What exactly was approved?

Annexation

Annexation is when a piece of property that exists outside a city's boundaries is absorbed into a city, causing the city's boundaries to change. The Olympia development, built on 933 acres, was adjacent to but not inside Herriman City when Salt Lake County approved and entitled the development in 2020. On September 29, 2021, the City Council approved a Petition for Annexation to change Herriman's boundaries to absorb Olympia. That change will take effect starting January 1, 2022. At that point, Herriman City will be the governing municipality over the Olympia development, and Olympia will no longer be located in unincorporated Salt Lake County.

Master Development Agreement (MDA)

A master development agreement is between a property developer and a governing municipality to outline allowances and restrictions for land development in the given area. The Olympia developer and Salt Lake County had an MDA approved when Olympia was originally entitled in unincorporated Salt Lake County. Upon annexation, the existing County MDA would become void, so Herriman City and the Olympia development team negotiated a new MDA for the project that was approved alongside the property's annexation.

Public Infrastructure District (PID)

A public infrastructure district allows private property owners to use a bond to pay for public infrastructure (i.e. roads, water lines, stormwater facilities, parks, etc.) and impose a fee or tax to repay the bond over time. PIDs were made allowable by the state of Utah in 2019. The bond is completely separate from City finances and public funds will not be used to repay the bond. PIDs may, if a city allows it, levy an additional property tax inside the given area to repay the bond; however, this will not be the case in Olympia. The bond will be repaid only by fees the developer assess to building companies—not residents. The City Council approved governing documents that allow several PIDs that can be used within Olympia in phases over several years. The governing documents do not allow any additional tax upon current or future residents.

Working Group Meetings

The City Council gave direction on April 28, 2021 to convene formal working groups to explore potential annexation of Olympia into Herriman boundaries. There were four groups created: Finance, Infrastructure, Planning/Design Standards, and Master Development Agreement. These groups each included City Councilmembers, City staff members, and representatives from the Olympia development team. The groups met regularly to discuss what Olympia should look like if it was to be built in Herriman City, including matching up infrastructure plans, coordinating design standards, financing mechanisms, and negotiating the development agreement. Summaries of each of these meetings—a total of 23—can be found on this page.

Other meetings occurred outside of these working groups to go over the finest details, particularly within like-professions, e.g. City engineers with Olympia engineers, City public works officials with Olympia water infrastructure engineers, City attorney with Olympia attorney, and so forth. The work group meetings included any negotiation with the City Council or high-level coordination and respective staff members/consultants executed the discussion and action items. All relevant documents from the work group meetings were published on https://www.herriman.gov/olympiahills and with working group summaries throughout the process.

Public Outreach

Due to the sensitive nature of Olympia, it was important to the City that the public be made aware of the process every step of the way.

The City created and updated a webpage dedicated to Olympia information, produced a series of social media and website posts, and mailed a brochure to all Herriman residents. Additionally, City staff met with residents at several City events and neighborhood meetings. A complete summary of the City's public outreach efforts regarding Olympia can be reviewed on the PDF linked below.

Public Outreach Summary

What happens now?

The Olympia development is now approved as a part of Herriman City. The official boundary change will take effect on January 1, 2022.

It is anticipated that development applications could be submitted and construction projects begin by the summer of 2022. It's also anticipated that two of the earliest projects will be the connection of 6400 West—between Herriman Boulevard (12600 South) and Main Street—and a new park along 6400 West, which will be approximately 7 acres and will include some programmable space and playing fields.