The Summit County Housing Authority adopted a new strategic plan, but the Summit County Council is mixed on whether the document — and its push for affordable housing — is realistic.

The strategic plan outlines policies the Housing Authority hopes to implement to meet the County Council’s goal of establishing 1,500 affordable housing units over the next 10 years. Policy ideas include incentivizing accessory dwelling units, creating an affordable housing overlay zone and engaging in public-private partnerships to increase the housing supply.

However, County Council Vice Chair Roger Armstrong and County Councilor Chris Robinson expressed concerns that the Housing Authority’s strategic plan conflicts with the County Council’s philosophy regarding long-term growth, especially in the Snyderville Basin.

“We’re schizophrenic as a county where we set goals, want 1,500 units, want all of these aspirational things, but then when we come to do them, we say, ‘Oh jeez, we don’t want any of that because it’s going to induce growth and people,’” Robinson said. “I’m not opposed to these strategies, but I think the application of them has been thorny in our experience and will be in our future.”

The County Council created the Housing Authority last year, but the agency is technically independent from the county government. The Housing Authority needs councilors’ approval to create its strategic plan, but its own executive board will be able to amend the plan without oversight from the County Council in the future.

Robinson’s concerns about the strategic plan were largely centered on potential conflicts with the County Council. He said the Housing Authority could support a development because of its affordable housing offerings, but the County Council may reject the project for other reasons.

Robinson questioned whether it was appropriate for councilors to approve a document they may not support in its entirety and said he was nervous developers wouldn’t understand the difference between the Housing Authority’s strategic plan and the County Council’s independent decision making process.

However, Armstrong said he did not support the strategic plan because he felt the county government had not properly researched whether affordable housing is necessary in Summit County and in what form. He said state agencies and county officials often talk about the housing deficit but that he’s struggled to find concrete answers as to how many units are needed.

“I’ve been asking for it for four years now to identify what we want to hunt with more specificity so that our public can say, ‘This is our strategy to reach this.’ I don’t see any of that in here,” Armstrong said. “It’s a complex problem, and we are approaching it in an elementary way that does not do it justice.”

Armstrong called the 1,500-unit goal “arbitrary” and said the County Council arrived at the number without any “science” behind it. He said he wants the county to have an in-depth discussion regarding the type of housing needed and the demographic it’s trying to attract, such as commuters, young families or school teachers.

He also said Summit County residents predominantly oppose development, which is why he did not agree with approving a document that seemingly encouraged the creation of new housing units.

“By approving this, we’re saying, ‘Yes, we want this level of aggressiveness’ … as it relates to housing,” Armstrong said.

County Council Chair Canice Harte said he didn’t view the strategic plan’s approval as an endorsement or commitment from the council, calling the document a “tool” for the Housing Authority to consider as it explores housing policies to suggest to councilors.

He emphasized that the County Council would still retain control over its decisions and would not need to approve a policy simply because the Housing Authority recommended it.

“I would say one of the roles of the Housing Authority is to push the conversation, to try to push ideas forward, and understanding what is and is not feasible or palatable is helpful,” agreed Housing Authority Executive Director Maddy McDonough. “At the same time, if there’s a willingness and an openness to hear these proposals from the Housing Authority on the part of the council, I think that’s a step in the right direction.”

The County Council ultimately approved the plan in a 4-1 vote, with Armstrong in opposition.

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The Summit County Housing Authority has launched a new grant program for local nonprofits offering emergency financial assistance to residents struggling to pay rent.

“The intention of the program is to gather data from these nonprofits so that we can, as a housing authority, identify where the most need is and tailor our program if we decide to have our own internal rental assistance program,” explained Housing Authority Executive Director Maddy McDonough. “We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel, but we want to make sure that community members are getting the assistance they need.”

The Housing Authority, now in its second year of operations, allocated $150,000, or 45% of its overall budget, to the new grant. Registered nonprofits with rental assistance programs are eligible to apply for the grant to obtain additional funding, increasing the number of renters they can afford to help.

McDonough said examples of organizations with relevant programs include Community Action Services and Food Bank, the Christian Center of Park City and the Summit County Clubhouse.

“Typically, emergency rent programs are the last step prior to eviction, so it’s an important time to be able to help and intervene in that cycle so we’re keeping people housed,” McDonough said. “We’re trying to lengthen the runway to make sure folks who are experiencing some sort of change that requires … assistance have time to be able to correct the situation, like finding a new job or whatever it may be.”

The nonprofits receiving grant funding must meet certain requirements to participate in the Housing Authority’s program. Specifically, renters must live in unincorporated Summit County and earn 60% or less of the area median income, which would be $101,280 annually for a family of four.

Renters must also work at least 30 hours per week in Summit County, be recently retired or be unable to work because of a disability, and McDonough said the Housing Authority has asked its nonprofit partners to collect data on why renters need financial assistance.

“We expect some of those reasons are going to have to do with job loss, a medical condition, maybe changes in family circumstances,” McDonough said. “We’ve heard anecdotally that, particularly this season with the low snowfall, there were some employees who were relying on seasonal tourism, but their hours were cut or there weren’t as many people showing up, so their tips were lower. … We don’t have the data yet to say it’s this percentage of the community, so we’re hoping to get more of that information.”

McDonough said four nonprofits applied for the first round of funding, and the Housing Authority board expects to award and allocate the grant at its meeting next week. Community members interested in applying for assistance will need to contact those organizations directly, not the Housing Authority.

The Housing Authority is working on a few other pilot programs, including an incentive for accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, to increase affordable housing offerings. McDonough invited property owners and interested residents to reach out to the Housing Authority or attend a board meeting to share how they would prefer the program functions, especially regarding cash incentives.

“The county is still exploring short-term rental programs and what that might look like to address affordability concerns with housing in the area,” McDonough added. “I don’t think short-term rentals are the only thing impacting housing affordability, but it’s certainly something to consider. … One of the county councilors made a comment that researching the impact of short-term rentals should be explicitly in our strategic plan, so that’s been added to our scope more directly.”

Information about the Summit County Housing Authority is available at summitcountyutah.gov/2357/Summit-County-Housing-Authority.

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The Summit County Housing Authority is exploring a pilot program to incentivize the construction of accessory dwelling units, such as mother-in-law suites and converted garages, to combat the need for affordable housing along the Wasatch Back.

Accessory dwelling units, commonly referred to as ADUs, are self-contained living spaces with private entrances on the same property as a primary residence. In Summit County, they can be as large as 1,000 square feet.

Housing Authority Executive Director Maddy McDonough said the Summit County Council tasked the group with incentivizing accessory dwelling units on the East Side specifically, but she suggested applying the program countywide to benefit Snyderville Basin residents as well.

McDonough said there were two routes the county could pursue. Either the Housing Authority could offset costs for developers by paying permitting fees or lower the cost upfront by providing pre-approved blueprints.

The first option was the Housing Authority’s initial concept for the incentive program, but McDonough said the county’s fees likely aren’t high enough to properly entice developers to build accessory dwelling units. For a typical unit with 1,000 square feet, permitting fees are around $2,000, although the price can increase depending on the specific building.

McDonough said there were other solutions to making the program work, like paying for engineering fees and plan reviews or offering cash incentives on a sliding scale based on how affordable the unit is. She pointed to a similar program in Summit County, Colorado, which offered different incentives depending on whether the accessory dwelling unit was a studio, one-bedroom or two-bedroom apartment.

However, McDonough said the Housing Authority has a limited budget — approximately $349,000 for 2026 — which means offering large cash incentives may not be feasible for the organization right now.

Instead, she proposed implementing a program in which the county would have a collection of pre-approved blueprints for accessory dwelling units that could be selected and built at a faster pace than designs that need to work through the planning process.

“They’ve done this in Boise recently,” McDonough said. “The Housing Authority would own the plans. We could sell the plans to try to recoup some money to those who want to build an ADU and give the plans for free to those who agree to build a deed-restricted, affordable ADU.”

McDonough said the pre-approved plans could also be used in conjunction with a cash incentive if needed.

To obtain the blueprints, McDonough said the Housing Authority would need to issue a request for quotation, or RFQ, to see how many pre-approved plans the county could obtain and at what price. She suggested spending $85,000 on the request, with the goal of acquiring at least four separate designs, which the board of commissioners supported.

Developers would be able to slightly adjust some aspects of the pre-approved plans, such as the placement of doors.

“If people go outside those very minor adjustments that are allowed, it’s no longer pre-approved,” McDonough said. “You go through the regular process.”

Summit County Code prevents accessory dwelling units from being used as short-term rentals, and McDonough estimated it costs between $100,000 and $400,000 to build depending on the type of unit.

The Housing Authority is working to establish the incentive program by the end of the year in addition to a voucher program.

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How does the average Summit County family purchase a home or find a reasonably priced rental unit in a market saturated with luxury real estate?

The county government for years has focused on affordable housing, which the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development defines as discounted units for those making 80% of the area median income, or AMI.

But the 80% AMI mark in Summit County is well over $150,000, meaning affordable housing units can still feel out of reach for the local workforce. As a result, developers and county officials have now pivoted to focus on “attainable housing” — a more flexible version of affordable housing that does not need to meet strict federal guidelines.

Maddy McDonough, the executive director of the Summit County Housing Authority, said most workers in the county earn between 30% and 50% of the area median income. The 50% AMI mark is $84,300 for a family of four, which means it’s not possible to purchase “affordable” housing priced at the 80% AMI mark, especially when the median price of a home in Summit County is around $1.7 million.

McDonough said targeting a lower AMI is doable as long as the county doesn’t rely on federal funding for its housing projects. Otherwise, the county would need to adhere to the 80% AMI mark as mandated by the federal government.

“We’re working on a program to pilot vouchers, and that would be funded through the Housing Authority so we could target those lower AMIs,” McDonough said. “That could be in the form of rental assistance, either short term or long term. We’re working out the details of that program and are expecting to be able to launch the pilot in 2026.”

Jenn Lewis, who chairs the Housing Authority, said the department isn’t trying to “reinvent the wheel,” but it is studying other communities and successful programs to determine how best to serve middle class families along the Wasatch Back.

“What the Housing Authority is trying to do is add more programs to help people thrive here,” Lewis said. “It’s important that these families thrive here because they’re families that live here and help the community be better and to grow.”

Lewis and McDonough said they also thought referring to affordable units as attainable housing might appeal more to the Summit County community because of the negative stigma often associated with federal affordable housing projects.

“I used to work in housing a long time ago, and the stigma that we had to struggle with was that people would assume that if you’re on housing, you’re a criminal or a troublemaker or you’re going to bring property values down,” Lewis said. “There’s a stigma that this person is less of a human being because they need financial help.”

The Housing Authority meets at 10 a.m. on the third Wednesday of each month, and McDonough encouraged community members interested in attainable or affordable housing to attend the meetings to ask questions and further engage with local officials.

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What will the real estate market in Summit County look like in ten years?

It’s a complex question with a nebulous answer, dependent on the national economy, future developments and the Wasatch Back’s reputation as a tourist destination. But most locals, especially those with generational roots in the area, continue to sound the alarm: living in Summit County is becoming increasingly more unaffordable.

The Summit County Council created the Summit County Housing Authority late last year in response and established a goal to bring 1,500 affordable housing units to the area by 2035.

The Housing Authority, which assists low- and moderate-income families in addition to combating housing affordability issues in general, has only been operating with a full board of commissioners for about six months, but the group has already hit the ground running in terms of future planning and brainstorming new initiatives, according to Executive Director Maddy McDonough.

McDonough, who previously worked as a county planner, said she and her board members have been drafting a plan outlining the organization’s strategic goals and objectives. It involves combining the County Council’s 1,500-unit goal with other potential forms of relief for Summit County renters and hopeful homeowners, as well as improving community education on affordable housing.

“We’re also trying to build an understanding of how affordable housing is important to communities in general, not just those who are living in the units,” McDonough explained. “It helps to be able to build an actual, cohesive community where folks are able to live and work in the same place, as opposed to having to commute in.”

McDonough said one of the board’s top priorities is to diversify its income instead of relying solely on the Summit County government for funding. 

The Housing Authority is already discussing partnerships with nonprofits along the Wasatch Back in addition to exploring grant opportunities. However, most affordable housing grants serve very specific populations, McDonough said, which means the Housing Authority will need to be cognizant of Summit County’s demographics to target the appropriate grants.

The Summit County Housing Authority likely won’t receive federal funding, though. McDonough specifically said federal assistance is “very much up in the air” under the Trump administration, and the Housing Authority will continue to ask the Summit County Council for support during its budgeting process.

“The other thing that we can look into as a board … is if we want there to be some sort of nonprofit arm, and that could be partnering with an existing nonprofit or creating our own to be able to take in things like donations from outside businesses,” McDonough added. “For the immediate future, we’re going to be focusing on getting funding from the county moving forward, utilizing leverage with our existing partnerships, so when new units are brought online, if there’s an opportunity for us to own the unit or own the land and be able to bring in revenue through rent or reselling, we’ll do that.”

The strategic plan so far is broken down into three phases.

Phase one, which is dated June 2025 to June 2027, includes the search for outside funding, the launch of a public awareness campaign and a complete inventory of public land. Once the public lands have been inventoried, then the Housing Authority will rank which sites would be best for new units based on their proximity to schools, grocery stores, healthcare facilities and other services.

Phase two is through June 2030. It encompasses solidifying funding sources, “including state and federal level grants and private investment,” and expanding pilot programs the Housing Authority hopes to debut in phase one, such as incentivizing accessory dwelling units, vouchers and down payment assistance programs.

By the time the Housing Authority reaches phase three, which starts in the summer of 2030 and ends in June 2035, the organization’s operations should be fleshed out and allow the board to focus generally on continuing the work already underway.

“It is certainly playing the long game, and I think a lot of our community members were hopeful initially that we would be able to offer a lot of these federal programs, like housing choice vouchers, which is the new name for Section 8 housing, but it doesn’t seem as though those programs are going to be expanding at all at a federal level,” McDonough said. “In fact, it’s being predicted that many of those programs they’re funding will be cut … but that’s why we’re attempting to supplement them with a more locally-focused version of those programs.”

There are benefits to establishing the programs at a local level, too, McDonough added. For example, the Summit County Housing Authority could lower the area median income requirements, commonly referred to as AMI, below the 80% number typically set by the federal government.

Mountainlands Community Housing Trust reported Summit County’s area median income for a four-person household in 2025 is $168,600. In contrast, Wasatch County’s area median income for the same sized household is $136,400 while the Salt Lake City government similarly lists a four-person area median income of $122,700.

“We know that in Summit County, because our area median income is so high, that 80% number is actually above market value for a lot of rentals,” McDonough explained. “It doesn’t help people quite as much as we’d like to be able to help them, so having a locally-focused program does allow us to go down to 55%, for example. It’s not ideal, but we’re trying to come up with different options to be able to make some headway on it.”

McDonough said there are a few goals the Housing Authority hopes to finish by the end of the year, namely mapping its community education campaign and publishing an online database that provides affordable housing information to the public.

“We’re going to be working through creating the requirements and specifications for the (Accessory Dwelling Unit) pilot program because that’s going to be one of the first things launched in 2026,” McDonough said. “Before the end of the year, we’ll have specifics on what that’s going to look like, how much the amount will be, how many units we’ll be able to incentivize the construction of over the 2026 calendar year.”

The pilot program will encourage residents, primarily on the East Side, to build accessory dwelling units to increase the amount of available housing in the area. ADUs are defined as a secondary, independent living space on the same property as another home and are commonly referred to as “granny flats” or “in-law suites.”

Over the next few months, McDonough said the Housing Authority also plans to use social media and a text-based polling service to ask Summit County residents questions about affordable housing.

“We’re trying to gather feedback on how affordable housing is viewed in Summit County and the importance of it, so if people do see those questionnaires, please respond to those,” she said. “We’re also looking for folks who currently or have lived in affordable housing who might be interested in talking about their experience as a sort of testimonial as to why it matters … as part of our ongoing efforts to help explain what it is that we’re doing and why.”

More information on the Summit County Housing Authority is available online by visiting summitcountyutah.gov/2357/Summit-County-Housing-Authority.

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The Summit County Housing Authority hit the ground running during its inaugural meeting on Friday. Discussions ranged from affordable housing incentives, potential partnership opportunities and the foundation of the organization as a whole, including its top priorities over the next 10 years.

The Summit County Council established the housing authority late last year to provide medium- to low-income residents with resources about how to find housing within their price range, in addition to tracking housing trends throughout the county and incentivizing moderate-income housing, particularly on the East Side.

Seven members were appointed to the housing authority’s Board of Commissioners, which is charged with overseeing and planning the organization’s operations. Three of the commissioners — Canice Harte, Tonja Hanson and Megan McKenna — are sitting members of the County Council. The other four commissioners appointed by the County Council are community members with backgrounds in housing, planning and development.

Part of the inaugural meeting’s agenda involved electing commissioners to leadership positions. General contractor Jennifer Lewis will serve as chair, former Eastern Summit County Planning Commissioner Rich Sonntag was named vice chair, and commercial real estate agent Joan Meixner was chosen as secretary.

The County Courthouse also recently selected planner Madlyn McDonough, the creative force behind the county’s Community Planning Lab, to transition into a new position as the county’s economic development and housing manager, which includes acting as the executive director of the housing authority. Her responsibilities involve overseeing and administering initiatives set by the Board of Commissioners.

McDonough said her goal for the authority’s first meeting was to create a long-term foundation for the organization and to outline the board’s immediate priorities for the next year.

The County Council earmarked approximately $250,000 for the Summit County Housing Authority in its last budget cycle, $31,500 of which has already been set aside to fund a utility allowance study, establish partnerships with employers for coordinated employee housing initiatives and publish an online dashboard with resources for community members.

An additional $50,000 is intended to help incentivize affordable housing in Eastern Summit County. The Board of Commissioners is still working on details before implementing any new programs, but McDonough said a common example of how housing authorities incentivize developers is by paying for building permits and other licensing fees.

Lewis also emphasized the importance of marketing the housing authority as a positive resource for locals, pointing to her previous experience working with housing authorities in the Ogden area.

“The one thing I would like to tackle first, obviously, is the funding, and then advocacy, because that was truly stifling for us at the time because of bad stigma about it,” she explained. “That will actually crush you if you can’t get that stigma out, so I think financing and funding and getting some good marketing, some good push from the council and the county would hopefully open up people’s eyes.”

Sonntag expressed an interest in purchasing land as the housing authority, too. Specifically, he said he was in favor of buying parcels in eastern Summit County, setting up utilities and partnering with developers to create more multifamily homes. The housing authority would essentially act as an intermediary and issue requests for proposals for development opportunities, a method McDonough said is a valid option for local housing authorities.

Meixner supported the idea as well, but she views property management as a more long-term goal in the next five to 10 years. She said advocacy, community education and finding valuable partnerships should be the immediate priorities as the housing authority works to establish itself.

Another idea the Board of Commissioners could pursue is creating a housing voucher program to help the community in the short term by providing financial relief. Lewis said she’d like that to happen as soon as possible.

“We don’t have a ton of money, but it’s possible we could create a few of those (vouchers) as a starting program,” Meixner agreed.

The Board of Commissioners did not vote to actualize any programs during its inaugural meeting, but the housing authority plans to meet on the third Wednesday of every month going forward.

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The Summit County Council selected four commissioners to oversee the governing body of the newly established housing authority on Wednesday after a last-minute change upping the total number of commissioners from five to seven.

“The pool of candidates was so strong that that’s what motivated us to enlarge or increase the size of the board to seven so that we could pull in more of these great assets that we have in our community,” explained County Council Vice Chair Canice Harte.

Three of the commissioners — Harte, Tonja Hanson and Megan McKenna — are county councilors while the remaining four are appointed by the County Council to serve as at-large representatives for the community.

The County Council appointed Kristen Schulz, Jennifer Lewis, Joan Meixner and Rich Sonntag to fill the four open positions to make up the seven-person Board of Commissioners.

All four at-large commissioners have a background in housing, planning and development in some form: Schulz is the director of the Early Childhood Alliance, facilitated by the Park City Community Foundation; Lewis is a general contractor with personal experience working with and receiving help from housing authorities; Meixner is a commercial real estate agent; and Sonntag is a member of the Eastern Summit County Planning Commission.

Lewis, Meixner and Sonntag will serve on the board until Feb. 28, 2026, while Schulz will serve until Feb. 28, 2030.

The County Courthouse also recently hired Madlyn McDonough, a former planner and creative force behind the Community Planning Lab, as the county’s economic development and housing manager, a role that includes acting as the executive director of the housing authority. She will report directly to Economic Development and Housing Director Jeff Jones.

“Before I was a planner, I started as a teacher for seven years working in low-income schools in mostly urban areas, and that’s where I first got interested in the idea of how our planning decisions impact people’s trajectory in life, whether that’s access to housing, access to transportation, access to education,” McDonough said. “I was really interested when this position came up because it relates back to my original interest in planning, which was this idea of social justice. The lack of housing is really one of the biggest social justice crises of our time, so being able to work on that and make a real tangible change is something I’m excited about.”

McDonough said she doesn’t have any immediate goals for the housing authority because she’s focused on establishing it from the ground-up before working on any lofty ideas, but she encouraged the community to stay updated on development projects, the housing authority and the county’s two planning commissions.

“We’re looking for solutions that are going to be immediate, but a lot of them will be planning for 10, 20, 30 years in the future,” she said. “These are big overarching goals and policies that will impact the community for a long time to come. That’s hard to wrap your head around a lot of the time because this is change that’s going to be impacting the next generations just as much as anyone today. … That long-term lens is something that sometimes gets overlooked until a project is about to be approved or about to be built, and at that point, it’s a little bit late to be joining the conversation.”

The housing authority’s goal is to provide medium- to low-income residents with resources to find housing within their price range in addition to tracking housing trends throughout the county and incentivizing moderate-income housing, particularly on the East Side.

The County Council and the Park City Council explored the creation of a joint housing authority in 2023 and allocated $500,000 for the project. Those efforts stalled, however, and the County Courthouse decided to pursue its own housing authority with a smaller $250,000 budget.

The housing authority will mostly serve as a resource to Summit County residents and the County Courthouse as it navigates development and growth. It will not necessarily be in charge of land use decisions or authorizing development projects. Instead, the housing authority will work with other nonprofits, developers and landlords to provide and incentivize affordable housing units.

The housing authority board has not yet scheduled its inaugural meeting.

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The Summit County Council adopted bylaws for the newly established Housing Authority on Wednesday, ending months of discussion regarding the role and scope of the fledgling agency.

Economic Development and Housing Director Jeff Jones proposed a seven-person commission to govern the Housing Authority in February with two members from the County Council; one resident living in deed-restricted affordable housing; one at-large member; and three members living within the jurisdictional boundaries of the county’s three school districts — one for Park City School District, one for North Summit and one for South Summit.

The County Council immediately raised concerns about the lack of oversight, and councilors in March ultimately asked Jones for a revised resolution lowering the number of commission seats to five.

They also requested an increase in seats for county councilors, term limits and a provision stating any future amendments to the bylaws would need to be approved by the County Council.

In a new resolution Jones presented on Wednesday, the Housing Authority commission is made up of three county councilors and two at-large representatives. Each commissioner also has a three-term limit with each term lasting four years, similar to the terms on the county’s two planning commissions.

“I like giving the council a little shorter rein on this Housing Authority in its initial stages of birth and existence, so I like the changes,” said County Councilor Chris Robinson.

Additionally, the County Council is collaborating with Jones and the Planning Department to create a strategic housing plan for Housing Authority commissioners to implement.

“I know in the last meeting you were very frustrated, and I apologize for that, but I think that we need to eat the elephant one bite at a time, and sometimes that means we have to step back to move forward,” County Council Chair Tonja Hanson told Jones. “I appreciate all of your work on this, and I think it’s paid off for us. I appreciate the changes.”

The County Council unanimously voted in favor of the resolution.

The Housing Authority’s goal is to provide medium- to low-income residents with resources to find housing within their price range in addition to tracking housing trends throughout the country and incentivizing moderate-income housing, particularly on the East Side.

The County Council and the Park City Council explored the creation of a joint housing authority in 2023 and allocated $500,000 for the project. Those efforts stalled, however, and the County Courthouse decided to pursue its own housing authority with a smaller $250,000 budget.

The deadline to apply for the Housing Authority’s new commission was Friday. The County Council will decide who to appoint to the board in a future meeting, as well as which councilors will hold the three designated County Council seats.

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The Summit County Council has delayed a vote to create bylaws for the county’s new housing authority for a second time. The bylaws will determine how the housing authority is governed and allow councilors to start appointing commissioners.

Economic Development and Housing Director Jeff Jones presented a resolution to establish the bylaws on Wednesday following feedback from the County Council in a lengthy discussion last week. 

Per the County Council’s direction, Jones amended the resolution to include term limits and a provision that the bylaws could not be modified without approval from the county councilors. 

It also established a seven-person commission with two members from the County Council, one resident living in deed-restricted affordable housing, one at-large member and three members who live within the jurisdictional boundaries of the county’s three school districts — one for Park City School District, one for North Summit and one for South Summit.

County Councilor Roger Armstrong immediately expressed his apprehension about approving the resolution without further discussion, especially because county councilors Canice Harte and Chris Robinson were unable to attend this week’s meeting in person.

“I have some concerns, and we talked about this a bit last time, that creating this housing authority and launching it before we have that opportunity to have that guided discussion … would be a mistake,” Armstrong said. “I think we need to figure out what our strategies for housing are and what we would like to see done and try to articulate some goals that we want to try to accomplish over some period of time, whatever that is.”

Armstrong added he was nervous about the housing authority remaining independent from the County Council and not being held accountable by voters. He said he envisioned a possible scenario in which the state Legislature could impose rules and requirements on the housing authority to accomplish its own goals in opposition to the County Council’s position, mentioning the controversial deal with Dakota Pacific Real Estate as an example.

“The governor wants 35,000 houses [built] in five years, so I’d hope that 30,000 of those don’t have to come into Summit County because I think that would fundamentally change Summit County and make it a different place than it is today and make it a vastly different place than I believe the East Side would like to see, again, without any kind of a plan,” Armstrong said.

He suggested waiting until March 13, when the County Council plans to have a focus session on affordable housing. There, he said, councilors could take a deeper dive into their affordable housing goals and make a plan prior to establishing bylaws and kickstarting the housing authority.

County Councilor Megan McKenna said she was under the impression that her co-councilors were ready to move forward with the resolution with its amendments after the meeting last week. She stated she was in favor of approving the resolution.

County Council Vice Chair Canice Harte briefly joined the meeting on Zoom to add his thoughts to the discussion, agreeing with Armstrong that waiting until March would give them the opportunity to have a better conversation.

“These bylaws that we draft here, this is going to be the guiding document for this housing authority,” he said. I want to make sure we, not just get it right, but get it so it achieves the outcome that we want, and we don’t really know what the outcome is. We know we like the idea of affordable housing. We believe we need affordable housing. We have reports that tell us we need it, but we haven’t identified how much and where.”

Jones said his vision of the housing authority included a strategic plan, but he expected the commissioners and executive director to create it after the bylaws were approved in concert with the County Council.

“I’m hearing we want to have a strategic plan and all of the i’s dotted and t’s crossed before we hand something off to the housing authority, and I don’t see it that way,” Jones said. “I see it as the housing authority, their charge is to develop that strategic plan and that operations manual and to work that out, as well as the interlocal agreement with the Council.”

Armstrong emphasized his concerns for the residents of Summit County, telling Jones he wasn’t comfortable handing all affordable housing discussions over to an independent body that is not beholden to voters.

“That’s hard for me to tell the people that elected me that that’s what we’re going to do,” he said. “Your bylaws are a copy and paste of the state statute for housing authorities. There’s not much else in there, so there’s nothing that’s tailored to Summit County in there for what this Summit County Housing Authority is supposed to accomplish. I can’t say yes to that.”

County Council Chair Tonja Hanson said she was not comfortable asking for a motion to approve the bylaws given Armstrong’s reservations and the absences of Harte and Robinson.

“I would like to table this discussion and move it to a date uncertain where we can have the other council members chime in. I’m sorry. I appreciate all your work, but we’re not giving up. We’re going to move forward with it,” Hanson said, addressing Jones.

The housing authority will likely take up a large portion of the County Council’s discussion on affordable housing during its annual retreat on March 13.

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The Summit County Council recently workshopped bylaws for the county’s new housing authority, including the number of commissioners to lead it, how the body will report to the council, and whether commissioners should have term limits.

The County Council in December created the housing authority after a year of discussion, including a brief exploration of a joint housing authority with Park City Municipal that stalled.

Economic Development and Housing Director Jeff Jones spearheaded the housing authority’s development. He described it as a method of planning, financing, constructing, repairing and managing housing projects or programs “to provide dwelling accommodations at rental prices or purchase prices within the means of families of medium and low income.” The housing authority also aims to provide affordable housing projects or programs for employees working within Summit County.

Jones presented a draft of bylaws to the County Council, including two different proposals regarding the number of sitting commissioners who would oversee the housing authority.

The first proposal suggested a five-person commission of one elected county councilor and one community member residing in deed-restricted affordable housing. The other three members would be residents within the jurisdictional boundaries of the county’s three school districts — one for Park City School District, one for North Summit and one for South Summit.

The second proposal was for a seven-person commission. The seven-person commission would include the same five positions as the first proposal with the recommendation that the two remaining members come from either the “small business community” or “development community.”

In addition to the commission, the County Courthouse is working to hire an executive director for the housing authority who would “act as chief operating officer” and “manage the ongoing operations of the authority, subject to the supervision of the commission,” according to the draft of the bylaws. The position would report directly to Jones.

“This is an independent body with its independent group of commissioners that are appointed by this body (the council),” Jones explained. “Remember, when we first created the authority, it was to grow it organically, so to start off really, really small, and grow this in an organic fashion with a limited budget.”

When the County Council voted to establish the housing authority late last year, councilors agreed on a $250,000 budget with $81,500 earmarked for start-up costs. The rest of the funds are unallocated, and Jones said he hopes whoever the appointed commissioners are will reallocate those funds as they go through a strategic planning process.

“The other part of this that I see as the next step would be to create an interlocal agreement between the authority and the county for support services,” Jones said. “That would also call out the budget, how that’s going to be managed by the acting executive director and commission and how that will interface with the County Council.”

Part of the interlocal agreement could include a requirement for the housing authority to report to the County Council every few months. Jones suggested it would be an efficient method of keeping officials updated on the housing authority’s work and allow the county councilors to provide more oversight and feedback after County Councilor Chris Robinson expressed concerns about the council’s lack of involvement.

“The challenge we were facing is when you put politicians in charge of housing, it fundamentally hampers the process,” rebutted County Council Vice Chair Canice Harte, who previously sat on the committee exploring the creation of a housing authority. “I can think of a recent RFP (request for proposals), not from the county but from a municipality … they had respondents to the RFP that exceeded their expectations, but they had new councilors that said ‘no’ to it where a prior council would have said ‘yes’ to it. It’s not to say that one council’s right or wrong. The pure difference was an election. I think that’s one of the things we have to contemplate as we think about how much role and where we plug ourselves in.”

Jones clarified the County Council would have financial oversight of the housing authority through the budgeting process, just like other offices or organizations receiving funding from the county.

“If the council wants to augment [the bylaws] or put one more person from the council on the housing authority, that’s certainly acceptable, too,” he added. “From my perspective, I was just trying to set it up to where we had a good geographic distribution of participants.”

County Council Chair Tonja Hanson pointed out the bylaws don’t include term limits for housing authority commissioners. She compared the authority to the county’s two planning commissions, which only allow someone to serve three terms.

“I don’t know why we would do something different on this than [what] we’re already doing,” Hanson said. “Is there a reason? Do you need more consistency on a board like this? I don’t know.”

Jones said there was no specific reason that the bylaws didn’t include term limits.

“We can certainly add that limitation,” he said.

Robinson agreed with Hanson regarding term limits. He also said he was concerned about the housing authority commission being able to amend its own bylaws.

“Until this gets more established and mature, I would think we would want to retain the ability to amend the bylaws,” Robinson explained. “If we want to just get started, let’s still keep a little tension on the reins by the council.”

The county councilors agreed on having a seven-member commission with the hope of including as many perspectives on affordable housing as possible. As the housing authority works to establish itself, however, Robinson and Hanson suggested having two county councilors instead of one.

Jones plans to take the council’s additional feedback, including term limits and two councilors on the commission, and to draft a resolution for the County Council to adopt in the next few months. Officials did not take any action on the bylaws during the Wednesday meeting.

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