Hideout’s 343 registered voters are being asked whether they support the city’s plan to annex and develop 350 acres of Richardson Flat. They started receiving ballots this week.
| Updated: 2:14 p.m.
Now those residents will decide the annexation’s fate in a referendum late next month.
Until then, the property’s developer and town officials will hold public informational sessions about the planned 350-acre expansion, called Silver Meadows, which is located in Richardson Flat near Park City. At the first such public session, held Wednesday evening, Hideout Mayor Phil Rubin made his case for growing the town.
“Given the demand for nearby services that will only increase as 1,500-plus previously approved units get built around Jordanelle [Reservoir],” Rubin said at the virtual hearing, “I encourage you to vote recognizing that it will further the goals . of the community if we choose to move ahead with the annexation.”
The original master developer of Hideout is suing the town and its planner over development rights, accusing them of causing the developer economic damages of at least $100 million by reducing the value of its holdings and acting to prevent it from developing hundreds of homes.
Mustang Development, LLC, filed the lawsuit on Friday in 4th District Court. Listed as defendants are Hideout, its planner Thomas Eddington and Eddington’s firm Integrated Planning and Design.
The lawsuit accuses town officials of inaccurately reducing the number of residential units Mustang Development may build on land it owns and making comments that were intended to reduce the value of Mustang Development’s business.
Park Record file photo
About a dozen people filed into the basement of the Hideout Town Hall Monday evening to hear a presentation from developer Nate Brockbank about what the proposed Richardson Flat development would mean for their town.
Brockbank spoke for more than an hour, aided by a public relations consultant and a digital slide show. He was trying to sell to Hideout residents his proposal for the town to annex 350 acres of Richardson Flat so he can build a residential and commercial development there, including 600 homes, businesses and municipal buildings.
He indicated the development would help solve some of the town’s most serious issues and provide desirable services and amenities.
Courtesy of JT Olio
There have been some interesting items mixed in among the advertisements and bills in mailboxes near Hideout recently, including a newspaper called the Hideout Herald that caught nearby resident JT Olio’s eye.
“It just started showing up in the mail,” Olio said. “… My immediate reaction to the very first one was, ‘Brockbank!’”
Olio was referencing developer Nate Brockbank, who along with the Hideout Town Council is at the center of a controversial attempt to annex part of Richardson Flat to build 600 homes and a commercial center on what is now open land.
Olio sees the Hideout Herald as part of Brockbank’s sales pitch to Hideout residents ahead of a June referendum in which voters will decide whether the annexation and development will go forward.