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Only in America could a person consider Salt Lake City "full" or too dense. The area is an enormous sprawl with almost no density. It's true that there are some

Only in America could a person consider Salt Lake City "full" or too dense. The area is an enormous sprawl with almost no density. It's true that there are some mountain ranges, but there are plentiful passes that lead into adjacent large valleys. They only way you run out of room is if everyone needs a suburban McMansion.

AnimalMuppet 6y ago
True on both counts. But to build dense apartments,you'd have to tear down existing stuff (for the most part). That's not an impossible obstacle, of course, but it would take rezoning. I don't know how easy that is to do here. And yes, there are other valleys. Summit County isn't great, though, partly because it's very expensive (ski resort country), and partly because the valleys are very small. There's Tooele Valley to the west, but access is a problem (the valley is west of the Salt Lake Valley, and runs north-south, but the only connection is at the north end). There's the valley Nephi is in, south of Provo. (Maybe 10 years ago I considered buying some land on the northern side of this valley, on the idea that it would eventually become subdivisions.) I wouldn't want to live there and work anywhere north of Provo, though. And Utah doesn't (yet) have the mindset to accept two-hour commutes. So yes, you're right. And yet... it's going to take either zoning changes or long commute times, and I'm not sure what the appetite here is for either.
- TulliusCicero 6y ago
  > That's not an impossible obstacle, of course, but it would take rezoning. I don't know how easy that is to do here. Depends on what dimension you're measuring. Technically? Easy, at one point most of the US didn't have strict zoning, and most peer nations have nothing like this, it's hardly necessary. And usually these cities allow for apartments somewhere in the city, even if it's a small strip of land, it's not some unknown concept. Politically? Hoo boy, that's a hard one. Because most Americans who live in these areas hate anything other than super low housing density.
bpodgursky 6y ago
Much of the original reason Silicon Valley took off as a tech hub where New York, Chicago and other dense cities failed, was that it appealed to engineers with families, who wanted a stable place to raise kids in comfort. If SLC is trying to be the next SV, there's no reason to emulate cities which tried and failed to be tech hubs. Model against the winners.
- TulliusCicero 6y ago
  Or, it took off because California had rules preventing non-competes. Look at the tech hubs currently. Other than SV proper, you have SF, Boston, NYC, Seattle. The sprawlier, housing cheaper major cities like Phoenix or Atlanta aren't really in there.
desert_boi 6y ago
Average household size in the Mormon heartland of Utah (3.3) and Idaho (2.6)[1] are much higher than many places in the developed world (and even the hinterlands of the US). It's unfortunate that this has lead to zoning where a population density in Salt Lake is 700 people per square km and in Boise is 1,000. Meridian, ID the rapidly growing outer burb of Boise has a density of 1.3K. [1] https://www.indexmundi.com/facts/united-states/quick-facts/all-states/average-household-size#map https://www.indexmundi.com/facts/united-states/quick-facts/a...
neutronicus 6y ago
If it's anything like Colorado it's not space that's the issue it's water
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

AnimalMuppet 6y ago

True on both counts. But to build dense apartments,you'd have to tear down existing stuff (for the most part). That's not an impossible obstacle, of course, but it would take rezoning. I don't know how easy that is to do here. And yes, there are other valleys. Summit County isn't great, though, partly because it's very expensive (ski resort country), and partly because the valleys are very small. There's Tooele Valley to the west, but access is a problem (the valley is west of the Salt Lake Valley, and runs north-south, but the only connection is at the north end). There's the valley Nephi is in, south of Provo. (Maybe 10 years ago I considered buying some land on the northern side of this valley, on the idea that it would eventually become subdivisions.) I wouldn't want to live there and work anywhere north of Provo, though. And Utah doesn't (yet) have the mindset to accept two-hour commutes. So yes, you're right. And yet... it's going to take either zoning changes or long commute times, and I'm not sure what the appetite here is for either.

TulliusCicero 6y ago
> That's not an impossible obstacle, of course, but it would take rezoning. I don't know how easy that is to do here. Depends on what dimension you're measuring. Technically? Easy, at one point most of the US didn't have strict zoning, and most peer nations have nothing like this, it's hardly necessary. And usually these cities allow for apartments somewhere in the city, even if it's a small strip of land, it's not some unknown concept. Politically? Hoo boy, that's a hard one. Because most Americans who live in these areas hate anything other than super low housing density.

bpodgursky 6y ago

Much of the original reason Silicon Valley took off as a tech hub where New York, Chicago and other dense cities failed, was that it appealed to engineers with families, who wanted a stable place to raise kids in comfort. If SLC is trying to be the next SV, there's no reason to emulate cities which tried and failed to be tech hubs. Model against the winners.

TulliusCicero 6y ago
Or, it took off because California had rules preventing non-competes. Look at the tech hubs currently. Other than SV proper, you have SF, Boston, NYC, Seattle. The sprawlier, housing cheaper major cities like Phoenix or Atlanta aren't really in there.

desert_boi 6y ago

Average household size in the Mormon heartland of Utah (3.3) and Idaho (2.6)[1] are much higher than many places in the developed world (and even the hinterlands of the US). It's unfortunate that this has lead to zoning where a population density in Salt Lake is 700 people per square km and in Boise is 1,000. Meridian, ID the rapidly growing outer burb of Boise has a density of 1.3K. [1] https://www.indexmundi.com/facts/united-states/quick-facts/all-states/average-household-size#map https://www.indexmundi.com/facts/united-states/quick-facts/a...

neutronicus 6y ago

If it's anything like Colorado it's not space that's the issue it's water

deleted 6y ago
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