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New Summit County town near Kamas likely on November ballot

Snow is seen on a hill in Kamas.
STELLA MC
/
Adobe Stock
Snow is seen on a hill in Kamas. The town of West Hills would span the terrain between Kamas and Hideout.

Enough voters within West Hills signed an incorporation petition submitted to the state Jan. 16.

After two years of heated public debate, West Hills appears to have met the requirements for a vote.

Just the 47 registered voters within its boundaries would have a say.

Eleven registered voters, whom County Clerk Eve Furse said her office verified, signed the petition to put incorporation on the ballot, meeting the 10% voter threshold.

The petition must also include landowner signatures accounting for 10% of the land and 7% of its value. The petitioners submitted more than double of each to the Utah Lt. Governor’s office Jan. 16. Most were already verified in 2023, when the incorporation process began.

Resident Nathan Anderson is one of the voters who signed the final petition and one of the town’s new sponsors. He doesn’t have plans for his 40 acres yet but said incorporation is about having options.

“I know life changes in an instant. And again, if I were to have a medical emergency right now, I know I would have to sell that entire property. I would have to sell our house, and my wife and I would have to move somewhere and start over,” he told KPCW. “In the future, let's say if we could parcel off or do something, I have an option now and a lifeline to not lose my piece of paradise that we love. And you know, possibly provide someone else their own paradise in a small way.”

He’s one of the few to speak publicly in favor of West Hills and said he knows five neighbors also in favor. At the final public hearing about incorporation, everyone who spoke was against it, concerned about the area losing its rural character.

“Most of the people that I have spoken to, many neighbors, are in support of it, but people are pretty shy about that because you quickly get ostracized from the community a bit by some of these louder voices,” Nathan Anderson said.

This is the final map of West Hills' proposed boundaries. It is roughly 3,600 acres.
LRB Public Finance Advisors
This is the final map of West Hills' proposed boundaries. It is roughly 3,600 acres.

Together, the voters who signed the incorporation petition own about 180 acres.

So according to the petition posted on the Lt. Governor’s website, more landowners signed to help West Hills meet the land and land value requirements set out in state law. Those include the Castor brothers, RMTR Investments and real estate attorney Derek Anderson, West Hills’ original sponsor.

Nathan Anderson said his last name has created confusion among neighbors who’ve confronted him for supporting incorporation. He said he’s not related to sponsor Derek Anderson, who is his attorney.

Nathan Anderson told KPCW there’s also no relation to Anderson Development, which sought to incorporate a city almost five times the size of West Hills four years ago. Derek Anderson has previously told KPCW he’s not related to Anderson Development either.

State law allowed West Hills’ boundaries to change multiple times since incorporation began in April 2023. Now it’s locked in at 3,600 acres.

West Hills is concentrated around state Route 248, starting at the county line after Hideout and ending around Democrat Alley west of Kamas. Some of the Ure Ranch is included south of the road, and West Hills extends north like “fingers,” as the county’s top planning official described it.

The leaders of Oakley, Kamas, Francis and the South Summit School District, have all said the borders look gerrymandered to make sure incorporation passes.

Community Development Director Peter Barnes has also expressed concerns about the lack of sewer and water infrastructure, saying growth should be concentrated in cities or areas his department says could be “villages.”

“If anything, we can only improve,” Nathan Anderson, who lives north of state Route 248, added. “I mean, we have a road that is terrible, that we maintain. The city doesn't maintain it. We don't get it plowed, so we have to do all that.”

West Hills needs growth to raise enough taxes to balance a budget, according to consultants from LRB Public Finance Advisors.

In previous statements, Derek Anderson has said West Hills would encourage “modest new growth.” Development would be clustered to preserve open space and area for grazing, so people could maintain their greenbelt tax exemptions.

He did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

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