The Sweeney family has named two of the three brothers involved in Treasure as the family’s negotiators as high-stakes talks with City Hall are approaching.
The brother who has shepherded the development proposal through years of meetings with city officials will be the one not on the negotiating team.
Mike Sweeney and Ed Sweeney will represent the family in the upcoming talks. Pat Sweeney, who has been the central figure in the long-running talks with the Planning Commission about Treasure, will not be on the negotiating team.
In an interview, Pat Sweeney said the brothers agreed that he should continue as the lead person handling the Planning Commission process. He said the brothers on the negotiating team have a different responsibility than the one he has held during the years of discussions about the project.
“Somebody needs to plan and somebody needs to talk with the city,” Pat Sweeney said, adding, “They’re two different mindsets.”
Mike Sweeney is a businessman who manages the family’s property on lower Main Street. His professional background is in mining. He has closer ties to Main Street than the other two brothers. Ed Sweeney is an attorney who manages a public-radio station in Salt Lake City. Ed Sweeney has been the least visible of the three brothers in the Treasure talks.
“They’re informed, and I think that’s the most important thing. I think they’re both very straightforward,” Pat Sweeney said, adding that his brothers are “not slick or anything like that.”
The two Sweeneys will engage City Hall’s negotiators, Mayor Dana Williams and Park City Councilwoman Liza Simpson, who were named last week. City Councilwman Alex Butwinski will serve as an alternate on City Hall’s negotiating team. Top-ranking city officials like City Manager Tom Bakaly are expected to have an important role as well.
Bakaly is scheduled to meet with the Sweeneys this week to discuss future scheduling. The meeting this week is not expected to begin addressing Treasure options.
The two sides named their negotiating teams as the City Councilors approved a procedural shift in the way an appeal of a Planning Commission Treasure vote would be handled, deciding to send an appeal if one occurs someday to an independent panel instead of hearing one themselves.
That allows the elected officials to engage the Sweeneys in the upcoming talks, which are expected to key on the prospects of some sort of conservation deal to preserve all or some of the Treasure land, situated on a hillside overlooking Old Town.
Both sides expect the negotiations could take months before either a deal is struck or the talks breakdown without one. The negotiations will be held behind closed doors, as is typical when land deals are under discussion. In an interview, though, Williams indicated he envisions taking public input if the two sides eventually identify outlines of possible deals.
There are numerous options that could be considered, including an outright purchase of the land by City Hall for conservation purposes or an agreement that involves a cash payment to the Sweeneys in exchange for the family shifting some or all of the development to another site.
The Sweeneys hold longstanding development rights on the hillside, and they have been in talks with the Planning Commission since the middle of the last decade with marginal progress. The Planning Commission and people who live on streets like Lowell Avenue and Empire Avenue are worried about the size of the proposed Treasure buildings and the amount of traffic that is expected to drive to and from the site, among other concerns.
Mike Sweeney said he hopes his side and the City Hall negotiators reach a resolution by September. He expects there will be regular meetings scheduled between the Sweeneys and the city’s side.
He said any deal with City Hall will not be a “simple transaction” and there are “so many potential opportunities.” He said his side will be seeking “win-win deals.” He said the Sweeneys intend to be forthright in the upcoming talks.
“We don’t play games,” he said. “It’s not worth it.”