Wicked Local
Candidates: Margot R. Fleischman (incumbent); Korben Elliott Whitt-Leitner
In what ways do you think the pandemic will shape the future governance of Bedford?
Fleischman: The pandemic has created challenges and opportunities regarding town governance. Overall, our democratic institutions have held up well: Town Meeting was successful; despite significant logistical hurdles and heat and health concerns, turn-out was robust. Although our Town Caucus was canceled, we have many contested municipal races. Public participation in remote meetings of boards and committees has increased. Our future governance model, constrained by state law, should to the greatest extent possible retain the elements of increased access and transparency that we have experienced during the pandemic and leverage technology to ensure that these gains are not lost once normalcy returns.
KUER
The Utah Legislature wrapped up its 2021 General Session Friday at midnight. Lawmakers passed more than 500 bills.
The Utah Legislature closed out its 2021 General Session late Friday night after passing 503 bills.
With the ongoing pandemic, the 45-day meeting of lawmakers was unlike any before. Masks were required in the Capitol, plexiglass dividers were installed, and the public was able to comment virtually during committee hearings.
“It s allowed for people to have more input than probably ever before in the history of the legislative session,” said Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton. “It’s something I hope continues.”
Gov. Spencer Cox said he was grateful there were no COVID-19 outbreaks at the Capitol during the session.
Will more basement apartments help ease Utah’s housing crisis? Lawmakers think so.
Legislature approves a bill that would force cities to let most residents rent out units inside single-family homes.
(Rick Egan | Tribune file photo) Utah House members, seen here Friday, Feb. 26, 2021, approved two bills Thursday aimed at easing the state s affordable housing shortage. One of them is designed to create more basement apartments inside owner-occupied single-family homes.
| March 5, 2021, 12:36 a.m.
In their first major attempt of 2021 to address Utah’s housing shortage, state lawmakers approved a measure Thursday that would mandate cities to allow most residents to rent out basement apartments inside their single-family homes.
Replies(3)
On Wednesday the Planning Commission reviewed the accessory dwelling units and junior accessory dwelling units revised plan. (Shutterstock)
RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, CA The Rancho Santa Margarita Planning Commission met Wednesday to discuss state-mandated changes for adding Accessory Dwelling Units or granny flats to the city s municipal code. The city s current municipal code is out of date after California state law s new passage in 2020.
Last year, California changed the laws regarding property additions and separate living apartments. Each unit is complete with independent living facilities on the same property as a primary residence and repurposes space that is not currently living space. These additions are to be prohibited as short-term rental units, according to the new guidelines.
After the collapse of the California Senate’s 2020 Housing Package in November of last year, the seeds of a new attack on the will of Californians to determine their own local housing policy were planted at the end of the last session of the Legislature. The failure to pass SB902 was the third strike in Sen. Scott Wiener’s attempts to end single-family zoning in California as a means to punish single-family residents and enable developers to profit by meeting demand for market rate housing in California.
Wiener’s previous attempts with SB827 (2018) and SB50 (2019) also did not pass. But sure as weeds that shoot up in spring, a new Senate Housing Package for 2021 was crafted in December and now has taken root. Like a weed, the package is fronted with a pleasant bloom of beneficence and creative thinking, but that masks a root system whose effect, if not intention, is to undermine local planning and control (while not leading to any meaningful increase in needed affordable housi