The Salt Lake City-based developer would like to build at least 750 housing units on its land in Kimball Junction near the Skullcandy headquarters.
That number comes five months after Dakota Pacific last floated a housing proposal. It owns some 50 empty acres, some of the last developable land in the Snyderville Basin. The developer has come to the Summit County Council with at least four different housing plans since applying to build in 2019.
The back-and-forth negotiations were paused in April to work on a private-public partnership in a closed-door subcommittee. That subcommittee debuted a master plan for a new plaza and transit center along state Route 224 last week.
At the Sept. 25 county council meeting, the public saw how the public-private partnership plans would jell with the rest of Dakota Pacific’s project.
The partnership parcel is closest to state route 224: it would include 167 county-owned affordable housing units, new civic buildings and an expanded transit center.
Further west, Dakota Pacific would build 750 units, a third of them for lower income earners.
“We've purposely moved a lot of the open spaces that we're investing in to this east side,” Dakota Pacific Director of Commercial Development Steve Borup said, “so that it's not just about neighborhood open spaces … but it's a broader community destination for Summit County.”
The open space would surround a new library and county offices at the Skullcandy building, which Summit County purchased in May.
Behind Skullcandy is an “Olympic view area” with sightlines of the Utah Olympic Park.
The total residential density would be 917 units. That’s a couple hundred more than Dakota Pacific was asking for in April but hundreds less than in 2019.
The proposed density could change yet again over the next few months. Dakota Pacific needs the council’s permission to build any housing because the area currently allows for tech offices, similar to the existing Skullcandy building.
Councilmembers have insisted on negotiating in public and requested less housing.
A potential assisted living facility has featured in past discussions, and now Borup says Dakota Pacific is pursuing it with renewed interest since Oakley’s Elk Meadows, the only assisted living facility in Summit County, may close.
“[Assisted living and memory care] I think is relevant for the news today for Summit County,” Borup said. “And I'm working with operators to try to work through the viability of that.”
A 90-unit assisted living facility isn’t being factored into the residential density measurements. It’s being counted as commercial because of the business license it would need.
The council is planning to negotiate weekly during its Wednesday meetings to arrive at a decision before 2025.
