OCR Text |
Show PICK A DATE LECTURER WILL RECALL A BLEAK PERIOD FOR AMERICA'S JAPANESE THE TRIUMPHANT RETURN OF THE TOWN RACES AFTER MORE THAN 20 YEARS COLUMNS, A - l 4 RISKING THEIR UVESTO SHINE UGHT IN DARK CORNERS The PARK CITY, UTAH POST YOUR EVENT O N : WWW.PARKRECORD.COM/ EVENTSUBMISSIONFORM ; BUSINESS, A - 7 SPRING BREAK 2011 WILL LEAVE CANYONS IN A DAZE Park Record. W W W . P A R K R E C O R C O M Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, March 12-15, 2011 Serving Summit County since 1880 VOL. 131 • NO. 10 500 out on the studio bill The revival of Bonanza Park looms There were no lights, no cameras and no action Key figures in district submit paperwork at City Hall for a massive redevelopment A Huntsman hero Time runs BY JAY HAMBURGER Of the Record staff BY PATRICK PARKINSON Of the Record staff TYLER COBB/PARK RECORD Time expired Thursday on a controversial bill that might have paved the way for a movie studio to be built at Quinn's Junction. Senate Bill 231 did not receive a vote in the Senate before the Utah legislative session ended at midnight. The bill was sponsored by Republican Sen. Mark Madsen of Utah County. By creating a so-called film enterprise zone, S.B. 231 could have allowed the Quinn's Junction Partnership to develop a movie studio on about 30 acres of land along the State Road 248 entryway into Park City. Some local leaders were against the bill because the legislation could have overridden local zoning rules to benefit a private developer. The Utah League of Cities and Towns and Utah Association of Counties expressed opposition for S.B. 231, Park City Mayor Dana Williams said. "I think they saw the potential effects on their own communities, that this could be setting a precedent that the state can come in whenever they think something is economically viable and spot zone," Williams said. Passage of S.B. 231 could have resulted in hundreds of thousands of square feet of commercial development being built at Quinn's Junction without input from the public, he explained. Williams said he was pleased the Legislature did not approve the bill. But Park City's relationship with the most powerful lawmakers on Utah's Capitol Hill must improve if local officials expect to prevent similar bills from being introduced next year, he added. "What I would like to do is possibly bring them up with their wives and have dinner here in Park City, let them get to know who we are, what we do and what our demographics are here," Williams said. "There is that image that we are all these wealthy people who live in starter castles, and Gal Jakic skids to a stop at the bottom of the race course on Thursday at Park City Mountain Resort. The skiers competed in the giant slalom part of the Huntsman Cup, a series of races designed for disabled skiers. The National Ability Center has organized the races for the last 23 years. Watchdog past put on display by mayor City Hall staffers, though, argued that the development rights at a slopeside location like Treasure are more valuable than they would be in another spot, leading to the idea for the multiplier "If the incentive is not there, no one will ever use the tool," said Katie Cattan, the City Hall planner who is one of the staffers who is shepherding the program through the municipal approval process. Tom Eddington, the planning director, agreed with Cattan's assertion. At least one member of the Park City Council, Alex Butwinski, said the multiplier was not problematic, saying it provides an incentive for a landowner to shift their development rights. Another City Councilor, Joe Kernan, seemed to see a multiplier as an incentive as well. Meanwhile, the City Council indicated it wants to consider a broader list of spots to be included in a program that would allow landowners to shift their development rights. The Planning Commission earlier recommended a set of so-called sending zones and receiving zones, or places where development rights could be shifted from and toward. The lower panel recommended 10 percent of the Treasure development rights be included in a sending zone alongside three pieces of ground in Old Town. The Planning Commissions recommendation included the Bonanza Park district He questions whether there should be a 2-for-l bonus for Sweeneys if Treasure shifted BY JAY HAMBURGER Of the Record staff t Mayor Dana Williams, revisiting his role as the development watchdog that brought him to political prominence in the 1990s, was highly critical Thursday night of certain parts of a program under consideration at City Hall that would allow some landowners to shift their development rights elsewhere. At one point during a meeting about whether a program should be created, Williams said he was "absolutely freaking out" about an idea to give the Sweeney family an incentive to shift development rights away from the Treasure acreage on the slopes of Park City Mountain Resort overlooking Old Town. The Park City Planning Commission had recommended a multiplier on the Treasure development rights calling for each unit of Treasure that is shifted to be worth two units elsewhere. Williams said there had not been discussions between negotiating teams from City Hall and the Sweeney family involving a 2-for-l multiplier. Please see Watchdog, A-2 A ISMedlaNews Group NEWSPAPER Clinic. # •-.-•'... • The PCMR parcel, set at the southwest corner of the intersection of Bonanza Drive and Munchkin Road. The land is under consideration for the least amount of development of the three tracts of land. The resort uses the parcel for storage and employee parking, and there is a maintenance building on the land. "Our goal is to make it a win-win for the residents and visitors of Park City. That is clearly our goal," Fischer said. The application asks for approximately 940,000 square feet of development between the three pieces of land, a combination of residential properties, commercial spaces and institutional buildings like medical offices. The tenants in the existing buildings slated for demolition would be offered space in the new ones, Fischer said. The Bonanza Park district has long been seen as a place that is ripe for a major redevelopment like the one described in the application. There seemed to be momentum for a redo in the years prior to the onset of the recession, but a falling out between Fischer and a former business partner and then the failing economy hindered those efforts. Fischer anticipates the redevelopment could Please see District, A-2 Funding goes dry for Old Town liquor store State budget-cutting idea would close the popular Swede Alley location July 1 Please see time, A-2 3 SECTIONS • 42 PAGES Business A-7 Classifieds C-12 Columns A-14 Editorial A-15 Events Calendar C-6 Legal* C-14 Letters to the Editor A-15 Movies C-4 Restaurant Guide C-9 Sports B-1 Scene C-1 Weather B-2 The key figure in Bonanza Park on Monday filed an application at City Hall to redevelop a large swath of properties, a broad set of ideas that would involve demolishing the buildings now standing and replacing them with a project that would remake the district. Mark J. Fischer, who controls large tracts of land in the district, and Park City Mountain Resort, which also has holdings in Bonanza Park, submitted a joint application to the Planning Department. The application covers three locales spreading through 11 acres: • The Yard, situated off Kearns Boulevard, which is seen in the application as the spot with the most development. • Bonanza Kearns, described as a series of properties that are adjacent to each other on or close to the southwest corner of the Bonanza Drive-Keams Boulevard intersection. Bonanza Kearns is envisioned as having the second most development under the application. Some of the businesses currently in buildings on the Bonanza Kearns properties include the Maverick gas station, the Buggy Bath car wash and the Park City BY ANDREW KIRK Of the Record staff : TYLER COBB/PARK RECORD • / * State alcohol regulators, faced with budget cutbacks, are considering shuttering the liquor store on Swede Alley, an idea that quickly drew local opposition. 8 9493700001 7 The Swede Alley liquor store may close this July, The Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control must find a way to cut about $2.2 million from its budget under direction from the Utah State Legislature. As part of its plan, the department would close five stores. The Swede Alley location is on that list. Red wine, white wine and some snow as well i Vickie Ashby, public information officer for the department, said all 45 state liquor stores are profitable, so the popularity of the Swede Alley store is somewhat irrelevant. The department does not enjoy a portion of sales from the stores. Its budget is allocated by the legislature. It therefore does not make these decisions the same way a corporation might. With a concern for fairness and efficiency, the department created a list of criteria1 to evaluate every store in the state. They include: which stores are bonded, sales volume, net profits, employee productivity, store size, recommendations from the legislative Auditor General, proximity to other stores and population density of the community. When ranked by these criteria, Swede Alley was No. 7 on the list. Because stores in Please see Liquor store, A-2 The annual Auction Gala, held at (he Montage and beginning at (v.M) p.m., March 12. is ihe culmination of the Red. While and Snow festivities. The evening startr. will) cocktails and nn irrt^'slible silent auciion. CiueM* may enjoy fine wines from California and food. Ail is lo support The National Ability Cenier. For more information visit www.RedWhiteAndSnow.org. |