The Park City municipal government and a development partner are slated to bring an ambitious mixed-use development with affordable rental housing to the Park City Planning Commission on Wednesday, the start of a process that will be closely watched amid a community divide regarding the future of the land.
The municipal government owns the approximately 5 acres stretching inward from the southwest corner of the intersection of Bonanza Drive and Kearns Boulevard. Officials are partnering with a Chicago-area firm called Brinshore Development, LLC on the project.
The development partnership is pursuing a project with a large bloc of workforce or otherwise income-restricted housing. There would be a mix of other uses on the land as well.
Details include:
- 88 units of income-restricted rentals.
- 18 rentals without income restrictions.
- More than 30,000 square feet for a variety of tenants, such as retailers, restaurants, cafes and art spaces for not-for-profit organizations.
- A childcare location.
- 2 acres of open space.
Leaders see the development as a significant step in the municipal government’s decades of affordable housing efforts, which aim to provide options for those otherwise priced out of Park City’s resort-driven real estate and rental markets. Housing supporters see there being benefits like a reduction in commuter traffic and increased socioeconomic diversity.
Critics of the proposal, though, are wary of a development at the high-profile location. There are concerns about traffic and the impact on views, among other issues. The proposal has spurred organized opposition. Some, meanwhile, are calling for the municipal government to create park space on the land rather than pursuing the current proposal.
The Planning Commission is scheduled to visit the land at 4 p.m. Wednesday and then address the proposal at a 5:30 p.m. meeting at the Marsac Building. The meeting is designed as an introduction to the proposal and a hearing is not scheduled on Wednesday. Hearings would be held at later Planning Commission meetings.
It’s likely the Planning Commission will spend time addressing the height of the proposed buildings through the course of the review.
The underlying zoning at the location caps heights of buildings at 35 feet with an allowance of another 5 feet depending on the design of the roof. The proposal, though, includes buildings reaching up to 53 feet, 6 inches. Other buildings are proposed to reach in the range of 43 feet to 48 feet, 6 inches. One building is proposed at 18 feet, 6 inches.
The Planning Commission has the ability to allow buildings taller than the caps but must base that decision on a variety of criteria. They include that a height increase would not lead to more square footage and that buildings are put in locations that would minimize the impact. The development partnership has argued for the taller buildings, according to a municipal report drafted in anticipation of the meeting on Wednesday. The report, as an example, indicates the partnership says the taller buildings would not increase the square footage.
The Planning Commission review is starting amid calls from some in the community to re-imagine the concept for the land with a park as the anchor. An opposition group, PLACE PC, recently formed.
One of the members of PLACE PC, Kelly Pfaff, said on Tuesday she hopes a crowd of people with concerns about the concept attend the meeting on Wednesday. She said PLACE PC supporters would comment if they are allowed. Pfaff also said PLACE PC plans to start a petition drive against the project.
Mayor Ryan Dickey declined to comment about the meeting on Wednesday, indicating he avoids making statements during a Planning Commission process to let the panel work independently.
Park City acquired the land nearly a decade ago with the intention of creating an arts and culture district anchored by the Kimball Art Center and the Utah offices of the Sundance Institute. That idea collapsed in the intervening years with the art center opting for a location in the Snyderville Basin and the Sundance Film Festival leaving the state.