Building two at Discovery Ridge, a housing development between Woodward Park City and Summit Park, has been delayed for so long developer Mike Milner’s building permit expired.
However, Milner recently renewed his permit, and construction is now underway.
The building will ultimately have five townhomes. Brianna Gallery and Leigh Ann Gray, two people under contract for homes, are cautiously optimistic.
“That makes me a little more hopeful,” Gallery said. “But I will be waiting to see cement poured and progress moving to really have hope for completion next year.”
Gray says she’ll believe it when she sees it.
“I mean, that's great news. But I know they've been just jerking us around for three years,” Gray said. “And I know exactly what's going to happen—they can't continue because of the snow.”
Gallery emailed Summit County Oct. 10 expressing similar concerns about winter weather.
Milner previously told future residents and KPCW the most recent winter’s historic snowpack further delayed progress.
Before that, it was supply chain issues and inflated costs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Gallery and Gray’s building is going into a downslope too, adding to construction costs.
In total, Gallery and Gray have been under contract for more than 40 months.
But Oct. 11, Milner confirmed his contractor waterproofed the building’s foundation, originally poured in March 2022.
The developer said next week he’ll be formally notifying the future residents that construction has restarted. The letter will include an updated construction timeline.
Milner told Summit County machinery should be on site Monday, Oct. 16, to start on the footing drain and then backfill the foundation. He hopes framing will begin in December.
The county hasn’t been able to force construction at Discovery Ridge because of how its development agreement is written. According to the future residents’ real estate purchase contracts, the townhomes must be completed 12 months after construction begins.
