Phillip Dunn told the council he wants to build “a Cadillac RV park in a Chevy town.” He also offered small lot, single-family homes on a 43-acre parcel just south of Kamas.
But Dunn, president of real estate firm Great West Properties, was working with a landowner in an odd spot. Michael Carlson’s lot on state Route 32 is adjacent to Francis and not Kamas, but it is within Kamas’ “annexation declaration area.”
Annexation declaration areas are maps of where a city may grow in the future. Utah law states cities can only annex areas within the declaration boundaries, which would mean only Kamas can annex the property.
“My request today is not to have you annex a whole bunch of parcels that nobody that owns them is interested in having annexed. That wasn't the request,” Dunn told the Kamas City Council Jan. 28. “What we would like to know is the line, the annexation line, if it could be moved up one parcel, then Mike's piece could be annexed by Francis City.”
If Kamas annexed Carlson’s land, according to Dunn, legacy Kamas Valley families who live in between would need to be annexed too. He says he doesn’t know if they want to be.
Dunn initially went to Francis, which expressed interest in annexation but didn’t want to step on Kamas’ toes.
“We have Plan B and Plan C — we have other parcels that could work for an RV park in Francis,” he told Kamas, if it doesn't want to annex the property.
Dunn may need to explore those options: Kamas’ council wasn’t keen to give up ground. That would mean giving up potential commercial revenue and control over how the land is used.
Across the board, councilmembers didn’t see why Kamas needs an RV park at its southern entrance. So if the city did add land to the south, the council isn’t likely to approve Dunn’s project.
Carlson, the property owner, hasn’t formally petitioned for annexation, and it’s unclear if he’ll do so.
“I'm sure, at one point, our city boundary and Francis' city boundary will touch,” Mayor Matt McCormick said Jan. 28. “What that looks like and how that works, I think there are some hurdles and some issues to resolve as far as meeting the contiguous requirement [for annexation].”
The sister cities are pursuing annexations elsewhere.
Kamas is working with the influencer family behind Ballerina Farm to put a store and creamery at the west entrance to town.
And Francis may annex 90 acres to its north, 25 of which might be developed into homes.
