About Us

Mission Statement

Provide a vision for planning and preserving a high quality, livable community that reflects Salt Lake City's unique culture, population and sense of place.

The Planning and Zoning Division

The Salt Lake City Planning and Zoning Division is responsible for creating land use development codes and their implementation.

Planning

The Planners’ duties include developing master plans to provide vision and goals for future development in the City, creating and implementing the City’s Zoning Ordinance to ensure that minimum development standards are met, creating and implementing the subdivision ordinance to ensure the division of land is carried out in a way to ensure adequate sized lots for development and access to the property, and protecting historically important neighborhoods and sites in the City for existing and future citizens.

Zoning Enforcement

The Housing/Zoning Enforcement Section of the Planning and Zoning Division enforces the City's housing and zoning ordinances. City housing/zoning inspectors inspect apartments and homes for hazards and deficiencies that threaten the health and safety of residents. Their enforcement of minimum housing standards helps keep the City's housing stock habitable and fosters the maintenance and improvement of buildings within the City. It also prevents buildings from being closed or demolished, forcing displacement of residents.

City housing/zoning inspectors inspect properties throughout the City for junk, weeds, and other unsightly problems that detract from the City's environment and aesthetic qualities. By enforcing use and property restrictions, the inspectors maintain order in the City and encourage business and residential development.

The inspection and enforcement efforts of the City’s housing/zoning officers protect the tax base and property values of the City by removing blight and encouraging the maintenance of buildings and property.

Board Support

The Planning and Zoning Division provides staff support for four City boards including the Board of Adjustment which has the authority to grant exceptions to the City’s zoning regulations; the Housing Advisory and Appeals Board which has the authority to ensure minimum standards for residential development are met; the Historic Landmark Commission which ensure the preservation of important historic structures and sites and the Planning Commission which determines the appropriate types and intensity of uses in various geographic areas and determines dimensional requirements (such as maximum heights of structures, amount of open space on a lot and the distance of buildings from property lines) to minimize impacts on other properties.

The Planning and Zoning Division works very closely with property owners, citizens, community groups, developers and elected officials to implement the Division’s goals of creating a City that is vibrant, pleasant, safe and attractive to all citizens by providing for a variety of housing types, by attracting development and investment compatible with the City’s well-being, by preserving historic resources and by providing excellent constituent services to balance the needs between property owners, renters, residents, business owners, developers and future citizen.