Magna Metro Township 2019 GENERAL PLAN Thank you, Magna Community interaction and discussion has occurred during the Magna Town Council and Magna Community Council meetings, periodic General Plan Steering Committee meetings, and impromptu meetings around town. Whether at the grocery store, library, high school, or other numerous businesses around town, the citizens of Magna displayed their passion for their community. Indeed, the citizens are extremely proud of Magna. They own and cherish their community and are honored by its heritage. They proclaim and emphasize its positive attributes while embracing the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. A special note of appreciation and thanks is due to the wonderful citizens of Magna for attending the many public meetings. They shared their support, criticism, insight, suggestions, and thoughtful ideas. Thank you for your passion and for caring regardless of the topic at hand. You have helped to mold Magna’s vision and enrich its aspirations. CHAPTER ONE - THE PLANNING PROCESS 1.1 Purpose of the General Plan Utah State Law requires that each municipality prepares and adopts a comprehensive, long-range general plan. The general plan addresses the present and future needs of the municipality as well as the growth and development of all or any part of the land within the municipality. The minimal components that must comprise a general plan (along with any accompanying maps, charts, and descriptive and explanatory matter), include a recommendation from the Planning Commission for a land use element, a transportation element, and a moderate-income housing element. The Code expands on the requirements of each of these elements as follows: Land Use – The General Plan shall designate the long-term goals and the proposed extent, general distribution, and location of land for housing, business, industry, agriculture, recreation, education, public buildings and grounds, open space, and other categories of public and private uses of land as appropriate; and may include a statement of the projections for and standards of population density and building intensity recommended for the various land use categories covered by the plan. Transportation – The General Plan shall provide a transportation and traffic circulation element consisting of the general location and extent of existing and proposed freeways, arterial and collector streets, mass transit, and any other modes of transportation that the planning commission considers appropriate, all correlated with the population projections and the proposed land use element of the general plan. Moderate-Income Housing – The General Plan shall include a plan that provides a realistic opportunity to meet the need for additional moderate-income housing. 1.2 Changes since the last General Plan Since the adoption of the 2009 Magna Township General Plan and its 2012 update, Magna has experienced significant change. Community values, sustainability issues, and economic growth strategies throughout the country and in Magna have evolved over this past decade. Magna’s governmental form has changed as well. Previously, Magna was a Township under the operational and budgetary control of Salt Lake County. Now, Magna is a Metro Township. Magna functions similar to a city; for example, Magna manages its assets with the contracted assistance of the Metropolitan Service District (MSD). As a Metro Township, Magna has a renewed focus, purpose, and drive. Most importantly, the Metro Township has new abilities and opportunities to help grow Magna in a responsible manner. Responsible growth can occur through additional opportunities for home ownership, economic development, and the ability for residents to navigate and circulate throughout the metro township in an orderly and efficient manner. In accordance with the goal of increased influence on Magna’s growth and development, the newly created Magna Metro Township Council wanted to update the general plan. One of the first tasks of the new Metro Township became imminent when representatives from Granite School District attended Council meetings during late 2017 and 2018. In November of 2018, taxpayers in Salt Lake County voted to approve a District bond to construct several new schools within the District including a new Cyprus High School in Magna. A home developer/builder began negotiations and public discussions with respect to a new development just outside the township for property owned by Kennecott/Rio Tinto. The presented plan suggested a 60-acre site for a new Cyprus High School, and roughly 145 acres for residential development under a mixture of housing types. To accommodate the various housing options, the Council contemplated and eventually adopted a new zone, the P-C Zone. This zone requires 200 acres to be zoned contiguously. The new school currently in design is expected to be completed by 2024, with residential development scheduled to commence near 2020. 1.3 The Public Process 1.3.1 The Planning Commission The planning process commenced with an initial public hearing with the Magna Metro Township Planning Commission on May 24, 2017. Moving forward, the planning commission met monthly at a minimum (and twice per month on several occasions) during 2018. These regular meetings helped provide the community with ample opportunities to contribute to the vision of Magna’s future, which is expressed in this General Plan. In addition to planning commission meetings, there was also a scoping meeting with the Metro Township Council on June 29, 2017, along with periodic updates during the summer. These meetings intended to describe the originally proposed General Plan process: an update to the context section of the former plan and the creation of five to six new projects representative of Magna’s current needs. By summer’s end, however, the Planning Commission along with community concerns reached consensus that a partial update would be insufficient to thoroughly address Magna’s current needs. This led to the Council’s decision to completely update the plan. 1.3.2 The Steering Committee To support and guide the General Plan update, the Council recommended the creation of a steering committee, organized by staff and the Planning Commission. The members of this committee (shown below) were chosen to create a diverse group that would bring creative thoughts from a variety of organizations and levels of expertise. The committee was created in October 2017 as the Magna Metro Township General Plan Steering Committee and began meeting officially on November 2, 2017. To date, the committee has met 20 times as detailed below in the Steering Committee Meetings table. The committee was formed to guide a comprehensive update to the plan and refine priorities for the community. The original roles of the Steering Committee were to introduce discussion topics and to support an information-gathering mission. As such, the steering committee was an integral component of the public process. Through the Steering Committee’s work, community engagement thrived. In February of 2019, the committee transitioned to an advisory role by providing feedback regarding the overall content of the plan through brainstorming and editing sessions. This process allowed staff to not only brief both the Planning Commission and Council regularly, but also receive feedback and input that further advanced the planning process. As the committee started the update process, they simply began talking about Magna. They explained what they liked and didn’t like. Open and honest discussions led to an informal understanding of Magna’s current conditions and gave direction to future aspirations. From these discussions, staff created a SWOT Analysis template, which was used to identify Magna’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. From the beginning, the committee worked to identify valued and important community features. The committee wanted the plan to determine, among other things, the desirable attributes Magna covets, and the undesirable characteristics it seeks to reduce or eliminate. The committee also focused on targeting future growth in specific land uses. For example, the committee targeted intensive land uses for growth opportunities, considering Magna’s limited vacant land resources. The committee discussed relevant research. Data showed that building permits in Magna far underperform graduation rates at Cyprus High School. This research suggested Magna is not prepared to accommodate internal growth of children into adult phases of the life cycle. The committee agreed that this perception should change now. The committee structured the early meetings of 2018 by topic. Topics were brainstormed and prioritized. Two to three topics were scheduled for discussion per meeting. The topics below were deliberated, consolidated, and emphasized by the committee. Major topics addressed included discussion of corridors and commercial development, identifying the pros and cons of various residential choices, and defining infill and outer-fill development, sprawl, and density. Initial List of Potential Committee Projects 1. Maintain desirable characteristics of Main Street 2. Accessibility and walkability 3. Blight 4. Increase parking opportunities on Magna Main and in or near the parks 5. Gateways to Magna 6. Trails 7. Balance development 8. Target zones – plan for appropriate future of vacant land 9. Evaluate sales tax data of existing retail adjacent to corridors 10. Determine the possibility of creating a historic district and/or historical