Planning
Adopted Neighborhood Plans
• 1. Canyon View, Orchard, & Cascade Neighborhood Plan
• 2. Orem North & Sharon Park Neighborhood Plan
• 3. Northridge, Heatheridge, & Windsor Neighborhood Plan
• 4. Aspen & Timpview Neighborhood Plan
• 5. Geneva Heights, Orem Park, & Suncrest Neighborhood Plan
• 6. Orem, Sharon, & Hillcrest Neighborhood Plan
• 7. Stonewood & Lakeridge Neighborhood Plan
• 8. Sunset Heights East & West Neighborhood Plan
• 9. Lakeview & Cherry Hill Neighborhood Plan
What is a neighborhood plan?
The law requires that cities develop and adopt a general plan. A general plan is a comprehensive long-term plan for the physical development of the city. In a way, it is a “blueprint” for future development of the city (the Orem City General Plan can be found here). Because this plan deals with the entire city, it is often fairly general—which is why it’s called a general plan.
A few years ago, Orem City decided to develop more specific neighborhood plans. The City’s neighborhoods were organized into 9 groups. A neighborhood plan was developed and adopted for each neighborhood group. Each plan was developed under the direction of city staff, is in harmony with the City’s general plan, and relied on representative participation from residents and businesses located in the neighborhoods.
How long did it take to develop a plan?
Each neighborhood plan was developed and completed over a several month process. Typically, three public meetings were held: a kick-off meeting, a progress meeting, and a final meeting to present a draft of the plan. In the beginning, residents from the neighborhoods were asked to be on a neighborhood advisory committee made up of neighborhood representatives—residents and local business owners. In between the public meetings, several smaller meetings are held with the neighborhood advisory committees, developing goals, vision statements and learning about city departments and their roles in the neighborhoods. Once a plan has been created, it will be presented to the Orem Planning Commission and the Orem City Council for adoption as an appendix to the general plan. It is anticipated that each neighborhood plan will be updated around every five years.
What is the main purpose of the plans?
Each neighborhood plan is structured the same, with city-level information and specific information around five main areas comprising the chapters of each plan. The primary purpose of the plans is to communicate the major goals, objectives, and concerns of the neighborhood to city leaders—both elected officials and staff. When leaders are making a decision which affects a particular neighborhood in Orem, they will have a plan to refer to that provides a representative vision of what the neighborhood wants.
When was my neighborhood plan completed and what is next?
In 2020, the last neighborhood plans were completed and adopted. The next phase of the Neighborhood Plans is to focus on the goals and objectives that were developed as part of each neighborhood plan over the five year process (see the tab below for more details). It is anticipated at this time that future neighborhood plan updates will be completed in the same order. The map above neighborhood plan groups and the order of completion. The order is as follows:
• 1. Canyon View, Orchard, & Cascade Neighborhood Plan
• 2. Orem North & Sharon Park Neighborhood Plan
• 3. Northridge, Heatheridge, & Windsor Neighborhood Plan
• 4. Aspen & Timpview Neighborhood Plan
• 5. Geneva Heights, Orem Park, & Suncrest Neighborhood Plan
• 6. Orem, Sharon, & Hillcrest Neighborhood Plan
• 7. Stonewood & Lakeridge Neighborhood Plan
• 8. Sunset Heights East & West Neighborhood Plan
• 9. Lakeview & Cherry Hill Neighborhood Plan
What are the Neighborhood Goals?
Through the development of the Orem City Neighborhood Plans each plan identified major goals, objectives, and concerns of the neighborhood. These have been organized under topics around land use, transportation, economic development, public works, and neighborhood preservation.
View the goals here:
What is the Imagine Orem: Geneva Road Area-Wide Plan?
In 2017, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) selected the City of Orem as a Brownfield Area-Wide Plan (AWP) grant recipient. The AWP program assists communities in responding to local brownfields challenges, particularly where multiple brownfield sites are in close proximity, connected by infrastructure, and limit the economic, environmental and social prosperity of their surroundings, areas such as the Geneva Road corridor.
The Imagine Orem: Geneva Road plan focuses on developing a strategy for addressing brownfields in the Geneva Road corridor. This historic industrial area continues to be an important source of employment and tax revenue for the City. However, it also contains many vacant and blighted brownfield sites, owing to commercial and industrial uses historically located in the community.
Purpose of the Plan
Orem is bounded to the east by mountains, to the west by Utah Lake, and to the north and south by neighboring communities. With very little remaining undeveloped land, Orem has few places left to grow. Future development will depend on strategic infill of the City’s existing sites, including underutilized brownfield and industrial properties in the Geneva Road corridor.
It is critical for the City to engage in a planning process now to ensure that the redevelopment of Geneva Road’s valuable industrial properties is reflective of the community’s vision for the area and will provide robust community benefits. While it is anticipated that much of the Geneva Road corridor will remain industrial in nature, there are opportunities to include new commercial and mixed-use properties to compliment the new development that is occurring nearby.
Geneva Road Area-Wide Plan: Preliminary Documents
The following document has been produced as part of the preliminary plan process. It is anticipated that the final plan will be completed and adopted in early 2019.
Maps and Graphics
What is the State Street Corridor Master Plan?
In 2015 the City Council adopted the State Street Corridor Master Plan which established the vision for the future of State Street. The Plan identified five distinct “districts” that are centered around major intersections (1600 N., 800 N., Center Street, 800 S., University Parkway). The strategy behind the districts is to allow for new types of development (such as mixed-use developments) that contribute to a vibrant downtown atmosphere. At the same time, the City’s goal is to limit high-density residential developments in other areas that are not within these districts.
This strategic approach to growth management will both protect single-family neighborhoods from high-density encroachment, while also providing a downtown place where denser developments are appropriate and where the infrastructure is better suited to handle it. Given the current housing shortage, this is an approach to both fill the immediate housing need, while also protecting well-established neighborhoods from drastic or sudden change.
The Imagine Orem Campaign and Public Involvement
From 2015 to 2018, the City has engaged with the public to take the “district” concept from the Plan and to create zoning laws for new developments within the districts. This process has involved multiple stakeholders, including Orem residents, business and property owners, elected officials, private consultants, and Orem City Staff.
A crucial part of this project involved an extensive outreach effort through the newly-formed “Imagine Orem” campaign. The goal of this campaign has been to provide multiple opportunities for the public to weigh in. Additionally, the City updated its approach to public meetings, with more activities for kids, interactive presentations, games, competitions, and free food. Where previous meetings would typically have a dozen or so attendees, the Imagine Orem events had several hundred. (see the “Imagine Orem” webpage to learn more about these events).
Puting the Plan into Practice
In June 2018, the City Council passed the “City Center District” ordinance, which laid the groundwork for the remaining four districts. At the same time, the Council passed an ordinance that restricted Staff from accepting any applications for residential “PD” (Planned Development) zones in an existing residential zone (PD zones are what have traditionally been used for high-density apartment developments). This means all single-family zones are off limits to high-density housing. (This does not apply to “PRD” zones, which still allows medium-density townhomes/rowhomes in residential areas. Also, existing PD zones with residential uses will be allowed to continue to operate and develop, but they cannot expand into a neighborhood. There are also a couple developments that have been “grandfathered in” due to having applications submitted prior to this ordinance.)
Over the second half of 2018, Staff focused on working with the public to find out what elements should be specifically tailored to each remaining district. For example, the “Arts District” has a separate art component not found in other districts. This will make the Arts District unique and identifiable as new art pieces go up. Finally, in October 2018, the City Council passed ordinances for the remaining four State Street Districts, which means we now have all five districts officially adopted!
So what happens next?
Let’s keep this clear: EXISTING DEVELOPMENT WILL NOT BE REQUIRED TO CHANGE (this came up as a repeated concern.) The new zoning laws only apply when a property owner is ready to redevelop their property. Any existing buildings that do not meet the new ordinance are allowed to continue to remain standing and function indefinitely. It is only when an owner decides to re-build or build a significant expansion onto their building (more than 15% of their square footage) that these ordinances kick in. Properties can be sold to a new owner, and that new owner can keep things as they are as well. Additionally, any existing permitted uses (such as a restaurant or car dealership) remain permitted under the new ordinance.
How will this roll out over time?
Over the next decade or more (depending on market conditions), we will likely see several properties in these districts start to redevelop (a full redevelopment of all districts will most likely take more than 20 years.) Incrementally, we will see the formation of little downtown areas, with identifiable landmarks and amenities in each district. We will see new types of signage (such as monument signs) replacing pole signs, buildings brought up close to the street (shielding their parking lots from view), separated sidewalks with street trees lining the corridor, and little spaces for the public such as dining plazas, pocket parks, and outdoor seating. This new, attractive corridor will foster successful businesses, create a healthy and beautiful downtown center, and be a safe environment for people using several modes of transportation. At the same time, our single-family neighborhoods will not see the same degree of redevelopment.
We can now move forward with a much greater sense of predictability for State Street and the overall development of the city. You can read through each of the district ordinances by visiting the links below. Feel free to reach out to Staff with any questions. On behalf of the City of Orem, thank you for contributing your input and for helping shape the future of your city!
State Street Districts Ordinance and Maps:
The law requires that cities develop and adopt a general plan. A general plan is a comprehensive long-term plan for the physical development of the city. In a way, it is a “blueprint” for future development of the city. Because this plan deals with the entire city, it is often fairly general—which is why it’s called a general plan. To view the Orem City 2018 General Plan, click on the following link:
Orem City General Plan
According to US Census data, from 2000 to 2016 the City of Orem increased from 84,324 residents to an estimated 97,499. While adding 13,175 new residents over 16 years is nothing to sneeze at, it equates to an average annual growth rate of just 1%.
By comparison, Utah County added 223,759 residents over the same period growing at an average annual rate of 3.2%. A growth rate of 3.2% means the population will double every 22 years, versus every 70 years at a 1% growth rate. In other words, Utah County is growing a lot faster than the City of Orem—-particularly the northern end of the County. Back in the 90’s, Orem accounted for a quarter of the County’s population. In 2016, it made up only around 16.5%.
What does this all mean? There is currently a popular misunderstanding that Orem is growing fast, perhaps too fast to manage. The reality is that Orem’s population growth is positive, but certainly not out of control. Orem is growing slower than Utah County on average and also slower than the State of Utah (Utah’s annual average growth rate from 2000 to 2016 was 2.1%).
Orem’s State Street Corridor Master Plan outlines the City’s plan for new growth. One of the major objectives of this plan is to focus new development along State Street at major intersections rather than having it occur in other areas haphazardly. This will protect the existing residential neighborhoods throughout the City and also encourage reinvestment along State Street.
What is Current Planning?
Current Planning is the first stop for a person wishing to develop a new project, add-on to an existing home or business, change the use of a property, or subdivide land. Current Planning is responsible for administering the Orem City zoning code and related land use ordinances. Our planning staff assists the public with questions related to the zoning code such as zoning classifications, permitted land uses, and development standards.
Notices for Current Planning Projects (and Public Hearings)
Did you recently receive a notice in the mail announcing a proposed change to a nearby property and/or a public hearing to take place? Please click on the link below for more information. The link will take you to a public Dropbox folder containing the relevant files. Please refer to your notice for the name of the project in the event that there are multiple projects currently being considered.
Orem Forum is an online forum for civic engagement. Read what others are saying about important Orem topics, then post your own statement.
Orem Forum is currently under redesign! Check back soon for a new site and ways to get engaged!
Orem City completed a parking study in April of 2019 providing recommendations for new parking requirements for selected land uses associated with new development. These recommendations are based on recognized standards, local parking counts, and proximity to existing and future transit. (The Parking Study can be found here).
Under the Utah Code, Municipal legislative bodies must annually:
• Update 5-year estimates of moderate-income housing needs UCA 10-9a-408 and 17-27a-408.
• Conduct a review of the moderate-income housing element and its implementation; and
• Report the findings for updated planning to the Housing and Community Development Division (HCDD) of the Utah Department of Workforce Services and their Association of Government or Metropolitan Planning Organization no later than December 1 of each year.
• Post the report on their municipality’s website.
In accordance with UCA 10-9a-401 and 17-27a-401 municipalities that must report regularly are:
• Cities of the first, second, third, and fourth class (or have 10,000 or more residents).
UCA 10-9a-403 (2)(b)(iii) and 17-27a-403 (2)(b)(ii) requires municipalities to include three or more strategies in their moderate-income housing element of their general plan. In addition to the recommendations required under 10-9a-403 (2)(b)(iii) and 17-27a-403 (2)(b)(ii), for a municipality that has a fixed guideway public transit station, shall include a recommendation to implement the strategies described in 10-9a-403 (2)(b)(iii)(G) or (H) and 17-27a-403 (2)(b)(ii)(G) or (H). Municipalities shall annually progress on implementing these recommendations.
Orem City 2020 Moderate Income Housing Report: