A parched Utah city got the green light to build again, thanks to a new well. Developers are ready.

Oakley • On a recent Friday morning, Oakley Mayor Zane Woolstenhulme strolled across the street from his home off State Route 32 over to the Oakley Diner, a ‘50s throwback eatery decked out in cherry red and chrome.

There are no traffic lights or crosswalks in Oakley, situated about 20 miles west of Park City, Woolstenhulme said. But they apparently aren’t needed — even to cross one of its busiest roads when, in most other places, it would be rush hour.

That “small-town feel” — along with “rural living”, “open space” and “quiet” — is what most residents like about the Summit County city, according to survey results shared at a City Council meeting last year. Some 1,580 people call it home, according to the latest census, and its biggest yearly draw is its Fourth of July rodeo.

The problem, though, is like much of Utah — one of the fastest-growing states in the nation — Oakley is dry. So much so that the city instituted a construction moratorium in spring of 2021 because of extreme drought, barring the building of any new development that would hook into the city’s water system. Reporters from near and far documented the plight, an object lesson on the challenges Western communities face due to waning water and widespread aridification.

More than two years later, a solution is coming in the form of a new, deeper well, stretching thousands of feet down into groundwater that hasn’t seen Earth’s surface for thousands of years.

The well that will change the city’s future isn’t currently much to look at: a plastic-wrapped metal ball that sat this month upon deep, sun-crusted snow on the outskirts of town. Once the city selects which contractor will create its new pump house and water-purification system, it should take about six months to complete, Woolstenhulme said.

Because of that plan, Oakley’s construction moratorium was lifted in November. Significant development has already been proposed, including a project that would in part raze a home the mayor’s grandparents used to live in.

“I hate to see Grandma and Grandpa’s house come down,” he said, “but if you’re not progressing, you’re going backwards.”

What could come to the small city

From a booth at the edge of the Oakley Diner, between sips of tomato juice spiked with a few shakes of hot sauce, Woolstenhulme said the “biggest thing we have going” is developing a new city center — for which the restaurant would serve as the “hub.”

Much of what would become the proposed city center is already owned by local businessman Steve Smith, who bought the diner when it was on the verge of closing in 2021, FOX 13 reported, and plans to develop the project — if the city’s planning commission approves the idea.

The city center would swallow the area behind the diner, where the town post office, a service station, a store and a handful of residences have sat for generations. Woolstenhulme’s own father owned the Ken’s Kash Market, and served as postmaster, while Woolstenhulme’s uncle owned the old Dutch’s Service Station, near his grandparents’ old house.

All would be knocked down to build a new plaza, complete with a new grocery store, post office, retail stores and pedestrian infrastructure, like road crossings and sidewalks.

Woolstenhulme believes it would “change the face of the community” — a place where he often leaves his truck unlocked and running without a worry — for the better. But some residents aren’t thrilled about the proposed changes, from the city center plan to a beefed up trail system and a newly planned subdivision.

They worry about increased traffic, new builds obstructing views, short-term rentals and strangers getting too close to property lines because of new trails, City Council meeting minutes show.

“We talked, when I was a little kid, about putting up a big chain-link fence and not letting anybody else in,” Woolstenhulme said before he paused in thought.

His family has lived Oakley for generations, watching as alfalfa fields and dairy farms were razed and replaced with housing — often large single-family homes, selling for a median price of $2.8 million, according to real estate company Redfin. The rodeo, which once took place in a small, willow-lined pasture near the city’s center, was also moved and built up to better accommodate its thousands of attendees.

“The people that try my patience are the people that just move into town and then say we don’t want to change,” he continued. “I don’t have a lot of patience for that, because my attitude is, we were welcoming of you, and you should be at least as welcoming to other people who might want to come.”

Oakley no stranger to water restrictions

When city leaders decided to build the new well, Oakley leaders had already imposed limits on lawn watering.

Last year, residents were also put under a new billing system, where they pay more if they use more water — the opposite of some billing systems that give discounts on water purchased in bulk.

Leaders decided on the well instead of furthering watering restrictions, Woolstenhulme said. It’s situated near the town’s bike park, which is also primed for development.

City officials recently approved plans to build more trails and amenities at the park, like restrooms and water stations. The idea is that instead of bikers going to Round Valley in Park City, perhaps they’ll drive a little farther to come to Oakley.

There are also plans to expand walking trails around the city, with the hopes that one day, the system will run from one end of town to the other, the mayor said.

The recently approved River Haven subdivision will only bring a relatively small number of new homes — two units possible per acre of land in the 19-acre development around 4500 N. Millrace Road.

But Oakley is still poised for more growth. Zoning there allows for people to build a house (two homes per acre) on any of the 150 open parcels that are currently being used for farmland, Woolstenhulme said.

At some point, he said, some of those owners will decide they “don’t want to farm it anymore.” And he wants Oakley to be prepared.

“The train’s coming, and I think it’s incumbent on us to get the track laid so that we get to decide where the train goes,” he said, “and then we don’t get run over in the process.”

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