Are housing initiatives driving up prices?

"Government regulation is being used to plan communities as opposed to the marketplace," Mero said. "If government would just provide oversight for health and safety matters and then let the marketplace handle the distribution of our communities and how they are laid out and set up, I think Utah would continue to be a marvelous place to live. But the more we try to appease environmentalism, all in the name of being 'smart,' I think we are headed down a track where Utah is not going to be the unique, livable place that it is today."

Ted Knowlton, assistant executive director of Envision Utah and planning director, said he has not read the study, but some of the things he has heard about it are "problematic." Envision Utah's planners are reviewing it and may come out with definitive responses next week.

"One of the things we're looking into is the fact that they referred to all planning in Utah as smart growth, but unfortunately, we don't believe there is a substantial amount of smart growth in the state," Knowlton said. "If we had more smart growth, we'd see less of these cost increases. Envision Utah promotes a number of strategies that lead to good-looking products that don't necessarily drive up costs."

Smart growth, Knowlton added, also focuses on transportation, by encouraging higher-density housing to be coordinated with public transportation.

"If you're doing that, you can save a substantial amount," Knowlton said. "Saying planning is bad is like saying a hammer is bad. It's just all in how it's used."

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