Land selling like hot cakes in Utah's Dixie

ST. GEORGE — Developers are snatching up land around Utah's Dixie at such a fast and furious pace that city officials are scrambling to keep up.

"It's not the town I grew up in," said Hurricane City Manager Clark Fawcett, who remembers being able to walk anywhere in town without crossing a single busy street. "I might have to find another place to retire before too long."

Hurricane's population has tripled over the past 15 years, rising to more than 13,000 residents. But that's nothing compared to the residential gains that could impact the rural town if private developers get their way.

On the horizon within Hurricane city limits alone is Dixie Springs, with 1,400 homes and up to 40,000 lots now in the master planning stages by Idaho-based McNeil Development.

"We've always had the 5- and 10-acre parcels under development," said Fawcett. "What we're seeing now is the 1,000-acre and 2,000-acre sites. It's spreading out all over the place."

In fact, most of the nearly 85,000 acres of developable land within Washington County lies on the southeast side of I-15 and is already pegged for future residential projects. The Red Cliffs Desert Reserve hugs the north side of the county, and state or federal land holdings eat up much of the rest.

Housing costs are also skyrocketing, with the average home price soaring to more than $250,000 in most of Washington County. Some of the planned developments within the county will include "smart growth" ideas, which should provide more affordable housing choices in some locations.

"We're working with developers and the City Council to try and find a way to increase affordable housing," St. George Mayor Dan McArthur said during his successful re-election campaign. "We're looking at density issues and whether bonuses will work as incentives to build more of this type of housing."

St. George officials already have their hands full with more than 7,500 residential units approved throughout the city. Developments with names like Sunbrook, Stone Cliff, Fossil Hills, Entrada and Sun River are attracting thousands of homeowners — and more are on the way.

Another 5,000-acre development, called "The Ledges," is under development on the northeast side of St. George along U-18. The project is one of many under construction in Washington County that include a golf course as part of the package.

One of the biggest projects on the horizon is a massive, mixed-use development known as the "South Block," proposed for the southeast side of I-15.

Owners of the 10,000-acre site, which stretches to the Utah/Arizona border, are the School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA) and Leucadia, a private firm that plans to build walkable communities in what is now a dry desert landscape.