On the new map, the would-be town of West Hills is nearly 4,000 acres, about 600 acres more than originally proposed.
The town still surrounds state Route 248 west of Kamas, but its new boundaries extend a couple miles farther north. Those could still change if state officials determine the new area isn’t densely populated enough.
The landowner at the very top, Jen McCaffrey, says it looks “piecemeal.”
Town sponsor Derek Anderson said the new boundaries leave out landowners who previously requested exclusion but didn’t meet the criteria set out in state law.
“Secondly, we kept in the remaining non-objecting landowners and added more parcels in that included landowners who requested property inclusion,” Anderson added in an Aug. 2 press release.
He has said he began incorporation efforts after becoming frustrated with county zoning, which didn’t allow him to subdivide his property.
After Anderson proposed the new town in April 2023, several landowners opted out, most recently the owners of Fetch Dog Services. That gave him the opportunity to redraw its borders.
However, to reach those who wanted in, others were included who didn’t ask to be.
“Clearly there's a huge energy around it that people do not want this to pass,” landowner Justin Hellander said. “I moved my family from Bluffdale up there to kind of get away from the political rhetoric and, you know… a neighbor, in my opinion, is a good neighbor when you want to see him, right?”
In other words, he likes the privacy rural life affords him and worries it will be lost with incorporation.
But state law does not allow Hellander and others included for the first time to opt out, according to the Utah Lieutenant Governor's Office.
KPCW has asked Anderson for interviews with landowners in favor of incorporation. But he claims those quoted in West Hills’ April 2023 announcement have been harassed by neighbors.
Three of the first 10 landowners to sign on to incorporation live within West Hills’ boundaries.
No one else except the Castor brothers, who’ve previously proposed developing hundreds of acres south of state Route 248, has advocated publicly for the town.
Anderson and other landowners who favor incorporation have said they’re for “modest new growth.” Anderson says there isn’t a master plan for development but he does have to submit growth projections to the state.
This time around, the sponsor says he’s projecting 80% less residential and commercial density than before.
LRB Public Finance Advisors, the consultants who decided Anderson’s original proposal was feasible, will use the reduced growth projections to assess feasibility a second time.
If they say West Hills could theoretically raise enough taxes to balance a budget, then another public hearing would be held.
After that, Anderson would have to collect signatures to put incorporation on residents’ November ballot. That vote ultimately decides West Hills’ fate.
