The panel that awards City Hall’s popular Old Town grants indicated Wednesday night it would consider a funding request from High West Distillery, a crucial decision that the whiskey maker needed before engaging the Historic Preservation Board in more detailed talks.
It was not clear before the meeting whether the Historic Preservation Board would hear the application. Most people who seek the Old Town grants apply for the funding before they start work. High West’s submitted its funding request in May, a few months before the distillery is scheduled to open in the landmark Watts property close to the bottom of the Town Lift.
The Historic Preservation Board decision on Wednesday, made during a straw poll, leaves open the possibility that High West will receive a second round of financial assistance from City Hall. It had earlier secured $11,000 through an economic-development grant from the municipal government.
The decision foreshadows an Aug. 19 meeting for High West to present the application to the panel. Afterward the Historic Preservation Board will decide whether to award a grant.
David Perkins, the distillery owner and the person who has shepherded the project through City Hall’s approval process, did not attend the Wednesday meeting. The distillery’s project manager indicated he was pleased the Historic Preservation Board will consider the grant request.
High West has asked the panel for as much funding as could be awarded to assist with the extensive renovation, one of the most recognizable historic properties in Park City. The distillery has outlined $712,699 in work at the site that it contends is eligible for grant money. The grant program, which requires a matching commitment from the property owner, though, does not have nearly enough money available to fund the full amount. Recent grant requests have generally asked for between $10,000 and $20,000.
Perkins has said that construction costs have risen by $1 million from his forecast, from $3.3 million to $4.3 million. Without one of the Old Town grants, High West will need to cut back on its landscaping and marketing budgets, Perkins has said.
The distillery is scheduled to open in September, after missing an opening date close to Independence Day that High West had desired. High West envisions the distillery becoming an off-the-slopes attraction as well as a whiskey producer.
Rob Nielson, the project manager for High West, told the Historic Preservation Board the distillery is seeking a “reasonable grant.” He acknowledged that the application was submitted on a different timeline than others seeking grants, but he said High West had anticipated submitting its paperwork well before it did. Completing the application was a lengthy process, he said. Nielson told the panel members a decision about the worthiness of the grant request should outweigh the timeline High West followed in filing the application.
Grants have been awarded after construction started in several instances over the past 20 years, a City Hall official involved in the program has said.
A majority of the Historic Preservation Board members agreed with High West’s argument in favor of hearing the request. Some said the work at High West is unique and complex. An exception should be made to the typical timeline to allow the panel to consider providing assistance, they said.
An outgoing member of the panel, Puggy Holmgren, though, was displeased, saying she is “strongly, strongly” opposed to providing a grant since the work is so far along. She said she received seven calls from people unhappy with the request, some “pretty hot,” according to Holmgren.
Nobody testified during a hearing on Wednesday. The hearing will be continued at the Aug. 19 meeting. A Park City-area resident, Mary Ann Cirino, submitted a letter to the Historic Preservation Board in opposition to the High West request. She said in the letter the High West grant request should have been put in earlier and Perkins should have realized refurbishing the Watts property would be costly.
“Mr. Perkins attempt to extort money from this community because he could not control costs is his problem — not the community’s,” Cirino said in the letter, adding that he is “grasping at straws to keep his multitude of investors appeased.”