Another person who does not live within the Park City limits has filed an application to serve on the city’s Planning Commission, becoming the second outsider to do so as Mayor Dana Williams the Park City Council prepare to make two appointments to the influential panel.
Roger Durst, who lives in the Avenues neighborhood of Salt Lake City, submitted his name as a candidate for one of the Planning Commission positions. Durst is an architect with a Park City-based firm and has worked inside Park City for 15 years. He has never lived inside Park City, though.
Durst is currently a member of City Hall’s Historic Preservation Board, a panel that holds some influence in Old Town development issues. Park City residency is not a requirement for appointment to the Historic Preservation Board, but it is for someone to serve on the Planning Commission.
Durst joins another person from outside the Park City limits who applied for a Planning Commission position anyway. Greg Cunningham, who lives in the Sun Peak neighborhood in the Snyderville Basin, also submitted an application.
The two applications remain active, but the Planning Department indicated on Monday Durst and Cunningham would not be scheduled for interviews with the elected officials. The six Planning Commission hopefuls who reside inside the city are set to be interviewed by Williams and the City Council Sept. 23.
Durst acknowledged in an interview he realizes he is not eligible for a spot on the Planning Commission, but he wants the elected officials to loosen the requirements for appointment to the panel. He said he wants an opportunity to address Williams and the City Council sometime during appointment process.
Durst said he wants the City Council to consider allowing someone on the Planning Commission who is from outside the Park City limits, with Durst mentioning he sees having someone with a background in designing developments seated on the panel as being important.
“It’s imperative that there be at least one member of the design community that sits on the Planning Commission,” Durst said.
The Planning Commission is widely viewed as ranking second in influence of all of City Hall’s boards and commissions, trailing only the City Council.
The panel holds critical duties in regulating growth inside the city limits, with the Planning Commission having the authority to approve or reject many types of development applications. It often handles controversial issues and meetings sometimes are widely attended. The Planning Commission, as an example, has largely been the panel that has been reviewing the Sweeney family’s disputed Treasure development application.
The interest in the two positions from people outside the Park City limits is evidence of the wide-ranging impacts of Planning Commission decisions, which have effects on traffic, the views of the mountains and the look of the city.
In his application, Durst mentions he sees the preservation of Park City’s historic district and continuing to protect open space as being important. The application acknowledges his Salt Lake City residency. He says in the application he and his wife have considered moving to Park City when she retires from teaching in the Salt Lake Valley.
There has been a series of people over the years who reside outside the Park City limits but briefly vie for appointed or elected City Hall positions anyway. Most of them, though, lived in the Snyderville Basin and admitted they did not realize they did not live within the Park City limits. Durst’s situation of acknowledging he is not eligible for an appointment but pursuing one nonetheless is highly unusual, though.
The Park City limits generally extend from the McPolin Farm to Quinn’s Junction and into the upper reaches of Deer Valley. Many people pin much of the confusion regarding Park City residency on the U.S. Postal Service using Park City as the mailing address for people who live throughout the West Side of Summit County, regardless of whether they live within the city limits.