Some theories and methodologies applicable to land use planning problems were reviewed along with the history of land use and land use legislation in the United States and Utah. This review served to point out that federal land use policy is moving away from the incentive approach to controlling land use and toward a more mandatory approach aimed at giving increased emphasis to environmental quality and less to economic efficiency. A model for conceptualizing and analyzing annexation problems was developed and applied to a problem in Heber City, Wasatch County, Utah. The analysis demonstrated that annexation is feasible by showing net beneficial effects for the macro area. The model displays the analytical data in a way that enables planners and decision makers to see who gains, who loses, and the approximate amounts of the gains and losses. Thus the decision makers are able to determine who must be compensated and by how much in order to accomplish an improvement in welfare under the Pareto criteria.