Danya Rumore, Ph.D.

Director, Environmental Dispute Resolution (EDR) Program

Professor of law and planning, University of Utah

Founder, GNAR Initiative

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GNARly Challenges, GNARly Solutions:

Integrated housing, transportation, and land use challenges in gateway communities

Purpose of study

The aim of this study is to:

• Explore the state of planning and development in western gateway communities, particularly in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic
• Create tools, guidelines, and planning and policy recommendations to assist gateway communities and the regions around them in responding to current and emerging challenges and opportunities

More specifically…

• Document, better understand, and draw attention to what is happening in western GNARs
• How has COVID-19 and related amenity migration and remote worker migration affected these places?
• Start to develop a longitudinal database (2018 + 2021 data)
• Tell the story of of these places
• Better understand their challenges and opportunities
• Not just study problems - start to illuminate strategies and solutions
• Help these places protect the things that make them special
• Develop tools, resources, and lessons learned
• Identify barriers and create policy, planning, etc. recommendations
• Other ways we can help?

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Methods

• Survey of western GNAR communities
• Database of over 1800 western GNAR communities - to west coast
• Census data analysis
• Will use to analyze survey results and study trends across western GNAR communities
• Case studies of 6+ GNAR communities
• Some fully developed, some feeling major development pressure
• Commuter-shed mapping for case study communities
• Is LODES data = accurate and good approach?
• Develop tools and approaches GNAR communities can use
• Peer-to-peer community learning workshops
• Cohort-based learning for involved communities
• GNAR Workshop Class (virtual, via UofU)

Status: Survey

• Survey in progress
• Sent to 1000+ GNAR public officials
• Open until around the end of March
• Aiming for 300+ responses
• Can share the questionnaire if anyone is curious

Status: Case studies

• 6 case studies underway
• Whitefish, MT
• Big Sky, MT
• Jackson, WY
• Aspen, CO
• Tahoe, CA
• Moab, UT
• 2 more case studies primed and ready to go
• Vail, CO
• Springdale, UT
• Detailed case study template and methodology
• Vision: keep adding case studies, build a large database
• Great for student thesis or capstone projects…
• Partnership effort with communities

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Status: Commuter-shed mapping

Philip will talk about this

Timeline

• Survey closes around end of March
• At least 6 case studies done by end of summer
• Report to NITC at end of 2022
• Keep the study rolling, as resources and energy allow!
• Starting this fall, translate research into tools, webinars, policy and planning recommendations, webinars, etc.

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Thanks to NITC for initial funding this research

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Cost match from Whitefish, MT and APA ID

https://www.usu.edu/gnar/research/gnar_housing_and_transportation_study

Danya Rumore, Ph.D.

Director, Environmental Dispute Resolution Program

Wallace Stegner Center, S.J. Quinney College of Law

City and Metropolitan Planning Department

Danya.Rumore@law.utah.edu

#208-659-1415

https://law.utah.edu/projects/edr/

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www.gnar.usu.edu

https://www.usu.edu/gnar/research/gnar_housing_and_transportation_study

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Stoker, Rumore, Romaniello, and Levine (2020) “Planning and Development Challenges in Western Gateway Communities,” Journal of the American Planning Association.

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