Hideout and its 900 residents celebrated their 10th anniversary last Saturday. KPCW sat down with Hideout Mayor Phillip Rubin to talk about the town.
In 2008, state legislation sponsored by Summit County Representative Mel Brown opened a window for small communities to become municipalities, one town that took advantage of the opportunity was Hideout, Utah. Hideout’s Mayor Phillip Rubin says the timing was great for the town.
“In hindsight it worked out really well for us. Given that the economy was struggling at the time that it was incorporated, I think that if we hadn’t had that Hideout might not be here at all today.” Mayor Rubin said, “In our case it worked out nicely that we were able to get some development moving and some housing built during a time when everyone was struggling.”
Hideout is located northeast of the Jordanelle Reservoir along Utah Highway 248 connecting Park City and Kamas. KPCW asked Mayor Rubin what the advantage is of being a municipality, despite Hideout’s small size
“The only reason to be a municipality really from a law standpoint is that you get land-use decision making authority. So, zoning and that sort of thing. Most of the municipalities are covered by county or state, that’s the one place where we do get a little bit of leverage.” Mayor Rubin continued, “At the time the things that the developers were trying to do to get started there was not being looked upon favorably by Wasatch (County). So by doing this (Hideout was) able to move ahead.”
Hideout is so small they have to work through inter-local agreements with Wasatch County to provide services to their town. They do have a part-time police force but also rely on the Wasatch County Sheriff’s Department. Mayor Rubin says these services are paid through taxes, not necessarily additional fees to the town. Hideout has about 900 residents living full and part-time there. Rubin says they have 350 homes within town limits. Including the affordable community at Deer Mountain, which was annexed in as part of the creation of Hideout.
Hideout’s town limits are roughly 2,500 acres and has the potential to continue to grow. Several developers and private owners control the land that does not currently have homes on it.
“We start at one ERU and then we grow from there depending on what the developers bring to the community. For example if they’re adding amenities, parks that sort of thing, then they get density bonus. We also, in trying to preserve green space, do things around clustering to make sure we don’t lose the beauty that’s out there.” Mayor Rubin said, “I would say we could probably be a couple-of-thousand doors if we got completely build out.”
Rubin says that Hideout has a city council and planning commission, they’re a small municipality so they don’t deal with a lot of complexities of other nearby towns, although they do have some sway in local politics.
“We were able to get involved in the Kamas bus route and encourage a stop in Hideout. So there, at our apartments, there is a bus stop. The town of Hideout actually created the bus stop, paved the bus stop, we provide services there to support the bus route.” Mayor Rubin continued, “even though we’re in Wasatch county, we’re surrounded by Summit (on) both sides. I think most of the residents consider themselves (as) Parkites.”
Hideout celebrated their 10th anniversary with a boat parade and fireworks celebration on Saturday. Mayor Rubin also read a proclamation to the town.
“For a long time, because of the stop and go nature of the development process, it was sort of islands of development inside of Hideout without a lot of connectivity. Now, we’ve got enough population and enough interested citizens that we’re starting to get a lot of energy towards becoming a community. There’s a lot of participation at the council meeting. For example, I’m running out of chairs. I’ve got to buy more chairs. We’re really talking about a thanks for the first 10 years, and what are we going to do with the next 10 years? And how are we going to take it further from here?”
