Happy Monday! Colten here.

Well I sure had an eventful Pioneer Day weekend. I went to a concert, went camping with my family, and had dinner with my guy friends. But the universe wanted to balance that with puking children and driving in 100 degree heat without A/C.

How did your weekend go? Well, in any case, I hope that you’re doing well. Time to see what’s going on in Eagle Mountain this week.

Do you find these newsletters useful? No obligation, I'll keep writing every issue either way, but I have a Venmo (@eaglemountainvalue) if you'd like to help support the work. Really appreciate it.

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Own a local business or have an event coming up? Reply to this email or reach out at [email protected]. I'm always looking for things to share.

Utah County's Auditor mailed every property owner a 2026 Notice of Property Valuation and Tax Changes. This notice shows three numbers side by side: what you paid before, what you're paying now, and what you'd pay under the proposed increase. If you didn't get one in the mail, call (801) 851-8110 and select option 3, or visit the Utah County Auditor's valuation notices page.

Don't forget to check out my interview with Mayor Jared Gray, Councilmember Zachory Huish, and Councilmember Craig Whiting on YouTube and Apple Podcasts.

Friendly reminder: state law requires cities to hold a public hearing, called a Truth-in-Taxation hearing, before they can raise property taxes above what they collected the year before. Eagle Mountain's hearing is August 6 at 6 PM, and you can join by video if you can't make it in person. The council takes its final vote on August 18. You can submit written comments anytime through the city's public comment form. If you have thoughts on this increase, speaking up before August 6 is the best way to make sure the council hears you before they vote.

Eagle Mountain expects to receive about $466,979 in federal money in 2026 through a program called CDBG, short for Community Development Block Grant. Cities get this money every year to spend on things like housing, roads, and other community needs. This year's amount combines new federal funding with money left over from past years. Here's how the city plans to spend it:

What this means: You can submit comments through August 4 before these numbers are approved and sent to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Questions can go to Affordable Housing Coordinator Kiara Polee at [email protected].

The Planning Commission meets July 28. Here is everything the Planning Commission has on the agenda.

Transportation Master Plan and Impact Fee Facilities Plan update.

The road currently called Mid Valley Road is being renamed Lake Mountain Corridor. This is the new road that will create a new path through the Lake Mountain range to Saratoga Springs. The Planning Commission will review an updated master plan that formally classifies this road as a future UDOT facility, meaning the state, not just the city, would eventually be responsible for it.

Friendly reminder: this follows House Bill 62, a state law sponsored by Rep. Stephanie Gricius that Governor Cox signed this March. The law sets up the path for the state to eventually take over the road, once it connects to Mountain View Corridor in Saratoga Springs. This same document update also touches road classifications and cost estimates elsewhere in the city, but the Lake Mountain Corridor change is the part with the most reason to care.

What this means: the new sections of Lake Mountain Corridor being built are funded almost entirely by the state and regional partners, not the city. Eagle Mountain's own money is mostly going toward widening the road where it already exists, not building new stretches of it. This update formally sets up Lake Mountain Corridor to eventually fall under state responsibility as a whole, but that's a planning and classification step, not a bill the city just got out from under.

Also on the July 28 agenda:

I've had the pleasure of getting to know Kat Ashby over the last several weeks, and I just had to tell you all about her. Kat is a real estate agent and a Principal Broker, which is the top license tier in Utah real estate. She runs her own brokerage, RootQuest Realty, out of Saratoga Springs and has been selling homes across Eagle Mountain and the surrounding area since 2020. She is fluent in Portuguese, writes extensively about hot real estate topics on her blog, and on top of all that is a mother of 3. She also lives here, so she actually knows Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs.

What impresses me most about Kat is her passion for helping folks navigate the ever so confusing real estate world. If you're considering selling your home, feel free to ask Kat about her free home valuation, where she builds a data-backed, personalized number and explains her reasoning behind it. And if you know someone looking to buy a home in the area, then there's no one better qualified to help those folks find the best home for them in Eagle Mountain. And don’t take my word for it. Check out some of her reviews here.

1) Eagle Mountain's 2026 Bingo Card, a year-long civic engagement program marking the city's 30th anniversary, is still live for residents who want to take part.

2) If you like tracking what's happening at Eagle Mountain's parks, a resident who also sits on the city's Parks and Recreation Committee built the Eagle Mountain Parks Tracker app for reporting conditions. It's not an official city app, so for anything urgent, use the city's own official app instead. Available on Google Play or the App Store.

3) Papa Murphy's is now open at 4272 North Pony Express Parkway.

That’s all for today.

See you around,

— Colten

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