The Beehive Development Agency — a proposed powerful new centralized development authority that would be based in Gov. Spencer Cox’s office — is being scaled back in the face of a backlash crossing the political spectrum, but continuing to move through the Legislature.

Under SB337, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Kirk Cullimore, R-Cottonwood Heights, the Beehive Development Agency would identify up to three projects with a “significant community impact” per year, designate a project area and collect taxes within the project area that could be used to subsidize the development.

Examples Cullimore provided of the types of projects that might fall under the Beehive authority included nuclear power plants, large manufacturing facilities and large-scale housing and retail projects.

“What we’re trying to add here is not a new subdivision and a Walmart, but things that have large, large, significant impact on the state of Utah,” Cullimore said during a hearing before the Senate Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee Monday morning.

The initial version of the bill would have given the Beehive agency sweeping power to designate project areas without buy-in from the county or municipal governments where the developments would be located.

But a new version, released Monday morning — with days left in the session — would now require consent from local governments and creates a coordinating council that includes members from the Utah League of Cities and Towns and Utah Association of Counties, as well as the governor, House speaker, Senate president and representatives from the array of land-use authorities the Legislature has created in recent years — the Military Installation Development Authority, the Inland Port Authority, the Fairpark development authority and The Point, the authority created to redevelop the old state prison in Draper.

The centralized planning model, however, drew blowback from conservative Utahns who warned that it puts too much power in the hands of unelected, unaccountable officials.

Maryann Christensen with the Utah Legislative Watch, a conservative advocacy group, said she has defended the Legislature in the past but views SB337 as a “tipping point.”

“I feel the confidence and trust in the Legislature is at an all-time low and I feel this bill will tip a lot of people over the edge,” she said. “It’s too much of a power grab.”

“They don’t want statewide control, they want local control,” Christensen added. “They don’t want coordinated efforts, they want freedom from their government.”

Kristin Richey with the Utah Eagle Forum, said the bill is too broad and should have had more time for public input.

“It’s a huge power grab in a big rush,” she said. “When people lose trust in the Legislature, they turn to lawmaking by initiative and I don’t want to live in a state that has lawmaking by initiative.”

And Zach Frankel, executive director of the Utah Rivers Council, warned that it would fast-track multi-billion-dollar water projects, exempting them from the normal approval processes and exposing local water users to 500% increases in their water bills.

Ryan Starks, executive director of the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity, which would manage the Beehive Development Agency, said the new coordinating body would enhance Utah’s economic future.

Those other development entities already have the same tools envisioned in the Beehive Development Agency, but GOEO currently doesn’t have the same power. “If we can place these tools in our tool belt, then I think we’ll be able to achieve new heights as we strive to grow Utah’s economy,” said Starks.

Starks’ brother, Steve Starks, is the CEO of The Larry H. Miller Company, one of the largest privately owned real estate developers in the West.

Both the Utah League of Cities and Towns and the Utah Association of Counties opposed the original version of SB337, but said they had not taken a position on the new substitute. Representatives of the league met with Cox and Cullimore to discuss the bill Monday morning.

“The governor reiterated … that this is a big priority of his,” Cullimore told reporters Monday afternoon. “He did reiterate that this was important. … If we want to continue to build in Utah, we have some cities and counties that are eager to do it and we have some that make it a little difficult.”

The committee voted 3-2 to approve the bill after Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said that it is an important concept that still needs refinement, but, being late in the session, the proposal needs to keep moving through the process.

Sen. John Johnson, R-North Ogden, voted against the bill, citing concerns that the public felt like it was being rushed, but also said that “local governments should wake up and start realizing that the reason things are being passed to override their local control is they don’t think much about being reasonable or even being willing to work toward solutions that might help us on things like housing and others.”

The bill now moves on to the full Senate. With the backing of key members of Senate leadership, it will likely move quickly through the chamber. The Legislature adjourns Friday.

Correction: March 4, 7:55 p.m. • The story has been updated to correct Sen. John Johnson’s district.