Rep. Norm Thurston — Voting Record

Bill

Number

H.B. 256 Second Substitute (2021GS)

Sponsor

Rep. Teuscher, J.

Final action

Governor Signed 3/16/2021

Outcome

Became law — signed by Gov. Spencer J. Cox

Summary

What it does

• This bill:
• provides that a provision in a county development agreement is unenforceable if the provision requires the initiation of annexation processes as a condition for issuing building permits or otherwise regulating development activities within an unincorporated area of the county.

Every vote on this bill

Bill text

COUNTY LAND USE AND DEVELOPMENT AMENDMENTS
GENERAL SESSION
STATE OF UTAH
Chief Sponsor: Jordan D. Teuscher
Senate Sponsor: 
Lincoln Fillmore
LONG TITLE
General Description:
This bill amends provisions related to county land use and development.
Highlighted Provisions:
This bill:
▸ provides that a provision in a county development agreement is unenforceable if the
provision requires the initiation of annexation processes as a condition for issuing
building permits or otherwise regulating development activities within an
unincorporated area of the county.
Money Appropriated in this Bill:
None
Other Special Clauses:
None
Utah Code Sections Affected:
AMENDS:
17-27a-102
, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2019, Chapter 384
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
Section 1. Section 
17-27a-102
 is amended to read:
17-27a-102.
Purposes -- General land use authority -- Limitations.
(1) (a) The purposes of this chapter are to:
(i) provide for the health, safety, and welfare;
(ii) promote the prosperity;
(iii) improve the morals, peace, good order, comfort, convenience, and aesthetics of
each county and each county's present and future inhabitants and businesses;
(iv) protect the tax base;
(v) secure economy in governmental expenditures;
(vi) foster the state's agricultural and other industries;
(vii) protect both urban and nonurban development;
(viii) protect and ensure access to sunlight for solar energy devices;
(ix) provide fundamental fairness in land use regulation;
(x) facilitate orderly growth and allow growth in a variety of housing types; and
(xi) protect property values.
(b) [
To
] 
Except as provided in Subsection (4), to
 accomplish the purposes of this
chapter, a county may enact all ordinances, resolutions, and rules and may enter into other
forms of land use controls and development agreements that the county considers necessary or
appropriate for the use and development of land within the unincorporated area of the county or
a designated mountainous planning district, including ordinances, resolutions, rules, restrictive
covenants, easements, and development agreements governing:
(i) uses;
(ii) density;
(iii) open spaces;
(iv) structures;
(v) buildings;
(vi) energy-efficiency;
(vii) light and air;
(viii) air quality;
(ix) transportation and public or alternative transportation;
(x) infrastructure;
(xi) street and building orientation and width requirements;
(xii) public facilities;
(xiii) fundamental fairness in land use regulation; and
(xiv) considerations of surrounding land uses to balance the foregoing purposes with a
landowner's private property interests and associated statutory and constitutional protections.
(2) Each county shall comply with the mandatory provisions of this part before any
agreement or contract to provide goods, services, or municipal-type services to any storage
facility or transfer facility for high-level nuclear waste, or greater than class C radioactive
waste, may be executed or implemented.
(3) (a) Any ordinance, resolution, or rule enacted by a county pursuant to its authority
under this chapter shall comply with the state's exclusive jurisdiction to regulate oil and gas
activity, as described in Section 
40-6-2.5
.
(b) A county may enact an ordinance, resolution, or rule that regulates surface activity
incident to an oil and gas activity if the county demonstrates that the regulation:
(i) is necessary for the purposes of this chapter;
(ii) does not effectively or unduly limit, ban, or prohibit an oil and gas activity; and
(iii) does not interfere with the state's exclusive jurisdiction to regulate oil and gas
activity, as described in Section 
40-6-2.5
.
(4) (a) This Subsection (4) applies to development agreements entered into on or after
May 5, 2021.
(b) A provision in a county development agreement is unenforceable if the provision
requires an individual or an entity, as a condition for issuing building permits or otherwise
regulating development activities within an unincorporated area of the county, to initiate a
process for a municipality to annex the unincorporated area in accordance with Title 10,
Chapter 2, Part 4, Annexation.
(c) Subsection (4)(b) does not affect or impair the enforceability of any other provision
in the development agreement.