Adding land to or removing land from a protection area -- Removing land from a mining protection area.
Utah Code § 17-81-206
in effect17-81-206. Adding land to or removing land from a protection area -- Removing land from a mining protection area.
(1)
(a) Any owner may add land to an existing agriculture protection area, industrial protection area, critical infrastructure materials protection area, as the case may be, by:
(i) filing a proposal with:
(A) the county legislative body, if the relevant protection area and the land to be added are within the unincorporated part of the county; or
(B) the municipal legislative body, if the relevant protection area and the land to be added are within a city or town; and
(ii) obtaining the approval of the applicable legislative body for the addition of the land to the relevant protection area.
(b) The applicable legislative body shall:
(i) comply with the provisions for creating an agriculture protection area, industrial protection area, critical infrastructure materials protection area, as the case may be, in determining whether to accept the proposal; and
(ii) for purposes of a critical infrastructure materials protection area, request a copy of the applicable Division of Air Quality approval order.
(c) The applicable legislative body may deny the expansion if expansion is contrary to the Division of Air Quality's approval order.
(2)
(a) An owner of land within an agriculture protection area, industrial protection area, or critical infrastructure materials protection area may remove any or all of the owner's land from the relevant protection area, by filing a petition for removal with the applicable legislative body.
(b)
(i) The applicable legislative body:
(A) shall:
(I) grant the petition for removal of land from the relevant protection area, even if removal of the land would result in an agriculture protection area, industrial protection area, or critical infrastructure materials protection area of less than the number of acres established by the applicable legislative body as the minimum under Section 17-41-301; and
(II) to give constructive notice of the removal to all persons who have, may acquire, or may seek to acquire an interest in land in or adjacent to the agriculture protection area, industrial protection area, or critical infrastructure materials protection area and the land removed from the relevant protection area, file a legal description of the revised boundaries of the relevant protection area with the county recorder of deeds and the affected planning commission; and
(B) may not charge a fee in connection with a petition to remove land from an agriculture protection area, an industrial protection area, or critical infrastructure materials protection area.
(ii) If a petition to remove land in a protection area is granted, the remaining land in the agriculture protection area, industrial protection area, or critical infrastructure materials protection area is still an agriculture protection area, industrial protection area, or critical infrastructure materials protection area.
(iii)
(A) A critical infrastructure materials operator may abandon some or all of the operator's critical infrastructure materials operations use only as provided in this Subsection (2)(b)(iii).
(B) To abandon some or all of a critical infrastructure materials operations, a critical infrastructure materials operator shall record a written declaration of abandonment with the county recorder of the county in which the critical infrastructure materials operations being abandoned is located.
(C) The written declaration of abandonment under this Subsection (2)(b)(iii) shall specify the critical infrastructure materials operations or the portion of the critical infrastructure materials operations being abandoned.
(3)
(a) If a municipality annexes any land that is part of an agriculture protection area, industrial protection area, or critical infrastructure materials protection area located in the unincorporated part of the county, the county legislative body shall, within 30 days after the land is annexed, review the feasibility of that land remaining in the relevant protection area according to the procedures and requirements of Section 17-81-207.
(b) The county legislative body shall remove the annexed land from the relevant protection area if:
(i) the county legislative body concludes, after the review under Section 17-81-207, that removal is appropriate; and
(ii) the owners of all the annexed land that is within the relevant protection area consent in writing to the removal.
(c) Removal of land from an agriculture protection area, industrial protection area, or critical infrastructure materials protection area under this Subsection (3) does not affect whether that land may be:
(i) included in a proposal under Section 17-81-201 to create an agriculture protection area, industrial protection area, or critical infrastructure materials protection area within the municipality; or
(ii) added to an existing agriculture protection area, industrial protection area, or critical infrastructure materials protection area within the municipality under Subsection (1).
(4) A mine operator that owns or controls land within a mining protection area may remove any or all of the land from the mining protection area by filing a notice of removal with the legislative body of the county in which the land is located.
Renumbered and Amended by Chapter 14, 2025 Special Session 1
Source: Utah Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel (le.utah.gov)URL: https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title17/Chapter81/17-81-S206.html?v=C17-81-S206_2025110620251206Fetched: 10/26/2026