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EAST MILLCREEK — The Salt Lake County Council is scheduled to meet Tuesday to discuss and give direction regarding a petition to annex 287 acres in the unincorporated East Millcreek community into the city of Holladay.
The proposed Olympus Hills annexation is mostly residential and encompasses an area from I-215 to 2700 East and between 4430 South and 3900 South. Some 1,400 people live in the area.
If the annexation occurs, Holladay would become the 10th largest city in Utah.
Residents do not vote to become part of new city. Instead, 51 percent of the land owners encompassing 33 percent of the assessed valuation are required to sign the petition. Recently, the city recorder of Holladay certified to the Holladay City Council that the threshold had been met.
The County Council's meeting is set for 4 p.m. on Tuesday in the County Council Chambers, 2001 S. State.
The Holladay City Council will have the final say regarding the annexation but other steps in the process are ongoing, including a provision that will allow protestors to file their objections with the Salt Lake County clerk by Jan. 6.
The annexation effort followed a failed bid to incorporate four communities — Millcreek, Canyon Rim, East Millcreek and Mount Olympus — and create Millcreek City.
Township voters rejected the ballot question, with 60 percent voting against it in 2012.
That meant the area has continued to operate as a township with the Salt Lake County Council the area's primary municipal government. The Olympus Hills annexation area is within the East Millcreek community.
Annexation backers cite the divisive incorporation fight as one of the reasons they want to annex a portion of Millcreek into Holladay. Residences and businesses within the proposed annexation area may have lower property tax bills.
However, the County Council agenda notes that if the annexation is approved, "the subject area will automatically be withdrawn from the Unified Police District and Salt Lake Valley Fire Service District."
Under state law, annexation is an 18-step process. The group seeking the annexation filed its initial petitions with the city recorder of Holladay in August.
In November, the remainder of the petitions to annex approximately 287 acres into the corporate limits of Holladay City were forwarded to its recorder. A notice of certification was issued in early December.
Citizens for Holladay, a self-described "grassroots group working to have our neighborhood annexed into Holladay City," says annexation is a "natural evolution" that would provide for a "more accountable government closer to the people and a greater sense of community."
"If you look at the boundary map of Salt Lake County, the reasons for annexation or incorporation into a city become very clear. The Salt Lake Valley's growth has left the unincorporated areas a disjointed patchwork with odd shaped boundaries, isolated and remote islands, no sense of community, an expensive cost structure, and a county government distracted by other demands," the organization's blog says.
