City Hall staffers this week recommended half of the development rights attached to the Sweeney family’s Treasure land be put into play under a program that would allow the rights to be shifted to another location.
The recommendation comes as the Park City Planning Commission prepares for what could be a Wednesday vote on whether the municipal government should adopt a program allowing the shifts in development rights, a zoning tool that City Hall wants to create.
In asking that only 50 percent of the development rights be involved in a program, the recommendation will likely leave Treasure critics unhappy that all of the rights were not included. The Planning Commission is not bound by the staff-level recommendation, and any decision by the panel will later be considered by the Park City Council.
The recommendation, meanwhile, considers the Treasure development rights that would be shifted as being more valuable to the owner than if they were left at the site, giving the Sweeneys a 2-for-1 bonus. That means 432,000 square feet of residential development is under consideration if the rights are transferred instead of the 216,000 square feet that could be allowed at the Treasure site if the square footage is not shifted.
Adopting a program that involves 50 percent of the Treasure development rights would have important ramifications on the long-running talks between a City Hall negotiating team and the Sweeney family about a conservation deal to protect from development some or all of the acreage involved in Treasure.
The development is envisioned as a 1 million-square-foot project, including the residential units, commercial space and convention area, on the slopes of Park City Mountain Resort close to Old Town streets like Lowell Avenue and Empire Avenue.
A conservation deal would likely cost City Hall an undetermined sum of money to finalize. But the figure could come down if some of the development rights are kept intact but shifted off the site, as contemplated under the recommendation, instead of being purchased outright for conservation purposes.
Meanwhile, the Sweeneys would need to overhaul their blueprints for Treasure if they wanted to pursue a development scaled back by 50 percent if half of the rights are moved elsewhere and a conservation deal is not reached for the rest of the development rights.
Under the program, the Bonanza Park district, which is centered along Bonanza Drive and Kearns Boulevard, would be designated as a so-called ‘receiving zone,’ meaning that development rights would be shifted to that area. Bonanza Park is the only place recommended to be a receiving zone.
“We’re comfortable transferring 50 percent at this point,” said Katie Cattan, the City Hall planner assigned to the Treasure talks and the coauthor of a report about the program released in anticipation of the Wednesday meeting.
Bonanza Park is seen as an up-and-coming district with the potential for significant redevelopment. A key landowner in the district, Mark J. Fischer, has said he would entertain the idea of having the Treasure development rights shifted to his property under a program.
Cattan said City Hall staffers anticipate progress being made on preparing overall development blueprints for Bonanza Park. Once more is known about the development prospects in the district, Cattan said, shifting the remaining 50 percent of the Treasure rights to Bonanza Park could be reconsidered.
Mike Sweeney, who represents his family in the talks with City Hall, said he plans to attend the Wednesday meeting. He said the 50 percent figure identified by staffers had been contemplated in an earlier agreement between the family and City Hall outlining options for conservation deals. Sweeney said he hopes the municipal government adopts a program allowing shifts of development rights.
The Planning Commission meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. in the City Council chambers at the Marsac Building. A hearing is scheduled.
The Sweeneys hold an overall approval for development at the Treasure site dating to the 1980s, but there has been opposition to the family’s designs from rank-and-file Parkites and members of the Planning Commission. An impasse was reached in the talks between the family and the panel long ago, prompting the discussions about some sort of conservation deal.
Two smaller sites, both on or near Ridge Avenue, are also under consideration as places where development rights could be shifted away from. The discussions about a program have emphasized the Treasure rights, though.