Pending land swap would place Santaquin development fully in Utah County
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- A development that crosses between Utah and Juab counties is pictured Monday, April 27, 2026, in Santaquin.
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- A proposal for Utah County to annex 250 acres of property in Santaquin is shown.
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- A proposed land swap between Utah and Juab counties is shown.
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- A proposal for Juab County to annex 1,200 acres of property in Utah County is shown.
Utah County is pursuing an agreement that would keep a Santaquin City development from being split between county lines.
The county is seeking approximately 250 acres of land from Juab County that fall within Santaquin City limits in exchange for 1,200 acres of land near Eureka, according to Utah County Commissioner Skyler Beltran.
The land swap aims to avoid legal and administrative complications from splitting a neighborhood — and in this instance, houses — between counties.
Santaquin Mayor Dan Olson said that 20 to 25 years ago, the city annexed land on the southwest side of the city, including a portion that crossed into Juab County, but nobody cared at the time because it was just sagebrush and cedar trees.
However, the Summit Ridge development has grown to where its southern tip falls inside Juab County. Olson said there are 18 to 20 planned homes that would be built in Juab County. Beltran added that six houses would fall in both counties.
“We have six (planned) houses where the living room is in Utah County and the bedrooms are in Juab County,” he said.
The developments would create multiple issues, from property taxes to law enforcement jurisdiction to which school district kids would attend, according to Olson.
“And all I wanted to do — and previous administrations — was make sure it could just be straightforward, done and over with,” he said. “There’s no access that comes from Juab County to there. All access comes from Santaquin City.”
Beltran said Utah County has tried to make a deal with Juab County for four years without success. So he said he reached out to state Sen. Mike McKell, who went to the Utah Association of Counties and set up a meeting between the two sides. Beltran and a Juab County commissioner met twice at the Capitol to discuss things.
“For us, we’re looking for about 250 acres to put all of Santaquin into Utah County,” Beltran said. “And then for them, they’re looking at it as ‘That’s an expensive piece — 250 acres, that’s a lot of homes and whatever else comes in.'”
The 1,200 acres near Eureka serve as the tradeoff. The new boundaries will extend Juab County east of the city; the current county line is aligned with the city line next to Tintic High School.
The counties’ surveyors and assessors worked to finalize the details, Beltran said, and a joint meeting was scheduled for last week to finalize it — outside of public feedback.
The meeting was rescheduled, however, because Juab County wanted to clean up an assessing problem, Beltran said. He said assessors from each county are meeting this week and that the goal is to hold the joint meeting at the end of May.
“I really enjoy the thought that after 25 years, this will just be cleared up and done,” Olson said.
