Hub – 1/3 mile radius around the frontrunner stop
o Status: application to be submitted in the near future
o Potential projects in future application: Station Center development efforts, Green
Loop along 500 West, light rail extension, shared parking garage, historic preservation.
o Next steps: RDA staff is finalizing the HTRZ application for submission to the State
HTRZ reimbursement policy (guiding spending for all Salt Lake City HTRZs) – the RDA
Board provided feedback on a potential HTRZ reimbursement policy at a work session during the
September board meeting. Staff is continuing to incorporate those comments into a revised
reimbursement policy for the board to consider adopting at the December board meeting.
Goal of the briefing: Review the information presented in anticipation of considering changes to
the HTRZ policy at the December RDA Board meeting.
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KEY ELEMENTS/BACKGROUND
A. HTRZ Tool - The State originally created the Housing and Transit Reinvestment Zones
(HTRZ) tool via Senate Bill 217 in 2021, in part to respond to the state’s housing crisis. This
provides cities (via RDAs) an additional tool to incentivize increased mixed-use, multifamily
housing development around existing transit nodes to meet the State’s growth projections and
increase transit ridership. Several adjustments to the tool have been made in subsequent
legislative sessions. RDA staff has provided the following comparison of HTRZs with
traditional Community Reinvestment Areas (CRAs) based on current state code:
Per state code, HTRZ funds may be used to pay for apportion of the costs associated with the
following:
•Income targeted housing costs
•Structured parking within the HTRZ
•Enhanced development costs
•Horizontal construction costs
•Vertical construction costs
•Property acquisition costs
•HTRZ Administrative costs
•Public infrastructure
POLICY QUESTIONS
1.Prioritizing future HTRZ applications - the Board may wish to discuss with the
Administration a prioritization process for future HTRZ applications. As mentioned in the
Administration’s transmittal, with the exception of HTRZs around frontrunner stations, the
number of HTRZs in Salt Lake County is limited to 8 around TRAX/S-Line stations.