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Emery County board hears UAC housing foundation pitch, chamber white paper on attainable housing
Summary
Utah Association of Counties and the Emery County Chamber presented strategies for rural housing including a county-participation housing foundation, self-help homebuilding, utilities investment and senior housing; the board asked questions about fund control and project eligibility.
County officials and stakeholders spent the bulk of the Dec. 17 Emery County CRA meeting on presentations about how to deploy CRA housing set-aside dollars toward local housing needs.
Randy Grace, CEO of the Utah Association of Counties, described a draft UAC Housing Foundation intended to pool participating counties' set-aside dollars to leverage state and federal grants for rural projects. Grace said participation is limited to contributing counties and that local counties retain control of their contributed funds; he emphasized the foundation and a county-specific housing plan would target “attainable” workforce housing rather than broad affordable categories.
A chamber representative presented a white paper developed over a year of consultation with developers, finance experts and water districts. The paper recommended using CRA dollars for public utilities and infrastructure to lower development costs, exploring a “self help” sweat-equity building program to create revolving loan capital, examining community land trusts to cap resale gains, and developing senior housing and townhome models to expand attainable options. The chamber cited an Emery County median-income-based affordable purchase price near $240,000 and said current average sales prices are materially higher.
Attendees questioned how foundation funds would be used across counties; Grace said cross-county projects could be financed but that the foundation prioritizes participating counties and that projects must “pencil out.” Chamber and UAC presenters encouraged site visits and follow-up work to tailor programs to Emery County’s assets and constraints.
Developers and private commenters described local parcels that could yield 20–42 lots but said per-lot infrastructure costs (curb, sidewalk, sewer) still create a funding gap; one developer said he could bring construction resources but needed several hundred thousand dollars for infrastructure to make a subdivision feasible and planned to return with a formal proposal in January.
No formal vote was taken on the foundation or the chamber recommendations; board members asked staff to include housing items when they finalize the 2025 budget in January.
