The recession left approximately 36 projects inside Park City in various states of the building-permitting process or under construction but not finished, according to a tally compiled by the city’s Building Department.
Roger Evans, who is the interim chief building official, said the projects are scattered throughout Park City. He pinned the situation on the economy and the difficulties developers had obtaining financing during the recession.
Evans is scheduled to brief the Park City Planning Commission about the situation at a meeting on Wednesday. The meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. in the Park City Council chambers. He expects to talk to the Planning Commissioners for between 15 and 20 minutes.
“It’s a big problem all over because everyone’s complaining,” Evans said, adding that people are telling him that the projects that were started and later stopped are eyesores.
Evans did not mention any of the projects by name or by address, and it is not clear whether he will discuss those details during his appearance in front of the Planning Commission.
He said various scenarios have unfolded in recent months. In some cases, construction crews are requesting extensions on the completion of their projects, Evans said. In other instances, the crews obtained building permits but then failed to begin construction, he said. Others started construction and then halted the work, he said.
City Hall holds some oversight in construction timelines, with Evans using building permits for houses as an example. He said construction crews are given 180 days between when they obtain a building permit for a house and when they must put in footings and the foundation. Evans said some of the approximately 36 projects under scrutiny fall within that category.
“It’s not that people don’t care . . . It’s just an economic issue,” Evans said.
City Hall has the authority to initiate what is known as an abatement process, meaning that officials handle an issue on a construction site on their own and then place a lien on the title.
The local construction industry suffered tremendously during the recession, with building numbers falling sharply in 2009 and 2010 from the record-setting figures posted in the years after the 2002 Winter Olympics.