The Park City Planning Commission on Wednesday postponed consideration of rezoning and subdivision applications for an affordable housing project at Clark Ranch at the request of the developer.

The Alexander Company initially asked that a public hearing about the development scheduled on Wednesday be continued to the commission’s Dec. 10 meeting. The additional time would allow it to further refine its plan based on feedback from commissioners during an October meeting, according to the written request.

In its latest request, the company asked that the hearing be continued with no new date set. Once updated plans are submitted to the commission for review, a public hearing will be scheduled.

The Alexander Company has proposed building about 167 multifamily units and 34 townhomes near Park City Heights, including both workforce and market-rate residences. Most of the project would be housing available to people qualifying through their incomes.

The Alexander Company is a partner on the project with Park City Municipal, the owner of the land. Its concept calls for the housing to be built on about 10 acres that are part of a 344-acre piece of land earmarked mostly for open space along both sides of U.S. 40 south of Quinn’s Junction. 

The city bought the land in 2014 with sales tax revenue earmarked mostly for open space and an advisory committee recommended putting a conservation easement on all but 10 acres. Last week, the Park City Council talked about taking that step and the discussion included whether to carve out the recommended 10 acres or 15 acres for some wiggle room. 

The councilors voted unanimously to hold off on an immediate vote and to take up the easement issue again before the end of the year.

The project has sparked opposition, especially from Park City Heights residents. A group called Keep Clark Ranch Wild formed in the fall has raised concerns about construction costs, increased traffic, the threat to open space and potential conflicts of interest because the city government is a party to the project and conducting the review of the proposal. Opponents also have suggested that the project be built in another location in the Quinn’s Junction area.

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Park City is expected to allow certain activities on the Clark Ranch land.

And prohibit other sorts of activities.

Leaders are considering the details of a conservation easement that would protect nearly all the acreage at Clark Ranch from development. The city-owned land is in the area of Quinn’s Junction and in recent months has become pivotal with the municipal government considering a development on 10 to 15 acres of the 344-acre Clark Ranch with a large number of workforce or otherwise income-restricted housing units. A conservation easement would cover the land outside the location of a potential development, with the possibility ground within a development that is not built upon could also be left as open space.

Under a conservation easement, City Hall would retain ownership of the land but agree to strip away the right to develop the ground. An easement would detail what sorts of activities are prohibited and those that are allowed. A third party — Utah Open Lands — would hold and enforce the easement.

Mayor Nann Worel and the Park City Council are scheduled to consider a conservation easement and possibly vote on Thursday. A draft of an easement was included in the materials compiled for the meeting, saying the purpose of a Clark Ranch conservation easement “is to forever protect and preserve the conservation values of the property by prohibiting any use of the property that may materially impair or interfere with such protection and preservation.”

The draft includes lists of uses that would be permitted under a conservation easement and those that would be prohibited.

Some of the uses that would be permitted:

• Activities related to access by the public, recreation and educational opportunities, such as the construction of trailheads and grooming a track for Nordic skiing.
• Maintaining and restoring the ecosystem, such as controlling invasive weeds and restoration of the forest.
• Managing the vegetation and taking steps to prevent a wildfire, such as by removing “brush and vegetation necessary to minimize the risk of wildfire on the Property.”

Some of the uses that would be prohibited:

• The “harassment of wildlife on the property by people, vehicles or domestic animals” as well as the “taking, removal, translocation or captivation of wildlife by the public.” The clause effectively curtails hunting on the land.
• The creation of “new roads over, through, or across” the land that would be protected through a conservation easement.
• The use of motorized vehicles other than those driven by emergency responders and vehicles that are driven “for routine maintenance of the property and for construction and maintenance of the recreational amenities located on the property, provided these vehicles are in sound working order.”

Camping and human-made fires would also be prohibited under most circumstances. There has long been concern in the community about a campfire starting a blaze that could spread through open space like the Clark Ranch land, which is mostly sage brush.

The meeting on Thursday is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Marsac Building and will be broadcast online on the municipal website, parkcity.org. The elected officials are scheduled to take input from the public before a possible vote on the conservation easement.

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