One of the most highly-regarded city planners in Utah and throughout the Intermountain West recently wrapped up his 34-year career in the field, retiring from Taylorsville City.

But Mark McGrath hasn’t abandoned his passion for making communities more livable, while also protecting their architecturally-pleasing structures, constructed long before computers… cell phones… and, in some cases, electric tools. 

“I consider myself an historic preservation militant,” McGrath said. “I encouraged the protection of our historic structures in Taylorsville throughout my career. Now that I’ve retired, I am very pleased with my recent appointment to the Salt Lake City Historic Landmark Commission.”

McGrath was eligible to apply for the commission slot because he’s lived in Sugarhouse – in a “more than 100-year-old home,” as he describes it – for decades. But if you roll McGrath’s odometer back even further, he was a born and raised Taylorsville resident, years before the city was incorporated in 1996. And later, he became one of the city’s very earliest employees, just four years after incorporation.

“I attended Vista Elementary, Eisenhower Junior High and Cottonwood High School,” McGrath said. “I went on to the University of Utah in the fall of 1980.”

City Planner Mark McGrath spends some of his quiet time fashioning cityscape models for the electric train hobby he’s enjoyed “since fourth grade.” (Photo courtesy Mark McGrath)

Back in McGrath’s era, nearly all Eisenhower Junior High “graduates” were bussed across the valley to Cottonwood because the brand-new Taylorsville High School didn’t open until fall 1981. 

After earning his U of U Urban Planning degree, McGrath had plans to move on to complete advanced degrees in his field. But then he received an offer he couldn’t refuse.

“I had worked a planning department internship with Midvale City for a long time – more than a year – before they offered me a fulltime job,” he explained. “One of the most difficult things to do in my field is to get that first opportunity, that first job. So, I decided to postpone more schooling to get that experience. Turns out, 34 years later, I’m still postponing it.”

That’s what spending a third of a century gainfully employed in the field you love will do to you – mess up your plans entirely.

McGrath worked his way up from entry level to Midvale City Planner, from 1991 to 2000. Then the opportunity came along to return to the community he grew up in – now, an official city.

“I took the job with Taylorsville City in August 2000, and remained with them until last Halloween,” McGrath said. “I had been thinking about retiring for a couple of years. But we had some major Planning Department projects I wanted to wrap up before I left.”

The biggest of those projects was completion of the city’s General Plan – a 300-page document that carefully describes what Taylorsville looks like now… and what it could be, in 5, 10 or even 50 years. A city Taylorsville’s size normally contracts this kind of work out at a significant taxpayer cost. But most cities this size don’t have the kind of planning department personnel Taylorsville has.

“The city put together it’s first General Plan in 1996 at the time of incorporation and before I was here,” McGrath explained. “I was involved in the second plan, updated in 2006. By the time we got to a third one, the city first decided to work through some consultants. But it didn’t go very well. Finally, our Planning Department decided to take it on ourselves. It literally involved thousands of hours from the department and took three or four years. We had dozens of meetings with city council members and administrators along the way.”

Retired Taylorsville City Planner Mark McGrath (R) has been teaching a course at the University of Utah for years, which includes student field trips to study architecture and infrastructure design. (Photo courtesy Mark McGrath)

The Taylorsville City Council finally unanimously approved the new General Plan last summer.

“The General Plan provides a very comprehensive blueprint for Taylorsville City’s future,” McGrath said. “Before writing it, we had to review every single property in the city – nearly 19,000 of them. The General Plan lays out a future vision for Taylorsville. It considers land use, transportation challenges, creating moderate income housing, improving walkability, city appearance and beautification – many, many issues.”

McGrath wrote the majority of the lengthy plan himself, but only after the city’s entire Planning Department pulled together all the information. 

“Looking back on my time with the city, one of the things I am most proud of is the quality of staff we had,” McGrath said. “Many of the very best and brightest planners from through this region passed through Taylorsville. Many of them have gone on to take other positions in larger cities. I take a lot of pride in my involvement with recognizing and hiring these outstanding people. That was the only way we could complete the General Plan in-house. It was a team effort.”

Through his years in Taylorsville, McGrath also worked closely with the city planning commission. Way back when McGrath first arrived, current Mayor Kristie Overson was a member of that commission.

“Mark’s retirement has been a challenge for the city because his planning knowledge is unbelievable and he is so widely respected,” Overson said. “He was absolutely critical in helping us shape our long-term plan and vision for Taylorsville. And he was key to helping the city rewrite zoning and other codes. Mark will definitely be missed. But our planning department has always been strong. I am confident in the people we have now.”

Taylorsville Planning Commission Chair David Young is brand new to that post this year – but served as an alternate on the commission for several years prior. He too will miss McGrath’s expertise.

“Mark just has so much experience and institutional knowledge – his retirement is certainly a loss,” Young said. “I really enjoyed working with him. He was a great servant to the city. And he also recommended some wonderful books on urban planning that have been very valuable for planning commission members.”

McGrath has actually been recommending those books for nearly 20 years.

Former Taylorsville City Planner Mark McGrath now hopes to do more traveling with his wife, Tavia. (Photo courtesy Mark McGrath)

“I’ve been co-teaching a course at the University of Utah called City in Literature since 2009,” he explained. “In the class, our students read these books that are classic to the urban planning profession. (Current City Councilwoman) Anna Barbieri audited our class a few years ago when she was on the planning commission. I plan to keep teaching the course in my retirement, as long as the U wants it.” 

Taylorsville City’s Chief of Strategic Development Dina Blaes also attended McGrath’s course, along with one of the city’s most recent hires: Senior Planner Grant Allen.

“As a teacher, Mark really knew his stuff,” Allen said. “He spent a lot of time preparing our class material. For me, that City in Literature class was foundational in my desire to continue pursuing education in city planning. It’s so critical in this field to keep track of national and global urban planning trends. Mark’s class taught me that.”

Less than six months into his retirement, Mark admits to “already missing the pace and intensity of the job.” He may consider urban planning consulting work in the future. But for now McGrath is excited to resume his U of U teaching and to learn the ins and outs of his new position on the Salt Lake City Historic Landmark Commission.

“I also plan to do more traveling with my wife, Tavia,” McGrath said. “Our kids are ages 18 and 21, so we aren’t grandparents yet. There’s also always work to be done on our 100-year-old Sugarhouse home. And I now have more time to work on my model railroad village – something I’ve been interested in since fourth grade at Vista Elementary.”

Finally, McGrath wanted to close with one important, last thought about his quarter-century employment with Taylorsville City:

“I have told a lot of people this: The current Taylorsville City Council is the very best we had in my time with the city. Mayor Overson is also great. Taylorsville residents are very lucky to have the forward-thinking group of leaders they have now.”