There are a lot more people on a road less traveled, and angry Summit County residents are starting to notice.

The Summit County Council and Wasatch County Council met simultaneously Wednesday afternoon to discuss concerns about W. 200 South, a road shared by both counties. The road served as the main construction route for the Tuhaye development east of Jordanelle Reservoir, which will include 728 homes when completed, and is also the only route that provides access to Wakara Ridge, a 176-home development approved by Wasatch County in April.

A report from Summit County staff said Summit County residents have complained about construction traffic on several occasions, raising concerns about dust, diesel fumes, the time of day the trucks travel the route, safety, road damage and “disturbance of peaceful life.”

Portions of the road – also known as Gun Club Road and Old Valley Highway – have been cleared by Wasatch County since 2000 and are now privately owned by Tuhaye. Under agreements, Tuhaye paved the Wasatch portion of the route and granted easements to dependent property owners.

Wasatch County Executive Dustin Grabau said at the time that he believed Wakara and Tuhaye were working on an agreement that would allow Tuhaye access via his private roads.

The agreement never came to fruition and the residents of Wakara are now solely dependent on W. 200 South.

Summit County Councilman Chris Robinson expressed surprise that Wasatch County agreed to the parceling on the condition that the small country road could be used as a main road without the need for negotiations between developers.

David Thomas of the Summit County Attorney’s Office said the section of the road in Summit County – known as Gun Club Road because it provides access to the Kamas Valley Lions Gun Club – “was not designed for heavy motorized traffic or construction traffic and is best classified as a rural local road, not a collector or arterial road.”

“We’ve been looking at this for a couple of months now,” said Summit County Chair Malena Stevens. “We had initially decided to probably put up a crash gate because, from what we were informed, it was intended to be a secondary entrance.”

After gaining a deeper understanding of the road’s use, the council decided to bring in Wasatch County officials for a more comprehensive discussion.

“We were not aware of the development and especially the intensity of the development that was taking place along this road,” she said.

Jon Woodard, deputy Wasatch County prosecutor, said he believes permit notices have been sent to Summit County.

“It was certainly not intended that everyone should be surprised,” he said. “It could have been discovered if people had paid attention to the clues.”

He described the conundrum as a “difficult situation” because developers in the area had already been granted permits.

“We cannot just suddenly make decisions without things changing and having a major impact on approved projects,” he said.

Stevens assured him that she had no ill intentions.

Summit City Councilor Canice Harte asked Thomas what problems the county would face if it decided to install a crash gate despite Woodard’s concerns.

“As a highway authority, you would have the ability to have a public hearing process and decide what you want to do with the road,” Thomas said. “You could clear it, you could certainly make it a limited-use highway. You could close part of it.”

But no matter what they do, there will be a reaction from road users, he warned.

His fear of potential litigation was echoed by several lawyers representing developers who attended the meeting and spoke about their concerns about the consequences of closing or limiting access to the road.

“This gentleman asked what would happen if you closed the gate or restricted access,” said Wakara’s attorney Jeremy Reitzel. “I think it’s pretty clear from case law: If a highway department closes a road and there’s a landowner who relies on that road for access, that closure does not take away his right of access to continue to use that road. … You can’t take away our private right to access that property by road because it’s a public road.”

He added that Wakara would work cooperatively to resolve the issue.

Thomas pointed out that Summity County has legal options to close the road and access, but that may not be the best option.

Russell Skousen, Wakara’s in-house legal counsel, took a gentler approach, suggesting possible solutions such as redesigning the road with medians, widening the path, imposing a 25 mph speed limit and building paved sidewalks on both sides.

The two councils eventually agreed to form a subcommittee, although everyone present was aware that better communication between the districts would be needed in the future to resolve and prevent further conflicts.