A new plan to construct 40 affordable units for the Promontory Club has been lauded by some after it’s taken the gated community decades to fulfill its obligation for workforce housing, but neighbors living nearby are not thrilled to see the development proposed in their backyard.
The Eastern Summit County Planning Commission on Thursday forwarded a positive recommendation for the approval of the Liberty Ranches development — a project that would generate 40 units, or 76 bedrooms — for employees through the creation of four multi-family structures just south of the Silver Gate Ranches residential neighborhood.
There are currently nine workforce housing units near the Equestrian Center while the original Promontory development agreement, which was approved in 2001, required the developer to construct 37 units. Last year, the number was increased to 49 units with 85 bedrooms.
Seven of the nine units were approved for construction in 2020 with Promontory’s employee housing agreement mandating that all remaining units be provided within seven years. The completion of the Liberty Ranches development would satisfy Promontory’s workforce housing stock requirement.
However, Silver Gate Ranches homeowner Brian Schwartz and others living there have chastised an administrative amendment that was approved in 2018 which gave the developers more flexibility in where the units could be placed – including outside of the gates. Schwartz said this was intentional. He noted that the original entrance to the development was proposed off Silver Gate Drive, which meant the workforce wouldn’t have to go through the Promontory gate.
“Summit County has recognized that affordable housing units that are built in a way that doesn’t tie into the fabric of the local community is counterproductive to solving the problems of Summit County,” he said. “If you look at where this is going to be built … it doesn’t make any sense.”
The 2018 change to the employee housing agreement required future housing to be close to transit, employment and schools, too. At one point, the developer planned to construct workforce housing on the Brown’s Canyon side of Promontory with no services. The proposed location is the only site served by available public transit – a High Valley Transit micro transit stall – and is the closest site to the South Summit School District.
It also established that Promontory’s obligation to provide housing in a “reasonable time schedule” had come.
Karen Kendall, a resident of Silver Gate Ranches, told the Planning Commission during public comment on Thursday that the project didn’t “feel right.” She raised concerns that an apartment complex with 98 parking spots would be mixed among single-family homes without allowing for any integration with Promontory.
Another point mentioned by Silver Gate Ranches Homeowner Association board member Jeremy Pack was that the area is “pedestrian land-locked.”
“If you [travel to the Liberty Ranch site], you would have traveled down Promontory Ranch Road. From the Summit County Justice Center to the fire station, it becomes a narrow, two-lane road or causeway that crosses the wetlands,” he said in an email to The Park Record. “There is no shoulder, there is no bike or footpath and it is the only access to our subdivision or the proposed project.”
Community members during the last public hearing on January 5 also opposed the size and overall density of the two-story structures, which prompted the applicant to submit revised layout options. There were suggestions to spread the units out, potentially moving beyond the 3.5-acre lot.
“The magnitude of this project is what bothers me,” said Richard Tasker, a Silver Gate Ranches homeowner. He said he is one of three properties that would be most impacted by the development.
Representatives from Cowboy Partners, the property management company collaborating with Promontory on the Liberty Ranches project, indicated it would not be possible to divide the units for efficiency purposes, but they proposed moving the entry drive and parking area while slightly shifting the orientation of the buildings.
“A healthy community requires a diversity of housing, housing types, and the residents who live in them,” Chris Zarek, development partner at Cowboy Partners, wrote in an email to county staffers. “The site proposed by Liberty Ranch, as modified, represents the best balance of design to the context surrounding the site and the myriad demands that a workforce housing community site plan must satisfy.”
Silver Gate Ranches residents who oppose Liberty Ranches affirmed they are not against affordable housing, but rather the idea of a “monster development.” Schwartz was critical of what he said is a bad design, despite the changes, and one that might perpetuate traffic problems and isolate the workforce living there.
The Planning Commission, however, felt the developer had done its best to address neighbors’ concerns and made a positive recommendation to the County Manager. Staffers said the proposal met all of the requirements and suggested several conditions of approval, including that all 40 units be deed restricted.
There will be 12 units for each one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartment option as well as four studios at Liberty Ranches. Promontory staff would be the first pick for Liberty Ranches with Summit County employees and essential workers, such as teachers and law enforcement, next.
The staff report did not indicate what area median income the units would be limited to. A meeting has not yet been scheduled with the County Manager.