A member of the Park City Planning Commission has resigned from the influential panel, indicating that his time refereeing growth in the city was rewarding.
Evan Russack leaves the Planning Commission seven months before his four-year term is scheduled to end. He was appointed to the panel in mid-2006. His last meeting was Wednesday.
“It was a great opportunity to be able to serve my town,” Russack said, adding, “In general, everything was a great experience.”
He declined to discuss his reasons for the resignation. Mayor Dana Williams said Russack told him he had accepted a job in Colorado. They talked on Thursday, and Williams announced the departure from the Planning Commission during a Park City Council meeting that evening. He was the vice chair of the Planning Commission.
The mayor praised Russack’s performance on the Planning Commission, saying that a spot on the seven-person panel is among the toughest within the municipal government.
“I think he did well. I think he worked well with everybody,” Williams said, adding that Russack kept Park City’s best interest in mind. “I think he was effective and did his job.”
The chairman of the Planning Commission, meanwhile, said Russack was especially adept at considering broader development issues. Charlie Wintzer, who is the chairman, said Russack wanted to look at a project’s overall effects on a neighborhood and on wider Park City.
“He was so good at looking at (the) big picture,” Wintzer said, calling Russack a “big-picture guy” and a “good asset.”
He noted Russack’s role in talks about changes to City Hall’s Land Management Code, the document that outlines the development rules within Park City.
Russack leaves the Planning Commission at a time when development pressures continue to press against City Hall even as the recession has taken its toll on the local economy.
The panel has been engaged in long-running talks about the Sweeney family’s blueprints for Treasure, which the family wants to build on a hillside above Old Town on the slopes of Park City Mountain Resort. It is the most controversial development proposal the Planning Commission has considered in years.
Meanwhile, there have also been lots of discussions about the development prospects on land at Quinn’s Junction and Old Town development issues continue to challenge City Hall.
The mayor said he and the City Council have not discussed replacing Russack. The elected officials are not scheduled to meet again until Jan. 7, when two new City Councilors are slated to be sworn into office.
Williams said he expects to talk about the Planning Commission opening early in 2010. Williams anticipates City Hall will advertise the position.
Russack’s replacement will be the third new Planning Commissioner since late in the summer. Brooke Hontz took a retiring member’s spot in the summer. In November, Richard Luskin was appointed as a replacement for a Planning Commissioner, Jack Thomas, who resigned before his term expired to spend more time on the job at his architectural firm.