Eastern Summit County debates new zone that could open rural growth

Eastern Summit County is weighing a zoning change that could decide far more than one Browns Canyon project. The proposed Lost Creek Community Zone would create a new path in Summit County code for a master-planned community on land now governed by AG-80, the county’s very low-density agricultural zone that allows one residential unit per 80 acres.

Ivory Homes first filed Jan. 1, 2026, for a preliminary municipality called Lost Creek on roughly 490 to 491 acres tied to Garff-Rogers Ranches LLC and EBR Management. The Utah Lieutenant Governor’s Office declined to begin a feasibility study because state law allows only two preliminary-municipality filings per calendar year, so Ivory shifted to the county process and asked Summit County to create the new community zone instead.

Under that county-track proposal, Lost Creek could grow to as many as 3,000 residential units on about 407 acres, with at least 10% set aside as affordable housing. Construction was described as unfolding over several decades, with about 100 units added each year. Earlier versions of the plan also outlined 193 single-family homes, 127 townhomes, 190 cottage homes, 10,000 square feet of retail space, 255 nightly rentals and a projected 642 full-time residents at buildout.

The Eastern Summit County Planning Commission has not yet been asked to approve a specific subdivision layout or building height. Instead, commissioners are deciding whether the county should create the legal framework that would allow more than one unit per 80 acres in that part of Browns Canyon. Chair Alex Peterson and other commissioners have worried that once a special zone is written into county code, future developers could point to it as precedent in places such as Rockport or Hoytsville.

That concern has sharpened the debate over traffic, water and infrastructure. County staff said the proposal does not require water, wastewater or transportation services to be secured before later development plans move ahead. Commissioners also pushed Ivory Development to narrow the eligible area so the zone would apply only to specific parcels around its holdings, after earlier versions raised fears that a broader radius could be used by other landowners in eastern Summit County. The draft also calls for at least 10% open space, a level some officials may see as thin for a rural corridor.

The Lost Creek fight is landing during a larger statewide shift in land-use politics. Utah’s 2024 preliminary-municipality law gives qualifying landowners a town-like tool kit, including zoning and land-use control, and similar strategies have already surfaced in other Summit County growth fights, including Dakota Pacific Real Estate’s Park City Tech push in Kimball Junction. The Eastern Summit County Planning Commission, which meets on the first and third Thursday of each month and includes Alex Peterson, Bridget Hayes, David Darcey, Seth Bowen, Don Sargent and Paul Weller, will continue shaping the county’s response before the Summit County Council makes the final call.