The Utah Lieutenant Governor’s Office denied the latest boundaries proposed for West Hills, a would-be town between Kamas and Hideout, Aug. 12.
That’s because the nearly 4,000-acre area drawn by town sponsor Derek Anderson doesn’t include enough people. It has 96 residents; Utah law requires 100 to incorporate a new town.
The Salt Lake City real estate attorney is able to go back to the drawing board though.
Anderson has 90 days, or until Nov. 10, to submit new boundaries.
It would be the second time he’d redrawn them. He originally submitted a 3,400-acre proposal in spring 2023 and then resubmitted just under 4,000 acres June 30, 2024.
Anderson said in a statement the June 30 proposal projected 80% less commercial and residential density if the new town was created.
Density is a common worry among area residents who’ve told KPCW they don’t want a new town and are worried about losing their rural lifestyle.
The proposed town could have been on the ballot this November, but now the lieutenant governor’s office says that’s unlikely.
“Most likely it will not occur in 2024,” Jordan Schwanke, the state official who supervises incorporations, said in an email.
The lieutenant governor’s office has to receive Anderson’s new proposal, screen it for population, contiguity and population density, then submit it to consultants to study.
If West Hills could feasibly balance a budget, then it goes to a public hearing, and Anderson collects signatures to put it on the ballot.
With less than three months until the general election, it’s looking like the earliest residents could vote on West Hills is November 2025.
Anderson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
