"My house lights up with strobe lights for multiple, multiple weddings," Carol Jarvis told the Midway City Council on September 1. She lives next to Rising Ranch, a subdivision where nightly rentals have been running for years, and her complaint was one of several that pushed the council to redraw the boundaries of where short-term rentals are allowed in Midway at all.
If you're considering a Midway property with rental income in the plan, that meeting matters more than any listing description. The city just shrank its Transient Rental Overlay District, the zoning map that determines where nightly rentals can legally operate. But the more useful fact buried in the same staff reports is this: in several of the neighborhoods just removed from that map, the homeowners association had already banned short-term rentals through its own governing documents before the city's zoning map reflected it. The HOA vote and the city's zoning designation are two separate systems, and Midway's own record shows they don't move together.
What the city actually changed
Midway was among the first Utah cities to regulate nightly rentals, adopting its original short-term rental code back in 2006, a framework other Utah municipalities have since copied. The Transient Rental Overlay District, or TROD, is the zoning tool that grew out of that code. If your parcel sits inside the TROD, and you clear licensing and life-safety requirements, you can operate a nightly rental. Outside the TROD, you generally can't get a new license.
On September 1, 2026, the council adopted Ordinance 2026-24, cutting the TROD down and removing eligibility from several areas: Turnberry, Turnberry Woods, Midway Village, Rising Ranch, parts of the Mountain Spa Rural Preservation subdivision, a stretch of 100 South between 50 West and 100 West, and an area east of Fox Den Road and south of Main Street. City staff estimated the change touches roughly 152 properties. Two lots adjacent to Ameyalli Resort were kept in the overlay as an exception.
None of this closed existing rentals overnight. The council grandfathered properties with active licenses or vested conditional-use permits, including two existing short-term rentals in the Turnberry area and three pending vested conditional-use applicants along 100 South. The practical effect splits into two very different situations depending on the neighborhood, and that split is the part worth understanding before you write an offer.
Turnberry: the HOA rule came first
Here's the detail that should change how you read any zoning map in Midway. According to the city's own land use staff report, Turnberry, Turnberry Woods, and Midway Village had already amended their CC&Rs to prohibit short-term rentals before the council ever touched the TROD boundary. The city's zoning map said yes. The HOA's governing documents said no. Until the September ordinance, the zoning designation and the association's rules described the same lots differently, so an owner who checked only the zoning map would have seen eligibility that the CC&Rs did not allow.
The September ordinance didn't create that restriction. It just brought the zoning map into agreement with a rule the HOA had already put in place. For a buyer, the takeaway applies well beyond Turnberry. The city's overlay district reflects what the municipality permits, the association's CC&Rs reflect what that community permits, and the two documents can differ in either direction until one is updated.
Rising Ranch: the opposite problem
Rising Ranch is the mirror image. Unlike Turnberry, its HOA hadn't shut the door, and nightly rentals were actually operating there, some without a license, according to testimony at the hearing. Resident Katie Villani told the council she knew from living nearby that there were complaints about Rising Ranch rentals, and that the operation wasn't licensed. That's what generated the pressure to act.
Rising Ranch was removed from the TROD in the same ordinance, but the council kept a narrower protection in place: any existing conditional-use permit tied to a specific parcel there still carries its rights forward. City staff recommended this specifically to reduce legal exposure and allow for further review, which tells you the city itself isn't finished sorting out Rising Ranch. If you're looking at a property there, the zoning answer isn't "no, it's out of the overlay." The real question is whether that particular parcel holds a vested conditional-use permit that survives the rezone, and that's a title and permit record question, not something you can read off a map.
What changed, neighborhood by neighborhood
| Area | Removed from TROD (Sept 2026) | What carries forward |
|---|---|---|
| Turnberry / Turnberry Woods | Yes | 2 existing licensed rentals grandfathered; HOA CC&Rs already prohibited new rentals |
| Midway Village | Yes | HOA CC&Rs already prohibited rentals |
| Rising Ranch | Yes | Existing conditional-use permit rights tied to parcel, if vested |
| Mountain Spa Rural Preservation (portions) | Yes | Per parcel; confirm with city planning |
| 100 South (50 West to 100 West) | Yes | 3 pending vested conditional-use applicants grandfathered |
| Lots adjacent to Ameyalli Resort | No, remains in TROD | Standard licensing still applies |
The parking rule that came with it
The council paired the TROD reduction with a second ordinance, 2026-26, clarifying that a licensed nightly rental is limited to garage capacity plus no more than two vehicles parked outside, and those two must sit on a hard surface. Council members were explicit that this cap applies year-round, including when the owner or the owner's personal guests are using the property, not just when paying guests are staying there. If you're underwriting a Midway rental around groups large enough to bring three or four cars, that math has a hard ceiling regardless of how many bedrooms the house has.
The licensing mechanics worth budgeting for
Even inside a surviving TROD zone, the operating requirements are specific enough to affect your numbers. The current business license application requires a $100 administrative fee before review, annual renewal by December 31, and compliance with the city's dark sky lighting ordinance on all exterior fixtures. Every licensed unit needs a posted plaque with the property manager's name and a 24-hour, 365-day contact number, and that manager needs a physical business location in Wasatch County. Fines for violations run up to $750 per incident, with each day of a continuing violation counted separately.
None of this is unusual for a Utah resort town. It's the kind of detail that gets skipped in a listing sheet and shows up later as an unexpected line item, and it's worth pricing into your first year of ownership rather than discovering at renewal.
What to actually check before you write an offer
- Confirm the parcel's current TROD status directly with Midway City planning. Boundaries are drawn block by block, not neighborhood by neighborhood, so a property one lot over from a grandfathered address may not carry the same status.
- Request the HOA's CC&Rs and any rental-specific amendments in writing, independent of what the zoning map shows. Turnberry proves the two can disagree.
- If a listing advertises "grandfathered" rental rights, ask whether that right is tied to the parcel or to the current owner's license, and get documentation of a vested conditional-use permit if that's the claim.
- Budget for the licensing cycle: the $100 fee, December 31 renewal, dark sky compliance, and a Wasatch County-based manager, before you model rental income.
A few questions that come up often
Does removal from the TROD end every rental in that neighborhood immediately? No. The September ordinance grandfathers properties with existing licenses or vested conditional-use permits. New licenses in those areas are what's off the table going forward.
If my HOA doesn't currently restrict rentals, could it still add that restriction later? Yes, and Turnberry, Turnberry Woods, and Midway Village are the proof. Associations can amend CC&Rs to prohibit short-term rentals at any point, independent of city zoning.
Where do I check a parcel's current TROD status? Midway City's planning and community development department maintains the current overlay map and can confirm a specific address. The full staff report and map for the September 2026 changes is public record, as is the Park Record's coverage of the vote.
If you're weighing a Midway purchase with rental income as part of the plan, the zoning map is only half the answer. Get a parcel-specific check on both the city's current TROD status and the HOA's actual governing documents before you write an offer. X Factor Real Estate can help you pull both before you're under contract.
