Summit County

Council sets date to decide on Dakota Pacific development

KPCW | By Connor Thomas

Published January 23, 2024 at 5:24 PM MST

A snowy Kimball Junction Transit Center — The first week of talks between the Summit County Council and Dakota Pacific Real Estate focuses on the transit and traffic impacts of the potential development, which is across the street from the Kimball Junction Transit Center (above).

Summit County councilmembers plan to vote on the hotly contested Kimball Junction development the day after President’s Day.

The county has accelerated talks to allow for a public hearing the week before winter break.

Jan. 17 (Wednesday): 1:50 p.m. during regular council meeting at Sheldon Richins Building (90 min)
Jan. 23 (Tuesday): 11 a.m. special meeting at Summit County Courthouse in Coalville (90 min)
Jan. 25 (Thursday): 3 p.m. special meeting at Sheldon Richins Building (90 min)
Feb. 1 (Thursday): 3 p.m. special meeting at Sheldon Richins Building (90 min)
Feb. 7 (Wednesday): time TBD during regular council meeting at Sheldon Richins Building (90 min)
Feb. 8 (Thursday): 4 p.m. special meeting at Richins (90 min)
Feb. 13 (Tuesday): 11 a.m. special meeting in Council Chambers (90 min)
Feb. 15 (Thursday): 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. special meeting.
Public hearing Feb. 15 and final decision Feb. 20 are now postponed

The schedule above provided by the Summit County manager is subject to change. It is up-to-date as of 11 a.m., Feb. 9, 2024.
Meetings are also streamed and archived on Facebook.

The first special meeting about the controversial development happened Jan. 23. The council and Dakota Pacific Real Estate discussed mitigating the project’s traffic impacts.

Dakota Pacific wants to build 727 residential units on 50 relatively undeveloped acres on the west side of Kimball. Detractors say that, despite the project’s close proximity to the Kimball Junction Transit Center, it will add to congestion on state Route 224.

Dakota Pacific CEO Marc Stanworth says the company recently met with the Utah Department of Transportation about three main options to fix 224 and Interstate 80.

“Even selfishly, from our own project perspective, it doesn't make a lot of sense to have a lot of residents living there that are gridlocked,” Stanworth said at the Jan. 23 meeting.

Any improvements could be far off: UDOT doesn’t have Kimball Junction improvements on its 10-year plan. It does plan to choose a course of action this year.

The transit and transportation discussion will continue Thursday, at the next special meeting. It’s set for 3 p.m. at the Sheldon Richins Building, and the county will post a link to attend online.