The discussion about a proposed military recreation facility in the Park City area became heated Tuesday night during a question-and-answer session in the Snyderville Basin. Local officials asked the state Military Installation Development Authority to conduct the meeting at the Sheldon Richins Building to allow citizens to inquire about the Air Force’s plans for the large project.

Park City-based DDRM is currently in talks with military officials about building the resort in Wasatch County, near the Jordanelle Reservoir west of U.S. 40.

“They are looking at more than a hotel,” said Rick Mayfield, executive director of the Military Installation Development Authority. “They are proposing to the Air Force a recreation experience There are hotels in the Park City area that could be part of that.”

Air Force officials say the major purpose of the hotel is to offer inexpensive lodging rates to servicemen and women. But subsidizing the hotel rooms would be difficult without a revenue stream, they claim.

The military is considering developing a major commercial area in Silver Creek from which property and sales taxes would be taken to support the Air Force hotel. The retail center, which is proposed on land near The Home Depot, could include multiple national big-box retailers. Land in Silver Creek may be purchased from Park City and Summit County, which jointly own a roughly 110-acre parcel near The Home Depot.

MIDA officials remained mostly mum on details of the development, but they said it could be up to 1.5 million square feet of commercial space. The state Legislature created MIDA to help facilitate the development of military lands in Utah.

“We’re trying to provide plenty of opportunity for you to know what’s going on,” Mayfield told the crowd at Tuesday’s meeting.

But the development code in the Basin prohibits large buildings, Snyderville Basin Planning Commissioner Mike Washington said.

“I’m not sure how we are going to get 10 big boxes on that parcel,” Washington said.

Mayfield said that he does not know what companies would lease space in the new business area.

“Nothing is proposed right now My guess is that we’re talking sometime months away before we have a solid proposal,” Mayfield said. “I don’t think I could live in this community or drive through it if I said there were going to be 10 big boxes there.”

Critics are skeptical because military officials can likely build wherever they want while mostly ignoring local planning requirements.

“When MIDA creates a project area we become the land-use authority,” Mayfield said.

MIDA will need to provide more details about their plans before some residents in Summit County offer support for the project.

“I don’t see how we can get the county to participate if we don’t know a definition of the objective,” Park City resident Jan Wilking said. “I think existing businesses are going to be harmed a great deal I just think it’s a bad development in the wrong area.”

Wilking said taking tax revenue from the Park City area to subsidize a hotel in Wasatch County is wrong.

“Us as taxpayers are harmed by that,” Wilking said.

Summit County resident Stewart Gross said the property in Silver Creek is not the right location for a major commercial hub.

“This is totally ill-conceived and a wrong location for servicing our community,” Gross told MIDA officials. “If that’s what you guys are trying to accomplish, you’re right on the mark.”

Park City resident Myles Rademan said the city already has more hotel rooms than it needs.

“We have so many rooms that aren’t filled now,” Rademan said. “We don’t need more hotel rooms that we can’t fill.”

But MIDA attorney Paul Morris explained that the military has been trying to develop a recreation spot in the Park City area for several years.

“This is the location where they want to have one of these facilities and they have been trying to put one here for a decade now,” Morris said. “They think it’s very important for the military.”