There is a Distrust of Summit County Government When it Comes to Development
We’ve followed the Snyderville Basin planning process in great detail for a while. Granted, by many people’s standards across the Basin, who have been here since the 60s, 70s, or 80s, we’ve only been here for a drop in the bucket. That said, we were so upset with some events a few years ago that we began going to every possible Planning Commission and County Council meeting we could.
During that time, we gained great respect for many of our county leaders. While we don’t always agree with their opinions, a reasonable person can see that our leaders are generally good people who try their best.
That said, as you talk to people across the community, many don’t share our opinion. They look at what Park City and the Basin has become (in their eyes) and blame that on the powers that be. In some ways, that is also reasonable. We have a representative government for a reason. Not everyone can provide input or attend every meeting and they depend on the people they elect, and thus the people the elected officials appoint, to make good decisions.
Often, the squeaky wheels get labeled as “crazies.” Yet, many of the people we’ve talked with don’t fit that mold. Other times, they are called tree-huggers, because they never met a business they liked. Yet, a decent portion of people we’ve talked to are worried about property-owners’ rights. They want to know when they can build what they want on their land. They frankly don’t trust Summit County to ever let them do what they think is their fundamental right.
Perhaps the best you can say is that if no one is happy, maybe something is being done correctly. Yet, that view doesn’t lead us to where we need to go as a community. We need to be able to have open conversations that are backstopped by trust in our government. That trust isn’t something that will be gained back overnight.
We believe the General Plan Phase 2 discussions are a great starting point, though. Often times the public will come together to provide input on topics. Yet the moment a citizen concludes their comment, it’s the last time they ever hear of what became of their idea or concern. The party line is that “ideas are incorporated” into the final plan. It’s frankly a copout.
What we hope happens is that every idea or concern is recorded by the Planning Commission and the Community Development Department. We then hope that each is discussed and a written response to each general idea (there are bound to be overlaps) is made available on the county’s website. Someone wants a 100 foot statue of Jesus straddling I-80 like the Colossus of Rhodes, don’t ignore the idea, tell them that’s really up to UDOT but that it would be dangerous…so it is not being considered by the county. Someone says we need to stop all development now. Tell them there are 2.7 million square feet of commercial space and 3,100 units of residential property that have already been approved. There’s nothing that can be done about existing rights, just like they wouldn’t want the county to confiscate their house or land.
Regaining trust is about treating people with respect, telling them when they are right and wrong, as well as providing good explanations that they understand. As part of that, it’s likely the county will learn something too. We understand that a process like the one suggested above will take a lot of time. However, if done well it goes a long way to help people understand not only their concerns but the concerns of others too… as well as why decisions are being made.
The alternative is to listen to 300 people speak at Tuesday night’s General Plan event, write down some of it, incorporate a little of it, and produce a new draft of the General Plan. That will leave people wondering if they were even heard and more importantly why they even showed up. They’ll feel like they weren’t part of the conversation and they will learn nothing… except that the county is just like they knew it was.
This really is a good opportunity to change a number of impressions across the Basin. We just hope the powers that be seize it.
in Development, Growth
Over 2.7 Million Square Feet of Commercial Development Has Been OK’d But Remains Unbuilt in the Basin
As we try to find solutions to balancing growth with our economy here in the Snyderville Basin, we often focus our discussion on homes. Where should we build condos? How many? When? Etc.
However, perhaps the more daunting task is looking at commercial development. So far there has been about 7.4 million square feet of commercial space approved in the Basin. As of December 2014, 4.6 million of that has been developed. That leaves over 2.7 million square feet of commercial space yet to come.
So, if you look around the Basin and say to yourself, “Wow, this place is filled with crap commercial offerings.” It’s actually only 65% filled. There is another 35% yet to be built (just with current entitlements).
Put another way, look at all the commercial development around you and then take 60% of that and add it to what we already have. Wow.
We’ll understand if now is the time you decide to say “I give up.” Figuring out solutions to our growth ain’t gonna be easy.
in Film Studio
The Roof is On At Park City Film Studios
Over the weekend we noticed that the Park City Film Studios roof was finally “completed” — or it seems to be completely covered at least. During the past few months we have wondered what’s going on as we’d only see a few people working at any one time.
So, has hell frozen over? Has it been just nice enough outside to finally get it done? Are they trying to look good for Sundance? We don’t really know. We’re just glad the 19 inches of snow we got yesterday won’t be sitting inside the building, on the structure’s foundation.
in Development
What the Heck is a TDR? … And Why You Should Care.
If you’ve been following developments regarding the Snyderville Basin General Plan, you may have come across the concept of receiving areas. Receiving areas are parcels of land that are designated to have more building on them than would be normally allowed in order to concentrate development density. The flip side of receiving areas are called sending areas. Sending areas are parcels of land where an owner may have the right to build something but the local government would prefer they don’t. So, TDR programs enable a land owner to trade their current development rights in a sending area for TDRs. Those TDRs can then be sold to developers. Developers buy them because they can use TDRs to build with more density in receiving areas. Therefore, they can build more than if they relied on the normal zoning.
For example, perhaps someone owns 80 acres of land near Round Valley. The land is zoned for 1 house (unit) per 20 acres. So, the owner could build 4 houses there. The county then says, “We’d prefer to keep that all open space. Let’s make it a sending area.” The owner can then decide if they want to sell the right to build 4 houses for TDRs. If they do, the owner will deed restrict the land for “open space” and in return get TDRs. They then find a developer who wants to buy the TDRs so the developer can build at higher density at one of the Basin’s receiving areas, like Jeremy Ranch. That way, instead of building say 10 houses in Jeremy Ranch they can build 200 condos. It benefits the land owner because they are able to profit from the land. It benefits developers because they can build more than is normally allowed in one of the receiving areas. It can benefit citizens because certain land is protected from development.
We can see the draw of the TDR concept, as it does seem to be a way to protect land from development but also provides land owners with compensation. However, TDR programs can be overly complicated and sometimes don’t achieve the desired effect. Our issue with getting behind a TDR program in the Basin right now is that we don’t have enough information about it. It’s not enough for us to look at a land use map and see that lower Silver Creek could be a receiving area. What are the sending areas that would be traded for this land. Is it a worthwhile trade? What are the TDR’s rules. Will it be an even exchange on parcels or something like 16-1? How much development will get packed in to each receiving area? How do we prevent corruption of the process? We’re fearful that if we even support the idea of TDRs that it may become a run away locomotive and there won’t be a chance to stop it. Any time there is a lot of money to be made, its important to slow down and make sure that it is both done right and the expected outcome is desirable. We also want to be sure that strict ordinances are in place to ensure that 20 years down the line, program details aren’t forgotten and we have a mess on our hands.
We look forward to hearing more about the specifics of any proposed TDR plan in the Basin, but until then, we find it a hard concept to get behind.
Your County Needs Your Help
Over the past couple of years, Summit County (and the Snyderville Basin Planning Commission) have been working towards completing Phase 2 of its General Plan. The General Plan lays out the concepts that drive “what should be built where” in the Basin. The General Plan, once completed, is then used to update our development code. The development code is the legally binding document that controls and enables development.
A couple of weeks ago, an open house was held to try and explain the thinking behind the General Plan. On Tuesday, a Public Hearing will be held in order to get public input on the General Plan and its accompanying land use maps. Many residents we have talked to are up in arms over THE PLAN. However, what we all need to understand is that this is not a “done deal” yet. If it were a baseball game, we would still be in the second or third inning. We, the citizens, have the power to encourage the county to approve the plan, modify its contents, or scrap it altogether.
We firmly believe that both the Snyderville Basin Planning Commission and Summit County are open to listening to our opinions. So, we hope you will attend the meeting at Ecker Middle School at 6PM on Tuesday January 13th. We do have the power to change course. We just have to use that power wisely.
We’ll Be Live Blogging Tuesday Night’s General Plan Public Hearing
On Tuesday, the Snyderville Basin Planning Commission will be holding a public hearing to get input on Phase 2 of the Basin’s General Plan. This plan is VERY IMPORTANT as it will likely guide development for the next 25 years.
The meeting is at 6PM at Ecker Middle School (they moved it from the Richins Library due to the expected turnout). If you can attend in person, and provide input, that’s wonderful. If you can’t make it, we will be live blogging the meeting and will do our best to record it so you can watch later.
Check back on Tuesday night if you’d like to follow along with what your fellow residents are saying. We hope you see you there (or here).
in Park City
in Development
Part 3: So you don’t like the updated general plan? What are you going to do about it?
In Part 1 and Part 2 of a series of posts about how to voice your opinion over the updated General Plan, we talked about needing to formulate a plan of your own and some advice on how to be most effective when providing your opinion to the Planning Commission and County Council. In this final part, we’ll provide an example of how we are personally getting prepared for next Tuesday’s meeting with the Planning Commission regarding the General Plan.
As part of the proposed General Plan, there are areas that may become “receiving areas” for density. This means that in order to prevent development from happening in some places, they will try to incent developers to move development to other places designated for density (i.e. receiving areas). So, say that a developer has the right to put condos on a piece of land next to the Swaner Nature Preserve. Summit County may decide that they would prefer as much contiguous, open-space as possible in that area. So, they will try to convince the owner to “trade” the right to put their condos near the Swaner for the right to build in a “receiving area.” This is then repeated with various land owners across the Basin. If everything works out, the county has preserved “optimal” land so that nothing is developed there and pushed that development to planned-density areas. That sounds pretty good and it can work out that way.
Examples of these proposed receiving areas include:
- land around the Boyer Tech Park
- the area around the concrete plant near Quinn’s Junction
- the land around the Bell’s gas station at Silver Creek
- the area between Jeremy Ranch Elementary School and Burt Brothers
- the base of Canyons, the area by Fresh Market in Pinebrook
- the land by Home Depot
- the land west of Jeremy Ranch Elementary School including the Jeremy Store and the hill across the street (that many people think are open space)
Our concern is the last item on that list. Granted, we live in Jeremy Ranch, so our position is more biased than most when it comes to this area. However, living in the area also gives us knowledge that our county’s planners may not have. You may live in Silver Creek and think that building up the area around Bell’s is a bad idea. You may live in Silver Springs and wonder how you’ll ever leave your house if the Home Depot area becomes a receiving area (on top of the 1000+ housing units that are coming). You may hate driving into Kimball Junction today and wonder what doubling that density means. It’s your job to come up with the arguments that sway the decisions makers.
With that in mind, here are our arguments (some better than others of course) for why Jeremy Ranch should not be a receiving area:
- Right now, any open land is zoned for minimal office space and a few feet of retail. A receiving area that contains commercial would substantially change the character of Jeremy Ranch. Jeremy Ranch is a neighborhood of mostly homes, a golf course, and a gas station mostly serving residents. Having increased density and commercial offerings would completely change the character of the neighborhood.
- We understand the desire to enable each neighborhood to be self sufficient with a grocery, restaurants, and coffee shops so that traffic is reduced. Yet, Jeremy Ranch residents already have that across the street in Quarry Village in Pinebrook and will likely have that down Rasmussen Road. If preventing people driving out of a neighborhood for groceries is a concern, then there needs to be a receiving area near Old Ranch Road to service those people with groceries (they have farther to drive than we do currently). Why isn’t that in the plan?
- Adding additional housing units to Jeremy Ranch impacts the number of students at Jeremy Ranch Elementary School. Currently, some students in the area have to go to other elementary schools. By adding additional housing to this area, it will displace additional students and force them to go to other schools around the Basin. This will contribute to increased traffic as parents drive kids from Jeremy Ranch to McPolin.
- By increasing density, traffic will increase in close proximity to an elementary school. The amount of traffic around school start/end is already large. Adding to this will likely cause an extremely dangerous situation for any children who want to walk or ride their bikes to school.
- This area is currently a large wildlife corridor. Elk and moose move from the Jeremy Ranch Golf Course into the open space around the Jeremy Store. This wildlife will be displaced, possibly onto the roads, thus endangering both animals and humans.
- The roads currently don’t support increased density. We know that a large roundabout will be built at the entrance/exit to I-80; however, the ancillary roads such as Rasmussen and Homestead/Sackett won’t support the additional traffic. Traffic would be a nightmare if additional housing units and businesses are added and in many places there is not room to add an additional two lanes to try and alleviate that nightmare.
- In order to support additional traffic along Homestead Road, they will likely need to remove the bike lanes that people have become accustomed to. This makes it more dangerous for children, especially with all the heavy construction equipment going up Homestead/Sacket Drive.
- There is effectively one way out of Jeremy Ranch should a forest fire happen. What happens when an additional housing units and businesses are added and those people would need to exit the subdivision in the case of natural disaster?
- This area is in Service Area 6. We are taxed extra for both repairs to our roads and snow removal. A plan like this will require more roads, thus more repairs, and more snow removal. We don’t want to pay one more penny in taxes today, tomorrow, or ten years than we do today (due to this). If you do go forward with this plan, we want a guarantee that our taxes won’t be raised due to this receiving area. Unfortunately, we know you can’t do that.
- Speaking of Service Area 6, doesn’t this make “service areas” somewhat moot? We bought in an area where we had a known quantity of roads. As the General Plan states, “The Jeremy Ranch neighborhood contains subdivisions that are largely built-out. ” Isn’t there a certain expectation that comes with that (i.e., we have a certain amount of roads to pay to be maintained and that wouldn’t change)? So, if someone wanted to transfer density from an area outside of Service Area 6 to Jeremy Ranch, do we have to automatically accept that? Do we pay more for something where there is absolutely no benefit to us?
- This will likely lead to a drastic change in the feel of the area. As we know, planning guides conversations, but the details often end up being very different from what might have been initially conceived. If current plans come to fruition, there will likely be commercial space, separated by the elementary school from the Jeremy Golf Course to Burt Brothers to the nursery. Most of us living here didn’t sign up for living in a Draper-esque community, being lined by commercial shops.
- Receiving areas should generally be centrally located in an area. For instance, a receiving area by a central transit hub like Boyer Tech Park makes sense. People either drive a short distance to the businesses in the receiving area or live in the receiving area and are located in close proximity to business they may use and/or public transit options. If you build a receiving area in Jeremy Ranch, which would be on the far edge of the Basin, people are either going to drive from far away to get to any businesses in Jeremy Ranch or are going to drive from the receiving area (Jeremy Ranch) a longer distance to get to where other businesses are. People who live in the receiving area are also less likely to take Public transit because it will take too long to get anywhere since we are on the outskirts of the area (i.e. via bus it currently takes 45 minutes plus waiting time to get from Jeremy Ranch to PCMR or 14 minutes via car). You can pack more people in here but it just puts more cars on the road.
We’re sure we are missing a few other factors and will add them if possible. However, hopefully that provides some insight to the reasons we hope Jeremy Ranch does not become a receiving area. Even if you don’t live in Jeremy Ranch perhaps the list provides some factors that may influence whether you want something like this in your neck of the woods.
in Schools
How is the Park City School Board Getting Educated on Finance?
Do you ever turn on the History Channel and expect to see something about Napolean’s escape from Elba but instead there is a 7 day marathon of Ancient Aliens? You probably don’t deny there could be aliens but the crackpots make you want to never hear about another alien again. The same can be said of watching Fox News or MSNBC. Either way, some political party is out to destroy the “American way of life.” Either way, it’s so biased that you discount everything said.
We felt that way when we viewed a recent Powerpoint presented to Tuesday’s Park City School Board. The title of the presentation was “School Finance 101.” We were looking through the document trying to better understand how schools are funded. Yet we were met with pictures of crazy people, confused babies, people ripping their hair out, Photoshopped sheep, and very…very….very sad children. For some reason we kept reading and got past that to view charts and tables about how other school districts pay hardly anything for their children to go to school while Park City residents pay everything. We read about how Utahns were “robbing Peter to Pay Paul” and how there were wolf in sheep’s clothing. We read about how higher education was taking all the money from school districts like Park City.
While we are sure there are merits to some of the arguments, we felt like we were watching Al Sharpton on MSNBC tells us why “The Republicans are to blame for everything” or Rush Limbaugh educating the “Truthers” on why “Obama” should be impeached over his birth certificate. My god. We would just ignore it all, but it makes us wonder if this is the norm in our schools. We keep hearing about “Professional Learning Centers” and how our students learn to use logic to become better citizens. Yet, if this is an example of the way ideas are taught, we think perhaps those devising the curriculum have gotten the wrong message on propaganda from George Orwell.
To be fair this presentation was initially created by someone within the Ogden School District, but frankly we were shocked that a document like this would be presented to the Park City School Board at all. We just hope that during the meeting they actually discussed school finance in an objective manner and didn’t rely on a biased presentation with an obvious agenda to “educate” them on funding of schools.
You should take a look and see what you think.
in Huh?
Won’t This Impact The Uinta Express Pipeline?
We saw that oil prices were still cratering as of this morning. So, we decided to look up the price of Uinta Basin Black Waxy Crude. All we can say is “WOW!”
We know oil prices are volatile and prices could change in the coming months, but the change in price in the last year has to have some impact on the proposed oil pipeline through Summit County. This may be the perfect example of why you always continue to fight things you really oppose. You may get lucky and fight long enough that it no longer becomes an option for the foreseeable future.
Parkrag
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