National League of Cities and Towns Summit focuses on communication, problem-solving

Over 3,000 city leaders gathered at the Salt Palace Convention Center (100 S. West Temple St.) for the National League of Cities and Towns City Summit. This five-day event provided industry experts, city planners, elected officials and municipal leadership a gathering space to share their knowledge and connect with their broader counterparts. 

Many cities falling within the Salt Lake County boundaries sent city planners and municipal leaders to the Summit to gather information and attend workshops and presentations to learn about how to manage their own cities and learn from colleagues across the nation. 

The major conversations local city planners and leaders are currently engaged in include innovation and AI, housing and homelessness, infrastructure, public safety, economic development, workforce and health and well-being. 

The ongoing conversation around housing and homelessness stems from the housing population problem emerging nationwide. In Salt Lake City, some of the contributing factors to the housing shortage include the school age population declining and homeowners not wanting to give up their 3% interest mortgage rates and move out into more-appropriate housing. 

“We have fewer people in the neighborhoods than what the infrastructure was built for,” said Salt Lake City Planning Division Director Nick Norris during the Modernizing Land Use and Zoning Regulations for Real Impact panel. He was joined by Planning and Development Director Emily Liu from Dallas, Texas and Chief of Development and Infrastructure John Zeanah from Memphis, Tennessee. 

“Utah has a housing crisis across the entire state. We just recently switched from being a majority home-ownership population to a majority renter population, more than 50%,” said Salt Lake Mayor Erin Mendenhall in speaking to National League of Cities CEO and Executive Director Clarence Anthony. 

(From left to right) National League of Cities CEO & Executive Director Clarence E. Anthony, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall and Athens, OH Mayor Steve Patterson attend the National League of Cities and Towns City Summit in November. (Photo courtesy of NLC City Summit)

Norris was asked to share some of the more unique strategies Salt Lake City has been implementing to address housing and zoning challenges. The Planning Division team’s focus has been to figure out ways to speed up solution implementation. 

“We have a complicated system of community councils and they like to hear about what’s proposed in their neighborhoods,” Norris said. 

It was taking six to nine months for housing plans and solutions to be heard and approved by all relevant parties within the governmental processes. Norris and his team pushed for approval of more oversight so housing solutions and options could be implemented more rapidly. 

“Everything requires staff-level approval,” Norris said. “Modification of the zoning codes for affordable housing and building preservation is done at the staff level.” 

In addition, Salt Lake City has been attempting to create reinvestment areas for housing stock (through the Salt Lake City Community Reinvestment Agency) and working with nonprofit housing developers to help create the Housing Development Loan Program.

They’ve created two incentive programs to help move that forward: waiving density in residential zones while keeping the scale generally the same. 

“More than 50% of our renters are not stable in their housing which means they’re spending more than 30% of their income on their rent costs,” Mendenhall said. 

The Residential Wealth Building Pilot Program creates programs where renters can get a percentage of their equity and payments back when they decide to move.

“We have been thinking about housing flexibility for renters," Norris said. 

Continuing the ongoing conversation around housing and homelessness, Mayor Mendenhall sat on a Housing Panel with Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell. The connection between quality housing and public transit systems arose within that conversation so Mendenhall shared how UTA is growing and increasing frequency of routes. 

She discussed how all K-12 students (along with one of their parents) within the city’s school district boundaries have received a free UTA pass.

“In Utah, 20% of household income is going to transportation costs,” Mendenhall said. “We are making it easier for parents to secure employment and get around town.”

In response to a question shifting topics, Mendenhall discussed the initial hesitation for working in the public sector but ultimately finding the passion and opportunities to help build community, which keeps her going.  

“This office is probably, in my opinion, and I’m biased here, the best role that a Democrat in the State of Utah can be in. We have a super majority Republican legislature in Utah. We’ve just been through some serious Utah Supreme Court legislative decisions on the gerrymandering that’s happened for our congressional districts,” Mendenhall said.  

The City Summit’s ongoing conversation around health and well-being was nuanced during a weekend afternoon general session when Gov. Spencer Cox was joined by New Mexico Gov. Lujan Grisham to speak about the importance of having open conversations. 

“Americans are tired of us hating each other," Cox said. “Eighty percent of Americans do not like what’s happening in politics today.” 

“A lot of keyboard warriors are putting things out that are angry and hopeless,” Grisham added.

Both governors stressed the importance of having respectful and open conversations with people who hold different opinions. The metaphor of “everyone should have a seat at the table” was an ongoing theme through many different panels and presentations. 

“More of us need to be in a room together,” said Grisham. “You can have relationships with people you disagree with.” 

Cox made some suggestions for navigating difficult conversations effectively. He said the magic statement that shows interest and attention to what another person is saying is “tell me more about why you feel this.”   

“In a short amount of time, you can really disarm the confrontation and find common ground,” Cox said while emphasizing the value of giving another person the last word. 

These conversations have to recognize someone else’s humanity. Cox wants us to think about not defining people by their politics. “We are Utahns – BYU or Utah fans. We are moms and dads. Democrats and Republicans come later.” 

The summit was held between Nov. 18-22. To learn more, visit their website at: www.citysummit.nlc.org.

The League created a Salt Lake City playlist for the City Summit. On that playlist includes songs like: “Salt Lake City” by The Beach Boys, “I Love This Town” by Bon Jovi, “Utah Tribute” by Chris LeDoux, “Rocky Mountain High” by John Denver and “We Built This City” by Starship.

The full playlist is available on Spotify through the National League of Cities portfolio under the name City Summit 2025: Salt Lake City.