Salt Lake City is adopting new temporary zoning rules on its public lands for six months in hopes of expediting reconstruction and improvements slated at West, Highland and East high schools, along with other buildings across the school district.

The streamlined land use regulations, unanimously approved late Tuesday by the City Council, are aimed at letting the Salt Lake City School District save money by avoiding delays as it works to meet an August deadline to produce designs and construction plans.

That timeline was part of the district’s preelection promise to voters, who approved a property tax bond of up to $730 million in November.

“We are grateful to the city for partnering with us on this,” district spokesperson Yandary Chatwin said Tuesday. “This will help us get these facilities built in a timely manner.”

The general obligation bond — expected to hike the average city homeowner’s tax bill by about $220 a year — is intended to pay for substantial rebuilds at West and Highland, a new athletic field house at East and a bunch of sustainability upgrades to buildings across the district.

It was the first school district bond issuance submitted to voters in 25 years.

The district’s latest timeline, Chatwin said, has the complicated rebuilding of West and Highland — the biggest items to be funded by the bond — set to begin in late spring 2026.

‘Excited’ for new high schools

The city’s temporary zoning rules will apply for 180 days and will simplify development standards and review solely for K-12 schools built in areas zoned as public lands — as well as eliminate requirements for a lot of the usual hearings at City Hall.

According to the ordinance OK’d late Tuesday, the city’s move will lower costs on the district’s bond and reduce its exposure to the fluctuating costs of building materials, while still ensuring all work is done safely.

“I’m excited for new high schools,” council member Sarah Young, an educator, told colleagues before approving the change. “All of us are invested in the success of the students and the families here in Salt Lake.”

By the city’s own estimate, delays created by its typical planning process could otherwise add up to 5% a year to the district’s construction bills.

Under the temporary rules, the district’s designs and construction plans will be reviewed and approved by staff in the city’s planning division, bypassing any usually required hearings before the planning commission. Tuesday’s change also exempts work on the school buildings from review under the city’s customary historic preservation standards.

Those rules will all take effect shortly. Then, over those same six months, the city plans to simultaneously work through a formal process for making the temporary changes permanent.

Simpler rules on setbacks, parking

The temporary rules grant authority for the city’s planning director to modify applicable regulations as well, as long as those changes don’t “negatively impact the health or safety of the general public or occupants of the school,” according to the ordinance.

Under the list of design guidelines to be applied over the next six months and, possibly, beyond that, maximum buildings heights for school construction will be capped at 125 feet, or about 12 stories.

Final school designs are still being refined, said Chatwin, the district’s spokesperson. But she added that in the case of West High School — with its constrained 30-acre-plus footprint and portions of the campus located on both sides of 300 West — “we’re looking into options for building up rather than out, to maximize what we’ve got without disrupting student learning.”

The new ordinance also specifies rules on required setbacks and parking areas, while allowing items such as bleachers, playground equipment and athletic fields in yards adjoining new buildings.

Chatwin said the district will soon launch a website for residents to track the bond’s progress.