Twenty-three of the 75 registered voters in the town of Independence want to disincorporate — to give up their status as a town.
Phil Sweat is among them. He said he and his neighbors are concerned about future development plans. They don’t want the small town southeast of Heber to become another Park City.
“I just don’t want to see that type of an atmosphere in this farm community, and it’s still, you know, it’s still a country community,” he said.
Sweat served as mayor for 17 years, but in 2025, he resigned mid-meeting because he was concerned about the rest of the town council’s stance on future development.
At the time, the town administrator was in early talks with three developers about plans that could include an RV park, a new road, a town center and new homes.
Meeting minutes from August 2025 indicate Sweat wanted to revise the general plan to curtail higher-density or heavily commercial growth on the town’s north edge, but the council didn’t agree with him.
Sweat also felt that landowners along Center Creek Road, near the future town center, weren’t receiving enough information about the proposals.
“They weren’t letting anybody know what was going on, and I just finally got fed up with it and resigned and said, ‘You guys have got to find another mayor, because I’m not going to sit here and try to tell the people in Center Creek this is best for them when they don’t even have any say,’” he said.
Town administrator Jodi Hoffman said no development applications have been submitted for the projects.
At a town council meeting Aug. 19, she said the general plan is strict about any development.
“There were 108 people when we incorporated 18 years ago,” she said. “We’ve allowed five new homes in the last 18 years.”
She said the general plan will also ensure any development proposals in and around the town center are executed with care.
“It’s encouraged property owners that own about 2,500 acres to work together to make certain that the roads go where they should go, and that the infrastructure goes where it should go, and that essentially all the traffic gets funneled away from the current residents, and that they develop in a way that doesn’t cause an increase in property taxes,” she said.
Sweat and 22 of his neighbors submitted a petition for disincorporation in late July, asking a 4th District judge to put the issue to a vote.
Meanwhile, town councilmembers plan to campaign against it. Mayor pro tem Bonnie Wilson said at the August meeting she will send out postcards explaining the drawbacks.
“Without the town, local residents would have no control over the development of thousands of acres of private land that is within the town boundary,” she said. “Development decisions would be made by Wasatch County.”
Sweat said there could still be growth if the town disbands, but he’s not interested in any major commercial development in the community.
Unified Independence, a developer that owns about 1,500 acres of land in the town, has asked to intervene in the court process. In a filing Aug. 19, it said disincorporation could negatively affect its “property rights, municipal services, zoning protections and governance interests.”
The judge hasn’t responded to the developer’s request.
As of Sept. 9, the judge was waiting for confirmation that the disincorporation group had paid the required filing fee. Only then will she decide whether the effort can go forward.
If the petition meets all the requirements, the judge will set a special election to determine the town’s future.
