AI-generated summary, not yet reviewed by Better Utah staff. Please consult the bill text.

Utah's "preliminary municipality" law — a pilot program letting large landowners incorporate new towns on undeveloped land — would be substantially reworked under this bill, largely along the same lines as an earlier version of the bill. Before applying to create a preliminary municipality, a landowner would have to spend at least 18 months in documented, good-faith coordination with the county, including filing a land use application, rezoning petition, or proposed development agreement and making real efforts to resolve disagreements, with an exception if the county formally denies the request sooner. The bill would tighten the feasibility study process by requiring the independent consultant to rely on objective, area-specific data from the past 10 years and to analyze costs, revenues, and demographics over 5- and 10-year periods; it would also let counties submit their own data and analysis, audit the consultant's findings at the county's expense, and extend the deadlines for completing studies. The lieutenant governor's office would be authorized to charge a $50,000 fee to applicants to cover state costs, would be required to hold public information sessions (which may be virtual) after each feasibility study, and would need to enforce new petition requirements, including a financial warranty guaranteeing infrastructure work, an "improvement warranty" security deposit, and a signed declaration that the developer will build the municipality as described in the certified application, with continued requirements that at least 10% of housing be affordable and no more than 30% be used as short-term rentals.