Ivory Development took its case for a new zone in rural Browns Canyon straight to the Summit County Council on Wednesday, asking for rules that could eventually allow up to about 3,000 homes on roughly 600 acres in eastern Summit County (via KPCW). The council didn't vote, and the reception was cool.
The item came up during the council's Oct. 28 work session at the county courthouse in Coalville. According to the posted agenda, it's an ordinance that would amend Chapter 11-3 of the Eastern Summit County Development Code to create a "Lost Creek Community Zone." Garff Rogers Ranch LLC owns the land, and Ivory Development, the land arm of Ivory Homes, is representing the owners. The county file is Project No. 26-099, and principal planner Ray Milliner presented it.
The property is zoned AG-80, which works out to about one home per 80 acres. TownLift, which also covered the meeting, reported Ivory's concept plan shows a buildout maximum of 3,002 units. County materials earlier in the year put the range at roughly 2,285 to 3,002 units, figured on about 407 developable acres.
Creating the zone wouldn't approve a subdivision or rezone the ranch on its own. Milliner has said a master-planned development and a rezone would still have to come later, so there are several more public steps before any dirt moves.
The Eastern Summit County Planning Commission held work sessions and a public hearing in August, then voted unanimously to recommend against the zone. Milliner told the council the big concerns were density and whether roads, water and sewer could keep up.
Council members raised many of the same points. Megan McKenna said she agreed with the planning commission's recommendation and that Ivory's proposed 10% affordable share wasn't enough. "We have a serious affordability problem here," she said, according to TownLift. Vice Chair Roger Armstrong noted the general plan calls for mostly rural and agricultural land on the east side and that the AG-80 zoning was set on purpose. "This feels different," he said. Tonja Hanson asked whether Browns Canyon Road and its highway connections could carry that much traffic. Councilmember Chris Robinson recused himself, citing his family's ties to the Garff family and the cattle it runs on the Garff-Rogers Ranch.
Ivory says it has finished traffic studies and that road work would be phased in as building goes, over a buildout of about 20 years. The company also acknowledged the land has very limited water rights, and that more would have to be bought, approved by the state and moved to the site.
There's a second track running alongside the zoning request. Ivory has also asked the Utah Lieutenant Governor's Office to let it form a "preliminary municipality," a developer-led town, under a 2024 state law. That filing landed Jan. 1 but was turned away in February because the state had already hit its cap of two such requests for the year. TownLift reported that the office resumed processing it on Sept. 19. The state filing covers about 490 acres and 510 units, half of them nightly rentals, far fewer than the county zone could allow.
Ivory Development President Chris Gamvroulas told the council the company would rather go through the county. "We do not want to create a preliminary municipality," he said, per TownLift. He also argued that "real local control is with the property owner." Either way, he said, Lost Creek is meant to become its own city someday and provide its own municipal services.
Summit County has been pushing state lawmakers to repeal the preliminary municipality law, and KPCW reported a judge in Moab is expected to rule on the law's constitutionality within two months of oral arguments held Thursday in 7th District Court.
Council Chair Canice Harte said staff got the direction it needed, but more discussion is coming before anything moves forward. No return date has been set.
Why it matters for Contractors
Nothing here is biddable yet, and it may never be at the size Ivory wants. The planning commission said no, the council sounded skeptical, and there's a pending court ruling that could change the state-law backup plan. Even in the best case for Ivory, the zone is only the first of several approvals.
Still, a project this size would be a multi-decade pipeline of homes, roads, water and sewer work in eastern Summit County. If you're a small builder or trade shop in the Kamas, Coalville or Park City area, it's worth following the council agendas and the county's Project No. 26-099 file. Watch the water and sewer plans in particular; they'll decide whether this is real, and they're where early site and utility work would come from.