After delaying a decision on the Clark Ranch conservation easement Nov. 6, the Park City Council approved the updated plan Thursday.
The easement conserves 329 acres of the 344-acre Clark Ranch as open space.
The council went back and forth during the meeting Thursday to ensure the agreement was right.
A decision on conserving the land was previously delayed because the council wanted to ensure a proposed 200-unit affordable housing development was limited to 10 acres.
While the updated plan still leaves out 15 acres of land from the easement, it clarifies only 10 acres of land south of Park City Heights can be developed. The other 5 acres is a buffer as the exact location of the development has not yet been determined.
City Environmental Sustainability Manager Luke Cartin said once a location has been chosen, the last 5 acres can be conserved.
“We will protect those acres to the same level as the 329,” he said. “We can add to the existing conservation easement, or we might have something that's very similar to that conservation easement.”
City staff proposed the council have a joint meeting with the planning commission at the beginning of 2026 to select the 10 acres for development.
Cartin also noted that while the remaining 5 acres cannot have any infrastructure pass through it, the easement does allow roads and parking lots to be built for recreation, like at trailheads.
Utah Open Lands Executive Director Wendy Fisher, who is facilitating the conservation easement, emphasized the 5 acres will be protected as the council wishes.
“Anything that you do in strengthening this motion tonight, we will adhere to in ensuring that that additional 5 acres, which staff has brought back as not having any development infrastructure and as being fully protected open space, is something that we will ensure takes place through the right technical mechanism,” she said.
In Councilmember Tana Toly’s motion to approve the easement, she clarified the council’s intent.
“I move to adopt the Clark Ranch conservation easement as updated Nov. 6, and we add the same level of open space protections and intent onto an additional 5 acres to happen in 2026,” she said.
The council unanimously approved the motion.
