The developer of Highland Flats, a proposed 410-unit housing complex at the intersection of Interstate 80 and U.S. Highway 40 along Highland Drive, is scheduled to give an update on their proposal to the Summit County Council this week.
ColBreen is a partnership between Salt Lake City-based Colmena Group and Breen Homes. The developer made its original proposal for the 41-acre site to the Snyderville Basin Planning Commission in October 2020.
80% of the 410 residences would be for low- and moderate-income earners, 68% of the land would be open space and 10 acres would be donated to the Catholic Church, which is the majority landowner of the project site.
No tax breaks or subsidies were requested in the original proposal.
In August 2021, planning commissioners didn’t recommend the project to county council, in part because they didn’t think the Highland Estates neighborhood was right for affordable housing.
Then, last October, the county council expressed similar concerns to ColBreen about building density in an area with single-family homes relatively far away from services. Increased traffic on Highland Drive is also a factor.
Those reservations are shared by some neighboring residents in Highland Estates, who have organized in a Facebook group called “No to Highland Flats PC.”
The developer told the county council it could make serious changes to its proposal. Those included incorporating senior housing as well as workforce housing. Colbreen also suggested starting smaller, with 100 units on a 5- to 10-acre parcel, instead of 400 units on 40 acres.
As of Monday afternoon, ColBreen hadn’t provided more information to county staff on how the project has evolved.
“We would like to have a work session with [the Summit County Council] to report on what they asked us to do, and to get direction from them on how they would like us to move forward with our application,” ColBreen told county staff.
So there will be no vote or public input about the proposal at Wednesday’s meeting, which starts at 3 p.m. at the Summit County Courthouse in Coalville. Click here to attend on Zoom.
