Salt Lake County Council greenlights Olympia Hills project with zone change

The Salt Lake County Council approved a zone change last week on more than 900 acres in an unincorporated area west of Herriman. The move paves the way for developers to go forward with plans to build the controversial Olympia Hills planned community despite strong opposition from many area residents. The rezoning measure passed on a 6-3 vote.

Plans call for the proposed community to have over 6,300 housing units on about 933 acres in addition to commercial spaces, neighborhood parks and a 100-acre Utah State University agricultural center. The housing in the project will run the gamut from rental apartments to single-family custom homes.

Olympia Hills was initially approved by the council in 2018 but was subsequently vetoed by then-County Mayor Ben McAdams citing the vocal opposition of the project’s neighbors. Project developers returned to the council a year later with a revised application which scaled the project back from an originally proposed 8,700 units to its current size.

With the rezoning now done, the council will vote on March 3 to approve the project itself. Observers expect that vote to be the same as the rezoning vote. 

Opponents of the development who attended last week’s meeting told reporters that they would soon launch a grass-roots referendum movement in opposition to Olympia Hills.