The Snyderville Basin Planning Commission is reviewing proposals for two large subdivisions that could provide the west side of Summit County with a remarkable amount of work force housing.

The builders are two of the first to apply under a set of county guidelines meant to spur development of affordable homes in the expensive Park City real-estate market by allowing larger subdivisions in exchange for units that will stay lower priced. The discussions have just begun.

“This is to address any pent-up need for housing,” Summit County planner Kimber Gabryszak said about the rules in a telephone interview.

A project proposed on Kilby Road west of the Gorgoza Tubing Park includes 215 units on approximately 71 acres. The plan includes 80 one- and two-bedroom senior housing units, 40 houses and 95 townhouses.

The subdivision would land next to Interstate 80 near Parleys Canyon.

“The Planning Commission wants to protect that view corridor,” Gabryszak said. “They didn’t like the development that was going to be highly visible from I-80.”

Units were removed from the most visible parts of the parcel in the newest design, she said.

“In comparison to existing developments, it’s not too dense,” Gabryszak said about the size of the plan. “If you compare it to something like Silver Summit or Jeremy Ranch or lower Pinebrook, for example, it’s very comparable to that.”

Meanwhile, about 35 percent of the homes would be reserved for those earning between 30 and 80 percent of the area median income, which is more than $93,000 per year, Gabryszak said.

“We do need a little bit more of the lower-income housing,” she said.

The developer may also appeal to seniors with some of those units.

“The issue is that we’re fulfilling two critical needs in the area, one of them senior housing and one of them work force housing,” developer Glen K. Lent said in a telephone interview.

The developer of the senior housing wanted feedback from the Planning Commission about whether the location is appropriate, Gabryszak said, speaking about a meeting last week at the Sheldon Richins Building.

“The Planning Commission encouraged them to not target high-end senior housing, but more of the affordable product,” Garbryszak said.

But there are no buses that serve the project, which is located near the edge of the Snyderville Basin.

“We don’t want all of the affordable housing to be on the outskirts, but at the same time, a lot of the developable parcels that are left, are on the outskirts,” Gabryszak said. “I do think there are some concerns with it being far out, but they may be able to be addressed through transit.”

Also last week the Planning Commission heard from a builder who wants to put up an ambitious work force housing project on about 300 acres on Silver Summit Parkway near Trailside.

Sellers at the Stone Ridge subdivision would target people earning between about 40 and 60 percent of the area median income for about 71 of their 255 proposed homes. The project has duplexes, estate lots and smaller houses.

“The Planning Commission and the neighbors were concerned with all of the work force units being in half of the development,” Gabryszak said. “We’re happy to see the units being more dispersed.”

Some of the work force units were moved into parts of the neighborhood containing estate lots, she explained.

“Overall, the Planning Commission responded pretty favorably,” Gabryszak said. “It seems to be moving in the right direction, but obviously they still have some concerns.”

Some neighbors are against the proposal even though the plan would allow about 80 percent of the land to remain as open space, she said.

South Summit resident Nadine Gillmor owns the property, which has been mired in controversy. But the current proposal is smaller than Gillmor’s past request to build about 300 houses on the land.

“A lot of the neighborhood uses that as open space, because that’s what they might have been told or heard,” Gabryszak said about the land, which is adjacent to an LDS Church near Trailside Park. “The applicants definitely have made an effort with the community to do some outreach and respond to the neighbor’s concerns.”