Be careful, Summit County residents, you are losing your voice. Once you elect your local, state and federal representatives, it appears they never have to listen to you again. They get your vote and take it for a mandate. They already know better than you.
Both Democrats and Republicans worked together to defeat Dakota Pacific for almost five years. But the council knows better than you. They voted on a day when you were be busy with holiday preparations. They voted out of fear, worried about what the state would do if they wouldn’t go along.
So let’s talk about the supposed benefits. Senior housing. I’ve twice heard Dakota Pacific say they are willing to allow for it, if someone else wants to build it. So far, no other developer has stepped up. There mustn’t be enough profit in taking care of seniors.
Next we hear about 320 affordable houses. (This is affordable at Park City AMI, or Average Medium Income, rates). What will be the market price under the Olympic Park before the 2034 Olympics? While I am a capitalist, I don’t believe county voters should have to subsidize out and out greed.
Next there are to be over 405 more Dakota Pacific units at market price. These will be small but expensive. They will raise the cost per square foot for real estate valuations in Park City even higher. Will this affect our next real estate assessments?
People with the money to buy won’t want to live in such extreme density, in what is essentially a shopping mall. They will buy them to rent. This won’t be “community.”
Finally, the county is planning to work with Dakota Pacific to build 165 county-owned units and 65 Dakota Pacific controlled-use units. These combined 230 units are the only truly affordable housing. So altogether we are talking about 955 new homes. Were you asked about this? Do you want your County Council getting into the housing authority business? Are they going to have employees on site?
Let’s talk about that density. Have you been over to Heber to see Coyote Ridge? It looks like an entire town was dropped down on them overnight. They built 120 homes on 50 acres. Dakota Pacific wants to build 955 homes on 53 acres. That’s 18 times the density of Coyote Ridge. Think Shanghai, not Shangri-La.
But they’re going to give you a plaza! Does this mean even more shopping or somewhere to walk your dog? And don’t forget the amphitheater for 800. I challenge you to stand at the bottom of S.R. 224 when traffic is bumper to bumper and see if you can hear, or make yourself heard, without shouting. Dakota only pays 50% of these civic projects until they reach a cap of 4.3 mill. Then it’s all on you and me.
Now let’s talk about improvements to the underground tunnel taking you under S.R. 224 to Kimble Junction. And what happens to the pedestrian overpass when we reach the Dakota Pacific cap? I do not feel safe walking through any of these tunnels around town. Is this what they mean by traffic remediation? Because you’ll still be sitting in the same bumper-to-bumper traffic for miles. This is not I-15, but S.R. 224. Do we want SLC or LA-style traffic for little Park City?
And about that 1,030-car underground parking lot. It will be another fundraiser for the greedy developer. Tenants and homeowners will need to rent those spaces. What happens if they discover mine tailings under that site. Have soil samplings been taken? Will that soil need to be trucked over to Toelle? And at whose expense?
What happens when you add 955 new homes to our current traffic problems. I’ll leave that to your imagination. Many of us will want to move. Where is the fresh water? What happens to the water treatment? Our “new” water treatment plant next to the Park City Golf Course claimed it could only handle 67% of the needs of the current community when they started building it four years ago.
I’ve heard Dakota Pacific say the traffic is not their problem, it’s UDOT’s. Well, UDOT doesn’t even have us on their 10-year calendar.
Did you know they are planning to tear down The Sheldon D. Richins Building? Dakota Pacific needs that space. (Some of our neighbors in Coalville are upset about this insult to one of their own.) As a result, the county got hornswoggled into buying the Skullcandy building for a new library. Did they ask you first, because I was never consulted. Will the building purchase and redesign also cost you?
How did we get here? Our County Council went for an HRTZ (Housing Reinvestment and Transit Zone) grant. That brought us High Valley Transit. Now Park City has two free bus lines that are more than half empty most of the year. Now Summit County is obliged to build affordable housing. Never mind that the county built or already approved more than 1,000 of these units in the last year. It looks like our County Council got suckered into a pretty bad deal.
What will it mean if there is a referendum? The people decide. They get their voice back.
It’s time to take back your own voice. Sign the petition. The people behind Wasatch Back Future Group — who are asking you to take back your signature — are really the officers of Dakota Pacific. They are hiding behind this political issues committee and once again trying to scare you off. Don’t let them.
We, the people, must be in control. We should not let any government — local, state or federal — decide how we live or what our community should look like.
Karen Ballash
Lower Pinebrook