An effort to create a new city on 596 acres just east of Kanab is in the works. Yet Kane County officials don’t feel inclined to welcome the municipality-in-the-making with open arms or without reservations.
As currently outlined, the Willow development in southern Utah calls for a 1,276-unit, master-planned community. Within that will be 794 single-family homes, 374 multi-family units, 108 vacation-rental units and, possibly, a resort hotel along with parks and other amenities.
Kane County officials say their angst over the project is due to what they see as a workaround taken by the developer, the Philo Development Group (which also goes by the name Kanab 600). Instead of going through them to secure approval for Willow, Philo is taking advantage of SB258. Under that law, which state legislators approved and the governor signed in 2024, the developer has applied to the state to grant the project preliminary municipality status.
In essence, the law allows a developer to attempt to convert its project on unincorporated land into a city by applying directly to the Utah Lieutenant Governor’s Office. That state body will consider the application and, ultimately, decide to approve or reject the development request.
Cutting out the county
(Lieutenant Governor's office) This map shows the proposed site of the planned community of Willow, less than two miles outside of Kanab. The developer has sought state approval to incorporate the development, bypassing and angering Kane County officials.
Kane County Commissioner Celeste Meyeres said cutting the county out of that process is unfair, and that the new law runs counter to local control and other conservative principles of good governance.
“It allows a developer to jump over all the time-honored processes that other municipalities have historically had to go through,” she said. She added that it also negates the “countless hours” that county engineers have worked with the developer.
Meyeres said she is aware SB258 was passed to ease the state’s housing shortage, which she said has been exacerbated by obstructionist actions and attitudes in some counties. That was not the case, she said, in Kane County.
“We worked with the developer for more than two years,” she added. “We approved their zone-change request and granted them the maximum density — 1-acre lots — allowed in unincorporated areas. We signed the development agreement almost exactly as the developer gave it to us. They are the ones who didn’t sign the agreement in return … and decided to go the preliminary municipality route.”
Greg Whitehead, the development managing partner at Philo Development Group, said the company worked with the county to get approval for higher-density construction. That would allow for more affordable homes, which typically sit on less than 1-acre lots. At least 10% of Willow would have to be set aside for affordable housing for the project be eligible for consideration under SB258.
“However, given the existing zoning restrictions,” Whitehead said, “we ultimately realized that we wouldn’t be able to provide the level of affordability and variety of housing options that we felt were truly needed — homes that allow young families, first-time buyers and longtime Utah residents to stay close to their roots and build their futures.”
The company began pursuing the preliminary municipality option in January.
(Philo Development Group) A view of the area allotted for a proposed incorporation of Willow, east of Kanab in Kane County.
Former Utah Sen. Curt Bramble, sponsor of SB258, said the legislation was necessary because some rural Utah counties were not acting in good faith with developers to solve the state’s housing crunch.
“If the political subdivisions were sitting down in good faith with developers and looking to find common ground, [this legislation] probably would have never evolved,” he said.
Bramble said the law requires that projects submitted by landowners for preliminary status must, among other requirements, undergo a feasibility study to help ensure they will be economically viable.
If approved for incorporation, landowners or developers dictate the zoning and other rules for the project until their communities reached 100 or more residents. At that point, regular elections would be held.
Heartburn and pushback
Currently, there are four applicants seeking approval for preliminary municipalities, according to Jordan Schwanke, a local entities specialist with the Utah Lieutenant Governor’s Office. In addition to the Willow project near Kanab, there are applications pending in Grand, Summit and Morgan counties. Schwanke said it could take an applicant anywhere from three to six years to go through the process.
All of the projects, including the Echo Canyon project near Moab, have received some pushback from residents and elected officials. Summit County Manager Shayne Scott said he and others had “heartburn” over the legislation when it passed.
“Whenever local control is usurped … we have a problem with that,” Scott said, noting a project called Park City Tech is seeking to become a preliminary municipality in Summit County. “We want to be able to make decisions locally that are in the best interest of our residents.”
To counteract the impact of SB258, Rep. Mike Kohler, R-Midway, introduced HB540 during the last legislative session to stop the creation of any additional preliminary municipalities. The bill passed the House but died without a vote in the Senate.
Despite that setback, Meyeres said Kane County officials will continue to work with state legislators to correct what they view as flaws of SB258. For his part, Whitehead is hopeful that Willow will be approved as a preliminary municipality late this year so construction can begin on the first part of the development in 2026.