OCR Text |
Show lMtilj Art Festival Souvenir Edition a guide to art, food, music and more! 4 "fSSl" rrwr 4v iipycBwsipaanDCBD0 iJD ' 1L Park City, Utah 25 Vol. VII, No. 46 Thursday, August 5, 1982 Three Sections. 56 Pages I . , 1 Vm K " rill The Thomas flair State forms committee for timeshare rales A special timeshare committee has been formed by the Utah Real Estate Division of the Department of Business Regulation to draft legislation regulating regulat-ing timeshare sales in the state. Currently, there are no specific state laws governing timeshare sales in Utah, although parts of the existing Uniform Condominium Ownership Act overlap into the timeshare area, according to Stephen J. Francis, director of the division. "We fell a need exists for legislation to protect the public, and developers in the timeshare industry are being very supportive of this approach," Francis said. Serving on the state-wide committee will be Bill Coleman of Coleman Land Co., a member of the Park City Council, and Bill Ligety, planning director for Park City. Timesharing, a concept of resort ownership whereby condominium units are shared by more than one owner, is expected to grow in popularity both in Utah and nationwide. nation-wide. Timeshare sales are expected to total more than $2 billion nationwide by the end of 1982. There are two types of timeshare generally available fee ownership, or equity share, and right-to-use. Under the former, a consumer receives a deeded interest in a unit for a week or more of annual use. In right-to-use, title is retained by the owner of the project and the buyer receives the right of use for a specific period, perhaps from five to 40 years. Francis said the new committee, made up of city planners, lawyers, consumers, developers and realtors, has been charged with protection of the consumer as well as developing an understandable and enforceable package pack-age of legislation. The committee, headed by Harry E. McCoy II, attorney and partner in the firm of Fox, Edwards and Gardiner of Salt Lake City, will be looking into such areas as rights of recision, disclosure of exclusive privileges, management agreements, title to property and disclosure of release clauses, Francis said. Possible legislation also would govern common expense estimates, budget proposals and non-disturbance clauses. The latter area involves determining whether liens can be placed on an entire property for Gymnast Kurt Thomas, three-time world champion and ABC commentator com-mentator for Wide World of Sports, was caught horsing around in Park City. Thomas, 26, now a professional gymnist, entertained and enchanted his audience at the national convention of Forever Living Products, Inc. Monday at the Grub Steak. non-payment of taxes by one owner. Pre-sale escrow requirements also will be discussed, Francis said. McCoy, who will be assigning specific issues to individual committee members, is a graduate of the University of Utah College of Law and is a member of the timeshare subcommittee of the Real Property Section of the American Bar Association. Associa-tion. He is a frequent speaker at timeshare conventions and formerly served as an assistant Utah attorney general and head of the first Consumer Protection Division of that office. Also on the committee are Francis, Eueda McCoy, director of the Utah Trade Commission, and Kent Walgren, administrative law judge with the Department of Business Regulation. Representing timeshare and real estate are William Pulsipher, local timeshare developer; Kirk Dowdle of Prowswood Realty and Mike Kordecki of Jeremy Ranch. Also serving are Greg Johnson of Richards-Woodbury Mortgage Corp., representing lenders, and attorneys Steven Ingleby, Jeffrey Swinton and Weber Basin to Intended litigation over rights to water flowing out of the Spiro Tunnel is expected to become a long, complicated complica-ted battle among geologists as well as governmental entities and water users. Keith Jensen, manager of the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District challenging Salt Lake City's right to Spiro water, said the litigation ultmately will determine where Spiro water would have flowed, had the tunnel never been built. "It will be a battle of geological information and opinions like deciding decid-ing whether John Hinckley is sane," he said. The Weber district board voted Friday to challenge the state water engineer's recent ruling that Salt Lake City is entitled to 60 percent of the water beyond the tunnel's 6,600-foot station. That ruling upheld a 1974 court decision awarding Salt Lake the 60 percent, and United Park City Mines 40 a David K. Robinson of Salt Lake City and Russell Gallian of St. George. "We have a tine committee with definite areas of expertise. I'm confident the committee will come up with some quality, enforceable legislation," legisla-tion," Francis said. The group also will be studying other state codes regulating regulat-ing the timeshare industry. It is hoped, he said, that the committee will come up with recommended recom-mended legislation by November 1 so a legislative sponsor can introduce the regulations in the 1983 session of the Utah State Legislature. Francis added that many of the larger timeshare developers are anxious for state regulations of the industry to protect consumers from smaller, less responsible timeshare sales companies. Timesharing was pioneered in Utah by developers of projects at Bear Lake and in Little Cottonwood Canyon. It is now available in urban timesharing form in downtown Salt Lake City, as well as in Park City, Big Cottonwood Canyon and other Intermountain resort areas. percent. The decision was a preliminary victory for Park City, which had filed the change application asking the state to approve its plan to purchase Spiro Tunnel water from Salt Lake. Approval Approv-al of that application had the potential of virtually doubling Park City's water supply. The new water, to be purchased from Salt Lake under a 25-year lease plan, is, or would be, Park City's cushion for new development. Jensen said the Weber district's action would come in two parts first, to ask the court to void the change application ruling by Dee C. Hansen of the state Division of Water Rights, and second, to determine the validity of Salt Lake's right to the water. The Weber district suit, Jensen explained, will claim under state forfeiture statutes that neither Salt Lake nor United Park City Mines has a right to the water because they have Is commercial stop coming to Elighway 224? Next week's county planning meeting may shape up as a battle between be-tween two property owners seeking commercial zoning on U-224, and local critics who say more commercial on the highway will turn it into a "State Street strip" of businesses. (See Editorial, Page A2.) The August 10 meeting at the Coalville Courthouse will hear two separate applications from Bruce Decker, who owns a 910-acre parcel on the west side of the highway opposite op-posite Old Ranch Road; and Mike Ivers, who owns a 4'2-acre parcel on the west, adjacent to the White Pine Canyon Road. Both are presently seeking an amendment to the Master Plan to allow additional commercial development in the county. (The commission would consider specific approvals later to zone the parcels commercial.) Ivers, a member of the commission, has said he will abstain from voting on the matter, and probably will not participate in discussion. Park City Planner Bill Ligety warned warn-ed the approvals will encourage more businesses along the highway, which will hamper traffic flow. County Planner Plan-ner Stan Strebel said the approval, "Would be committing U-224 to commercial. com-mercial. If there are no restrictions, at what point do you stop it? " Strebel said the Master Plan now commits commercial businesses to certain nodal areas, like major commercial com-mercial areas (ParkWest, Jeremy Ranch) or central intersections (Kimball (Kim-ball Junction, Silver Creek) . Decker told The Newspaper his parcel, par-cel, now zoned Agricultural, is appropriate ap-propriate for commercial use because Old Ranch Road will be a major intersection. inter-section. Decker said he recently bought the parcel for the purpose of commercial development. "It's too Council says Pay only flat fee for June water bill Remember that story we had on the front page last week about the plan the city was offering to reduce your high water bills? Well, forget that one. Here's a new and better offer. When public hearings were held in the spring on the new rate schedule for the metered water system, everyone knew their monthly bills were going to go up. But since water consumption had never been calculated before, challenge Spiro water use never used it. Further, he said, the suit will claim that all water now flowing out of the tunnel originally flowed into East Canyon and ultimately into the Weber River system. Weber River users secured rights to that water back in the late 1800s, the district claims. The board further believes that "any time that water is taken and used upstream, Weber users suffer," Jensen Jen-sen said. Salt Lake's sale of the water to Park City means Spiro water is not entering the Webe- River system as it would if it flowed naturally, he added. The "use or lose" issue between Salt Lake City and Weber River users could go on for several years. Jensen believes it will be at least a year or two in the state district court, and could possibly end up in the State Supreme Court. Such is often the case he said, "any time water rights are involved." Attorney Edwin Skeen has been the regular attorney for the Weber water district, but a special counsel will be small for agriculture and too close to the highway for residential," he said. Decker said he has received offers to develop as (a) a gas station (b) motel (c) office building or (d) restaurant. Ivers' property also zoned agricultural, is next to White Pine Canyon Road the gateway she said, to the White Pine resort which will emerge in the next 10 years. (The canyon road is at the point where U-224, U-224, south of ParkWest, takes a sharp turn to the southeast.) The project, possibly an office building or duplex, would access on the canyon road. In addition, the White Pine road would be realigned from its present 45-degree angle against the highway to 90 degrees to conform to state law. "We set up the Master Plan so it could be changed according to need," said Ivers. "And this highway is destined to be four-lanes. I don't think my project will have much impact." He said that he did not favor strip commercial. "It should be only at major intersections. Planner Ligety responded that business will create a traffic problem. Cars turning off the road to shop or coming back on, create what is called "side friction." "A lot of commercial parcels, and the highway ceases to function," said Ligety. Even small commercial uses now existing, like Raggedy Ann & Andy, create a little problem. Approve one parcel, he said, and it would lead to others. "If you approve Decker, then someone else asks, 'Can I build next to Decker?'" he said. The small parcels along the highway don't have to be businesses. "Many homes in Park City are built on less than one acre," he said. The Decker development, he said, would be an additional burden to the residents didn't really know quite what to expect. So city officials said a sample billing showing a month's water usage and the new rate would be sent to all residents so that they could reduce their consumption before the "real" bills were sent. Because there were still some glitches in the new system, that sample bill was never sent. And some residents were caught off guard when selected to handle the imminent suit. Jensen said the selection of the special counsel would be initiated this week. The Spiro Tunnel, once used for mining access, now houses a 12-inch pipeline designed to carry water from almost three miles inside the mountains moun-tains to Park City. Since the state ruling two weeks ago, Park City has been making repairs inside the tunnel and installing measuring devices in preparation for turning the water into the local system. Neither Jensen nor Skeen could confirm whether the pending filings would include a request for an injunction against Park City's use of the Spiro water during the litigation process. That decision, Skeen said, would be made by the special attorney. Water originating in the first 6,600 feet of the tunnel already is owned by Weber River users. The 40 percent beyond that awarded to United Park City Mines was deeded to Deer Valley, traffic problems at the Old Ranch intersection. in-tersection. Ligety recommended three uses for commercial in the area. (1) A development near an intersection, like the proposed Landmark Mall at Kimball Kim-ball Junction, can serve visitors. (2) Subdivisions can have commercial parcels inside their area. (3) When sport areas attract commercial, he said, the business should be clustered near the resort, not on the highway as Ivers proposes. "The cluster makes it more of a village facility. You concentrate concen-trate commerce where people concentrate," concen-trate," he said. Decker, in response, said there is a demand for more commercial along the highway. "If there's all this available business space, why are people asking for more?" he asked. "It's a matter of public convenience whether you can just pull off the highway high-way for gas, or you have to drive up to the mountains for it." Commercial strips don't have to be bad. "A strip can look junky or look great," said Decker. The Main Street businesses could be as objectionable as a highway strip. "I could say Main Street spoils the appeal of Park City. I don't like the bar noise, but those people have a right to do that. "Park City has lost sight of the fact that people have a right to their property," proper-ty," he said. "Here, a committee can tell you what to do with your land." Park City critics, he added, may also fear losing the city's sales tax base to business on the highway. County Planner Strebel added one last point: It may be tricky deciding if a particular parcel can be considered part of a large commercial node. "It'll be a judgment call," he said. The Aug. 10 meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Coalville. they received their first new bill at the end of July. While the majority of people in town fell within the usage predicted by Dale Berg of Community Consultants, who helped design the rate structure, a small percentage was aghast at their bills, some of which ran as high as $100 for a single month. Those high users, said City Manager Arlene Water to A3 which turned it over to Park City in exchange for water service to the new resort. That 40 percent also will be challenged on the basis of non-use. Exact figures on how much water comes out of the first 6,600 feet of the tunnel aren't known, but the vast majority of Spiro water originates beyond that point, Jensen said. Tom Clyde, attorney for Park City Municipal Corp., said Park City would not be directly involved in the litgation. It is up to Salt Lake City to defend its ownership of Spiro water rights, but Park City would, however, intervene in the case to make known its claims. Representing the city in that move would be Salt Lake Attorney Joe Novak, a Park City native. Other entities joining as plaintiffs with the Weber Basin district will be Davis and Weber Canal Company, the Weber River Water Users Association and smaller irrigation companies, Jensen said. |