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Show Thursday, November 1 , 1 979 Page 7 City Tells Its Side Continued From Page I that the city has had a tremendous amount of catch-up to do." On the subject of taxes, the report observes that the city has reduced the mill levy for property taxes from 37 to 29 during the past three years. Noting the inadequacy of existing maintenance facilities, the report goes on to say the city has purchased nearly $110,000 worth of service equipment and wilf complete work next year on a new city shop. Other improvements listed are the repaying of city streets and the completion of a multi-million dollar renovation of the water and sewer lines in the older part of town. In the area of water, the report notes improvements to the town's storage and distribution system over the past 18 months, whjch have increased flow availability from 1,200 GPM to 1,900 GPM and storage by an additional one million gallons. And, in addition to contracting with Salt Lake City for additional water from the Spiro Tunnel, the recently completed well on the Holiday Ranch entry road is forecast to add an additional 1,500 GPM flow to the city system. Other areas addressed by the lengthy report include transportation, Main Street Redevelopment and Parks and Recreation. "Park and recreation activities over the past year include the acquisition of an additional five acres of land for future park development, a joint venture project with the Park City School District for development of the athletic fields adjacent to the high school and discussions regarding the acquisition of other parcels of land, including the property presently occupied by the Monroe plant." On the subject of transportation, while admitting some maintenance problems with the city bus system, the report states: "Overall the system was significantly better than the previous private systems." The report also lists accomplishments accomplish-ments of the present city council in the areas of public safety, garbage collection and the formation of the Main Street Redevelopment Project. "This is what we think is right with Park City," concludes the report and, in an interview Monday, Mayor Green put it this way "Overall, I'd say we've done a pretty damn good job." The mayor bases that assessment partly on the fact that with a residential population of 4,500, Park City has been called upon to confront growth-related problems and provide services found only in much larger towns. For instance, he noted, "Park City is one of the very few cities of our size to operate a public transportation system." And while some have criticized the city for having a pro-growth attitude, the mayor noted the city council's mandate from the people on that issue has apparently changed. "Less than two years ago the primary concern of people was the fear that the older part of town was dying on the vine... the city administration admin-istration was asked to do everything possible to encourage growth of the old town area." Now on the heels of a record-breaking construction season (see related story this issue), the mayor said many people apparently are in favor of slowing things down. He noted that, to address tht concern, the city had announced its intention to update the town's master plan and zoning ordinances, hopefully by the beginning of the next building season. And that, said Mr. Green, would probably mean the development of an ordinance to control hillside development develop-ment as well as "more restrictive densities in the upper part of town." Responding to criticism of the manner in which the city handled this year's construction activity, the mayor said it's easy to have 20-20 hindsight, but difficult to predict beforehand the cycles of development in a resort area. "Absolutely no one could have predicted what happened this year," he said concerning the inconvenience caused residents by the large scale private developments and city water project on lower Park Ave. "The combmallOn certainly gave the impression that all hell had broken loose," said the Mayor, who added: "I didn't like the detours this summer any more than anyone else." But he defended the decision to undertake the city-sponsored improvements im-provements this year on the basis of the timetable on the federal funds used for the project, adding: "What's the sense in tearing things up over a five-year period? The idea was to create less inconvenience overall." And, as far as the private construction construc-tion is concerned, he stated: "The enabling state statutes are inadequate to address a building boom. ..you can't go out and tell people to stop construction." One of the reasons for issuing this week's report was to point out the financial realities facing city government, govern-ment, with the mayor noting many of the new residents have moved here from large metropolitan areas "expecting "ex-pecting city services that have never been provided in rural Utah before." "People say you should do this or that, but they don't tell us how we're going to do it financially," he observed. The mayor concluded that the purpose of the report was not to say city policies were above criticism, but to point out the council had been doing a good job with the resources it had to work with. And, he said of those who will be elected to the city council in next week's election: "I hope they take the time to become knowledgeable about all the problems that face a growing resort community." Hopefuls Answer Questions Continued From Page 1 How can the city balance growth and the increased services required? ' .Lawson City has done a good Job up to now , but impact fee revenues will decrease. Business is one source of revenue but city can't expect business to carry the entire load. Grant and loan programs are available. Lewis The city has to anticipate the impacts of growth, look for ways of becoming more efficient and set priorities for money allocation. Shellenberger The two go hand in hand but some types of development don't pay their own way. The city has to look at its capacity to provide services and control growth accordingly. Bertagnole The city should cut out waste. He called the bus system a "bunch of junk." Bennett Anticipate and update. Alvarez Accept development develop-ment that pays its own way. Is the bus system adequate? Bennett System has steadily improved but can use more improvement. Would like to see service expanded. Alvarez The system needs more signs, better maintenance main-tenance and a schedule. The system is nowhere near paying for itself. Shellenberger Older buses were purchased due to economics. The new maintenance main-tenance shop should help and other problems can be resolved. re-solved. Lewis System should work if we're going to have one. No money should be spent unless it produces an efficient effi-cient system. Lawson The city needs a mass transportation system to maintain the quality of life. Problems are always encountered when starting something new. Bertagnole There is definitely defin-itely a need for the bus system but the city should get subsidies from the resort and be more prudent when buying new equipment. Should Park City annex Snyderville and Summit Park? Lewis Each annexation proposal should be determined deter-mined on its own merits. No specif ic opinion on these two. Shellenberger-Wbuia rather see Park County. Alvarez The city should learn to manage its own territory before taking on any more property. Bennett Totally against such a move. Bertagnole Definitely against. . Lawson Definitely opposed op-posed to either annexation but does have concerns over country control of growth. What steps would you take to provide moderate income housing? Alvarez A system of credits giving greater density den-sity to developers who supply sup-ply such housing. Bennett A mobile home area could be one solution. Bertagnole It could be supplied as part of zoning requirements. Lawson Solutions are very difficult. Federal programs are available and large developments could be required re-quired to provide such housing. hous-ing. Lewis There's no easy answer. I'm very much opposed to mobile home park but the city can "bend over backwards" to give breaks for construction of moderate income housing. Shellenberger A mobile home park is a "lousy idea." There are more creative ways to solve the problem. Would you favor waiving impact fees to attract light industry? Shellenberger No. Lewis No. Lawson No. Bertagnole No. Bennett Favors waivers for Main Street construction but she has not considered waivers in other parts of town. Alvarez No. What are your plans for the parks system? Bertagnole Create parks department, acquire more land, maybe require developers devel-opers to supply parks. Bennett Cites new land city has acquired for parks and cooperative addition of fields at high school. Acquisition Acquisi-tion of parks and open space has been ongoing project of the city. Alvarez Not enough money spent on park salaries. salar-ies. Have large developments develop-ments deed property to the city. Lawson The city neds more parks and open space but not many large parcels of land are left. . Lewis Make existing parks "perfect jewels," and in the future develop parks on land near Mt. Air Market and the city sewer plant. Shellenberger Notes that city recently doubled park land and added fields at high schools. New people impacting impact-ing the city parks should contribute to development and provision of open space. Should the existing city sewer plant be retained or abandoned? Lawson Close it at earliest possible date. Lewis Turn the land into a park. Shellenberger Close as soon as possible. Bertagnole If necessary, take legal action to close it. Bennett Close it when it is of no further use to the city. Alvarez Close it when the new sewer district plant comes on line. Should the city build a swimming pool? Bennett In favor but costs seem "astronomical". Alvarez Wants one built. Says city should contact other cities to see how they financed theirs. Shellenberger Thinks there are things the town needs more. Lewis Everyone has pet projects but the city has to be realistic. Priorities have to beset. Lawson Favors pool but it comes down to what we can afford. Bertagnole Should put it on the ballot to see if people are willing to pay for it. Considering your heavy involvement in arts projects, would you have time for city matters? Lewis Yes. I have been involved in a wide variety of civic projects. Given your avowed fondness for historic Park City, how do you explain your addition to the Timberhaus which is far from historic? Alvarez We felt the aaai-tion aaai-tion had the feel of the mining community with exposed ex-posed girders. Why did you resign from the Planning Commission and could this happen again? BertagnoTe Scheduling problems prevented me from making it to the meetings and it won't happen hap-pen now because I'm not involved with sheep in the winter anymore. Do you have to fight anti-city hall sentiment In this campaign? Bennett City Hall has suffered suf-fered from a lack of communication. com-munication. I have worked hard for my constituents. Can you appreciate local business concerns while working outside the city? Lawson I work in a number num-ber of cities throughout Utah as a planning consultant and I'm confident this experience exper-ience can be an advantage. How can you run city affairs when the fire district has had problems? Shellenberger The prob- ( lems referred to are engineering en-gineering problems. We don't claim to have engineering engineer-ing expertise, that's why the city engineer inspects all plans. Would you favor a tax increase to pay for better services? Alvarez No. Bennett No. Lawson No. We have to make sure old residents are not taxed to supply services for new residents. Lewis No. Shellenberger No, but we can't keep spending without getting the money from somewhere. Would you favor a special improvement district to finance the purchase of the golf course? Shellenberger No. Lewis No. Lawson No. Bertagnole No. Bennett No. Alvarez No. What is your reaction to the city leasing water from Salt Lake City? Bertagnole I was shocked. I can't figure out what the water will be used for. Lawson I'm not familiar with all the facts but I was surprised. Park City should develop its own water rights. Lewis The city plans to buy water rights in other areas inaccessible to the city and then trade for the Salt Lake water flowing into Park City. Shellenberger I'm not familiar enough with the facts to comment. Alvarez Agrees with Lawson. Bennett Water rights are still a mystery tome. - fi "As a town, we are very fortunate to have an individual like Tina lewis among us. She r.eople 1 . pping so that we can produce successful ret 'Us indeed. Tina is the finest catulyst .aat has been introduced to this town in a Ion hilc. We hardly deserve her. ,ve need her hand in things, her organization and licart. " PARK CITY MUST WORK TOGETHER TINA LEWIS x R F. STAURANT Best Salad Bar in Town Serving Prime Rib nightly 649-7100 OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK FOR DINNER Located in Prospector Square SERVICES PROFESSIONAL If you wish to be listed in our Professional Services please call 649-9014.. DENTISTS Park City Dental Associates Dr. Pamela K. Hilbert Dr. Michael W. Erickson Brent C. Hill Building 649-6066 Preventive Dental Service Dr. Dane Q. Robinson 405 Main Street Hours 1 to 9 p.m. daily Call for Appointment 649-6116 The Dental Clinic Dr. Richard Barnes, D.D.S. North Park Ave. (across from golf course) Call for appointment" we're open daily, evenings & Saturdays '.649-6332 For emergency call 649-6786 ARCHITECTS Wayne E. (Ted) Warr, Architect & Associates Architect-Planner Rio Grande Building 820 Park Avenue, 649-8385 f:W: Chiropractor Dr. Kelly B. Jarvis 906 South Main, Suite 3 Heber,Utah 654-3032 or 654-4468 Podiatrist Terry P. Smith, D.P.M. 817 Park Avenue (Office of Dr. John Cook) Office hours by appointment 649-9781 or 1-359-4900 J |
