The Willow Reserve Estates, under Philo Development Group, has altered course for the development of over 600 residences in Kane County east of Kanab; under recent legislature, Utah Code 10-2a-501, Willow Reserve has applied for preliminary incorporation with the Utah Lieutenant Governor’s office. Per that office, Willow meets the initial requirements to apply and awaits approval from the office and a vote from property owners and potential voters registered for homes in the subdivision.
Should these conditions be met, Willow will qualify for incorporation, essentially becoming its own city, responsible for its own municipal services and independent of Kane County’s governance. Willow was planned as a PUD, but was denied at the County level after public pushback and concerns over infrastructure; the property was then planned for a subdivision, which was approved by Kane County. However, in accordance with the recent legislation, the development can be granted a PUD by the state, allowing the original plan to go through without the County’s approval.
Says Commissioner Gwen Brown on the planned development, “The State is overreaching when they mandate developers can create new municipalities in a county just to avoid following the zoning laws in that county. State leaders want as much growth as possible and they are forcing it on counties. Unlimited growth is not what is best for rural counties and it is not what the majority of the citizens want. Counties should have the right to legislate their own zoning laws … we’ll do whatever we can, but it doesn’t seem like we have any ability to stop this, but we will do what we can to make sure they follow everything in the law.”
Adds Commissioner Celeste Meyeres, “In essence, Kane County is being experimented on, through this new Utah state legislation, which I call BYOT: Buy/Build Your Own Town. Yes, quite literally, one to three individuals can now purchase a municipality, appoint themselves as the government and proceed to largely do as they see fit. Normally, Planning and Zoning Commissions and Land Use Authorities govern the process and practices. In this case, all of that is discarded for a process not unlike the implementation of ‘smart cities,’ with State administration acting as land use authority. This is not proper, restrained due process. The normal checks and balances have been discarded ... it is not a community panel of any sort.” Kane County Land Use Authority Administrator Shannon McBride corroborates, “If they get authorization from the state, their ordinance supersedes ours; there’s not a lot we can do about it.”
States Commissioner Patty Kubeja, “I am disheartened that every year Utah State Lawmakers take legislative land use authority away from elected county officials. Kane County Commissioners fought against the legislation that allows developers to incorporate without actual residents. It was supported by too many powerful lawmakers. I am grateful for our local developers and others that come to Kane County and respect our land use ordinances and build in our community respectfully.”
In a subsequent commission meeting, the commission would go on to confirm McBride’s assessment, with County Attorney Rob Van Dyke stating “This bill was created intentionally to remove the ability for local jurisdictions to object to it – there will likely be no opportunity for the county to object to it … there is really no opportunity for us to prevent this from proceeding.”
