Park Record | 2011-03-09 | Page 2

The Park Record A-2 & The Park Record. J- Serving Summit County since 1880 j! ; Session nears its finish HOME DELIVERY ** The Park Record, Park City's No. 1 wurco *• for local news, opinions and advertising, is *'. now available For home delivery in V,< Summit, Wasalch, Salt Lake, Davis and 5' Utah counlies. Single copies are also ;; available at 116 locations throughout Park j • City, Heber City, Summit County and at '*. Murray Printing in Salt Lalce City. !i SUBSCRIPTION RATES: In Summif County (home dalivery) 142 per year (includes Sunday edition of Salt Lake Tribune) Out of Summit County (home delivery 41avail in Wasatch, Salt Lake, Davis, 'Weber and Utah counties, all other "addresses will be mailed through the U.S. Postal Service) $70 per year . , . 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The Record's Web site also hosts interactive entertainment, restaurant and lodging listings, multimedia features and community b!og forums. i-1 * " - Continued from A-1 that could set up a way for illegal immigrants to work in Utah. The direction of the national immigration debate could shift with passage of the guest worker* program, House Minority Leader David Litvack, a Democrat, told reporters on the Hill. "We all hope this changes the way that Congress will take on the issue," Litvack said. "The polar opposites at the extremes have really controlled the debate on immigration." House Bill 477 Lawmakers last week rushed to pass a controversial bill that could restrict public access to politicians1 voice mails, text messages, video chats and other electronic communication. The House and Senate approved House Bill 477. But lawmakers recalled the bill on Monday. "It went through fairly fast and there were some issues there,*' Van Tassell said. "It looks like maybe it went too far." Instead of H.B. 477 taking effect immediately, if the bill is signed by the governor, lawmakers voted to delay its implementation until this summer. The bill would change the Government Records Access and Management Act, which was enacted in Utah nearly two decades ago. Members of the public use the law to request access to government documents. "At the time that law was written we hadn't even heard of Twitter and some of those things," Van Tassell said. The only Summit County lawmaker who voted against the bill last week was Rep. Joel Briscoe. a Democrat who represents a chunk • Continued from A-1 l Contents of The Park Record are copyright © 2004, Utah Media Inc. All rights reserved. N o portion may be reproduced in any form without written consent of the managing editor or publisher. The Park Record (USPS 378-730) (ISSN 0745-9483) is published twice weekly by Utah Media Inc., 1670 Bonanza Drive, Park Gly, Utah, 84060. Periodicals Postage Paid at Salt Lake City, Utah, 84199-9655 and at additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Park Record, P.O. Box 3688, Park City, Utah, 84060. Entered as secondclass matter, M a y 25, 1977, at the Post Office in Park City, Utah, 84060 under the Act of March 3, 1897. #i\£§ Subscription rales are: $42 within ' Summit County, $70 outside of Summit County, Utah. Subscriptions are transferable: $5 cancellation fee. Phone [435)649-9014, tax [phone] or email [e-mail]. Published every Wednesday and Saturday. District is watching not meet much opposition as the appropriation committee based recommendations on a balanced budget, he added. The additional money will need to go toward funding enrollment growth, projected to cost about $76 million for an estimated 14,700 new students next year, according to Ogden. Inflation for operating costs, such as gas and utilities prices, and personnel increases for salaries and benefits would also need to come from the additional money. "That $38.5 million is going to be stretched very thin," Odgen said. "In a pre-recession year, we would have seen $150-200 million more in public education funding." Ogden said he is watching one particular bill closely through the last days of the session. HB313 Currently, when a student of the Snyderville Basin. Van Tassell supported the bill last week. "I'm not worried about what's going on in my e-mails or texts; they're welcome to have it. But the fishing expeditions are costly and in some ways unfair because they get hold of personal records," Van Tassell said. "There have been a couple instances, even with the state. Attorneys have got a hold of those and they have been used against the state to prepare the defense." Money for charter schools A bill that would take money away from traditional public schools to provide to charter schools is one of Briscoe's top concerns on Capitol Hill. If House Bill 313 is approved funding school districts receive from local property taxes would shift to charter schools when students transfer away from traditional public schools. "I'm very concerned about the impact that could have on school districts like Park City," Briscoe said. Tourism funding Briscoe also said he worked this year to make funding available for tourism promotion in Utah. According to Van Tassell, the budget lawmakers approve this week could include $7 million for tourism. "We're maintaining that $7 million in the base budget that we had last year, which in my opinion is the right thing to do," Van Tassell said. Meanwhile, lawmakers must approve a balanced budget by Thursday. The Executive Appropriations Committee approved a base budget bill Monday night, Van Tassell said. "That'll be coming forward early today going through both bodies," Van Tassell said Tuesday. He added that he doesn't expect the cuts to public education to be as deep as some people feared. transfers to a charter school, 25 percent of his or her cost is paid by the district through locally raised funds. The state foots the other 75 percent. Under House Bill 313, districts would absorb the cost of transferring students through the next 13 years, eventually reaching 100 percent, according to the bill's fiscal note. The thought behind the bill is if a student leaves the district; the money should follow him or her, according to Ogden. "The counter argument to that is that unless there are significant numbers of students that leave at the same time for a charter school, the costs don't necessarily decrease when they transfer to a charter school," he added. "There is very little cost savings when a student transfers to a charter school." Because charter schools don't implement any levies on local property or income taxes, Odgen said he would prefer to see a similar funding program applied to the schools rather than this bill. The bill is marked for a third reading in the House and could be brought to a vote at any time before Thursday. Wed/Thurs/Fri, March 9-11, 2011 Stakes are now heightened BY JAY HAMBURGER Of the Record staff Mayor Dana Williams and the Park City Council on Thursday are scheduled to begin their discussions about whether some landowners should be allowed to shift their development rights elsewhere, a program that, if created, could have ramifications stretching from the upper reaches of Old Town, through the Treasure acreage and to the Bonanza Park district. The upcoming talks will also test the elected officials' support of the Park City Planning Commission, a panel appointed by the City Council, in what could be the year's most decisive zoning decision. If the City Council agrees with the lower panel on the crucial points, a highly sought conservation deal for the Treasure land could be jeopardized based on price tag. But if the elected officials overrule the Planning Commission on those points, there could be political implications in an election year at City Hall if Parkites are left wondering about the City Council's thinking. The discussions about a program allowing the shifts are slated to start at 3:30 p.m. at the Marsac Building, with 30 minutes set aside at that time. They are scheduled to continue sometime after 6 p.m., and a hearing is planned then. City Hall staffers do not want the City Council to cast a vote on Thursday. Another round of discussions is tentatively scheduled March 31. The idea to allow the shifts, offered by City Hall staffers, is seen as a means to protect coveted land while positioning development in places leaders see as being fit for growth. There are several parcels of land in play, but the Sweeney family's Treasure land, on the slopes of Park City Mountain Resort and overlooking Old Town, has been seen as the key piece of ground. A City Hall negotiating team and representatives from the Sweeney family have spent months attempting to craft a conservation deal. The two sides are pursuing two options - one that would carve the size of the Treasure development in half and another that would eliminate the prospects of development on the land altogether. A program allowing landowners to shift development rights will be critical to either of the options. The idea has held that City Hall and the Sweeneys will reach an accord that calls for all or half of the development rights to be shifted elsewhere through a program. At that point, the Sweeneys would be expected to require compensation. It is not clear, though, what sort of price tag will be attached to a deal and how one would be funded - through taxpayer money raised in a ballot measure, through payment from a landowner where the rights will be shifted toward or, perhaps, a combination of both. But in a February recommendation, made on a split vote, the Planning Commission complicated matters by refusing to support City Hall staffers asking for half of the Treasure development rights to be put in play in a program allowing the shifts. Instead, the panel stripped all but approximately 10 percent of the development rights at the Treasure site out of the recommendation. In doing so, the Planning Commission worried that the Treasure development rights - 1 million square feet of residential units, commercial space and a convention center - were too broad to shift elsewhere. If the City Council supports the Planning Commission recommendation, upward of 90 percent of the development rights on the Treasure land will remain intact. That would make a conservation deal to eliminate the prospects of development far more expensive for City Hall. Should the City Council restore the 50 percent of the Treasure rights, as had been recommended by staffers, or put even more of the rights into play under a program allowing shifts, the elected officials would be treading a fine political line given their usual support of the lower panel. The cost of a conservation agreement, though, would likely fall sharply. Parcels that are in play Trie talks on Thursday about City Hall creating a program allowing landowners to shift their development rights elsewhere are expected to focus on several pieces of ground, either ones designated as sending zones or ones that have been labeled as receiving zones. The Park City Planning Commission recommended four places be designated as sending zones, or spots where development rights could be shifted away from, and two places be designated as receiving zones, which are areas where development rights could be shifted toward. The sending zones recommended by the Planning Commission are: • The Sweeney family's Treasure acreage on the slopes of Park City Mountain Resort and overlooking Old Town. The Planning Commission recommended 10 percent of the Treasure rights be included in the sending zone. The 10 percent figure encompasses 44,000 square "feet of development rights. . • The Alice Claim site off King * Road, a small street in the ';'flipper reaches of Old Town y.:. • Two parcels on Ridge > Avenue, another small street in,the upper reaches of Old i;-. The receiving zones recomj^mended^by the Planning ^ : Commission are: . vslj • The Bonanza Park district? -^ centered along Bonanza •; ^Prive and Kearns Boulevard f?- • The Snow Creek commer- ; cial area . , .. The Planning Commission ; ?j sees the development rights \ Jwln the Treasure sending zone \ : - ^as being more valuable than the others. The recommenda- ; tion includes a multiplier call- : ing for each unit of Treasure ; that is shifted to be valued at two units in a receiving zone, meaning that 44,000 square j feet of rights in the Treasure sending zone is worth 88,000 square feet in a receiving , zone. . The development rights in ! ', other sending zones wdtold •! be valued at between .5 units • and 1.25 units for each unit i shifted, depending on j whether lots have already been platted in the sending zones and the steepness of the ground in the sending i ; zones. Jay Hamburger •I Starting @ 545/sf installed (3 cm Material) WE MAKE MOVING EASYIT'S IN THE DETAILS! 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