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Show 1 IT" 1 f ill P TT'-L-t. JJLLVL -2 w!PJ(K5y S TTD SOT Park City, Utah 25 Vol. VIII, No. 6 Thursday, October 28, 1982 Two Sections, 28 Pages Decker parcel L oard business zone The Summit County Planning Commission Com-mission Tuesday night unanimously turned down a controversial request to zone a one-acre parcel Commercial on the edge of Highway 224. The five-to-zero vote came on the request from resident Bruce Decker before 60 to 80 residents meeting at the Parley's Park Elementary School. Citizens argued the approval would lead to a cluster of commercial along the highway, which forms the westfern gateway to the Park City area. Commercial, they said, would harm the aesthetics of the area and hinder traffic flow along the route. Decker responded that county planners have set a pattern over the last two years of approving commercial commer-cial areas close to roads. Pointing to the Silver Springs development, he said, "It has a planned parcel 65 feet from the highway, with a fast food, gas station, bank, office and retail area." The only difference, from his plot, he said, is that the parcel rests on a side road off the highway. He also said the number of small parcels along 224 was a miniscule portion of the frontage, and presented no danger of a commercial strip. Decker's parcel, now zoned agricultural, agri-cultural, is located at the highway's intersection with Old Ranch Road. Decker said he would appeal the decision to the Summit County Commission within a month. If that course failed, he said, he would take court action against the county, charging them with inconsistent planning plan-ning decisions. During discussion resident Amanda Peterson told county planners she was "vehemently, personally" opposed to commercial zoning. Peterson said she had worked on a 1980 planning study of the Snyderville area running into Park City. "The feeling of the citizens was not to spot-zone along that strip," she said. "I believe Bruce knew those sentiments senti-ments before he bought the property. If he didn't, I feel bad for him. But the aesthetics of the area should be preserved," she said. Salt Lake resident David Lyon said he knew from experience that if one commercial parcel is approved, others cannot be held back. "I've lived on Wasatch Boulevard and 33rd South, and observed the growth of a strip there one-story buildings with no planning." He said traffic turning off from commercial areas is more hazardous than traffic from residences. resi-dences. Jerry Blair from Park City's traffic firm of Wayne Van Wagoner & Associates recommended denial. At Decker's request, the firm had Where to vote Here is a list of the polling places for the Nov. 2 election: District One: Memorial Building, 427 Main St. District Two: Chateau Apres Lodge, 1299 Norfolk Ave. District Three: Prospector Athletic Club. District Five: School district office, Park City High School. District Seven: Mountain Meadow Ranch. District Ten: Pinebrook sales office. Police seek identity of body The identity of an apparent suicide victim whose skeletal remains were found Sunday near Park City is being sought by local officials. Sgt. Fred Eley of the Summit County Sheriff's Department said the bones were found Sunday on Iron Mountain by Bill Skinner, 1154 Park Ave. Skinner reported he was deer hunting in the area west of Thaynes Canyon when he came across the remains. He hiked back down to Park City, notified police, then took Eley and Park City Officers Lou Berry and Jeff Holderidge back up to the site, Eley said. "We found what appears to be a male who probably died a year ago or more. It appeared the skull had a rejects earlier developed a plan that would relieve the highway traffic by giving Decker's parcel access on a westward extension of Old Ranch Road. While still opposing the. zoning, Blair said, "You should use this plan if you do approve the parcel." Carol Calder, a Park City Planning Commissioner, said the city planners opposed the commercial zone, and invited county planners to meet with Park City on the Snyderville corriuor. Resident Sue Worley said, "A lot of us came here because we were tired of the city traffic and the signs. It may sound corny, but it's such a beautiful ride through here." In his final response, Decker said Summit County already has allowed commercial. "The only places in Snyderville you've approved it are along the roads. The weight of commercial is there," he said. He cited a list of approvals in western Summit County over the last two years, including a 7-Eleven store at the Park West resort, 300 feet from the highway; the Summit County Lumber store, 70 feet from a highway; the White Pine parcel, 55 feet from the road; the Bitner parcel, 125 feet from a road; and a Summit Park parcel 6 feet from a road. At present, he said, there are 11 small parcels along Highway 224, that would be difficult to use as residences on a busy thoroughfare. They make up less than 3 percent of the frontage on 224. To limit commercial beyond those, Decker suggested, the county could forbid larger properties from subdividing. subdivid-ing. But resident Helen Alvarez interjected, inter-jected, "You're asking them to discriminate against those properties." proper-ties." Decker also asked, "If the city planning commission opposes my parcel, why did they approve a commercial use for a gas station on the highway (across from the golf course)?" "That's not accurate," said Commissioner Commis-sioner Calder. But the meeting format did not allow her to respond fully. Park City Planner and Snyderville resident Bill Ligety took issue with the commercial properties Decker cited as precedents. Those parcels, he said, are on frontage roads or have been slotted as part of a Planned Unit Development. Develop-ment. The 7-Eleven store at ParkWest serves the residents there and has proper traffic turn-off lanes nearby. None of the parcels is directly on the highway. Said Decker, "A judge will say that's splitting hairs." The developer said he could possibly develop the property as a fast food, office building, or gas station-convenience store. bullet wound, and we found a small .32 caliber revolver with the remains," Eley said. The bones, which were scattered, were placed in a body bag with some clothing and shoes and were sent to the medical examiner's office in Salt Lake, where officials are in the process of checking dental charts of persons missing in the area the last two or three years, he said. Eley said there was no identification with the body, but speculates that the victim was in his 20s or 30s. Dental charts would be the only method of positive identification, and if the victim vic-tim were a transient, his identity may never be known, Eley said r t r fA , Would you like swing on a bar? v- w V Resort tunes up If you look on the Park City Ski Area calendar, opening day is listed as Nov. 19. But, given the antics of Mother Nature over the past few weeks, you get the feeling that estimate might even be a little conservative. Unofficial reports from the Summit House Wednesday estimate 18 inches of new snow from the storm that breezed through the area Tuesday. And long-range forecasts predict another series of showers for the weekend. If there's enough snow, Ski Area President Phil Jones says they won't wait for any predetermined date. "We may have to open on a limited basis initially, but we would definitely open. Even if the new gondola cars were not installed, we could utilize the gondola with some old and some new cars." The replacement of the gondola cars will be the most visible change at the Proposition One Tax relief or business blemder? by Rick Brough Depending on your point of view, Proposition 1 on next week's ballot is either a much-needed relief for residential homes or a scheme to soak businesses for taxes. A meeting last Thursday on all four ballot propositions, hosted by the League of Women Voters, settled into a brisk debate on the residential-tax exemption of Proposition It 1. Roger Tew, an analyst for the state's Constitutional Revision Committee, said the proposal to amend the state constitution was the result of four years study and the culmination of numerous state efforts to provide relief for taxpayers. Dale Zabriskie, from The Citizens to Save Utah Jobs, said almost the entire small-business community com-munity in Utah was opposed to Prop. H 1. Tew told the meeting that under the current state constitution, all property must be taxed at the same rate, except when exempted. (Only one such exemption exists now. A Homestead Exemption passed in 1936 allows the state to exempt $2,000 on the value of a home.) Prop. H 1 would allow the state to exempt up to 45 percent of the value on a home. Tew stressed that this would allow exemption up to 45 percent, not an automatic 45 percent increase, as some opponents have stated. So how much of an exemption will Students of the Park City School of Gymnastics display a variety of expressions while waiting their turn on the parallel bars. They are, from left, Andrea Kohler, Brook Page, Katy Moran, Melanie Shewmaker and Jeannie Richards. See story on page B2. to resort this season. The new four-passenger four-passenger cabins are expected to arrive from Switzerland beginning about Nov. 1. "The new cabins... will feature automatic opening and closing doors allowing quick, easy loading and unloading," he said. A less visible change for the 1982-83 season is the expansion of the snowmaking system. "The expansion will enable crews to make snow simultaneously at snow-guns snow-guns located on the upper portion of the mountain as well as at the base of the ski area." According to Jones, the Ski Area plans tentatively to begin snowmaking Monday, in the region of the angle station, down Treasure Hollow, and on the lower portion of Claimjumper. The goal, he said, is to allow people to ski off the mountain as early in the season as possible, rather than ride the occur? According to the official voter pamphlet, the legislature has approved a 25 percent residential-value cut tied to passage of the amendment. Zabriskie began his attack on the amendment by saying that the proposition doesn't guarantee a tax cut. Evaluation of a property is only one step of the tax process. At the second step, he reminded listeners, counties set a mill levy rate against the evaluation. If assessments go down, counties may simply compensate by hiking their mill levies. Resident Helen Alvarez suggested another possibility. Service districts that have their mill levies restricted by law may find themselves in dire financial straits. Zabriskie said an increased property tax burden will be laid on businesses. In response, they will pass along their costs to customers. Not only does a citizen end up paying the increased taxes anyway, said Zabriskie, but when he pays it in the form of more expensive products, the cost is not tax-deductible. He said the exemption will lead to a system of classification of different taxing rates for different kinds of property. Zabriskie said that in the 10 states where "classification" exists, businesses are busy jockeying for favorable legal classifications. This leads to excessive administrative and legal court costs for those states. ; I for openin gondola to the base. Veteran Park City skiers resigned to mediocre food on the mountain are in for a surprise. There are changes at every facility from the Snow Hut to the Base Cafeteria. The Summit House, to be managed by Jim Simms of Ogden Food Service, will feature an outdoor barbecue on a new deck overlooking Blue Slip Bowl. The Snow Hut will be managed by Mike Eberlein and Glenn Artist of Corner Store fame. They plan to offer specialty sandwiches, daily specials and an outdoor barbecue. The Mid-Mountain Restaurant will be under the watchful eye of Hans Fugge, formerly of the Victorian at Shadow Ridge. Fugge promises food and atmosphere with a European flair. The Base Cafeteria and the Rusty Nail Saloon will also be managed this year by Jim Simms of Ogden Food Service. Said Zabriskie, "You're going to hear that opposition to this proposal is a big-business effort. Well, you run out of big businesses real quickly in Utah. Nobody sat up in the Alta Club and decided, 'Let's oppose this.'" In response, Tew vigorously slammed Zabriskie's argument about classification. The amendment only allows the residential exemption, no further classifications, he said. Furthermore, Fur-thermore, every state in the Union has a residential exemption like the Man sentenced in moose poaching A Salt Lake City man charged with poaching a bull moose on Hi-Ute Ranch property near Kimball Junction was fined $1,000 Wednesday by Judge Larry R. Keller of Fifth Circuit Court, Coalville. Entering a guilty plea in the case was Brent Davidson of Salt Lake City, charged with unlawful taking of protected wildlife, a misdemeanor. Judge Keller also sentenced Davidson to 90 days in jail, suspended the sentence in exchange for six months probation and revoked the defendant's 'J Adjacent to the Ski Area plaza, the first phase of the Park City Village project is close to completion. Workmen Work-men are putting the finishing touches on 50 condominium units, retail space, an outdoor ice rink and a parking structure for 350 cars. The Ski Area calendar this year includes the traditional events, town races, the torchlight parade, Clown Day, plus the U.S. Ski Team Celebrity Classic and a Peugot Pro Cup race. Among the personnel changes, Robbie Lynn Beck has been appointed assistant marketing director, replacing replac-ing Laura Thomas. Lisa Smith is the new director of sales, and Pam Guy has been named international marketing market-ing assistant. On the mountain itself, skiers will find a new face at the head of the Ski Patrol. Bill Gray has been named to the position vacated by Bill Plummer. proposal. He argued passage of the amendment amend-ment will produce no dramatic decrease for residential valuation and no dramatic increase for business taxes. The reason is because the legislature passed a bill two years ago that cut valuations by 20 percent for locally-assessed property, both commercial com-mercial and residential. The bill is currently being challenged in court, based on the current constitutional requirement for tax equality. hunting license for five years. The moose was found shot, quartered and hanging from a tree Oct. 9 by Frank Rino, manager of the 5,000-acre ranch. Rino called state wildlife officials who conducted an investigation, investiga-tion, and Davidson turned himself in to authorities a few days later. The bull moose had appeared on ranch property some six months ago, taking up company with a cow moose who had inhabited the area for several years. g day |