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Show C-1 B-1 SPREAD YOUR WINGS FOR ECOCENTER EVENT EDUCATION, A-7 VOLUNTEER ATHLETES CONQUERED THE SEVEN SUMMITS COLUMNS, A-12 WANTED: VOLUNTEERS HELP YOUR COMMUNITY! BECOME A VOLUNTEER! VOLUNTEER LISTINGS CAN BE FOUND ON PAGE B-7 Park Record. STUDENTS STUDY DIFFERENT SORT OF STRING THEORY SHOWING OFF PARK CITY IS AMY ROBERTS’ CUP OF TEA The PA R K C I T Y, U TA H W W W. PA R K R E C O R D . C O M Wed/Thurs/Fri, February 28-March 2, 2018 Serving Summit County since 1880 The schools respond to Fla. killings | Vol. 138 | No. 7 50¢ Power through powder Panel hopeful hits a housing approach shot Law enforcement has increased its presence on Park City grounds Planning Commission candidate sees municipal golf course as a location for development CAROLYN WEBBER The Park Record When the news started spreading about the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida on Feb. 14, it seemed that every community was shaken. Thousands of miles away in Park City, Superintendent Ember Conley reminded the community in a statement that prioritizing mental health is key to decreasing the risk of those situations happening. Conley has emphasized the ideal of safe and healthy schools throughout the school year. The Park City School District has hired more counselors at the schools and a student wellness coordinator. It contracted a consultant to investigate security in the schools, and the students, faculty and staff have been doing lockout drills. Conley said that the issue of gun violence in schools is multi-faceted and that there are many ways that it can be addressed. But for her, helping students who are suffering with mental health issues or trauma is near the top of the list. “It goes back to teaching students resiliency, teaching students self-help skills, teaching students how to get help,” she said. “So much of this is preventable.” Caleb Fine, assistant principal at Park City High School, said that training and drilling safety protocols is important, but he agrees that addressing the issue before it can escalate is preferred. “If we can keep it from happening, all of our reactive measures don’t have to go into place,” he said. Fine said that, in the past, the school has discussed having home room time in which students are divided into small classes and teachers guide discussions about self-reflection and how to deal with failure. Some students requested the time last year, and after the shooting in Florida, Fine said that the discussion is on the table again. While Fine said that he is proud to see what has been done in the district and at the school — a district intervention counselor was hired, which freed up the high school counselor, for instance — there is still more to be done. “Being ahead of the curve does not guarantee that your school is immune to a tragedy, so you have to continue to look for proactive ways to positively impact students,” he said. While prevention is the district’s main focus, Conley also knows that security is critical as well. According to the district’s Twitter account, the Summit County Sheriff’s Office and the Park City Police Department are increasing their presence in and around schools as a precaution. Last month, the Park City Board of Education hired Cole Smith from the Tresit Group in Logan to review the district’s safety systems and processes. Smith, who visited the district and Please see The schools, A-2 JAY HAMBURGER The Park Record TANZI PROPST/PARK RECORD Chris Carr employs climbing skins on his skis as he moves up an incline during the Wasatch Powder Keg Triple Crown Ski Mountaineering Race at Brighton Resort Saturday morning. See more on page B-1. Land group secures another year to fund a deal in Basin An additional $3 million is needed to finalize acquisition of a 158-acre parcel ANGELIQUE MCNAUGHTON The Park Record Cheryl Fox, executive director of the Summit Land Conservancy, doesn’t like cliffhangers. However, that is exactly how she chose to describe the last several months. Fox has led the land trust’s efforts to raise $5.5 million to preserve the Osguthorpe Farm on Old Ranch Road from development. The 158-acre property is located adjacent to Willow Creek Park in the Snyderville Basin. Summit Land Conservancy received an $8.8 million federal grant from a Farm Bill program to put toward the acquisition, but has been scrambling to raise enough money by March to place a $200,000 down payment on the conservation easement to keep the land deal with the Osguthorpe family alive. Fox announced on Monday that the organization will be able to make the payment this week. “This has really been a tough experience,” she said. “But, the community has been so supportive and made so many donations, the family was willing to take on debt so they could pay this obligation in March and keep this transaction open. These people want to see the farm protected as a farm, and they are willing to put more of their own money toward that.” Classifieds .............................. C-8 Columns ............................... A-12 Crossword .............................. C-4 Editorial................................ A-13 Education ............................... A-7 Events Calendar ..................... C-6 Legals ................................... C-10 Letters to the Editor ............. A-13 Restaurant Guide.................... B-6 Scene ...................................... C-1 Scoreboard ............................. B-5 Sports ..................................... B-1 Weather .................................. B-2 Please see More time, A-2 Please see Develop, A-2 Couple dies in plane Frozen on a note crash in Wyoming The Pattersons were accomplished and gracious, friend says JAY HAMBURGER The Park Record 3 sections • 34 pages The Osguthorpe Farm has been highlighted by the community as a potential target for conservation for nearly 20 years. However, Summit Land Conservancy recognized the only way to save the farm as land values increased was to bring in federal dollars, Fox said. “We all love the farm,” she said. “But, we are all loving something that belongs to someone else. Someone else pays taxes on it and takes care of it. This transaction and federal grant has allowed us to act on what we had heard as the community’s interest to save the last ranch on Old Ranch Road.” Approximately $12.2 million has been put toward the $17.7 million deal between the federal grant and the Osguthorpe family’s own contributions, with the intent of protecting and preserving the land for agricultural uses. Fox said an additional 375 donors have contributed $2.5 million since November. “We knew from the start that the family had an obligation they needed to pay in March,” Fox said. “We didn’t ever anticipate closing on that entire transaction, but we anticipated being able to meet this obligation.” Fox said a $100,000 gift on Friday left about $10,000 remaining. “I was in tears because that person came through in really big way,” she said. The ability to make the down payment provides at least another year for the land trust to raise the additional $3 million that is needed to close the transaction. Fox admitted failed negotiations with Summit A man who is vying for a post on the Park City Planning Commission last week indicated City Hall could consider developing housing on part of the Park City Golf Club, an idea that could provide sufficient acreage for a major project but one that would almost certainly immediately become a polarizing issue if such a move is pursued. Josh Hobson, who unsuccessfully campaigned for a Park City Council seat in 2017 and then was not selected earlier in 2018 to fill a partial City Council term, briefly outlined the housing idea during an interview with Mayor Andy Beerman and the City Council. The interview was part of the Planning Commission selection process. Hobson told the elected officials land at the municipal golf course is connected to the transit system and a development with so-called tiny houses could be considered. He said the golf course could be reduced from 18 holes to nine holes, explaining that the demand for golf might fall in the future. Hobson also questioned the amount of water needed by a golf course as compared to the water needs of a residential development like the one he envisions. The mayor and City Councilors did not respond to the idea in any depth. The elected officials at the time were amid a round of interviews of the Planning Commission field rather than a typical City Council discussion about an individual issue or idea. In an interview afterward, Hobson said the southern portion of the golf course, the part closest to the Park City Mountain Resort parking lots, could be used for a development once the course is reduced to nine holes. He envisions a public-private partnership. A project on the golf course land could push City Hall toward a goal of adding 800 units of restricted housing by 2026, he said. “It’s already close to the grocery store, transit lines, the resort base,” Hobson said about the land. Hobson said he crafted the idea during his unsuccessful bid for the City Council in 2017. He did not publicize the idea during the campaign, though. He said there are split opinions. One of his golfing friends said the idea is absurd while another friend who is a golfer said there are other options for players in the area, Hobson said. Hobson’s decision to broach the topic during an interview for a Planning Commission spot is an intriguing one. The City Council rather than the Planning Commission would be the government body to authorize City Hall staffers to pursue a project. The Planning Commission would be the panel to consider an application, hold hearings and weigh a proposal against the municipal government’s planning and zoning rules. Any formalized City Hall effort to develop part of the golf course would be expected to immediately trigger resistance in neighborhoods close to the golf course as well as in the wider golfing community. The Park City course A man and wife who lived in Park City died in a plane crash in Wyoming on Feb. 18 and were remembered as a loving couple. William Patterson was 71 and Michelle Patterson was 62. They were the only two people aboard the plane. The husband was the pilot. Rowdy Dean, the chief deputy at the Sheriff’s Office in Uinta County, Wyo- ming, said the crash occurred at a little after 3 p.m. approximately one mile north of Evanston along the Bear River. The Pattersons were found dead at the scene. They were in a Socata TBM 700 single-engine propeller airplane, he said. Dean said the plane was traveling from Oklahoma and was preparing to land at Evanston-Uinta County Airport in Evanston. It crashed approximately two miles from the airport. He said emergency dispatchers received several calls from people saying an airplane may have crashed. The authorities contacted the airport and learned that a plane was overdue. Firefighters, Sheriff’s Office deputies and a search-and-rescue team looked for Please see Plane crash, A-2 TANZI PROPST/PARK RECORD Christian Elgie practices violin during an after-school program at Trailside Elementary School on a recent day. The program emphasizes art education through violin instruction. The students plan to perform “Let It Go” from Disney’s “Frozen” during a future concert. See more on page A-7. VISITOR GUIDE Mavis Staples brings the blues to the Eccles Center Park City Institute will present Kennedy Center honoree and Blues Hall of Famer Mavis Staples at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 3, at the Eccles Center for the Performing Arts, 1750 Kearns Blvd. Tickets range from $29-$79. They can be purchased by visiting www.ecclescenter.org. |