Sandy Utah Townhomes: How Zoning Shapes the Housing Market

On Monday, August 24, D.R. Horton and Sandy City broke ground on Sandy Station, 63 for-sale townhomes at 8925 South Harrison Street, just east of I-15. Each home is planned with three levels, four bedrooms, three bathrooms and a two-car garage. After the event, Mayor Monica Zoltanski wrote about the young people raised in Sandy who struggle to find a home there as adults.

The more telling fact sits underneath the groundbreaking: how little of Salt Lake County is zoned to allow a project like this at all.

A Different Kind of Home

These are attached townhomes, a different kind of home from a detached house on its own lot, and they suit a different set of priorities. What makes Sandy Station worth noticing is that it's a kind of home most of the county doesn't build at all.

Why Homes Like These Are Rare

Here's the mechanism. More than 88% of Salt Lake County's residential land is zoned for single-family homes, according to a Utah Foundation report cited by KSL. A builder who wants to put up for-sale townhomes generally can't do it by right across most of the county; the report notes that projects like this often need a conditional use approval or a rezoning.

Sandy Station sits inside The Cairns, the downtown redevelopment area Sandy launched in 2015. Even there, it took careful planning. Sandy's planning director, Mike Wilcox, told the Planning Commission the site was complicated because of its irregular shape and limited access points. The commission voted unanimously in November 2025 to advance the site plan and subdivision reviews, with conditions that included extra landscaping along the I-15 edge, midblock walkways and Cairns District signage, according to Building Salt Lake.

"We raise our children here and they are too frequently unable to stay when they become adults and look to find a home."

That's how Mayor Zoltanski described the problem in a Facebook post after the groundbreaking, calling the project "a positive step to help bring so-called 'missing middle' housing to the available housing stock." It describes a supply gap. The 63 homes on Harrison Street aren't another version of something Sandy already has in quantity. They're close to the only homes of this kind in that part of Sandy.

How the Site Works

The site itself shows how narrow that window is. Sandy Station sits on 3.71 irregular acres. Vehicle access runs through Harrison Street at the north end, and the connection to 9000 South is reserved as an emergency entry and exit for first responders. Building Salt Lake has reported the site details.

None of this is a criticism of the project. If you're comparing Sandy Station with a subdivision on a conventional street grid, one primary access point is worth knowing about. For anyone who reads site plans before floor plans, it's the page to read first.

Not Every Cairns Project Moves at the Same Pace

The Cairns name covers more than one project, and they aren't at the same stage. In July 2025, Sandy's City Council and Redevelopment Agency previewed Centennial Village, a proposal for at least 545 homes and more than 100,000 square feet of commercial space on just over four acres south of Sego Lily Drive, between Monroe Street and Centennial Parkway. The landowner was in default on timing and development obligations from its original purchase from the RDA, and a sale to a new team, dbURBAN and the Woodbury Corporation, needed RDA and city approval, according to Building Salt Lake. As of October 11, 2026, I haven't found a public update confirming that the sale or a development agreement has been completed.

So when you see "the Cairns" used as shorthand for downtown Sandy's redevelopment, treat it as a planning area, not a construction timeline. Sandy Station is under construction, with completion targeted for early summer 2027. Centennial Village, as far as public records show, has not yet broken ground.

The State Backdrop

A policy current runs underneath this project too. On July 1, 2026, Utah launched a Division of Housing and Community Development within the Governor's Office of Economic Development, created by House Bill 68 and led by Steve Waldrip, to coordinate state housing programs, including Governor Spencer Cox's goal of facilitating 35,000 starter homes. Lawmakers also considered House Bill 184, which would have let property owners ask cities and counties to accept smaller lots for starter homes on a short review clock. It didn't pass, which says something about how much friction remains between state housing goals and local zoning control.

None of that guarantees more projects like Sandy Station. But the conditions that made this one possible, tight local zoning meeting steady state pressure for more homes, aren't unique to one parcel on Harrison Street. If you're weighing Sandy against Draper, Riverton or the cities to the south, the more useful question is where cities are making room for kinds of homes they haven't built before.

FAQ

Is Sandy Station part of Sandy's downtown redevelopment plan? Yes. It sits inside The Cairns, Sandy's downtown redevelopment area.

What kind of homes are they? Three-level attached townhomes, each with four bedrooms, three bathrooms and a two-car garage.

When will the townhomes be ready? D.R. Horton and Sandy City broke ground on August 24, 2026, and completion is targeted for early summer 2027.

I watch how zoning decisions like this one change what's available in Sandy and the cities around it. If you'd like to talk through how a home like this compares with the others you're considering, I'm glad to. You can find me at kingswellestates.com.

Vir Singh · Kingswell Estates

The Perry Group · Real Broker, LLC

Photograph by Clay Banks, via Unsplash (Unsplash License, cropped to 16:9).

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.