Besides the Swaner Preserve, there are two large undeveloped squares of land in the central Snyderville Basin.
One is the Osguthorpe Farm, groomed for Nordic skiing most winters. The other has an active subdivision application, which may go forward this year.
Summit County Community Development Director Peter Barnes says the landowner wants to take advantage of a part of the Basin’s development code that incentivizes open space preservation.
Property owners get to build more units per acre as long as 75% percent of their property is preserved.
“The conversation we're having right now is over the details of the conservation agreement,” Barnes said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” Feb. 4.
He says those conversations are complex, so a Feb.10 public hearing about the subdivision has been cancelled.
The 158-acre parcel is zoned “rural residential,” which normally allows 1 unit per 20 acres. The incentive density would allow 1 unit per 10 acres. The landowner has an additional 40-acre "hillside stewardship" parcel below Quarry Mountain, zoned for slightly less density.
Barnes said in December the application includes 14 lots.
The property includes some wetlands and steep slopes to the south, farther from Old Ranch Road.
“As part of the incentive density provisions, they actually have to account for all of these areas,” Barnes said Feb. 4. “And the plat itself … splits out all the properties, the type and quality of the properties, what easements are going to be created, what trails will run through there — it's fairly complicated.”
The Utah Legislature created new rules in 2024 to expedite subdivisions statewide. After a public hearing at the planning commission, staff will be obligated to approve the development if it checks all the legal boxes.
The Old Ranch Road land is owned under an LLC, 2H20, registered to Parkite Chad Horne. The Summit Land Conservancy also lists Horne as an open space donor who helped preserve the Osguthorpe Farm.
The plan to subdivide the 2H20 property dates back to at least 2016, according to Barnes. The county planning department originally approved a subdivision at the base density, without the open space incentive, but the project never went forward.
