OCR Text |
Show The Newspaper Thursday, Jaly 23, 191 Page A5 Water conservation begins at home 3 O Where is the water going? The answer to that question still remains a puzzle puz-zle to Park City officials, who in recent weeks have been fine-tuning, researching research-ing and discussing the local water system. According to City Manager Arlene Loble, there is both an adequate supply and ample storage of water in Park City for the current population; yet an excessive amount is being used that can't be accounted for. Watering restrictions have been placed on irrigation water in town, but the problem persists. Loble calculated that, assuming the city is only at a third of its potential occupancy rate during the summer months, each household is using in excess of 3,000 gallons of water per day. So back to the original question. Where is the water going? According to sewer district director Bruce Decker it could be, well, going down the toilet. He concurs with city officials that waste could account for much of the water being used, but he tends to look more toward showers and toilets than sprinkling systems. Decker appeared before a work sesion of the City Council several weeks ago to discuss water conservation. He pointed out that if water use were reduced, an addition ad-dition to the sewer treatment plant could be further off in the future, or could be smaller than is now projected. pro-jected. "The less water used, the less going into the sewer system, and the longer it could take until a plant expansion ex-pansion is necessary, or the smaller the expansion needed," said Decker. "And there's no question that the amount of water used can be reduced." Decker told the council that the normal household uses about 225 gallons of water per day 90 goes down the john, 90 in the shower, 30 for laundry and 15 for culinary use. He pointed out that water-saving devices could reduce a family of three's use to 100 gallons per day. What miracles of modern technology can save nearly half a day's water? Two-quart-toilets and reduction valves in household faucets, said Decker. "The toilets generally in use now are dinosaurs. They're water guzzlers, but there is a better way," claimed Decker. Getting down to basics, Decker said the average john UacS 4.5 gallons of water to flush away just eight ounces oun-ces of waste. A two-quart toilet, on the other hand, uses half a gallon of water and air. "When you flush those toilets, the waste gets blown out with air into the sewer lines," said Decker. "And air is so cheap in Park City, it's hard to believe!" How much do these super, air-injected toilets cost? Decker estimated about $400. Your white, run-of-the-mill pot costs about $70, he said, while a padded number designed to match your bathroom curtains runs about $350. While the two-quart two-quart toilets do cost more, Decker said that with monthly month-ly water bill savings and breaks for energy-saving devices, the units should pay for themselves in five years. For shower heads, Decker noted that water reduction valves could be used. The valves reduce the flow of M oderate-income units on sale They've talked about affordable housing for months. Now it's finally available. Applications are now being accepted by the Park City Housing Authority to purchase a unit in the moderate-income moderate-income Iron Horse project, 50-units located in the hills south of Highway 248, between Prospector Square and the Holiday Village. "This is the first project of its kind that looks like it will be done," said Ted Warr, a member of the housing authority. "The developers and the authority don't know what'll happen." The sale prices, set by the authority, would range from $61,000 to $67,000 for a two-bedroom unit, with a maximum of $74,000 for three bedrooms. Members of the housing authority say that a purchaser is required to be someone who lives and works in Park City. Under terms laid down by the city, the developer must include certain cer-tain provisions in a contract when he sells the unit: (a) No nightly rentals are allowed; (b) The purchaser would sign an affidavit saying he is using the unit as an owner-occupant; (c) The buyer has a right to resell the unit, but for 15 days, the housing authority has the first right of refusal to purchase it. (At this point, it has not been determined deter-mined if the buyer has to spend a minimum amount of time as owner-occupant owner-occupant before he can sell the unit.) ; (d) A buyer who resells must notify the authority of his intention to sell, and his price, and must sell only to an owner-occupant. Even while the units are being offered of-fered for sale, certain aspects of the price-control plan have not been pinned pin-ned down. A suggested ordinance on moderate-income housing for the Land Mangement Code would stipulate that the housing authority regulate the resale price of this kind of unit for a period up to 15 years after it is built, to insure that it stays "moderate-income." "moderate-income." But other observers say such controls con-trols are unfeasible and will hinder sales of the units. Ted Warr contended the market in this area would keep the prices for a unit reasonable through the years. The Iron Horse units, for instance, in-stance, are mostly two-bedroom spaces with modest amenities. Therefore, he said, even if its price rises substantially in resale, it will always be in the less-expensive segment of housing, compared to the other areas of Park City. Jim Gaddis, who is developing the Iron Horse area with R. S. McKnight, said his project has a large amount of open space. His buildings take a little over half an acre in a five-plus-acre project. His project affords a view of nearby Park Meadows, and is near a light industrial zone. "But you can't see the railroad tracks, except maybe from the very highest houses," he said. Construction on the development started a week ago, Gaddis said. He hopes to have the entire project finished by March, with possibly some units ready to occupy in January. Meanwhile, the vague possiblity exists that other projects may follow in Iron Horse's footsteps. Warr said the authority is carrying out some discussions with a couple of developers. Applicants must register by contacting contac-ting Richard Wilde, chairman of the city housing authority. City orders time-share moratorium Despite protests from developers who claimed they weren't given timely notice, the City Council last Thursday put a lid on the local time-share market and declared a six-month., moratorium on new development or . conversions. According to the City Council, the moratorium will be in effect until a permanent ordinance can be adopted that will regulate time-sharing in Park City. For the uninitiated, time-sharing is a relatively new, and increasingly popular, concept in which a housing unit is owned by a number of people who purchase specific time periods each year. The moratorium came at the request of the Planning Commission, which claimed that the lack of regulations have made way for the time-sharing of homes. "There is a the threat of timesharing time-sharing going into neighborhoods that have been traditionally single family," said city Planning Director Bill Ligety. "It would create impacts on the community that probably were not anticipated by people buying into single family areas. There would be a number of owners, with no one in particular par-ticular responsible for such things as maintenance." The proposed ordinance adopting the moratorium appeared on last week's City Council agenda, which was posted outside City Hall one day prior to the Thursday meeting. The item brought a number of developers to the meeting, many of whom expressed concern and surprise at the proposed six-month ban. Gordon Sloan, of Prospector Development Co., argued that "it looks like the City Council is heading in one direction, while the people who bought time-share units are out in the cold. Twentyrfour "hour's is not enough notice for those people who have a substantial investment in time-sharing." City Manager Arlene Loble pointed out that the ordinance would not affect time-share projects for which units had been lawfully sold or offered for sale to the public prior to a moratorium. She said the intent of the moratorium was to buy the city some time to prepare a permanent ordinance that would address proper zones and units for time-sharing, the upkeep of time-share properties, and to investigate in-vestigate the revenue loss to the city created by the projects. Loble pointed out that unlike nightly rental units, transient room tax cannot be collected on time-share units, dep-site dep-site the fact that they attract a transient tran-sient population. According to Convention Conven-tion and Visitors Bureau Director Debby Symonds, that revenue could substantially increase the bureau's promotional budget. Symonds explained that the state collects eight-percent of nightly rental fees in transient room tax. Of that, three percent goes to Summit County, which returns about 80 percent of that to Park City. That money makes up about two-thirds of the bureau's yearly promotion budget, said Symonds. "There could be up to five percent of our present promotion budget lost because we can't collect that tax from time-share units," said Symonds, who encouraged the city to research methods for collection. On Tuesday, Sloan said he under stood the city's concern about wanting to regulate time-sharing but noted that he and other time-share developers were "confused." 'We've had to withdraw loan packages and feasibility studies because there are no assurances that when the moratorium is over that our projects will qualify," Sloan said. "It takes considerable up-front money to put a project on line, and we felt 24 hours was short notice to find out about the moratorium. "The city has good, valid concerns. We thought it was going to be aimed at residences, and we were caught off-guard off-guard because we weren't planning to time-share residences. But provisions do have to be made to offset the "pillow" tax and to create standards. I'm tickled, really, to see the city come to grips now before time-sharing gets out of hand. We believe time-sharing is going to happen in a big way, and it's better to deal with it now while it's in its infancy in Park City. It's the right time to do it, but it just surprised us. We were going ahead like developers do, and now we can't." Sloan said he hoped he and other developers could work with the city to create a permanent ordinance that would satisfy everyone's concerns. According to planning director Ligety, he will be reviewing a draft ordinance or-dinance prepared by members of Sweetwater and Resortex, Park City's most active time-share companies. In addition, he said he has amassed a stack of time-share ordinances from across the country that he hopes will help prepare a workable document for Park City. HOW THE CITY COUNCIL VOTED... Thursday, July 16 motions y ii r feJ Alvarez Lewis Martinez Shellenberger Wells Adopt six-month yes no yes VeS yCS moratorium on time-sharing Approve permanent canopy for H. Reed Project, 614 ilO yes yes S yes Main St. Approve resolution to apply to faa for airport study yes yes yes yes yes grant Approve agreement with City sewer district for sewer yes y?S yes Jcb J service, easements in city water without substantially reducing the spray. They cost about the same as a regular shower head, about $20. "The point is, if every household could save even 50 gallons of water a day with these devices, the city would be so far ahead in 10 years with water," Decker said. "It's absurd to let people use so much water and then have to go out and buy it." Decker has suggested that the city require developers of new projects to install water-saving devices. If it doesn't, he said, the sewer district may consider making it a requirement before service is offered. "It certainly would benefit the sewer district as far as expansion of the plant is concerned, but it also would benefit the city in reducing the amount of water they will have to purchase as the city grows," Decker said. City Manager Arlene Loble commented that the city is interested in the idea, and will be discussing it further. fur-ther. "We need to look more and more toward water saving and at the idea of including those devices in an ordinance," ordin-ance," she said. PRESTIGE HOMES REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT PPRICE GROUP Park Meadows Plaza Box 701, Park City, Utah 84060 649-8575 IONAL mm mm mm If you wish to be listed in our Professional Services, please call 649-9014. The Dental Clinic Dr. Richard Barnes North Park Avenue across from Golf Course Call for appointment We're Open Daily, Evenings & Saturdays 649-6332 For emergency call 649-6786 Park City Dental Associates Pamela K. Hilbert, D.D.S. family dentistry Richard E. Randle, D.D.S., M.S. practice limited to orthodontics Located in the Brent C. Hill Building across from the Holiday Inn Office hours 9-5 Monday through Friday Saturday by appointment 649-6066 Dane Q. Robinson, D.D.S. Craig R. Bergquist, D.D.S. Family Dentistry Reconstructive Dentistry 613 Main Street In the Design Coalition Building Hours: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Call for Appointment 649-6116 SPEECH PATHOLOGY!; Patricia P. Korogi, Ph.D. Disorders of Speech and Hearing Salt Lake and Park City Offices 649-7609 Office Hours by Appointment Dr. Kelly B. Jarvis 613 Main Street In Design Coalition Building 649-1980 iMEDICAL DQCTQRSii Park City Health Center Holiday Village Shopping Mall Robert J. Evers, M.D. Family Practice Thomas L. Schwenk, M.D. i, ' Family Practice ' ' ' Robert T. Winn, M.D. Pediatrics Robert W. Barnett.M.D. Family Practice Monday thur Friday, 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and on Saturdays 9 a.m. to Noon Office appointments and 24 hour emergency care Call 649-7640 Meadowview Medical Group William Ledlie, M.D. Family Practice and Obstetrics William "Bud" Keye, M.D. Obstetrics and Gynecology Consultant By appointment only Robert J. Brock, M.D. Child & Adult Psychiatry By appointment only Terry Smith, D.P.M. Podiatry 1550 Highway 248 East Park Meadows Plaza, Suite 100 Hours: Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m.-5p.m. 649-4002 Dr. John Gleave 160 S. 100 w. Heber City, Utah Eye Examination By Appointment Contacts & Frames Available 654-1863 Park City Vision Center Robert S. Briggs, O.D. Open daily 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. The Hill Professional Building 750 East Highway 248 i 649-5200 :i Cable TV listings .. . only in The Newspaper |