Wasatch County
Land development in Wasatch County
Heber Valley approvals are the hardest in our market: separate sewer, culinary, and irrigation providers, an outside engineer reviewing for the county, and a short paving season. Here is how it actually runs.
The approval path, from one we finished
- Feasibility letters first. Before the county will look at a plat, the sewer district and the water companies review a concept plan and say what they will serve and on what conditions. On our Heber project that was Twin Creeks Special Service District for sewer and the Center Creek companies for culinary and irrigation water.
- Development Review Committee, then the Planning Commission. County staff and the reviewing engineer comment on the preliminary plat; corrections go back and forth; then the Planning Commission hears the preliminary plat in a public meeting.
- Final subdivision approval. The Administrative Land Use Committee chair can approve the final plat on the staff report without another public meeting if nobody objects. The conditions of approval travel with the plat.
- Subdivision construction permit. Construction plans and the engineer's cost estimate are stamped by the sewer district first, then by the county's reviewing engineer. Cash bonds are posted for the warranty and for noxious weeds. The estimate must be refreshed if it is more than nine months old at any bond reduction.
- Build, inspect, record. Improvements are inspected by the county and each district. Final acceptance, as-builts, and letters of acceptance come before the plat records or a bond secures the remaining work.
Water is counted per lot
The water companies size a subdivision at about 0.45 acre-feet per lot for indoor use and 3 acre-feet per irrigated acre for outdoor use. Those rights and irrigation shares have to be turned in before the companies sign the plat. Converting agricultural water to municipal use takes a change application with the Division of Water Rights, and it should be moving before final approval.
The calendar matters
Road cuts and paving on county roads are not allowed from October 15 to April 15. Winter work means temporary pavement and a permanent patch in spring. A good year has one construction season, so a plat approved in October builds the following summer.
Who you deal with
County Planning and Engineering, the Development Review Committee, the county's outside reviewing engineer, Twin Creeks or Jordanelle special service districts for sewer, the Center Creek water companies or others depending on the ground, Heber Light & Power, and the gas utility. Each has its own fees, forms, and signature on the plat.
What to budget
Count on 18 months from contract to final approval, provider connection fees that run well into six figures on a one-acre-lot project, a cash warranty bond of about 10 percent of the improvement estimate, and greenbelt rollback at closing.
The full story of our Heber project, dates included, is in the Cummings Ranch case study.
Land in Heber Valley?
Call, email, or send a note. No call center.