The Utah Supreme Court ruled Hideout had the right to annex part of Summit County in June 2024, a major decision in a years-long tussle between the jurisdictions.
Work on the Richardson Flat annexation began over five years ago, according to Hideout Town Administrator Jan McCosh.
The process started when, for a window of around 100 days in 2020, state law allowed municipalities to annex county land without filing a petition or seeking permission from the county.
Hideout took advantage of the brief change in state law by starting the annexation process for land in Richardson Flat connected to the Wasatch County town by a “cherry stem” of land along state Route 248.
It originally intended to annex a larger area, but Park City filed a lawsuit saying Hideout couldn’t take over property its neighbor already had plans for.
Since then, the remaining land – now around 350 acres just over the border in unincorporated Summit County – has changed hands.
McCosh said the town has yet to meet with the new owner, Larry H. Miller Real Estate.
“We’re looking forward to doing that,” she said. “In fact, next week, we’re getting together to meet up, get to know each other and work on creating a vision.”
She said Hideout primarily pictures commercial development on the land, long envisioned as open space and recreation areas by Park City.
“We need commercial,” she said. “Right now, we’ve got 1,500 residents who are driving on 248 to come into Park City and creating a lot of traffic issues. We need basic services. We need a grocery store, we need gas.”
McCosh said that kind of construction could ease regional traffic woes and benefit the whole Wasatch Back.
The timeline for Hideout’s annexation of eastern Richardson Flat to move forward is yet to be determined.
In other Hideout development news, the town is also on the path to housing a permanent fire station. Town leaders had long been concerned about response times from the nearest Wasatch Fire District station, which sits on the west side of the Jordanelle Reservoir, about 7.5 miles away.
Hideout now has a temporary fire station called Station 56, and McCosh said it’s making a positive difference for residents, including shorter response times and better insurance coverage for homeowners.
“We’ve had a number of incidents where the EMS has been able to respond to people in the area and reporting seven- to 15-minute reduction in response time,” she said. “When you have an emergency, that can be a life-saving event to have that EMS available.”
McCosh said the town hopes to construct a permanent location for the fire station in the next two years.
