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Show Page A4 Thursday, September 17, 1987 Park Record Case-by-case proposed for hills by HEIDI WEST Record staff writer Planners proposed a radically different dif-ferent method of approving development develop-ment on Park City's hillsides Thursday Thurs-day which met with cautious approval ap-proval by two of the hillsides' larger landowners. Planning commissioners had earlier considered both downzoning the hillsides and eliminating a provision provi-sion for building high-density developments in flatter p Mons of the hills. But in the face or severe criticism of that idea oy landowners lan-downers particularly United Park City Mines (UPCM) and Park City Consolidated Mines (PCCM) Planning Plan-ning Director Myles Rademan proposed pro-posed an alternative way of controlling controll-ing future hillside development Thursday. Instead of zoning the areas at all, Rademan suggested creating a list of iteria for building in the hillside "esu.te" zone which developers would have to follow in designing the" projects. In conjunction with the criteria approach, residential development "pockets" in the estate zone would be eliminated. Currently, the estate zone allows density at a one unit per three acre level. But, it encourages development develop-ment in the flatter "residential pockets" where slopes are less than 25 percent. Inherent in the existing ordinance is the presumption that density over the entire piece of land can be transferred to these pockets. The presumption u ites two problems, pro-blems, according to planners. It encourages en-courages development on the flat ridgelines, a policy the city otherwise other-wise prohibits. And, it results in unrealistic proposals for extremely high density developments in gulleys and other less steep areas. "The presumption creates a standard stan-dard of reasonableness nobody thinks is reasonable," City Manager Arlene Loble told commissioners and city council members. It would be up to the landowner to follow the city criteria and propose appropriate hillside development under Rademan's alternative, but there would be no presumption that a certain density was due, Loble explained. ex-plained. Planners had also earlier considered con-sidered downzoning the hillsides so developers could only put one unit for each 40 acres instead of one for every three. Rademan's proposal would eliminate zoning altogether. "One in forty is a historical thing," said Rademan. "There's nothing magic about that number." Planning Commission chair, Ruth Gezelius, agreed "an arbitrary number does not make sense," and noted development in Park City may be most appropriate on the hills. "Aesthetically, hillside development may be most attractive," she noted. "I'd prefer to live on a hill." Loble added that decision-makers had to decide where new development develop-ment in Park City would take place. "If not on the hillsides, where does development go? In the floodplains?" McKay Edwards, president of PCCM, warned the decision makers "the future of the city is involved here." The kind of development they allowed on the hillsides and up the canyons and drainages which led into in-to Park City would determine whether it continued as a recreation and resort area, he said. "Up the canyons ca-nyons you have the chance for sophisticated pods of development which would continue Park City's image as a resort town. " Although Edwards said he saw "some pitfalls" in adopting a criteria-only approach to building in the estate zone and asked for "ground rules" for developing there, he did agree the criteria might serve as those ground rules. But, he noted eliminating zoning "is going to make the process extremely political." "A landowner who could just wait for the next City Council or Planning Commission is going to do better than those who don't have the time to wait for the next one, or who don't have an inside track," he said. UPCM vice president Ed Osika said he was "primarily concerned with the standards" the planners would set, but added the approach "has some very good possibilities." A Salt Lake City attorney, Edward McDunna, asked that all of the affected af-fected landowners be notified the council was considering changing the zoning on the hillsides. He represented mining claim holders on Masonic Hill, he said, and they had not known about the discussions until un-til very recently through "a casual conversation" with another large landowner. Although McDunna and UPCM attorney, at-torney, Rosemary Beless, both asked ask-ed the council to delay deciding on changes in the estate zone, Loble indicated in-dicated they needed to move ahead. "Is the fear that someone will rush in and take advantage before the changes are made," asked Beless. "Exactly," replied Loble. Commercial Park Ave. debated b HEIDI WEST Re . ord staff writer Allowing commercial uses on up-er up-er Park Ave. was under debato liursday as Park City planning commissioners and city council members met in a joint work session. ses-sion. The Historic District Commission (HDC) had considered earlier whether to allow commercial uses on upper Main St. andor upper Park Ave., as well as whether bed and breakfast inns would be appropriate ap-propriate in upper Park Ave. homes. It had recommended allowing the inns in homes with between three and seven rentable rooms under certain cer-tain conditions, allowi commercial commer-cial uses on upper Main t., but not lowing commercial uses on upp-l upp-l urk Ave. 1 Neither the idea of bed and breakfast inns in homes on upper Park Ave. (with a resident manager, kitchen facilities which only serve customers in the inn, required re-quired parking and in historic buildings only) nor commercial uses on upper Main generated controversy controver-sy at Thursday's meeting. But the idea of business on upper Park was a different story. "The HDC decided against commercial com-mercial uses on upper Park Ave. bo' se the demand for commercial e was just not there right now," i ora Seltenrich, the city's senior planner told the joint session. "Those houses are also used for employee housing." Homes on upper Main were "not a-; desirable for housing" and more suitable for commercial development, develop-ment, she said. Ron Whaley, who is both a planning plann-ing commissioner and a historic district commissioner, explained the HDC position further. "Much of lower Park Ave. was zoned to allow offices," he said. "A few years ago, it was deemed totally inappropriate." inap-propriate." The planning department has had several requests for r of ices, art galleries and boutiques jaje-located in upper Park Ave. homes, said Seltenrich. One woman in the audience told the joint session that she wished to put a boutique in a home she owned there. She said the store would be a better use for the building than renting ren-ting it. "When you have someone with a boutique or gallery, they are taking care of the building," she said. "Especially if you compare it to renting ren-ting it to ski bums who fill it with sand and throw people out the window." win-dow." Council member Kristen Rogers said she thought commercial uses on upper Park "would be better for the neighborhood." But Whaley disagreed. "I live there," he said. "It would be an abysmal failure." A commercial use might result in saving the old home from delapida-tion, delapida-tion, suggested other council members. But Whaley argued with this point as well, saying "I think you would be ruining the neighborhood to save old houses." i All managed to agree that the re cent program of redevelopment money going to fix up historic buildings in old town was a success. But City Manager Arlene Loble reminded them "you've used all that money up." The council members and commissioners com-missioners made no decision at Thursday's meeting since it was only on-ly a work session and no public hearing hear-ing on the issue had been held. No more sprinkler restrictions by HEIDI WEST Record staff writer ' Cooler weather and a drop in the need to water lawns and gardens means all water restrictions restric-tions are lifted, announced public works director Jerry Gibbs. "The use is well below the supply," sup-ply," he said, citing lots of rain, morning dew and frost, and slower plant growth than during the height of summer as reasons. The supply ide is looking cheery as well. The city has recently decided to take what it is calling its share of water from the Spiro mine tunnel, and is capable of drawing 590 gallons per minute from that single source. The Spiro water is mixed with that from Theriot Springs, and together they can put out 1,000 gallons per minute if the city needs it. Right now, though, the city doesn't need the extra water, and is doing just fine with the 1,100 gallons per minute which feeds the Judge Mine Tunnel, said Gibbs. Theriot and Spiro are "a second line of supply" and the Park Meadows well is considered backup to those sources. "We're 'in real good shape," said Gibbs. " Watering restrictions were placed on all Park City residents in early July when the city's water storage was taxed enough to cause concern over fire' fighting ability. Homeowners could only water on alternate s days, for 20 minutes per station, and during the hours of 7 p.m. to 10 a.m. Voluntary compliance was ir- s regular, and the city imposed the restrictions as mandatory a few weeks later. Fines were issued for violators in the form of an attachment at-tachment to the city water bill, i; Service was disconnected if fines were not paid. The conservation resulting from the restrictions helped the city maintain enough flow to fight even a major fire throughout . most of the summer, said Gibbs. Restrictions were officially lifted Sept. 8, but Gibbs is still "encouraging people not to over-water" over-water" just in case a heat wave returns and supplies are drained again. The Newest Name in Imports is 40 Years Old. 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