Remodeling in Tuhaye: ARC Approval, County Permits and Site Rules

Tuhaye's Architectural Review Committee reviews almost every change you can see from outside, and it reviews it before Wasatch County will look at your permit. The rules are written down, the fees are published, and the fines are real.

This guide is for owners who already have a home in Tuhaye and want to remodel or add on. We are building a remodel and addition there now, so these are the rules we work under.

Who reviews your remodel

The ARC reviews plans against the Tuhaye Design Guidelines, last amended in December 2023. All approvals are in writing. The guidelines say plainly that there are no verbal approvals.

The ARC meets every Monday, holidays aside. Complete submittals are due by noon on a Monday to make the next Monday's agenda, if there is room. Incomplete packages are not accepted.

Wasatch County reviews the work separately for code and zoning, and it will not take your permit until the ARC has signed off on the design.

The steps, in order

1. 1.
   Call the HOA office first

   Ask whether your project is a minor improvement. Minor improvements skip to a three-step review: final design review, construction monitoring and final observation. Fees and submittal lists for those are set case by case.

2. 2.
   Get your architect and builder approved

   The ARC keeps approved lists. New architects and contractors apply on the HOA site. Three Peak is building in Tuhaye now.

3. 3.
   Major projects: the full review

   Pre-design conference, preliminary design review, final design review, then construction monitoring and a final observation. The ARC meets within 14 working days of a pre-design request and sends written comments within 14 working days of a preliminary review.

4. 4.
   Pay the fee and the deposits

   The review fee comes with the application. The $15,000 compliance deposit and the $1,000 sign deposit are due before the pre-construction conference.

5. 5.
   Wasatch County permit

   Apply online with a complete PDF plan set, stamped structural calculations to the 2021 code, a ResCheck, a landscape plan if you are in a wildfire area, and a slope analysis if the plat or the planning office asks for one.

6. 6.
   Pre-construction conference, then work

   The ARC approves your construction area plan, you stake the limits of disturbance and put up the green screen fence, and work can start. Starting before that meeting is a $10,000 fine.

Rules that shape an addition

• Height is 32 feet, or less if your homesite diagram says so. On a lot steeper than 15 percent, county code caps it at 30 feet. Plans must show a section of the maximum height against natural grade.
• Lots in a ridgeline or viewshed area need a three-dimensional terrain model and a county viewshed study before approval.
• Floor area is capped. Each homesite has a maximum gross floor area set by lot size. Garage space over 1,000 square feet counts toward it, and so does a guesthouse.
• Roofs are shallow, flat to 8:12. Approved materials are wood shakes, approved synthetic shakes, Corten, dark standing seam metal, zinc, and ballasted or green flat roofs. One primary roof material per house.
• Colors recede. Exterior wall colors cannot exceed a light reflective value of 32. Wood gets semi-transparent stain, not paint, except trim and accents.
• Lighting is dark sky. Light stays inside the improvement envelope, exterior lighting is kept to a minimum, and soffit accent lighting is not allowed. Every unapproved light is a $500 fine.
• Fire sprinklers are required in every Tuhaye home, and a 30-foot safety zone around the house must be maintained.
• Vents through the roof must be grouped in the chimney. Scattered roof vents are a $5,000 fine.

Construction rules on the site

• Hours: Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., no Sunday work. After-hours work is $500 per vehicle.
• Gates: construction traffic uses the back gate or the Painted Bluff entrance. Regular workers carry an RFID tag; piggybacking through a gate is a $1,500 fine.
• Everything stays inside the staked limits of disturbance, behind a six-foot green screen fence that runs the full street frontage. Moving the fence or storing snow outside it is $10,000.
• Covered dumpsters, no overnight trailers on Tuhaye roads, and speed limits that are enforced at $500 a ticket.
• Building off the approved plans, or changing anything outside without submitting it first, is $10,000, and the change has to be undone.

The fines come from the schedule in the December 2023 guidelines and the 2026 pre-construction agreement. They are taken out of the compliance deposit, which has to be topped back up before work can continue.

How we handle it

We are building a three-phase remodel and addition in Tuhaye now, so we know the gates, the Monday agenda and the inspectors. We take the ARC submittal and the county permit in order, write the construction area plan, and run the site to the fence line and the clock.

When something changes mid-job, like the porch handrail on our current project, it goes back to the ARC on paper before it is built.

Common questions

Where these rules come from

We checked these sources in October 2026. The ARC can change fees and rules, and some homesites have their own diagrams, so confirm the current numbers with the HOA office before you plan.

• Tuhaye HOA: ARC process
• Tuhaye HOA: ARC meeting schedule
• Tuhaye HOA: ARC applications and fee sheet
• Tuhaye Design Guidelines, December 2023
• Tuhaye Pre-Construction Agreement, 2026
• Wasatch County: building permit application
• Wasatch County: single family dwelling checklist
• Wasatch County: building department FAQ
• Wasatch County staff report, Tuhaye Dancing Sun (2026), with JBOZ setbacks and slope rules