Is it ethical for Salt Lake City to keep growing? It's complicated, but limiting growth can lead to big problems.

• Author: Alsever, Jennifer

UTAHNS ARE MORE CONCERNED WITH GROWTH than ever before. Two in five people believe that future growth will make Utah worse--up significantly since 2014--according to a 2022 survey by Envision Utah, a nonpartisan group designed to help the state manage growth.

Utah is now the fastest growing place in the nation, yet that growth comes at serious costs to the environment that makes the state so attractive. "Some people wish we weren't growing and would like to stop it," says Ari Bruening, president and CEO of Envision Utah. "Others say that's not feasible."

That begs the questions: Can Utah slow its growth? And should it?

In decades past, two-thirds of the state's population growth came from births. Today, they contribute about half of the growth, with out-of-state newcomers contributing the rest. In the past decade, Utah's population surged 18.4 percent to 3.28 million people, and by 2060, Utah is expected to absorb a huge influx of even more residents--another 2.2 million people.

Across the United States, population growth has largely been considered a good thing by mayors--a city that's attractive to more residents results in more tax dollars. Cities want growth because it means more property tax, better services, and the ability to better serve their populations. The current economy, strapped with severe labor shortages, also depends on bodies. Utah will still need people to fill jobs and satisfy the demand for goods and services as more Baby Boomers retire.

"There's a lot of talk across the country about whether we need to change the nature of our capitalistic dependence on growth to have more sustainable growth," says Ellen Dunham-Jones, an urban design professor at Georgia Tech. "That's an incredibly important question."

Utah is facing a megadrought--the worst in 1,200 years--and some city leaders fear they'll run out of water within a decade. In addition, the state has some of the worst air quality and suburban sprawl in the nation. "City council members, county commissioners, and state legislators that oppose growth do not get reelected," says Zach Frankel, executive director of fhe Utah Rivers Council, which has been pushing for water conservation. "That's obviously not just Utah--there is so much pressure to approve growth."

In countries with strong private property rights like the US, cities can limit growth through zoning or urban growth boundaries, sometimes called municipal service boundaries, Dunham-Jones says. More cities are trying to minimize sprawl and traffic with investments in public transit and trails, limiting...