The Summit County Council approved two conservation easements Nov. 19 that are required to close the county’s purchase of valuable ranchland.
The Ure Ranch spans 834 acres west of Kamas. The easements ban development and mining on the property but preserve agricultural use.
“We did reserve the ability for one residential home to be built on this property, if we were, in the future, to sell it to a producer,” Summit County Lands and Natural Resources Director Jess Kirby told the council.
The easements approved Nov. 19 are for the so-called North Meadows and recreation land.
The meadows sit north of state Route 248 and east of Democrat Alley. That’s where the single building could go.
The recreation land surrounds the present-day gun club road, West 200 South. Summit County envisions moving the gun club road north on that land to stop Wasatch County-bound traffic from disturbing residents in Spring Meadows.
That’s the only land where the general public may be allowed to hike, bike, fish or hunt. It would be non-motorized recreation.
Both the North Meadows and recreation land easements allow the landowner to use motor vehicles. Summit Land Conservancy CEO Cheryl Fox said the public is not allowed any motorized recreation.
The county will be the landowner for now, and whoever owns the land 100 years from now will need to abide by the conservation easements — which are primarily to protect open space, water and agriculture.
“If you're doing something in your ‘private recreation’ that is impacting the conservation values of the property, then that would be an easement violation,” Fox told the council.
The Ure Ranch deal is $25 million total. The county made a $5 million down payment in 2023 with funds from a voter-approved open space bond. The county extended the closing deadline from the end of this year to 2026 with an extra $2 million from the bond.
Kirby told KPCW that, like the 910 Cattle Ranch deal in western Summit County, the Ure Ranch acquisition was delayed by the government shutdown since there is federal money involved.
Summit County and the Summit Land Conservancy are financial supporters of KPCW.
