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Show Fifteen Cents Volume Three Sunn Classic President Charles E. Sellier Friday announced plans which will mean more expenditures in Park City. reparations For Closing Now Underway "You can listen to all the rumors you want, but it's just a sad situation," said Larry Curtis, the Ontario On-tario Mine's director of employe relations. On January 13 Park City Ventures, operator of the Ontario Mine, announced announ-ced it would be suspending mining operations due to difficult rock conditions, con-ditions, ground water problems and other time and cost factors. Free Beer For Miners If it's any consolation, Park City's soon-to-be unemployed miners will be able to cry in their beer on February 14, their last day of work . Park City Ventures general manager Bill Norem is putting up $100 for free beer at the Cozy from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. this Tuesday. Cozy owner Racers Take 7 Firsts ...Page 11 ss? m& w ' ws? 4 ne -. Layoffs By February 15, 80 to 90 per cent of the shutdown operations at the Ontario On-tario Mine will be complete, leaving 350 miners jobless. Approximately 20 miners were dismissed last Friday with an anticipated an-ticipated 30 layoffs scheduled for this week. A "massive layoff" will take place following the afternoon shift on February 14. Richard Martinez said the beer will continue to flow until the $100 runs our or 6 o'clock rolls around. Martinez noted that the beer money was coming out of Norem's pocket and was not being donated by the mining company. INSIDE RDT Presents 'Firestorm' ...Page8 - mrmriiiaii - - .. ednesday, The bear market is expected to create a bullish economy for Park City. Sunn Classic Pictures, producers of the popular television series "Grizzly Adams," which features a bear named Ben, will double its production expenditures in Utah this year, Sunn President Charles E. Sellier announced announ-ced Friday morning during a press conference held here. Sellier told city, county, state, business and media representatives gathered at Adolph's restaurant that Sunn would be boosting its Utah production budget from $9 million to $18 million. The motion picture company com-pany will film three national prime-time prime-time television shows and three theatrical motion pictures in Utah this year. The major series to be produced for the National Broadcasting Company include "The Life and Times of Grizzly Griz-zly Adams," "Classics Illustrated" and a new production, "Mark Twain's America." The feature films are in the pre-production pre-production stages and their titles will be announced at a later date. Of the $18 million to be spent in Utah, approximately 60 per cent will go to businesses and services in the Park City area, according to Sunn official of-ficial Al Pedersen. He said this will mean almost a million dollars a month mon-th to the local economy. "We detract very little from what is already exhisting here," Pedersen said. "Most of the money goes directly direc-tly to people for goods and services." "Like the ski industry, we take our money out of New York and spend it here," Sellier added later. Under the expanded production schedule, Sunn will employ 205 persons per-sons out of its Park City office and 75 at its Salt Lake City headquarters. Sunn also intends to exoand-its studio. post-production and maintenance facilities in Park City. Sunn currently occupies an office building on Main Street and utilizes Mine A skeleton crew of 25 workers will remain at the mine serving as caretakers in the event that mining is resumed at a later date. Mothballing the Mine Ontario Mine officials are currently preparing the mine for the February 15 shutdown. According to Curtis, most preservation work is being done in the number 3 shaft, one of the major development areas prior to the January closing announcement. Moving faults exist in the area of the number 3 shaft and workers are busy filling it with sand to about 50 feet above the 2,400-toot level station to insure the stability of the ground. The "mothballing" process makes use of sand extracted from mine tailings as well as large amounts of sand which have been hauled to the Continued On Page 5 Fifth Grade News ... Page 16 Februarys, 1978 the Elks building across the street for filming indoor sequences. Sellier said the Main Street facilities would be augmented but declined to give specifics other than to say the new-buildings new-buildings would incorporate the mining town motif, and would be in the "general area" of the Elks building. When pressed for details, the Sunn president jokingly said he couldn't elaborate because local realtor Rob Morris "would buy up half the town." Sellier also revealed that Sunn has an option on 600 acres of land "very close to town" which will be developed over a three-year period to handle Sunn's Utah expansion. "That's as much as I can say right now," Sellier commented. Good News and Great News "I've got some good new!s and some great news," Sellier said at the beginning begin-ning of the press conference. The 34-year-old movie industry whiz kid said the good news was that he has signed a five-year contract with NBC. The television network will acquire every feature film Sellier produces during the five years and will finance every film r, .ade during the first three years. The great news, he said, is that NBC has picked up three of Sunn's television series ("Grizzly Adams," "Classics Illustrated," and "Mark Twain's America") for prime -time viewing. This makes Sunn the largest producer of family hour shows for NBC and it is second only to Walt Disney Productions in family-oriented family-oriented theatrical film productions, Sellier added. He also disclosed that Sunn has three or four more television shows in the development stages. "That's why we have to build more buildings," Sellier remarked. Sunn currently has 14 offices in the United States and five foreign offices. The company, noted for using computerized com-puterized testing of audience response as a basis for film content, has corn-Continued corn-Continued On Page 9 City Lands Large Confab The Western Regional Conference of the American Society of Travel Agents will be held in Park City, Utah, May 20 to 24, 1979, it was announced Monday by Dave J. Smith, Convention Chariman, from Denver, Colorado. The theme of the five-day meet is strictly Western, Mr. Smith said, and will revolve around the theme, '"The West Rides Again." The prestigious conference is expected ex-pected to attract nearly 2,000 of the travel industry's leading representatives, represen-tatives, including delegates from travel agencies, air lines, hotels, tourist offices and wholesalers. Park City won the host position in competition with other leading resort and cosmopolitan areas throughout the West. The 1978 conference will be held this May on the Kona Coast of Hawaii. The American Society of Travel Agents, Inc., is the world's largest professional travel trade organization. The Society is comprised com-prised of more than 16,000 members from over 120 countries representing all facets of the travel and tourism industry. in-dustry. ASTA's fundamental purpose is the promotion and advancement of the interests of the travel agency industry in-dustry and the safeguarding of the traveling public against fraud, misrepresentation and other unethical practices. In the United States, ASTA members, mem-bers, in more than 8,000 travel agency locations, arrange the travel plans of more than 40-million American consumers con-sumers annually representing an expenditure ex-penditure of approximately $12 Continued On Page 3 i'Tfflk jilliTft More of the same through the'- I wf Ine weekend. Continued mild tern-' I: yOctf TO fiPVi peratures with intermittent I: &l Y375r snow. High temperatures will ITCT Jpr 1 be in the 30s with lows in the low- Wells Proposes ousing Answer Councilman Bob Wells offered a "magic" solution to Park City's housing shortage problem aj Thursday Thur-sday night's City Council meeting. "I'd like to study the possibility of the city getting involved in seasonal housing projects," Wells said. "It would have to be a subsidized situation." The housing subsidies could be generated through a business tax based on the number of employes, he suggested. On Monday, Wells said he has been contemplating the housing problem for the past seven years. After stating that politically "I hate for the city to get into business," the councilman said he favored the move because it would be "impossible for private investors in-vestors to be dedicated to seasonal housing projects." Wells said the city could finance a housing project through the Industrial Facilities Bonding Act. This type of bonding was used to finance the Holiday Inn currently under construction. construc-tion. The city used its bonding authority and name to issue low interest in-terest bonds without incurring any obligation should the developers renege on the project. The city holds the property title and the developers make lease payments to retire the debt. Should the developers default on the bonds, the matter would be settled between the bond holder and bond trustee. Wells considers the seasonal housing shortage a tougher problem to solve than the year-round problem. Although his suggestion to create seasonal accommodations could lessen the winter-months dilemma, he admitted the apartments were apt to be empty from mid-April to June and from September to the end of November. Novem-ber. The councilman said YMCA camps or other youth organizations might be candidates for occupancy from June through September. The business tax could pay for the units during the unoccupied periods, Wells said. "There's liable to be a hue and cry," he said of the proposed new tax, especially from those businesses which do not employ seasonal help. But he added that every business benefits from the ski season. Wells -noted that this past fall's influx in-flux of apartment seekers was well Historic Buildings Nominated By State Two of Park City's historic buildings have been nominated for national recognition. "Phil Notorianni made a nice presentation of both buildings," City Councilwoman Eleanor Bennett said Thursday of the historian who recommended the nomination of Park City's Silver King Coalition and Union Pacific Depot buildings to the National Register at the February 1 meeting of the Utah Historical Society. If the state historical society deems that a building has national significance because of its age, architecture ar-chitecture or history, it can nominate it to the National Register, according to Park City Planner David Preece, who also attended the meeting. "If a building is nominated and goes on the register, there are definite tax advantages for the owner,"- said Preece. He referred to the Tax Number Twenty-One below the previous year's, probably due to fear of another poor ski season and Park City's notorious housing shortage. However, monthly accommodations ac-commodations in town are fully rented. "I don't like the substandard housing or the unnecessary crowding because of high costs," Wells said. "With the city involved in housing projects, there's a chance for lower financing rates and lower rents." Bob Wells Another possible solution to the housing problem was offered by Councilman Steve Dering at Thursday Thur-sday night's meeting. Dering suggested that the city consider the creation of moderate income housing zones. "The zone would allow for greater densities than any existing zone," the councilman said. A developer could spread land and construction costs over a greater number of units, resulting in lower building expenses per unit and subsequently lower rents. Except for rent level restrictions similar to the ones at the Holiday Village moderate income housing project, the city would not have to be involved in the projects, he said. Moderate income housing, such as Holiday Village off Highway 248, can be subsidized by the federal government gover-nment through low interest loans. The interest rate can be as low as one per cent but profits on such housing are limited by law. Continued On Page 7 Reform Act of 1976, which penalizes demolishers of national historical sites and encourages restoration of those sites by allowing tax write-offs. Once the state historical society recommends a nomination, the building usually goes on the National Register, Preece said, adding that it takes about three months for official confirmation. The next step below the National Register is inclusion on the State Register. Five Park City buildings bear the state historical building plaque the Coalition, Depot, St. Mary's Catholic Church, George Washington School and City Hall. Being named to this register is an honor but does not include any tax advantages ad-vantages or restrictions. At Thursday night's City Council meeting, Preece recommended that Continued On Page 3 |