The Cedar Crest Village is the vision of about two dozen families in Hoytsville to transform land they can no longer farm the way previous generations did into a sustainable community for the next generation.
What’s being proposed is a clustered development, concentrated around Hoytsville Road and Creamery Lane. It would include a mix of housing and businesses, with up to 20 units per acre at major intersections, tapering off at the edge of the village.
It’s a town-sized development with more density than anything that exists in Hoytsville right now, but it preserves meadows of open space around the village core. Those close to the project say it would be the Wasatch Back’s version of Daybreak in South Jordan, or they compare it to rural villages found across Europe.
But this didn't start as a developer’s vision. It’s the vision of about two dozen local families, who are reckoning with the decline of farming in Hoytsville.
Challenges in Hoytsville’s agricultural industry
Fourth-generation dairy farmer Mike Brown’s family has been a part of the village planning process from the beginning.
He said the Browns can’t make a living on dairy the way they used to, and they reached a breaking point this past decade.
“[With] corn being turned into ethanol and droughts and soybeans—global market pressures—the dairy industry got tipped upside down,” Brown said.
The price of corn and hay doubled or tripled, and he has had to ship his dairy product farther and farther to get it to market.
Brown described being at a “crossroads” several years ago, unable to farm profitably, unable to even pivot to agricultural tourism profitably. He started speaking with his neighbors and learned they were at the same crossroads.
The Eastern Summit County general plan used to list “agriculture” as the highest land use priority. That changed in 2017, and since then, it’s been listed as just one use among many.
Eventually it became clear that many area families would either need to make a living doing something else or fight the uphill battle of staying in farming.
“Or let's put something together that actually will leave a good mark on this part of the county,” Brown said.
And there was an option, thanks to newly-created Summit County code: the village overlay zone.
Planning for inevitable growth
Those familiar with Hoytsville’s Cedar Crest village proposal call it a “birth-to-death community,” a way for the next generation to have a home, raise families, find work nearby and enjoy the open space and recreation that makes Summit County so attractive.
It’s only possible because of new zoning code approved by the Summit County Council in 2018 called the “village overlay.”
The University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute estimates Summit County’s population will grow about 40% between 2020 and 2060.
With that in mind, county planning staff had identified five unincorporated areas in the county with their own history, culture and community—Echo, Wanship, Peoa, Marion and Hoytsville—which could become villages once again as the county grows. They drafted the village zoning to allow for clustered development that provides housing, jobs and infrastructure without compromising the character of those five areas.
Some of Hoytsville’s families feel like the village overlay is the best option as farming becomes less lucrative locally.
“When I grew up in Hoytsville, there was a convenience store. You could buy gas, and years ago, there was actually a restaurant in Hoytsville,” Brown said. “So there was a little village here at that point.”
In 2019, he and other area landowners, submitted an application to recreate such a village on just over 1,000 acres around Creamery Lane.
“Our land had to change and we felt this was the best alternative and it's what the county asked for,” Brown said.
A subcommittee composed of Hoytsville property owners and Eastern Summit County planning commissioners formed to begin the planning process. In September, that subcommittee forwarded a positive recommendation on Cedar Crest to the planning commission, which has held a couple of informational hearings already.
Nov. 2 is the first planning commission hearing where residents can offer input.
Hoytsville and Cedar Crest today
Eastside planners and the public will hear from Larry H. Miller Company and Ivory Homes developers at the Nov. 2 hearing.
According to Summit County Community Development Director Pat Putt, the developers will purchase about two-thirds of the landowners’ total property to carry the project to fruition.
“We knew, going into this as landowners, we wanted it to be driven from the grassroots up. But we also knew there would come a point in time where we, as landowners, couldn't take it to the finish line,” Brown said. “We didn't have the capital resources to do it.”
Improving existing infrastructure and creating new water and sewer lines proved too expensive for Brown and his neighbors to finance on their own.
Once they decided to commit to the village overlay, they put their land on the market.
Everyone would sell to the same buyer—Larry H. Miller and Ivory—but their prices were negotiated individually.
Another stipulation has been that any landowner in the area eligible for village zoning can join or leave the project at any time until the project is approved by the Summit County Council.
The applicant families are applying for a rezone together. If they are approved, families who want to join can do so afterward, but they will need to go through the process on their own.
So far, 30 landowners represent 67 parcels.
The first public hearing at the Eastern Summit County Planning Commission’s was Nov. 2.
Ahead of the November meeting, Putt called it “game on,” the public’s best chance yet to see and comment on the proposed development. Major development projects like Cedar Crest are more malleable at the planning commission stage too, compared to when they make it to the county council, which will have the final say.
The next public hearing is at the Ledges again Dec. 7.
At the meeting, the public saw a map that showed who had and hadn't opted into the Cedar Crest development. There's a wider area in Hoytsville that will be allowed to opt-in in the future called the "study area," which was also shown.
No property will be rezoned or developed unless the owner joins the current application or brings their own to the county.
Brown emphasized no one can or will be forced to join the village, and the “study area” map was commissioned by the county so there’d be a plan should other families reach a crossroads like Brown did and want to join Cedar Crest.
He said this hasn’t been about the money. On the contrary it’s been one of the most painful experiences of his life, sending his dairy cows away.
“If this is what it feels like to do it for money, I'm really glad I didn't, because I would have been disappointed," he remembered about the day he said goodbye to his animals.
He’s made the decision to continue farming, but it will take moving all the way to Missouri to pursue that life.
“So that's what offset the pain was we are staying in agriculture,” Brown said. “I believe that's what was important to my ancestors, and it's what's important to me. And it's what's important to pass on.”
He isn’t sure yet which of his kids will join him in the move, or who will stay and build a new life in a changing Summit County or elsewhere.
He is sure that, if it’s carefully planned, the community that raised him in Hoytsville will adapt to that change and be a place where families can live and thrive long into the future.
