WFRC certifies Midvale station-area fragment, wins federal RIA grant and adopts FY27 budget

Salt Lake City ' The Wasatch Front Regional Council on May 28 certified the Midvale portion of the Historic Sandy Tracks station-area as impracticable, accepted news that WFRC won a Regional Infrastructure Accelerator (RIA) grant from the Build America Bureau and approved its fiscal-year 2027 goals, budget and Unified Planning Work Program.

Mayor Tammy Tran introduced the regional growth committee report and Byron Head, WFRC community planner, told the council that station-area planning has progressed rapidly: combined with MAG in Utah County, WFRC now oversees 127 station-area plans and staff reported "108,700 new homes planned" across station areas. Head said the RIA grant award is just over $1.15 million and will fund finer-grained analysis to identify implementation-ready projects and feasible financing strategies.

The Midvale portion of the Historic Sandy Tracks station-area covers a small footprint (reported as under five acres) and the council approved a resolution of impracticability for that Midvale segment. Mayor Dustin Ghetto (Midvale) and RGC members supported certification as the final step to reach 100+ certified station-area plans in the WFRC region.

Budget action: Amy Winder Newton and CFO Marian Florence presented the FY27 materials. The only substantive change since the March draft was inclusion of the RIA grant award. After a public hearing with no speakers, the council approved the FY27 goals, budget and UPWP.

Next steps: WFRC staff will use the RIA funding to target financing strategies and implementation-readiness work in selected station areas and will submit the required budget documents to state and federal partners.