First Lake Point, now Stansbury Park.
There may be not one, but two new cities in Tooele County’s future.
Tooele County Clerk Marilyn Gillette presented the Tooele County Commissioners with a certified request for an incorporation study for Stansbury Park at Tuesday’s commission meeting.
“We’re excited,” said Wade Hadlock, who is one of the sponsors of the request for the study. “We want to make our own decisions about Stansbury Park.”
To initiate such a study, a group of at least five property owners must gather signatures from owners of at least 10 percent of the land and 7 percent of the total value of all the land in the proposed new city.
Along with Hadlock, the sponsors of the petition for the incorporation study include Michelle Ricks, Neil Smart, Jamie Lindsay, and Michael Johnson.
State law requires the incorporation feasibility study request to be accompanied by a map of the proposed boundaries of the new city. That map must be prepared by a licensed surveyor along with a description of the area to be incorporated.
All signatures must be from property owners within the proposed boundaries and five of the signers must be designated as sponsors.
The group presented their petition to Gillette on June 12 who then verified that the requirements were met before she certified the petition and presented it to the county commissioners Tuesday night.
The proposed boundary for Stansbury Park incorporates the area around the Benson Gristmill and runs southwest along SR-138 and then runs south at the east end of Stansbury Park. The west boundary jogs to the east a few times before reaching Bates Canyon Road.
The east boundary runs north from Bates Canyon Road to a point north of where SR-36 joins SR-138.
The south boundary takes in a 49-acre development in progress on the southwest corner of Bates Canyon Road and SR-36.
The inclusion of property south of Bates Canyon Road raised the ire of Tooele resident Joe Liddell, whose family helped settle Erda in the 1850s.
“I object to this intrusion,” Liddell told the county commission. “Bates Canyon Road became the accepted boundary between Erda and Stansbury 20 years ago.”
Hadlock stated that the southern boundary followed the Erda Township boundary.
State guidelines for incorporation puts boundaries for proposed cities in the hands of petition sponsors, not the county commission.
The population of the proposed Stansbury Park City was 8,940 according to the 2010 census, Hadlock said. If it had existed as a city then, Stansbury Park would have been the 57th largest city in Utah, and would have replaced Grantsville as Tooele County’s second-largest city.
Hadlock estimated that currently there are around 9,500 residents within the proposed city boundaries.
Stansbury citizens have thought about incorporation before, but were concerned they didn’t have enough tax base to pay for city operations.
But several things have changed since then.
“With the new municipal services tax, we will pay an additional tax to the county,” Hadlock said. “We also looked at motor vehicle fuel tax and sales tax that are distributed by a formula that includes population. With our population now around 9,500 we will receive a larger share of those taxes as a city.”
The feasibility study will give Stansbury residents a better idea of the financial picture of incorporation. While finances and taxes are important, that’s not all that’s driving Hadlock.
“We want to make our own decisions and have better representation,” he said. “We have around 60 percent of the county’s population, but no representation on the county commission, no representation on the school board, and one seat on the planning commission. As a city, I think we will have a better voice.”
Currently three service agencies in Stansbury Park collect property taxes and provide for water, sewer, recreation, greenbelt and park management.
Fire protection and emergency services in Stansbury Park are provided by the North Tooele County Fire Department. Stansbury property owners also pay property tax to the Tooele Mosquito Abatement District.
Tooele County provides road maintenance, snow removal, planning and zoning, building permit and inspection services, and law enforcement in Stansbury Park.
The new city would take over the services now provided by Tooele County, Hadlock said.
There also is consensus that for the time being, fire service and mosquito abatement would continue to be provided by the separate agencies now providing those services.
There is no consensus currently on the future of the Stansbury Service Agency and the Greenbelt District that provide parks, recreation, a swimming pool and greenbelt management. Stansbury Park Improvement District wants to remain a separate stand alone agency according to Hadlock.
The county commission now has 60 days to engage a consultant to prepare the feasibility study. The consultant has 90 days after being hired to prepare the study.
The feasibility study must include a five-year projection of revenue and costs for the new city, including projections for growth and inflation, according to state law.
Expenses must assume the same level of government services the area currently receives, including water, sewer, law enforcement, fire protection, roads and public works, garbage collection, weeds, and government offices.
If the study determines that the average annual amount of revenue does not exceed the average annual amount of costs by more than 5 percent, then the county commission must schedule two public hearings within the boundaries of the new city for the study’s findings to be presented to the public.
If the study does not find that the average annual amount of revenue will exceed the average annual amount of costs by more than 5 percent, then the quest for incorporation ends — unless the study and the petition sponsors find a way to tweak the proposed boundaries to meet the financial requirement.
Within one year after the public hearings a petition for incorporation can be filed with the county clerk.
In order to put incorporation on the ballot, the petition must have the signature of at least 10 percent of the total registered voters in the proposed new city, including 10 percent of the voters from 90 percent of the voting precincts.
Stansbury Park was founded in 1969 by developer Terracor as a planned community with a lake, golf course, swimming pool, clubhouse and greenbelts.
Terracor initially contracted with Dixie Six builders, a major home builder in Utah at the time, to build the first homes. Terracor went bankrupt in 1982, however, and new construction languished until around 1992, when Watt Homes started building in the area, according to John Poulson, a long-time Stansbury Park resident.
In 2009 Stansbury Park was rated as the No. 4 market for new home sales in the greater Salt Lake City area by Metrostudy, a Texas-based housing market research firm.
Tooele County Commissioners received a certified petition for an incorporation feasibility study from Lake Point residents at their May 6 meeting. The county commission, during their July 1 meeting, approved a contract with Zions Bank Public Finance to complete the Lake Point incorporation feasibility study. Zions Bank has 90 days to complete the study.