The Grand County Commission on July 1 approved a package of changes to its High Density Housing Overlay ordinance, aiming to revive a program that has struggled for years to deliver homes for local workers.
The vote followed months of discussions with county staff, housing advocates, developers and lenders, and passed 6-1, with Commissioner Mary McGann opposed. The revisions adjust who can own or occupy deed-restricted units, expand eligibility to workers from a broader area, tighten compliance requirements and update the county’s deed restriction templates to address concerns raised by lenders.
The changes apply to the administration of roughly 250 vested HDHO units that were approved under existing development agreements and plats, according to Zoning Administrator Cristin Hofhine. However, they do not automatically change deed restrictions already recorded on those properties; owners would still need to sign updated agreements with the county for provisions like the new foreclosure-related clauses to take effect.
The program was originally adopted in 2019 to encourage developers to build more housing for the local workforce by allowing increased density in exchange for deed restrictions. It expired under a sunset clause in 2022, meaning no new HDHO projects can be proposed unless the county decides to reopen the ordinance in the future.
Since its adoption, the program has encountered several implementation challenges. Only 53 deed-restricted units have received certificates of occupancy. Another 34 units at Desert Sol are expected to be completed in the coming months, while the Legends project holds permits for 98 approved apartments but has not yet begun major construction. The remaining phases at Peak View, which had included about 62 deed-restricted units, never recorded a final plat and will not move forward.
“We’ve got 53 out of 300 — that’s an F in my mind,” said Commissioner Brian Martinez, who helped lead the revisions and crafted the detailed final motion. “This program was defunct … the whole purpose of revitalizing this is to try to get the units that are already vested to get them built so that we can provide housing for people as quickly as possible.”
What the revisions do
The updated ordinance largely follows Planning Commission recommendations, with additional amendments from Martinez:
– Ownership flexibility: Up to 30% of deed-restricted units in each HDHO project may be owned by buyers who do not meet Grand County’s “actively employed household” definition, as long as the homes are rented to qualified local tenants.
– Broader eligibility: Includes workers whose employers are located within 75 miles of Grand County, people with two years of local work history, retirees who lived locally for five years before retirement, and their surviving spouses.
– New compliance measures: Requires annual affidavits from property owners verifying units are occupied by qualified households. The Housing Authority of Southeastern Utah (HASU) will continue administering the program.
– Revised enforcement: Removes eviction or permit revocation as tools, emphasizing court-based options like injunctive relief. Hofhine said this is intended to avoid a chilling effect while ensuring compliance.
– Deed restriction updates: Separate from the ordinance, the county revised its standard templates to address financing obstacles. The new templates allow restrictions to be extinguished in foreclosure unless a lender opts to maintain them and remove explicit eviction language.
(Andrew Christiansen | The Times-Independent) Commissioner Brian Martinez made a detailed motion to approve HDHO ordinance revisions during the July 1 Grand County Commission meeting.
Martinez’s motion also added several requirements beyond the Planning Commission’s draft:
– Recording a notice of interest on each property title so HASU is alerted to sales and can verify qualified buyers.
– Explicitly counting retirees and widows or widowers who meet local work history requirements as eligible.
– Directing HASU to annually requalify renters and requiring 30 days’ notice and approval before changing tenants.
– Tying the 20/30/50 ownership split directly to individual deeds so developers can’t shift ratios within a project.
– Requiring properties to be occupied by a qualified household at least nine months a year to discourage second-home use.
The changes take effect two weeks after the ordinance is published in The Times-Independent, pending legal review and technical clean-up by staff.
Commission split over local ownership protections
Most of the commission’s debate centered on whether loosening ownership and eligibility rules would undercut the original goal of fostering local homeownership. McGann supported measures to help residents secure loans but opposed lowering local ownership targets and broadening eligibility without clearer ties to Grand County.
“The intent was not only to have housing for locals, it was also to enable locals to have that security of owning, as opposed to renting,” she said.
Commissioner Trish Hedin proposed a substitute motion to retain the original 80-20 local ownership split and keep eligibility tied to the 84532 ZIP code. Her motion failed 3-4.
“They’ve given away that density. They have changed the character of their communities in order to have ownership for our workforce,” Hedin said. “So changing that split … that’s a loss to our community.”
Commission Chair Bill Winfield countered that the program had never achieved its aims. “This is not a success, and there’s this huge need to open this up,” he said. “Changing this is not a loss. Changing this is a win for this community and for those that need it the most.”
Vice Chair Melodie McCandless also backed the broader eligibility, pointing out that many who sustain Moab’s economy live within the expanded area. Martinez stressed the revisions were the result of months of work with county staff, developers, lenders and housing advocates. “We really have looked at all the partners, and I think we’ve done a really good job of trying to come up with something that the majority of people would appreciate,” he said.
Commissioner Jacques Hadler, who preferred keeping an 80-20 split, ultimately voted yes. “I think a lot of these changes are very helpful,” he said. “So even though I supported the substitute motion, I’ll also support this motion. I’m looking forward to seeing what this does for housing in our community.”
Public support, with concerns about ownership
Many stakeholders backed the overall changes, particularly the deed restriction updates aimed at easing lending barriers and clarifying eligibility. Ben Riley, HASU’s executive director, said during a public hearing the group supported most revisions, including the expanded eligibility and more flexible leasing, but urged caution on ownership exemptions.
“I was here during the process of creating this and I do believe that this program was intended as a secondary market for locals to have a market to buy a home,” Riley said.
Martinez noted several compliance requirements came from HASU’s suggestions to strengthen enforcement. Local lender Rarni Schultz previously told the commission most financing obstacles were now resolved, while Courtney Kizer, a developer with the Murphy Flats project, called the overhaul effective at “encompassing people that have been missed by the original ordinance without losing its spirit.”
Kaitlin Myers, director of the Moab Area Community Land Trust, described the package as a “great compromise,” though she and Laura Harris — who ran HASU’s enforcement of the program for over two years — stressed that rigorous monitoring would be essential.
Still, some residents and officials remained uneasy about lowering ownership requirements and broadening eligibility. Planning Commissioner Bob O’Brien said the new split was “unfair to the citizens who agreed to sacrifice increased density in their neighborhoods,” while Laura Long argued it could shift locals from owners to renters.
Despite concerns, Martinez said the updates were needed to finally get some vested units occupied.
“I don’t think it’s going to move the needle, but I do think that it’s going to open up the housing market for at least 14 people,” he said, referring to existing units lenders previously wouldn’t finance.
This story was first published by The Times-Independent.
Donate to the newsroom now. The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax deductible