63N-3a-101. Definitions.
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Effective 5/6/2026
63N-3a-101. Definitions.
As used in this chapter:
(1)"Affordable housing" means:
(a)for homes that are not owner-occupied, housing occupied or reserved for occupancy by households with a gross household income equal to or less than 80% of the county median gross income for households of the same size; or
(i)for homes that are owner-occupied, housing occupied or reserved for occupancy by households with a gross household income equal to or less than 120% of the median gross income for households of the same size in the county in which the housing is located; or
(ii)for homes that are owner-occupied, housing that is priced at 80% of the zip code median home price if:
(A)the proposal demonstrates that a deviation from the county median home price will achieve the objectives described in Section 63N-3a-103 ; and
(B)the zip code median home price is based upon county property tax assessment data.
(2)"Agency" means the same as that term is defined in Section 17C-1-102 .
(3)"Base taxable value" means a property's taxable value as shown upon the assessment roll last equalized during the base year.
(4)"Base year" means:
(a)the calendar year in which the committee approves a regionally significant development zone; or
(b)a calendar year that the committee establishes when the committee approves a regionally significant development zone, which may not be a calendar year more than five years from the year in which the committee approves the regionally significant development zone.
(5)"Bus rapid transit" means a high-quality bus-based transit system that delivers fast and efficient service that may include dedicated lanes, busways, traffic signal priority, off-board fare collection, elevated platforms, and enhanced stations.
(6)"Bus rapid transit station" means an existing station, stop, or terminal, or a proposed station, stop, or terminal that is specifically identified as needed in phase one of a metropolitan planning organization's adopted long-range transportation plan:
(a)along an existing bus rapid transit line; or
(b)along an extension to an existing bus rapid transit line or new bus rapid transit line.
(7)"Committee" means the increment financing committee created in Section 63N-3a-102 .
(a)"Commuter rail" means a regional passenger rail transit facility operated by a large public transit district.
(b)"Commuter rail" does not include a light-rail passenger rail facility of a large public transit district.
(9)"Commuter rail station" means an existing station, stop, or terminal, or a proposed station, stop, or terminal, which has been specifically identified as needed in phase one of a metropolitan planning organization's adopted long-range transportation plan:
(a)along an existing commuter rail line;
(b)along an extension to an existing commuter rail line or new commuter rail line;
(c)along a fixed guideway extension from an existing commuter rail line; or
(d)at the landing point of a pedestrian bridge or vehicle bridge extending from an existing commuter rail station.
(10)"Creating entity" means:
(a)a municipality; or
(b)a county.
(a)"Developable area" means the portion of land within a zone available for development and construction of uses that met the relevant objectives described in Part 3, Specific Provisions for Certain Zones.
(b)"Developable area" does not include portions of land within a zone intended for development that are allocated to:
(i)parks;
(ii)open spaces;
(iii)trails;
(iv)parking;
(v)roadway facilities; or
(vi)other public facilities.
(12)"Dwelling unit" means one or more rooms arranged for the use of one or more individuals living together, as a single housekeeping unit, with cooking, living, sanitary, and sleeping facilities.
(13)"Enhanced development" means the construction of mixed uses including housing, commercial, recreational, and related facilities.
(14)"Enhanced development costs" means extra costs associated with structured parking costs, vertical construction costs, horizontal construction costs, life safety costs, structural costs, conveyor or elevator costs, and other costs incurred due to the increased height of buildings or enhanced development.
(15)"Extraterritorial home" means a dwelling that is included as part of a proposal that:
(a)is located within the municipality making the proposal but outside the boundary of the proposed project area;
(b)is part of a development with a density of at least six units per acre;
(c)is not located within an existing project area, a housing and transit reinvestment zone, a first home investment zone, or an area that could be included in a housing and transit reinvestment zone or a first home investment zone;
(d)has not been issued a building permit by the municipality as of the date of the approval of the project area; and
(e)is required to be owner occupied for no less than 25 years.
(16)"Fixed guideway" means the same as that term is defined in Section 59-12-102 .
(17)"High-density residential" means a minimum of 30 residential units per acre.
(18)"Home" means a dwelling unit.
(19)"Horizontal construction costs" means the additional costs associated with earthwork, over excavation, utility work, transportation infrastructure, and landscaping to achieve enhanced development in a regionally significant development zone.
(20)"Impacted primary area" means land described in a proposal:
(a)outside of a proposed zone boundary; and
(b)that is crucial to one or more aspects of the development of the zone.
(21)"Increment financing" means a public entity's utilization of:
(a)property tax increment; or
(b)any other portion of public revenue that is calculated using a base year and revenue growth following the base year, if the public revenue is authorized for use by a committee.
(22)"Large public transit district" means the same as that term is defined in Section 17B-2a-802 .
(23)"Light rail" means a passenger rail public transit system with right-of-way and fixed rails:
(a)dedicated to exclusive use by light-rail public transit vehicles;
(b)that may cross streets at grade; and
(c)that may share parts of surface streets.
(24)"Light rail station" means an existing station, stop, or terminal or a proposed station, stop, or terminal, which has been specifically identified as needed in phase one of a metropolitan planning organization's adopted long-range transportation plan:
(a)along an existing light rail line; or
(b)along an extension to an existing light rail line or new light rail line.
(25)"Metropolitan planning organization" means the same as that term is defined in Section 72-1-208.5 .
(26)"Mixed use development" means development with a mix of:
(a)multi-family residential use; and
(b)at least one additional land use, which shall be a significant portion of the overall development.
(27)"Moderate income housing" means residential units where a household whose income is no more than 80% of the area median income is able to occupy the housing unit paying no more than 30% of the household's income for gross housing costs, including utilities.
(28)"Municipality" means the same as that term is defined in Section 10-1-104 .
(29)"Notification of increment financing" means a document, physical or electronic, provided by a regional economic development authority to the office describing the regional economic development authority's intent to trigger and utilize one or more forms of increment financing.
(a)"Owner occupied" means private real property that is:
(i)used for a single-family residential purpose; and
(ii)occupied by the owner of the real property.
(b)"Owner occupied" includes real property that is used for a multi-family residential purpose if each dwelling unit on the real property is occupied by the owner of the dwelling unit.
(31)"Participant" means the same as that term is defined in Section 17C-1-102 .
(32)"Participation agreement" means the same as that term is defined in Section 17C-1-102 , except that the agency may not provide and the person may not receive a direct subsidy.
(33)"Project" means the enterprise to be pursued through the proposal of a regionally significant development zone.
(a)"Project improvements" means site improvements and facilities that are:
(i)planned and designed to provide service for development resulting from a development activity;
(ii)necessary for the use and convenience of the occupants or users of development resulting from a development activity; and
(iii)not identified or reimbursed as a system improvement.
(b)"Project improvements" does not mean system improvements.
(a)"Property tax increment" means the difference between:
(i)the amount of property tax revenue generated each tax year by all taxing entities, except as provided in Subsection (35)(b) , from within a regionally significant development zone, using the current assessed value and each taxing entity's current certified tax rate as defined in Section 59-2-924 ; and
(ii)the amount of property tax revenue that would be generated from that same area using the base taxable value and each taxing entity's current certified tax rate as defined in Section 59-2-924 .
(b)"Property tax increment" does not include property tax revenue from:
(i)a multicounty assessing and collecting levy described in Subsection 59-2-1602(2) ;
(ii)a county additional property tax described in Subsection 59-2-1602(4) ;
(iii)a levy imposed by a public infrastructure district as described in Section 17D-4-303 ; or
(iv)a public library fund levy described in Subsection 9-7-501(2) .
(36)"Proposal" means a document, physical or electronic, developed by a creating entity:
(a)outlining the need for the creation of a regionally significant development zone;
(b)explaining whether the zone is proposed to create:
(i)a regionally significant transit-oriented development, as described in Section 63N-3a-301 ;
(ii)a regionally significant first home village, as described in Section 63N-3a-302 ;
(iii)a regionally significant economic development opportunity, as described in Section 63N-3a-303 ;
(c)describing how the relevant objectives would be achieved by the creation of the regionally significant development zone;
(d)describing the boundaries of the proposed regionally significant development zone;
(e)describing the impacted primary area, if any, of a proposed regionally significant development zone; and
(f)that is submitted to a committee.
(37)"Public transit county" means a county that has created a small public transit district.
(38)"Public transit hub" means a public transit depot or station where four or more routes serving separate parts of the county-created transit district stop to transfer riders between routes.
(39)"Qualified development zone" means the property within a project area, and, if applicable, the impacted primary area, as approved by the committee.
(40)"Regional economic development authority" means:
(a)the Utah Inland Port Authority created in Section 11-58-201 ;
(b)the Point of the Mountain Land Use Authority created in Section 11-59-201 ;
(c)the Utah Fairpark Area Investment and Restoration District created in Section 11-70-201 ; or
(d)the Military Installation Development Authority created in Section 63H-1-201 .
(a)"Regionally significant development zone" means an area:
(i)created as described in Part 2, Creation of Regionally Significant Development Zones;
(ii)governed as described in Title 17C, Chapter 6, Regionally Significant Development Zone Act; and
(iii)in which a creating entity is able to promote efficient use of transit, housing affordability, or regional economic growth.
(42)"Small public transit district" means the same as that term is defined in Section 17B-2a-802 .
(a)"System improvements" means existing and future public facilities that are designed to provide services to service areas within the community at large.
(b)"System improvements" does not mean project improvements.
(44)"Tax commission" means the State Tax Commission created in Section 59-1-201 .
(45)"Taxing entity" means the same as that term is defined in Section 17C-1-102 .
(a)"Tax increment" means the difference between:
(i)the amount of tax revenue generated each tax year from a particular revenue source by all taxing entities within a particular area after an established base year; and
(ii)the amount of revenue that would be generated from the same particular revenue source and from the same particular area during the established base year.
(b)"Tax increment" includes tax differential, property tax allocation, enhanced property tax revenue, property tax augmentation, or any other term that meets the definition described in Subsection (46)(a) .
(47)"Transportation system" means:
(a)a street, alley, road, highway, pathway, or thoroughfares of any kind, including connected structures;
(b)an airport or aerial transit infrastructure;
(c)a light rail and light rail station;
(d)a public transit facility; or
(e)any other modes or forms of conveyance used by the public.
(48)"Vertical construction costs" means the additional costs associated with construction above four stories and structured parking to achieve enhanced development in a project area.
Enacted by Chapter 373 , 2026 General Session