Sandy City Council has approved an 86-unit townhome project on the site of the Canyons School District's Technical Education Center, just a month after voting the same proposal down. The council passed three separate ordinances this week covering a general plan amendment, a rezone and a new development agreement for the project known as Canyon Gate, located at 825 E. 9085 South.
The reversal comes after council members rejected a development agreement for up to 86 townhomes at the site in a 4-2 vote, according to Building Salt Lake. That September rejection sent Sandy city officials back to the table to rework the terms of the deal with the project's developer, The Boyer Company, before the council took it up again this week. The project would convert the district's Technical Education Center into a mix of two- and three-story townhomes, with the taller units planned along the south side of 9000 South.
What Changed Between September and October
The central sticking point was how long rental restrictions would apply. Under the previous proposal, rental limits only applied while Boyer owned a unit, but the new agreement extends those restrictions through homeowners association covenants, conditions and restrictions for five years after a unit is sold, Sandy City Attorney Lynn Pace said, according to Building Salt Lake, which first reported the approval. Boyer may retain ownership of up to 17 units, or roughly 20% of the total, and the complex overall is limited to no more than 20% rental units for five years after a unit sells. The company intends to sell the townhome units but may sell or rent the ones it owns if they are not moving quickly, per the same account.
Tracy Cowdell, an attorney working with both Sandy City and Boyer on the proposal, acknowledged the revised terms might not fully satisfy every council concern but called it a step in the right direction, the site reported. Cowdell also said he believes the developer has gone as far as it is willing to go, telling the council he was urged to bring back a strong reason for members to revisit the deal, and that Boyer is unlikely to accept further project restrictions.
A Split Council and Dissenting Votes
The three ordinances passed by different margins. The general plan amendment, which shifts the site's designation from Institutional to Medium Density Neighborhood, passed 6-1, with council member Kris Nicholl voting against while Cyndi Sharkey voted in favor. The rezone ordinance, which moves the property from R-1-8 single-family residential to PUD(12) — a designation allowing up to 12 units per acre — passed 5-2, with both Nicholl and Sharkey opposed. The development agreement ordinance also passed 5-2, with Nicholl and Sharkey again voting no.
Nicholl raised a procedural objection beyond the substance of the deal itself, opposing the method of bringing back an ordinance the council had already voted on and arguing that the process did not adequately notify residents of the renewed vote. The site at the center of the dispute spans what Building Salt Lake described as a 7.15-acre parcel still owned by the Canyons School District, though a Sandy City public notice from earlier this year listed the property as approximately 7.2 acres. The townhomes would be accessed via Scirlein Drive and 9085 South, and the plans show no egress point from 9000 South.
Why the School District Is Letting Go of the Site
The Canyons School District has used the property as an education center, but the district announced back in 2024 that it would purchase the former eBay campus in Draper to expand its technical education programs, according to Building Salt Lake's earlier reporting on the proposal. That move freed up the Sandy parcel for redevelopment into housing. The applications for the land-use and zoning changes were originally submitted by The Boyer Company, identified in a Sandy City public notice as Nathan Boyer.
Fitting Into Sandy's Broader Housing Squeeze
Canyon Gate lands amid a stretch of higher-density housing activity in Sandy. In August, D.R. Horton broke ground on Sandy Station, a 63-unit for-sale townhome project on 3.71 acres at 8925 S. Harrison St., with four-bedroom homes starting around $550,000 — about $150,000 below the area's median single-family home cost, Hoodline reported. Sandy's median home sale price hit $699,619 in mid-2026, up 6.8% from the year before, while regional housing inventory sat at just 3.1 months in July 2026, well below the four-to-six-month range economists consider balanced.
Roughly 88% of residential land in Salt Lake County remains zoned exclusively for detached single-family homes, a constraint that has pushed cities like Sandy to consider rezonings for denser, for-sale product. Earlier this year, the council approved a 4-3 rezoning allowing a duplex and fourplex on a 0.65-acre property near 8600 South and 1000 East, over neighbor objections about safety, parking congestion and neighborhood character, the Sandy Journal reported. That rezone required the new dwellings to be listed for sale to encourage owner occupancy, echoing the same tension between rental flexibility and owner-occupied housing that shaped the Canyon Gate debate.
