Park City Manager Diane Foster recently met with Summit County Manager Tom Fisher and Hideout Town Manager Jan McCosh to discuss each party’s interest in including unincorporated areas of Summit County in the municipalities’ annexation policy plans. Hideout’s plan would nearly triple the size of the town, with boundaries extending to Jordanelle Reservoir and encompassing the Quinn’s Junction area. Annexation policy plans outline possibilities for long-term expansion to accommodate growth—they don’t detail actions that will occur.
Park City became aware of Hideout’s proposed plan in early June, before the Hideout Town Council was scheduled to vote on the plan. Foster says Hideout did not follow procedure by failing to notify Park City, as a neighboring jurisdiction and a landowner of property within Quinn’s Junction, of the public hearing. As such, Foster says Hideout has been asked to pump the breaks.
“The City and the County formally asked Hideout to start the process over because they'd missed a number of steps, and they agreed to do that," Foster said. "So they're going back to their Planning Commission."
At the end of June, the City Council instructed Planning staff to amend the City’s annexation expansion area, which details the unincorporated land that the City could petition to annex in the future. The Council chose the “expansive” amendment to the area, which includes Round Valley, Quinn’s Junction and Bonanza Flat. The Council began a conversation about updating the annexation policy plan earlier this year, but recent developments with Hideout and the Military Installation Development Area, or MIDA, have expedited the process.
With Hideout and Park City considering the same stretch of land—namely, the Quinn’s Junction area that includes Park City-owned Clark Ranch and Richardson Flat—for their annexation expansion areas, Foster says representatives from Hideout, Park City and Summit County plan to meet to discuss their goals.
“We're going to ask some representatives of our councils to get together, probably also along with Wasatch County, and we're looking at early August for that," Foster said. "I'll be asking our council tomorrow night if we have two representatives who'd be willing to do that and just sit down and get to know each other.”
Foster says Park City has been working with Summit County on the Quinn’s Junction area for decades, and the Richardson Flat and Clark Ranch areas are zoned for open space and minimum density. Hideout’s general plan shows the town’s intention to expand its boundaries to generate revenue through commercial developments. Park City’s worry is that sort of development would impact Park City’s vision for itself as a small town, though Foster says she understands why Hideout would pursue it.
“It's a tough situation for Hideout," Foster said. "They only have property tax, and they have one property owner who owns 75% of the property within the city, and that's hard math to do. Their budget’s under $1 million. If you've only got one taxing source, and that's property tax, it's really hard to manage a budget.”
While Park City’s first public hearing for its annexation policy plan is scheduled for the August 28 Planning Commission meeting, the Hideout Planning Commission meeting where the proposed annexation policy plan will be discussed is planned for July 18 at 6 p.m. at the Hideout Town Hall located at 10860 N. Hideout Trail.
