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Board reviews Cottonwood Heights CDRA amendment to swap office building for condos
Summary
The Canyons Board of Education reviewed a proposed amendment to the Cottonwood Heights Canyon Center CDRA that would replace a planned office building with 36 condominiums and remove 17 single-family homes from the district's TIF agreement; staff recommended returning the item on the consent agenda for a future meeting.
At the Canyons Board of Education meeting on Jan. 21, 2025, Leon Wilcox, Canyons district administrator, reviewed a proposed amendment to the Cottonwood Heights Canyon Center Community Development and Redevelopment Agency (CDRA) agreement that would replace a previously planned office building with 36 condominium units and maintain a carve-out for 17 existing single-family homes.
The amendment matters to the school district because the CDRA uses tax increment financing (TIF) that diverts a portion of property tax increments to the redevelopment area; under the current sharing arrangement noted in the meeting, the city receives 70% of the increment while the school district receives 30%.
Wilcox said the original CDRA agreement dates to 2012, and the redevelopment area’s assessed value has grown from about $3,800,000 at inception to roughly $56,000,000 by 2024. The 2018 amendments that defined phases and trigger dates would continue to govern the project through an agreed term that extends to 2047. Under the proposal presented Jan. 21, the office building scheduled for the site (estimated in 2018 at about $17,000,000) would be substituted with 36 condominium units that the presenters estimate would total about $21,000,000 when built. Wilcox said only 55% of condominium value is taxed under the applicable tax treatment cited in the presentation.
Wilcox and the presenters — identified in the meeting as Mike Johnson, community development director for Baldwin Heights City, and Chris McCandless, a former Sandy City councilman — told the board they view the swap as revenue-neutral over the long term because the office building and the condos were estimated to generate similar tax yields. As presented, the developer would remove the 17 single-family homes from the district’s TIF area so the district would receive the full property taxes for those parcels outside the increment calculation.
Board members asked clarifying questions about taxable assumptions for condominiums, the timing of buildout (presenters cited anticipated completion in 2028–29 for a related apartment building), and whether single-family development would be prevented in other phases. Wilcox said single-family homes already built in the district would remain in place and still produce tax revenue for the district.
No formal vote was taken on the amendment at the Jan. 21 meeting. Board members indicated consensus to return the matter on a future consent agenda for formal action. Wilcox told the board that redlined documents, the interlocal agreement referencing the proposed amendments and related materials were available in the board packet for review.
The district said staff may present the amendment again on a consent calendar at a subsequent meeting; the board did not adopt new policy or change the existing interlocal agreement on Jan. 21.
The board will consider the amendment for formal approval after staff posts the ILA and redline amendments for board review; the item was not approved or rejected at this meeting.
