Critics fear development would dwarf Park City's Main Street - Treasure Hill » Developers say 110 acres of open space is a good trade-off.
By Christopher Smart
The Salt Lake Tribune
Park City is atwitter over a 1 million-square-foot proposal dubbed Treasure Hill that would encapsulate lodging, shops and parking adjacent to the town's historic district.
A citizens group calling itself Treasure Hill Impact Neighborhood Coalition, or THINC, has launched a letter and e-mail campaign aimed at raising red flags with Park City officials who recently began the formal review process -- one that promises to be long and contentious.
Letters have peppered the pages of the local Park Record newspaper, saying such things as "it is way too big," and "it will change the character of our city."
As planned, the project -- estimated to cost $250 million -- would run west from Lowell Avenue and up slope on what today is an empty hillside near the Creole ski run served by the Town Lift. Maximum building heights would reach 75 feet.
But the multifaceted development put forth by the Sweeney brothers -- Ed, Michael and Pat -- was granted "master plan" approval in 1986. As such, the Sweeneys have a vested right to build 394,000 square feet of residential space and 19,000 square feet of commercial area.
As part of that 22-year-old agreement, the Sweeneys set aside about 112 of their 124 hillside acres as permanent open space.
"The project is mitigated by 97 percent open space," Pat Sweeney said last week. "It's more than a fair trade-off."
Now, the Sweeneys are asking for significantly more than the original 413,000 square feet. They are required to mitigate 15 criteria under the municipality's "conditional-use permit" review before approval could be granted. Among other things, that includes traffic, emergency-vehicle access, building scale, noise and environmental impacts.
One-fourth of the current proposal is set aside for parking.
For his part, the impacts of Treasure Hill as proposed cannot be adequately mitigated, according to Brian Van Hecke, who heads up THINC.
"This development will dwarf Old Town. It will forever change the look and feel of the historic district."
But Sweeney disagrees.
Although the Treasure Hill plan is large, it has been designed to step up the mountainside in such a way that building heights -- as much as 10 stories -- will not overwhelm the historic district, Sweeney said.
"If you're standing below the project, what you will experience is two-story buildings. It's the same scale as lower Main Street."
The brothers have spent years and millions of dollars on the plans, Sweeney said, and have made sure that all the impacts can be mitigated.
"Mitigate is not the same as disappear," he said. "There seems to be some confusion over that."
The Treasure Hill review looms as a big challenge for the city. The City Council is expected to review any Planning Commission decision, said Mayor Dana Williams.
"It's a real tough one," he said. "The commission and council have to figure out ways to significantly mitigate the impacts. I think they have a ways to go before it can be approved."
Commission Chairman Jack Thomas said he was uneasy talking about Treasure Hill before the commission fully addresses the proposal.
"According to the code, they must mitigate these [15] criteria," he said. "If not, the Planning Commission can deny [the application]."
Some city officials may be walking on eggshells because Treasure Hill is a hot topic, said City Councilwoman Candy Erickson.
She already has received a lot of e-mail and face-to-face comments from concerned citizens.
"There's no way around it," she said. "It's controversial."
What's next
The Park City Planning Commission will conduct a public hearing to consider Treasure Hill traffic issues at 6:30 p.m., Feb. 11, at the Karl Winters Building, 1255 Park Avenue.
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