Local Ordinances that Promote Physical Activity A Survey of Municipal Policies in Utah

Trenton Robertson and Dr. Shaunna K. Burbidge, Geography

Background

The Utah Department of Health revisited a study published in 2003 in the American Journal of Public Health because they desire to understand how Utah cities are using local laws to encourage or discourage physical activity of residents. Since 2003 only Hawaii has conducted a similar study. We have had the chance and opportunity to refine and perfect methods previously used to research and analyze issues that many other states may use in the next decade.

Purpose

One of the primary benefits which will come from this research will be a better understanding of how Utah’s cities are collectively the key factors that affect physical activity, and the public health. The results that come from this research will allow state and local governments to pursue measures and change ordinances to improve public health.

Experiences

Over the past several months, I along with two fellow research associates had the chance to lead various groups of students in gathering data from Utah municipalities. This leadership position enabled me to hone my skills and grow as a professional in my field learning to communicate with professionals and lead groups to accomplish crucial projects under tight deadlines. These experiences also showed me the down fall of trying to gather vast amounts of data from various locations. When we were gathering data we had to go through various staff members of cities relying solely on them to give us accurate information in a timely manner. Most of the time the staff members were very helpful in our pursuit and more than friendly in helping out understanding the importance of what we were trying to accomplish. On the other hand there were a few different occasions where the staff were reluctant to help and sometimes even refused. Their refusal was very unfortunate due to this research being a huge benefit to the public health of where they resided. Even with an explanation of what we were hoping to accomplish through our findings they decided it was not worth their time to help us in this endeavor. These experiences allowed me to not only grow but progress in my efforts to becoming a better person myself.

Outcomes

Currently, our project is not yet completed. So far we have gathered all of the data from the various municipalities all across Utah. We are in the process of tabulating and assessing the data we have gathered. We plan on coming to a conclusion by the end of august 2009. The findings from our research will be presented to various groups such as the Utah Department of Health, League of Cities. We are also planning on presenting our research at the National Transportation Research Board’s annual conference in January 2010. All throughout the research process we couldn’t help but notice how certain cities excelled when it came to promoting and encouraging good health practices and others lacked and seemed to retrogress in healthier developmental practices. For example, North and South Ogden are two cities within a close geographical proximity of one another but differentiate when it comes to providing ordinances that promote good health. Some of the major differences between North and South Ogden have been due to the ordinances set in place and the size in staff whose responsibility is to help enforce those ordinances. North Ogden has created strict sidewalk ordinances promoting people to walk instead of just driving. They require developers to put in sidewalks where they build and maintain them for a couple of years after they are made. North Ogden also has many parks and open space. North Ogden has a large planning staff enabling them to more easily enforce these ordinances that have been set forth. South Ogden on the other hand has a smaller planning staff making it more difficult to enforce ordinances, and not allowing them to spend time on creating ordinances designed towards a healthier lifestyle. South Ogden has turned into a community filled with cul-de-sac and sidewalk free streets encouraging the average citizen to drive everywhere instead of walking. Even though North Ogden has a really good sidewalk ordinance they still have a long way to go to become more of a health conscious city. These cities were two simple examples from our research that we noticed as we were gathering data. Due to us not yet being done with analyzing our findings we have not come to a conclusion of what we will find out. We hope at the conclusion of analyzing our data the findings will produce a map or pathway other Utah municipalities will be able to follow to better themselves.

Associates

Jonathan Paul Brooks, B.S Geography, Brigham Young University
Tania Lee Lounsbury, B.S Geography, Brigham Young University

Scholarly Sources

Librett, J. J., Schmid, T. L. & Yore, M. M. (2003). Local ordinances that promote physical activity: A survey of Municipal Policies. American Journal of Public Health, 93(9), p. 1399-1403.
Heinrich, K. M., Johnson, C. B., Jokura, Y. K., Nett, B. & Maddock, J. E. (2008). A survey of policies and local ordinances supporting physical activity in Hawaii counties. Prev Chronic Dis, 5(1). http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2008/jan/06_0153.htm. Accessed October 16, 2008.

Conferences Presentations

Robertson, T.S.R. (2009) Local Ordinances that Promote Physical Activity: A Longitudinal Study of Municipal Policies in Utah. Presented at the 2009 Utah Conference on Undergraduate Research. Presented at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers in Las Vegas, NV. Poster presentations at the BYU’s 2009 President’s Leadership Council meeting and the 2009 Mary Lou Fulton Mentored Learning Conference. Plan on presenting at the 2010 National Transportation Research Board’s annual conference.