Missing Middle Housing

Rob Terry

Statewide Land Use Training Director

Office of the Property Rights Ombudsman

robterry@utah.gov

How do development styles and types serve and shape a community?

Desirable communities focus on People, Places, and Progress

Community Considerations

• People
• Individuals, households, neighborhoods, and communities
• Places
• Balancing growth with tradition/history, improved access, nature, and maintenance
• Progress
• Business activities and opportunities, infrastructure, technology, and transparency

Zoning Types - Conventional Zoning

• Focuses on density, use, FAR (floor area ratio), setbacks, parking requirements, maximum building heights specified

Zoning Types - Conventional Zoning w/ Design Standards

• Retains concentration on density, use, FAR (floor area ratio), setbacks, parking requirements, maximum building heights specified - but add required design elements such as frequency of openings, facade articulation, landscaping, etc.

Zoning Types - Form Based

• Focuses on street and building types (or mix of types), architectural design standards, number of floors, landscaping & environmental resource standards, signage regulations, percentage of built site frontage, and human-scale access and scope.

Density

• Defined as “the measurement of how tightly packed together a material is within a given area.” In land use planning, density is the ratio of a particular type of land use per given area of land

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• Density is a mathematical equation, but is often viewed as “single-family vs. multi-family” in land use discussions. Design greatly impacts this viewpoint.

Density (cont.)

• Focus on design and aesthetic can greatly impact perceived density and land use, protect/enhance community character, and maximize service delivery.

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• Density-conscious development impacts:
• Infrastructure costs
• Property taxation
• Conservation
• Community character and activity

Mixing Density and Design in Development

Missing Middle Housing

Missing Middle Housing

Improving the Aesthetics of Density with Design�at “Housing Scale”

Duplex (Side-by-side)

Duplex (Stacked)

Triplex (Split-Stacked)

Triplex (Stacked)

Fourplex

Fourplex

Rowhouse

Rowhouse

Garden Cluster

Courtyard

Live/Work (often called Mixed-use)

Mixed-Use Development in Downtowns

Roosevelt, Utah

Vernal, Utah

Are Missing Middle Options Right for Your Community?

Research and Tools

Middle Housing Study (2021-2022)

• Utah’s overall housing challenges and introduced how missing middle products may assist in addressing the issues; and

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• Relevant development trends and the prevalence of middle housing in the four largest counties in Utah; and

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• Utahn’s development preferences and current practices; and

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• Obstacles and opportunities for increasing the supply of middle housing in Utah.

Research and Tools

Guiding Our Growth (2022-2023)

1.7 million responders from all 29 counties

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• Access to housing that is affordable

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• Desire to have a variety of housing product types available within their communities

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• Convenient access to jobs, goods, and services

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• Protecting and enhancing the character of their existing communities

Research and Tools

Land Use Academy of Utah (LUAU)

Enhanced Site & Additional Tools Coming Soon!

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• Missing Middle Housing Toolkit including:
• Informational Guide

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• Resource Matrix detailing Barriers and Strategies, with Templates, Resources, and Contact Database for agency use

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• Utah-specific local case study

luau.utah.gov