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Corridor Preservation Fund

Utah State law allows Counties of the First Class (Salt Lake County only) to levy a $10 vehicle registration fee, $3 of which is then placed into the Salt Lake County Local Corridor Preservation Fund. The Local Highway and Transportation Corridor Preservation Fund shall only be used to preserve a highway or public transit corridor that is right-of-way. Corridor preservation corridors may include active transportation projects provided that they are associated with a road.


The Salt Lake County Council of Governments (COG) has the responsibility to review applications for monies from the Fund from the various jurisdictions within Salt Lake County. Upon approval by the COG, these applications are submitted to the Salt Lake County Council for their ratification.

Resources

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Application Process & Checklist

Eligible Projects & Requirements

The Local Highway and Transportation Corridor Preservation Fund may not be used for a highway corridor that is primarily a recreational trail as defined under Utah Code Section 79-5-102.

The project must be included on the 2023-2050 Wasatch Front Regional Council (WFRC) Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) in Phases 1 or 2. The RTP is a long-range blueprint that sets forth the 30-year strategy for regional transportation investments for all modes of transportation. It gets updated every 4 years and each phase represents a time frame of 10 years.

An appraisal and a review appraisal from a licensed appraiser with the state of Utah are needed for every property to be acquired via Corridor Preservation Fund.

The property landowner must be willing to negotiate the sale of land with the jurisdiction. These funds may not be used for eminent domain or other similar procurement.

Properties to be purchased should be free of boundary disputes at the time of application.

Only privately-owned properties qualify for Corridor Preservation Funds. Any properties owned by cities, county, state, or other public agencies/jurisdictions do not qualify for the fund. Public easements do not qualify for this fund.

Tools & Techniques

There are a variety of planning tools that can be used by local governments. These tools basically fall into three categories:

  1. Acquisition
  2. Exercise of planning and zoning powers
  3. Voluntary agreements and governmental inducements

The latter two offer some distinct advantages from a monetary standpoint, as they may not require outright fee simple acquisition of properties.

Some examples of tools that offer interim corridor protection are: option to purchase, official map, General (Master or Comprehensive) Plan designation, concurrency ordinances, zoning, and subdivision controls; development agreements, annexation agreements, voluntary developer reservation, access management, and control, and density transfers within the parcel for which development is proposed.

Some examples of permanent preservation tools are fee simple acquisition, development easements, landowner donation, exchange of property, private land trusts, impact fees, exactions, recoupment ordinances, set-back ordinances, transfer of development rights, and development agreements.