The Coalville City Council has denied Larry H. Miller Real Estate’s request to explore annexing 316 acres as part of the company’s proposed Hidden Meadow Village project.

Hidden Meadow Village is a downsized version of the 1,000-acre Cedar Crest Village development, a joint venture between Larry H. Miller Real Estate and Ivory Homes. The two companies originally hoped to build Cedar Crest Village near Hoytsville in unincorporated Summit County, but the application with Summit County expired earlier this year.

Kelsey Berg, vice president of government relations for Larry H. Miller Real Estate, told the City Council in April the expiration was deliberate because the Cedar Crest proposal became too unruly. In its place, the company created the 316-acre Hidden Meadow Village project and approached Coalville about annexation, expressing a desire to partner with a municipality to control and encourage growth rather than competing for infrastructure and economic prosperity.

Cameron Jackson, Larry H. Miller Real Estate senior vice president of operations, last month shared information with the City Council about the development’s projected revenue, estimating the 75 homes slated for the Hidden Meadow Village subdivision would bring in $90,000 of surplus tax funds annually for the city.

During the City Council meeting last week, he said the feasibility study determined Hidden Meadow Village would create a 14% revenue increase for the city with only a 7% increase in expenses.

The proposed homes would have values between $700,000 and $2 million, and Jackson said he believed 90% of the homes would be occupied by primary, full-time residents.

City Councilor Louise Willoughby opposed the idea, however, and last month made a motion to deny the annexation petition, which is the first step in the process followed by a protest period and public hearing before an official decision by the City Council.

At the time, no other city councilors seconded Willoughby’s motion, and they instead decided to postpone the conversation until the next meeting on July 14.

Jackson again presented information about the finances and timeline of the project to the City Council last week ahead of the councilors’ vote, and Coalville Community Development Director Don Sargent reminded councilors of their obligation to review the annexation petition as a standalone project separate from any past or future proposals, including the now expired Cedar Crest VIllage application.

Jackson said most of the City Council’s questions regarding the project, such as community benefits and specific details on infrastructure, would be answered once the annexation petition was accepted, as that step would open a dialogue between the council and developers to collaborate on what Jackson called “local calibration.”

The City Council told Jackson it wasn’t opposed to the annexation overall, but councilors felt the city needed more resources and a larger analysis of the project from the city’s perspective before they would be comfortable moving forward.

City Councilor Lynn Wood in particular mentioned the city’s search for a strategic planner and said it may be something the city is more ready for in a year once it’s built up staffing.

She added that she thought Hidden Meadow Village “ultimately will happen,” saying Coalville is fortunate to have Larry H. Miller Real Estate as interested developers.

City Councilor Brandon Brady made a motion to accept the petition, which died on the floor after other councilors didn’t second it.

Willoughby then made a motion to deny the application, seconded by City Councilor John Hansen, which passed in a 3-1 vote.

City Councilor Shaun Powis was absent at the time of the vote, and Brady was the lone vote in opposition.

Larry H. Miller Real Estate has the option of coming back to the City Council at a future date with a new proposal, but the process would start over from the beginning. The developers have not yet indicated whether they intend to keep pursuing the project.

The post Coalville says no to bid for Hidden Meadow Village annexation appeared first on Park Record.

The Coalville City Council will decide next month whether to officially explore annexing 316 acres owned by Larry H. Miller Real Estate as part of the company’s proposed Hidden Meadow Village project.

Hidden Meadow Village is a downsized version of the 1,000-acre Cedar Crest Village development, a joint venture between Larry H. Miller Real Estate and Ivory Homes. The two companies originally hoped to build Cedar Crest Village near Hoytsville in unincorporated Summit County, but the application with the County Courthouse expired earlier this year.

Kelsey Berg, vice president of government relations for Larry H. Miller Real Estate, told the City Council in April the expiration was deliberate because the Cedar Crest proposal became too unruly. In its place, the company created the 316-acre Hidden Meadow Village project and decided to approach Coalville about annexation, expressing a desire to partner with the municipality to control and encourage growth rather than competing for infrastructure and economic prosperity.

Larry H. Miller Real Estate held an open house in May with community members on the proposal.

Company representatives this week said there were key takeaways resulting from the event: a desire to preserve Coalville’s rural lifestyle and improve access to parks, trails and other open spaces; concerns about traffic, road infrastructure, affordable housing and impacts on local schools; and questions about retail and economic development,

The company also hired third-party firms to generate economic impact, traffic and infrastructure studies.

Senior Vice President of Operations Cameron Jackson said the proposal’s relatively small 75-lot development on a 316-acre property is an example of how the company plans to respect the rural history of the area in addition to earmarking 116 of those acres for open space trails and parks.

Furthermore, the traffic study did not indicate an exponential increase in cars on the road, according to Jackson. He said the 75 homes would add one additional car trip per minute during peak hours of the day, such as the early morning rush hour, but the overall low density of the development largely evens out any traffic impacts.

Jackson added that Larry H. Miller Real Estate is not planning on building any commercial spaces on the 316-acre lot. Instead, the company wants to participate in the city’s efforts to revitalize Main Street, bringing in new residents who will work and shop at local establishments downtown.

He estimated the development will bring in $90,000 of surplus tax funds annually for the city.

“It’s sort of hitting a sweet spot with the value of the homes,” Jackson said. “Because these are larger lots, quarter-acre lots up to one-acre lots, the value of these homes would range anywhere from $700,000 to $800,000 up to potentially $2 million. It’s a combination between the taxable value of the homes and the number of homes. It’s not so many homes that the number of services and the roads and the maintenance and things like that become a burden for the city.”

Jackson said he believes 90% of the homes will be occupied by primary, full-time residents. The families purchasing the homes will most likely be older adults without school-aged children, so the development isn’t expected to strain the local school system, he added. That was one concern with the Cedar Crest development.

City councilors expressed initial concerns about affordable housing, noting the high price point of the proposed homes, but Jackson said the company is exploring the idea of accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, to help with accessibility.

Coalville City Community Development Director Don Sargent said all zones in the city other than the light industrial zone allow ADUs. Common examples of ADUs include attached lofts and converted garages, as well as guest houses or “mother-in-law apartments” that are separate from the main residence.

ADUs in Coalville can’t be larger than 1,000 square feet, and they’re required to connect to the same infrastructure as the property’s primary home. They’re also not allowed to be sold separately, meaning the homeowner would need to build and operate the ADU as a landlord if the space were to be rented out to tenants as affordable housing.

“I feel after these few months like you really understand that no place stays special on accident. I think that we’re very fortunate to have you here,” City Councilor Lynn Wood said. “If we could sum it up in one sentence what people’s thoughts and feelings are at this point, and I heard this certainly, too, it was like, ‘Well, we’re not super excited about this, but we do understand.’ There’s an acceptance that this is going to happen, and I feel like you’re really going about this the right way.”

City Councilor Louise Willoughby disagreed, however, and said she’s heard nothing but pushback from her constituents. She also voiced concerns about the Cedar Crest Village project, saying she thought the downscaled Hidden Meadow Village was only a stepping stone to create the 2,200 homes originally proposed in the joint venture with Ivory Homes.

Willoughby then made a motion to deny the petition formally requesting Coalville begin the annexation process, but her fellow councilors did not second it.

Instead, the City Council decided to revisit the petition in mid-July.

The petition is only the first step of the process and does not indicate whether the 316 acres will be annexed into Coalville. If accepted, the petition begins a 30-day protest period, throughout which property owners and registered voters can submit written objections to the annexation.

The City Council would then review and address those objections before scheduling a public hearing and taking a final vote.

The post Hidden Meadow Village may take official step in annexation process next month appeared first on Park Record.

The 1,000-acre Cedar Crest Village project, a new town proposed near Hoytsville, is on hold as developers hope to annex a third of the property into Coalville’s city limits.

Brad Holmes, president of Larry H. Miller Real Estate, approached the Coalville City Council regarding annexation in December, but city councilors were hesitant to engage in further discussions because developers were unable to provide specifics about the project’s density and traffic impacts. Now that the application with Summit County has expired, the developer was influenced to downsize the proposal and explore annexation into the East Side.

Coalville councilors also pointed out the non-contiguous layout of the property, which would make it difficult for the city to easily annex, as well as the developers’ previous attempts to push the project through at the county level.

The City Council meeting in December was exploratory, but Larry H. Miller Real Estate recently filed a petition formally requesting Coalville consider annexing 316 acres into the city  — a more than 100% decrease from the original proposal. In the meantime, the rest of the mixed-use project has temporarily gone on hold while developers work through the annexation process.

Developers are calling the downsized proposal Hidden Meadow Village, and Larry H. Miller Real Estate is working on an economic study regarding the viability of the much smaller project.

Kelsey Berg, vice president of government relations for Larry H. Miller Real Estate, said the developers plan to conduct three other studies, focusing largely on water, utilities and impact fees, to present to the city by the end of the year.

“This helps us to be able to understand the impacts that our development can have based on conversations that we’ve had in the past of what is the sewer capacity? What is the water capacity? What are the impact fees? How will this impact future residents going forward?” Berg said at a City Council meeting last week.

Councilors still questioned the decision to pivot the project from Summit County to Coalville, but Berg said the answer was simple: The Cedar Crest proposal became too unruly.

“It was a big lift, so as we scaled back internally and said, ‘OK, what are the community development principles that we believe in? What’s the best way to move forward in that?” Berg said. “[The application with Summit County] did not expire because time just ran out. We chose to let it expire and to not proceed with that path forward.”

Larry H. Miller Real Estate Chief Visioning Officer Stephen James added Cedar Crest started to feel like it was a project competing with Coalville.

“We would rather help Coalville become more sustainable in the long term as it relates to investment, infrastructure, commercial growth than start something completely new from scratch,” James said. “Since we actually are adjacent to existing Coalville property, what if we, rather than thinking of the large-scale vision, think about a small, incremental approach that could scale in the long term?”

James said developers are also considering opening a portion of the land to the public and installing hiking and walking trails to contribute to the Coalville community and retain the rural values of the area.

He added that all three landowners currently living on parcels within the 316 acres want to be annexed into Coalville.

City Councilor Louise Willoughby said she was in favor of the idea, but she had concerns about the viability of the project and attracting families to the property, which would largely be agricultural plots for small farms.

“This is all sounding really beautiful, and it sounds really amazing. It just sounds way too good to be practical,” Willoughby said.

City Councilor Lynn Wood also said it sounded like a great idea that would economically benefit the city, but she said there was too much internal strife at the municipal level to make such a large project feasible right now. Specifically, Wood was referring to an hours-long public hearing earlier the same meeting that sparked debate over whether the City Council or mayor should be in charge of the city attorney position in what upset residents called an attempted “power grab.”

“Maybe we get farms, maybe not, but what does Coalville and the Coalville citizens get? What is your best product you can bring in that is affordable?” Wood added. “Is there anything less than $400,000? Is there anything less than $1.5 million? … I know that’s what our community wants. They’re asking, ‘Where is the affordable housing?’ We haven’t given them an answer as a City Council.”

The City Council ultimately decided to delay further discussions on the annexation until their June 23 meeting with the understanding that Larry H. Miller Real Estate staff will schedule and hold a public forum to receive more community feedback. The council will then also hold its own public hearing before making a final decision.

Willoughby was the only councilor who voted against tabling the annexation petition, saying she was ready to deny the request based on public input she’s received so far in addition to her concerns about the development’s housing prices and lack of affordable units.

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