Mayor had a large legislative lobbying role as president of Utah league of Cities and Towns
Apr 22, 2025 09:45AM ● By Mimi Darley Dutton
“Being president of the League puts you front and center in the legislative process,” he said.
Walker described “an overriding narrative” from the Legislature that the housing crisis is primarily, if not exclusively, the problem of local governments. “Every year, they pass multiple bills aimed at trying to fix the housing crisis by taking away local authority for zoning and land use, despite data the League gathered two years ago showing that 190,000-plus+ entitled units (land for which zoning is in place and all that’s needed is a building permit) aren’t being built because the economics must not work for it. To blame local governments…as a local leader, I’m tired of it,” he said.
Walker is convinced the factors creating the housing crisis are beyond local and state control. “It’s the cost of labor and supplies and everything I don’t control as a mayor that makes a house cost $900,000. Every city in the state is zoning for density and more affordable homes,” he said.
Walker said developers realized years ago it’s cheaper to change laws by lobbying the legislature than it is fighting cities on zoning issues. So, developers hire lobbyists, and because many people serving in the legislature (many of whom are part of the development industry themselves) haven’t served in city government, it’s been problematic for cities. That’s where Walker’s position as ULCT president proved powerful, because lobbying is the purpose of the organization. Instead of hiring lobbyists, the ULCT’s leaders do the lobbying themselves on behalf of the 255 member cities. As president, Walker was at the legislature every day of the session. He described the ULCT’s approach as coming from a cooperative angle. “Our phrase is partnership, not pre-emption. We will negotiate on bills that are coming at us in ways that make it better to come to a compromise. We get our perspective in there to help them make sense of how better to execute it at the local level,” he said.
Walker is generally pleased with how this legislative session ended where cities are concerned. “We worked on a compromise on the way gravel operators can expand. We were rightly concerned with the Beehive Development bill because it would have given that agency carte blanche to do a development anywhere they wanted to, for the state to do a project like a nuclear power plant. It got tabled, but there’s no question it will come back.”
The legislature attempted to take over public safety for Salt Lake City and Walker is pleased local control for police departments prevailed. A bill aimed at downsizing The Point’s board which would have taken away Walker’s vote regarding that state development within Draper city limits was negotiated so that he and Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson remain voting board members. “We were able to make sure we kept governance around The Point in tact to make sure Draper’s voice is being heard,” he said.
Walker was also pleased with freshman legislator Rep. Cal Roberts who previously served on the Draper City Council. “It was good to have him there because he has that perspective. We need more people in the legislature that have served in local government, in my opinion,” Walker said.
On a personal note, Walker was “completely unhappy” the legislature tried to do away with vote by mail. He wishes it would have been left alone, but he’s okwith the way it came out. He said he “didn’t spend any energy” on the collective bargaining bill because it wasn’t city specific and Draper’s firefighters aren’t unionized.
“Personally, I haven’t delved into both sides of it,” he said. As a practicing attorney for 29 years, he offered an opinion on attempts by the legislature to modify the state’s judicial branch. “I was 100% opposed to the concept of the legislature having a judicial performance review. I think our judiciary in Utah is exceptional, and a separate judicial branch is important to democracy,” he said.
Despite it being a decent session where local land use control is concerned, Walker feels legislative overreach and the number of laws they produce has gotten out of hand. “They passed 589 bills this year, the second most in the history of the state, and they do it in 45 days. It’s ridiculous in my opinion, and a lot of the controversial ones get passed in the last days,” he said.
Walker’s term as ULCT president ends in September after which he’ll serve one year as Immediate immediate past president. He can only be part of the League as long as he’s an elected official, and the position of Draper mayor will be on this November’s ballot.
“I really enjoy doing the job, and I feel like I’m still being effective,” he said. “. I’m very interested in seeing The Point get solidified into Phase One. I’m running again…for a fourth term. I feel like I’ve got more to give and some good institutional knowledge.”
