Senate Bill 26, which amends rules around Housing and Transit Reinvestment Zones (HTRZ), is primarily about funding Wasatch Front stadiums and renovations to the Salt Palace.
But Taylorsville GOP Sen. Wayne Harper, the bill’s sponsor, said there are lines aimed at formalizing the agreement between Summit County and developer Dakota Pacific Real Estate that thousands of residents want to overturn in a referendum.
“There was a section that we put in a bill, I think either three or four years ago, dealing with an HTRZ in Summit County. There were some discussions and actions between those two parties — I'll leave it at that. They, over the summer, came through with an agreement. And this bill goes through and implements what the county and the developer agreed to,” Harper said in a Utah House committee Feb. 26. “Rather than forcing by statute what is happening there, we're putting in what they agreed to.”
What they agreed to was a 725-unit neighborhood, with nearly half set aside for local workers, and a partnership to expand the Kimball Junction Transit Center. Dakota Pacific contributes $3.75 million to parts of the partnership, which also includes 165 county-owned affordable housing units.
Kimball Junction resident Hillary Jessup told House Political Subdivisions Committee members about the referendum effort, claiming 99% of the Park City area does not want the project to happen, especially because of traffic concerns.
“Traffic is a problem. We have no say in this decision, and so I am begging you not to ruin the entrance of Park City. It’s going to be a wart,” she said.
SB26 passed the Utah Legislature March 7, the last day of the 2025 session.
Gov. Spencer Cox had not signed SB26 as of March 10.
It’s not clear if the bill would authorize the development immediately or if it would only kick in after the state approves a housing and transit reinvestment zone.
The application for an HTRZ would be filed by Summit County, not Dakota Pacific.
HTRZs work by reinvesting some of the taxes generated by the new development to pay for its infrastructure, rather than sending it all to county coffers.
Initially designed for areas around FrontRunner train stations, they’re touted as a way to make projects pencil for developers who otherwise wouldn’t decide to build.
Summit County hasn’t always been a fan of HTRZ legislation.
At first, it successfully lobbied for access to the financing tool as it built up High Valley Transit.
Now, according to Housing and Economic Development Director Jeff Jones, the county’s moderate income housing plan includes the HTRZ as a tool it will use to promote housing in the Snyderville Basin.
But after getting access to HTRZ financing, the county found itself pressured into approving Dakota Pacific’s project after lawmakers passed back-to-back HTRZ bills beginning in 2022.
House Bill 462 required Summit County to designate an HTRZ in Kimball Junction. Speaking with Park City Rotarians last month, Councilmember Canice Harte said the county dodged that 2022 bill by applying for an HTRZ on a small parcel near the car wash.
The next year, Senate Bill 84 got more specific: it required a mixed-use development like what Dakota Pacific was proposing within a certain radius of the Kimball Junction Transit Center.
Summit County sued the state and the developer over the proposal and got an early win when 3rd District Judge Richard Mrazik ruled SB84 didn’t technically apply to Kimball Junction.
The development agreement county councilmembers approved in December 2024 would have ended the lawsuit. But Dakota Pacific hasn’t signed it yet, so the lawsuit remains in limbo.
Summit County residents have petitioned to repeal the development agreement, and Dakota Pacific has petitioned to form a town on its 50 acres, potentially circumventing the residents’ referendum.
The Summit County Clerk’s Office is processing signatures to see if enough voters want the issue on the ballot in November.
Separately, Wasatch Back Republican legislators Rep. Mike Kohler and Sen. Ron Winterton sponsored a bill to prevent any more developers from incorporating their own towns. It did not pass.
