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- Gov. Spencer Cox signed SB239, amending statue related to the Utah Inland Port Authority.
- The bill allows the authority to influence development and purchase land adjacent to project areas, among other changes.
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed SB239 on Monday, expanding the Utah Inland Port Authority's ability to purchase and influence development on land adjacent to existing project areas, among other changes.
Port Authority officials say the move targets the group's Northwest Quadrant project area and will allow greater protections for environmentally sensitive land nearby.
SB239 changes the makeup of the entity's board to include an additional governor appointment; allows revenue to be used to fund other government organizations, like the Department of Natural Resources, for Inland Port purposes; and authorizes land purchases and lease agreements.
Sen. Jerry Stevenson, R-Layton, was the bill sponsor and is a longtime board member of UIPA. Some critics of the bill voiced their concerns at a Senate Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee hearing on Feb. 12, before it was passed to the floor with unanimous approval.
Comments included more general concerns about the port authority and the environmental impacts of increased development near wetland areas.
The amendments, however, add provisions allowing income from various sources to be spent on "environmental sustainability projects," in addition to infrastructure and improvements "on or related to land in a project area."
Committee members did not hear any public comments that gave them pause about the amendments. "It seems to me, in this bill, you're actually improving a lot of these things," Sen. John Johnson, R-Ogden, said. "It's not that the bill is making this worse, so I don't really understand (the criticisms)."
UIPA director Ben Hart told KSL.com that many of the included amendments are geared toward the remediation of the old North Temple Landfill site, which was acquired from the Utah Trust Lands Administration in February. The 770-acre site will be cleaned up over the next six to seven years and prepared for manufacturing businesses, Hart said.
