In the community of Granite, located in southeast Salt Lake County near the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon, longhorn cattle graze in one pasture while teenage bison forage in another.
Now, residents in this unincorporated area are seeking to preserve their rural character by pursuing city incorporation.
Organizers believe that achieving city status will help maintain the distinct flavor forged by early pioneers who mined rock for the construction of the Salt Lake Temple.
Vaughn Cox, chairman of the Granite Community Council, announced that sufficient signatures have been gathered to request a feasibility study exploring the possibility of incorporation.
These signatures were submitted to the Salt Lake County Clerk’s office and the office of Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson on Monday.
“Granite is the only pioneer community in Salt Lake County that is not part of a larger city,” Cox stated.
“The community has a real rural feel with animals, large lots, rural streets, and a small-town feel to it.
Residents want to incorporate to maintain the rural nature of their community.”
Granite comprises non-contiguous geographic pockets, a condition that used to hinder incorporation efforts.
However, a bill enacted in 2024 now allows these “islands” of land to petition for incorporation.
The law sets a deadline of July 1, 2027, by which time any unincorporated areas would be automatically annexed into the surrounding city unless they successfully incorporate.
The request for a feasibility study must be submitted by May 1 of this year.
Cox explained the process involved in initiating this request.
“We had to hire a surveyor to create a map of the new city, including a legal description of all the boundaries.
We had to raise money to pay for the survey.
We had to hire an attorney, and then we had to get the Utah Population Committee to do a study to ensure we had the appropriate population to incorporate a city.
And then we had to get signatures from the property owners within the proposed city boundaries.
We spent the last 10 months doing all that well,” Cox said.
In 2017, Salt Lake County created townships that include Granite, which now receives services from the Metropolitan Services District via the county.
Cox expressed that the community feels abandoned by Salt Lake County and is vulnerable to the nearby Sandy City, which controls their water.
“Everybody in Granite that’s had to deal with Sandy over the years is tired of being bullied by them.
So because of this, Granite residents want control over their own land use and planning,” he said.
“We have an amazing rural community that has a small-town feel to it, and we want to maintain that.
And we believe that if we are annexed into Sandy City, then we would just become another suburban area of Sandy where they’ll put in multifamily housing.”
Currently, Granite has mixed zoning, with some lots being a third-acre, half-acre, or a full acre, accommodating horses and other livestock.
Cox pointed to an 11-acre plot known as the Orchards, where housing was recently proposed.
“Sandy said if you want water to the new homes, then you have to annex into Sandy because we won’t give you the water if you don’t annex,” Cox recalled.
“So they annexed into Sandy and approved zoning for quarter-acre lots.
And the most ironic thing about this is that it borders the Dimple Dell equestrian trails.
But there’s not a single lot in the development that can legally have horses because all the lots are too small.”
Granite is part of the service area for water provision, which necessitated mapping due to a constitutional amendment approved by voters.
However, because Granite remains unincorporated, residents are charged different rates for water, and any changes to their water delivery face steep impact fees.
Cox stated that the tax revenue generated by the Granite community currently funds services like police, fire, and public works.
Incorporation would provide the area with greater control over those vital services.
If the upcoming feasibility study concludes that incorporation is feasible, approximately 450 parcels of land and about 1,050 residents would gain a stronger voice in their community.
Jim Eakins, chairman of the Granite Preservation Committee, emphasized that their efforts aim to secure the community’s identity for the future while honoring its historical roots.
The 1940s saw the establishment of the Granite Community Civic Committee, which governed the area.
In the 1970s, when Eakins moved in, the Granite Community Council served as an advisory body to Salt Lake County.
“We had an identity up here, a social identity with our July Fourth parades and other socials throughout the year.
There was a special agreement up here of the community banding together,” Eakins reminisced.
“When urbanization started taking hold with its popularity and developers tried to develop land here, we had no choice.”
Both Cox and Eakins agree that forming a new city will restore their voice and provide the community with the choice it seeks.
image source from：https://www.deseret.com/utah/2025/04/15/granite-community-seeks-to-be-city/
