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Show Civic arena proposed Public hearing discusses bond issue 'I he Newspaper Wednesday, April 1, 1981 Page A7 More than 40 residents turned out for a public hearing hear-ing last Thursday night to discuss a proposed general obligation bond issue to build a field house, renovate the Miners Hospital, and improve im-prove City Park. A fourth project revealed at the meeting meet-ing caused some skepticism, but the overwhelming majority ma-jority of residents said they are willing to pay higher taxes for better facilities. Murmurs of surprise could be heard throughout the room when City Council-woman Council-woman Tina Lewis suggested suggest-ed that a civic arena, estimated esti-mated at $3 million could be added to the list of proposed projects to be funded by the bond. Lewis pointed out that the arena was barely in the idea stage, but as an example, showed slides and a photo album from the Dobson Ice Arena in Vail, Colorado. The arena is used for figure skating and ice hockey, she said, and can be converted with special flooring to make room for conventions and concerts. With seating for more than 1,000 people, the facility can draw large crowds and generate revenue reve-nue through rental to various groups, she pointed out. Architect Wally Cooper detailed de-tailed plans for the renovation renova-tion of the Miners Hospital into a new city library, a project he said would take about one year and $30,000 to complete. Librarian Judy McMahon described the up-to-date equipment that could be housed in the library, including a computerized in formation network system and audio-visual aids, and said plans include the purchase pur-chase of new books and furniture. Councilwoman Lewis said the city is planning to prepare pre-pare a master plan of City Park, including landscaping around the library, resod-ding resod-ding of athletic fields, lights for the tennis courts, new restrooms, and a new playground play-ground area. "We're looking at a virtually new park," she said. "But we won't have any cost figures until we have the plan, which w e hope could be within the next month." Architect Keith Stepan told the group that his firm now is preparing working drawings for the new middle school, proposed for a 20-acre 20-acre parcel east of Park High School. Under consider- " '' V : I' ' , s v : . . . , ' - f " " : A ' '- & v.'Oiiei 'idJ -yvjii tj i: Greg Lawson Lawson replaces Watts as Commission Chairman Long-time Planning Commission Com-mission Chairman Burnis Watts stepped down from the leadership position last week to become a voting member of the board. "It's like losing an old friend, but you find new ones, "he said. Meanwhile, newly-elected chairman Greg Lawson downplayed his own promotion, promo-tion, and told The Newspaper News-paper the real story was Watts' pa -ecord of a-chievemen a-chievemen "Burnis deserves de-serves a nell of a lot of credit," Lawson said. "He's taken a lot of heat because he said the growth here needed to be evaluated carefully. "Burnis has done more things for the city than almost al-most any other man," Law-son Law-son continued. During Watts' tenure, he said, Park City has undergone trememdous changes. "He hasn't been afraid to take the unpopular position. He's been willing to stand up and say, let's be careful about development." Looking back on his years to date with the board, Watts said, "We haven't totally succeeded, but we have improved the quality of development." Watts said he was commission chairman for five consecutive years, but other sources say he served in the post for six or maybe even seven years. Watts has two more years to serve in his appointed term as a member of the commission. commis-sion. "I'll have to do some realigning re-aligning of my thinking," said Watts, since he is now a board member and not the commission's leader. "I don't have to guide the discussions dis-cussions anymore as I may have done before " Watts also said he would like to see a few long-standing developmentslike develop-mentslike the Depot project pro-ject and Norfolk completed before he leaves the commission. commis-sion. Lawson and new vice-chairman vice-chairman Mike Vance both were elected by acclamation. acclama-tion. Lawson said his new role makes him more responsible re-sponsible for the administrative administra-tive functions of the board. "I'm also charged with making sure the policies and philosophy of the Planning Commission are reflected in the staff review process." However, he added, "I don't think it's all that significant who gets stuck with leading the meetings." Under current rules, a commission member can only be elected to two one-year one-year terms as chairman. luncr ) n i eWf- (CIBOJRISJE. -H - li a t ion is a joint city-school field house project as part of the school. The city's portion would be 33,000 square feet and would cost approximately approximate-ly $1.5 million, and would include racquetball, tennis and basketball courts, gymnastics gym-nastics and weight rooms, an overhead track and locker facilities. "Now we've seen all the wonderful, beautiful things we could have here," said Mayor Jack Green. "But the horrible thought is that they have to be paid for, and it's you people who will have to pay for them." City Manager Arlene Lo-ble Lo-ble said funding the projects would require issuing a $5 million bond to be retired over a 20-year period with 10 percent interest. The $580,000 yearly payment would necessitate raising the current city mill levy by 10 mills to 21.17 mills. Property taxes would increase from about $90 a year for an older home in old town up to $250 for a Thaynes Canyon residence. resi-dence. A round of applause went up for Park Meadows resident resi-dent Steve Kloek, who said . he could save the additional $140 he would pay in property proper-ty taxes by using the new facilities instead of driving to Salt Lake for similar services. "It's the best deal Park City ever gave me besides picking up my trash," he said. While representatives from the school board, Chamber of Commerce and Park City Resort fully supported sup-ported the new arena proposal, pro-posal, others expressed concern. con-cern. "I think the library is essential," said Gini Smith. "And this could be the city's last chance to build a field house with the school dis trict. Hockev-I can t believe be-lieve it. I love hockey. But I don't know ... it seems so much at once." That thought was echoed by residents who said they feared that the three original projects would be jeopardized jeopar-dized in a bond election with the addition of the arena proposal. Other property owners commented that they were on fixed incomes or stretched to their budgetary limits, and felt unable to support any of the projects. "It's difficult to fly in the face of all this optimism," said Paula Hurd. "But I'm in a new house and it's assessed as far as it can go. and I don't care tosee my taxes go up. If you had these things when I came here, I could have decided if I could afford to live here. Now, so many of us would lose too much: too many people would be forced out of town." Loble emphasized that the City Council had made no decisions on whether a bond election will be held or what projects might be included. Another public input session will be scheduled, she said. She pointed out that the anticipated increase in property pro-perty taxes was based only on what is needed to retire a $5 million bond Residents must also realize that the school district and the fire district may raise their mill levies, as may the county and the city when budgets are set in July. "The mill levy is a function of the revenues an entity needs to generate, Loble said. "The properly tax increase in-crease could be negligible, but it's a question of what services people want. People have to decide what they want and how much they're willing to pay for it." if h The Hot Spa Luxury Soaking Salon Happy Hour Id (III p.m. -1 ()(), 2 lor the price o! 1 c cr nilu Come, treat yourself to an evening ot pleasure. Rest your weary bones and tired nuiseles in one of our i private therapeutic pools. After a hard day on the slopes or for a special end to a hectic day. nothing feels better than a good soak. You'll leave feeling like a new person. 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