Salt Lake City planners want to ensure a new North Temple TRAX route slices through City Hall's red tape.

To that end, they hope to create a new North Temple zoning district along the planned airport TRAX line that would lead to shorter reviews for transit-focused developments.

"This is a major change for Salt Lake City, which has relied on the conditional-use process to regulate development," Community and Economic Development Director Frank Gray has written to the City Council. "The overall goal of the [transit station area] zoning district is to promote desirable development by making the process easier and shorter."

Gray says the "new approach" would use a tiered scoring system, rewarding developments such as affordable housing and historic preservation. A project scoring in the lowest tier would be subject to a public hearing before the Planning Commission. The second tier would fall to the administrative hearing process, while top-tier proposals would be considered compliant. The zone also would allow for additional building height if the project scores in the top tier.

"This has the potential," Gray writes, "to reduce the carrying costs of a development prior to receiving entitlements."

A project also must meet a certain threshold before it would be eligible for Redevelopment Agency funds.

Gray argues the existing zoning along North Temple does not accommodate the community's vision for the corridor and adjacent neighborhoods.

The Planning Commission has scheduled a May 12 public hearing on the proposed zoning district.

Derek P. Jensen