13-05-2025
Salt Lake City close to annexing more land after hitting unexpected snag
Utah's capital city is on the verge of growing its boundary after the Jordan River created an unexpected hurdle in a process years in the making.
Salt Lake City Council members informally voted last week to advance a plan to annex hundreds of acres of an unincorporated section of northwestern Salt Lake County at the center of ongoing warehouse development. Their plan would switch parcels to the newly created M-1A zoning, while others would remain under an agricultural form of zoning called AG-2, depending on their preference, once the annexation is complete.
That measure was requested because residents remain split between wanting to stick to agriculture and the area's old ways, and wanting to move forward with zoning in place to handle the development that shows no signs of stopping, said Salt Lake City Councilwoman Victoria Petro, whose district includes the area that would be added to the city.
A final vote on the plan could take place as early as next week.
Salt Lake City initiated the annexation process a little over a year ago, seeking to add portions of unincorporated land near 2200 West in the Northpoint community. That was after the city adopted a new Northpoint Small Area Plan in 2023 in response to growth in the area, spurred by the construction of massive warehouses and the impact it has had on residents.
However, adding Northpoint residents to the city hit a snag later in 2024 after city staff found that the Salt Lake and Davis counties' boundary was 'no longer consistent with what was on file,' according to a memo filed with the Salt Lake City Council.
'That was based on the Jordan River having some movement over the course of the last few decades,' said Nick Tarbet, deputy director of legislative and policy for the City Council. 'City staff was able to clean those up with the county, and we're now at a process where the county can consider moving forward with the annexation.'
A formal vote is tentatively scheduled to take place on May 20 before the request is filed with the Utah Lieutenant Governor's Office for final approval.
Salt Lake City had previously created a Northpoint Small Area Plan, but it had not been updated since 2000, until the changes were made two years ago. While the section near the airport retains most of the city's remaining agricultural land, the update was sparked in 2021 as more commercial development began to creep into the area.
Denise Payne was one of many residents who came to the city frustrated by the construction of a 1 million-square-foot warehouse that was permitted because there weren't many zoning limitations in the previous plan.
'(Construction vehicles) shake our homes every day,' she told city leaders in 2023. 'We can't live there. Our quality of life is gone.'
The plan introduced the M-1A for the area, which sets standards aimed at protecting the area's residents and ecosystem. It sought to answer the 'complex' challenges facing the area, Petro explained later that year.
'This is possibly the most difficult part of our city to deal with, at the moment,' she said at the time, pointing to a handful of environmental and 'logistical' concerns.
Meanwhile, development interest hasn't calmed down in the area. Tarbet said last week that developers have already met with planning experts to get initial feedback on the new M1-A zone, which means he doesn't think it will take long before the area undergoes further changes in the future.
'There will be construction very quickly,' he said.
