City Hall staffers on Monday issued a report recommending that the Quinn’s Junction land where a developer wants to build a movie studio be annexed into the Park City limits, arguing that it is best that the project be developed in the city rather than an unincorporated area of Summit County.
The recommendation was expected following a request by the majority of the City Council last week that the staffers prepare a report in favor of the annexation. Mayor Dana Williams and the City Council will return to their discussions about the project on Thursday. A vote is expected at the meeting. It appeared last week that there could be holdouts on the City Council when a vote is cast, but it also seemed that the developer had the three ‘Yea’ votes that are needed.
The report, which was not attributed to an individual staffer as many others are, argues that the project will “likely” be developed regardless of the City Council’s decision whether to annex the land. If the acreage is not annexed into Park City, the County Courthouse has agreed to allow a project at the site
Should the land be brought into the city limits, the report says, the project will “be better addressed and mitigated by the Council.” That thinking has been outlined in various ways as the developer, known as Quinn’s Junction Partnership, has been in talks with City Hall in the winter and spring. Park City leaders contend they were able to negotiate protections for the Sundance Film Festival and convince the developer to adhere to strict design guidelines. Some of the tax revenues, meanwhile, would also go to City Hall if the land is annexed.
The movie studio, to be run by Raleigh Studios, would anchor a 374,000-square-foot complex. A hotel, offices, retail space and other sorts of buildings like an amphitheater would also be put on the site. The project would be situated on a little less than 30 acres on the southwest corner of the U.S. 40-S.R. 248 interchange.
The developer has faced long-running resistance at the site. It is situated along the S.R. 248 entryway, which City Hall has long tried to protect from the sort of growth that occurred along the much more congested S.R. 224 corridor.
The County Courthouse and Quinn’s Junction Partnership earlier negotiated an agreement that called for the developer to attempt to annex the land into Park City. The agreement was crafted after rounds of discussions with Summit County leaders about the project resulted in only marginal progress.
The City Council and the developer have since set a Friday deadline for a vote on the matter. It is almost certain that the vote will be cast on Thursday. The meeting starts at 6 p.m. in the City Council chambers at the Marsac Building.
Supporters of the project see the complex as something that could provide an economic boost by creating jobs and bringing people to Park City who would then spend money in the city. The project has won endorsements from people who work in the state’s film industry. Raleigh Studios is an independent studio based in Hollywood.
There has not been organized opposition to the development. The Park City Planning Commission, though, had deep-rooted concerns about items like the designs and the traffic. The panel forwarded the annexation to the City Council with a negative recommendation. The Planning Commission decision came on a 4-2 vote, a split that illustrated the difficulties leaders have had with the project.