Summit County Manager Shayne Scott confirmed Ivory Homes applied to incorporate Jan. 1, speaking on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” Jan. 27.
Summit County officials believe the town would be located in or around Browns Canyon, but Ivory’s application with the Utah lieutenant governor's office is not public yet.
“I do believe it butts up against Promontory on that south side, south end where they come into Browns Canyon,” Scott said.
Ivory Development President Chris Gamvroulas also told KPCW via email Jan. 27 that the company is working with the lieutenant governor’s office to determine if their application is complete.
He said that won’t be decided “for a few more weeks” and that commenting further would be premature.
The lieutenant governor’s office has yet to answer KPCW’s public records request for more information. The exact boundaries of Ivory’s proposed town won’t be clear until the application is public.
According to Scott, the application is for a so-called preliminary municipality. Utah law allows for three such applications each year.
State lawmakers created the special category in 2024.
A preliminary incorporation allows a single landowner to form their own town even in areas with no preexisting buildings or infrastructure. That makes it tempting for Utah developers who might not have favorable preexisting zoning.
Summit County has zoned most of the land in Browns Canyon for agriculture and for one house per 80 acres.
Back on Jan. 15, a day after KPCW first reported on a potential Browns Canyon town, Eastern Summit County Planning Commissioner David Darcey asked county planners about the rumors.
Community Development Director Peter Barnes said at that time he would hope a developer pursuing incorporation might also file a development application with the county.
He added that the county has little to no involvement with preliminary municipal incorporations, which also don’t require a final vote among residents to transition into a full-fledged town.
The Times-Independent previously reported that the 2024 law creating the unorthodox incorporation process appeared tailor-made for a developer outside of Moab hoping to build along the Colorado River.
Utah House District 4 Rep. Tiara Auxier, R-Morgan, has said she plans to introduce a bill to reform the process during the 2026 General Session.
She told KPCW earlier in January she was in favor of repealing the 2024 law allowing for preliminary incorporations but that there wasn’t enough political support statewide.
Last year’s bid to repeal it passed the Utah House but not the Senate.
