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Show Page A2 Thursday, September 14, 1989 Park Record Nightly rental debate continues The Way We Were PROSPECTOR from A1 important role in his supporting nightly rentals. Stevens said he had purchased his home in 1981 for $141,000. "I couldn't get anyone to even look at it for $125,000 a few years ago when I tried to sell it," he said. Although most homes in Park City had lost value over the same period of time, Prospector had been particularly par-ticularly hard hit, he said. Others in the audience agreed. Winn said residents had had to deal with "the EPA (Environmental Protection Pro-tection Agency) bureaucracy, to fight banks to get loans, had been through a period of inadequate signs and still had too few street lights." Stevens and Winn both argued they should be allowed to reach the maximum economic potential their homes offered, particularly since nightly rentals would allow them to live in their property for part of the year. Stevens said he had been ap Liquor legislation is considered LIQUOR from A1 those receiving the most discussion included: (1) Should this association support legislation eliminating the use of mini-bottles in private clubs? (2) Should private clubs be prohibited pro-hibited from advertising except on premise and in direct mail to members? and (3) Should the cap on dram shop liability be lifted? A year ago 94 percent of club owners wanted to eliminate the mini-bottle from Utah bars. According Accor-ding to Beck many of those attitudes have since changed because of additional addi-tional stipulations (i.e. metered guns) recommended by the task force, If the mini-bottle is eliminated, the task force recommends the state's clubs be required to use metering devices as a form of liquor-pour control. con-trol. Systems would only allow one ounce of liquor to be poured at one time. Currently, under the present mini-bottle system, customers receive two ounces of liquor a drink which has been called "the biggest drink in America." The metering system would hamper a number of mixed drinks, including what one club owner called call-ed the "one-ounce martini." The club owner said the one-ounce system was "totally absurd," making mak-ing Utah the "laughing stock" in Bonds earn $97,000.. by HEIDI WEST Record staff writer Interest collected to date on the $1.4 million in bonds issued to fund improvements to the city's Racquet Club was allocated for additional changes Thursday by council members. The bonds have earned $97,000 interest in-terest so far, but $15,500 of that will go to cover changes and contingencies contingen-cies the city has already implemented. im-plemented. Staff suggested several projects for council members to consider con-sider in spending the remaining $81,500, and nearly all were approved. approv-ed. City Manager Toby Ross led the council through the list of additional changes the staff felt most necessary. Most had two price tagsone to do the minimum and one to make the job complete. The final list approved by the council included resurfacing the indoor in-door tennis courts ($12,000), painting the south roof ($8,000), a new pool building and equipment ($26,500), some remodeling and furniture for the foyer ($12,000), signage ($8,000), cleaning and repainting the existing building inside ($4,500) and contingencies. con-tingencies. A suggestion by staff to build a new hot tub for $14,000 was unanimously voted down, but was the subject of much discussion. Last winter, the city used its outdoor out-door swimming pool as a hot tub because so many visitors requested it. The city has a small indoor hot tub which could not accommodate the demand, explained Bob Johnston, Leisure Services director. When asked whether the pool could be used this winter instead of spending the money on a new outdoor out-door spa, Johnston replied it could, but that the equipment would suffer. "Now that we're operating during the winter, we are having more and more problems with the pool," he told the council. Johnston added that operating the pool as a hot tub did not cost the city money in the short run, since admission to use it offset the cost of heating. Council Member Jim Santy indicated in-dicated he would like the city to continue con-tinue to use the pool as a winter spa, and asked that the $14,000 for a new hot tub be instead spent on proached by a property management manage-ment firm to rent his home on a short-term basis for 60 days in 1990. That would gross $12,000, he said, and would cover most of his mortgage. mor-tgage. Other residents argued economics should not be the determining factor when it comes to a vote. Eric Nelson sided with the Park City planning staff that allowing nightly rentals in Prospector Village would remove lower cost employee rentals from the market. "We need that kind of housing in Park City," said Nelson. But Winn said that argument was "totally objectionable. Is the city asking Ridgeview or Park Meadows to do something to lower their property pro-perty values so employees and moderate income people can live there?" he asked, "...it seems unfair for Prospector Village to shoulder all the liability for these issues." Winn did agree with his opposition that he, too would like to see Prospector Pro-spector Village become a single family subdivision like those he named, but he said "it is not meant comparison to other states. The task force believes eliminating the mini-bottle will "result in decreased liquor consumption." con-sumption." Mini-bottles are currently current-ly being used only in Utah, South Carolina and on airlines and railways. Although some club owners have been concerned with the additional expense metering systems would entail, en-tail, Beck said systems could be purchased pur-chased for as little as $1,000. Recommendations asking for a ban on advertising is "one of the biggest big-gest reasons for concern," according accor-ding to Gary Lawton, owner of The Club Alamo. In response to association associa-tion members who don't currently use advertising (i.e. fraternal clubs and country clubs), Lawton said they should support the freedom to advertise anyway. "If this passes and somewhere down the road you have a need to advertise, understand it's not going to happen. We've got to leave this open. You've got to have a chance to advertise," he said. Other club owners agreed, claiming claim-ing advertising was a basic "freedom." One owner said it "is ridiculous to vote for more laws against the private club. We have enough of laws right now. Why vote for more?" Some club owners expressed concern con-cern for the cap being lifted off dram shop liability. The law currently upgrading pool equipment. Audience members agreed, with one noting the pool could be used for laps and aquatic aerobics during the winter if it was kept heated. Amanda Peterson, who served on the original Racquet Gub advisory board to the council, said she "questioned "ques-tioned the need for this new hot tub," since she had been told the club was not trying to compete with other businesses in town. "There are eight billion hot tubs in the community," com-munity," she said. Council Member Brad Olch asked how many people used the pool during dur-ing the winter, and Johnston replied an average of 12 per day. Council member Kristen Rogers questioned whether it was worth either heating the pool or creating a new spa for 12 people a day, and was told the city expected more use of the pool this, winter as word got out. Council members then agreed to nix the idea of a new hot tub and put the money toward new pool equipment equip-ment and a building to store it. They also added $4,500 to paint the interior of the existing club in response to a comment by the city's tennis pro, Mark Jensen. Jensen said the new foyer would make "an excellent presentation" when people entered the club. That presentation "should continue into the courts," he noted. Besides painting the court walls, Wasatch wants If Park City decides not to tackle the bobsled and luge events for the 1998 Winter Olympics, Olym-pics, Wasatch County has announced an-nounced they'd be more than willing will-ing to play host. Pete Coleman, Wasatch County Commissioner and member of the State Olympics Organizing Committee and the Olympics for Utah Committee reported that Park City officials "told him they have as much as they can handle with the cross-country, Jumping and slalom events" according to The Wasatch Wave. Wasatch County is second in line to host the bobsled and luge events. According to Coleman the most to be an exclusively single family zone and never will be. Legislation, zoning, as a matter of fact anything short of a bulldozer won't make it that way." Those in support of the zone change admonished the council to pay attention to the fact that most property owners wanted it. Tom Shellenberger, a council member at the time the 1986 nightly zoning ordinance or-dinance was originally passed, reminded them the vote "almost went the other way" and made nightly rentals legal without a sunset clause. The ordinance his council finally passed allowed the city ci-ty to deny a zone change, but only if there were planning considerations preventing it. "I haven't heard any of that," he said. "I think it's overwhelming the numbers Winnie (Dr. Winn) has," he said. "I don't see how you can vote any other way." The council is scheduled to discuss the zone change at a work session Sept. 14 at 5 p.m. A formal vote will be taken at the 6 p.m. session. holds clubs responsible for the amount of liquor a person drinks and a potential accident which could occur oc-cur once they leave the establishment. establish-ment. There is currently a ceiling of $100,000 per occurrence and $300,000 in the aggregate if dram shop is imposed. im-posed. The task force recommends these caps be lifted because "a ceiling ceil-ing on damages may result in an innocent in-nocent injured person not being fully compensated for damages caused by an intoxicated person." Currently, six states including Utah, have statutory ceilings on damages. Such limitations have been found unconstitutional in some states because courts have found you can not put a limit on pain and suffering. Some clubs argue insurance would be difficult to acquire if such caps were lifted. Although survey results won't be tallied until next month, those in at-tendence at-tendence seemed to agree "the grey area" of the recommendations could potentially do the most damage to their businesses. "It's going to be interpretation. That's the scary part," said Bob Sl-ingerland. Sl-ingerland. "We've had a chance to input for years. But the reality of that is these recommendations are the things the Legislature is going to vote on." Survey results will be presented to the Legislature before legislation begins in November. the council agreed to spend $12,000 to resurface the floors. Council Member Brad Olch said the city should "develop a floor standard to minimize floor damage from special events if we are going to spend $12,000 to resurface them." Johnston replied it would be "expensive and not readily available" to buy floor covering, but added he had been looking into it. He was asking those people who had booked the club for a special event to use astro-turf and plywood to cover the floor now, but said better material might be available. "That's going to take more research," he said. An expenditure questioned by the council was the $140,000 set aside for landscaping. Although originally to be financed through bond money, the city has decided to pay for this "initial" landscaping phase out of impact fees (collected from builders as a "tax" on new construction). Ross indicated the city estimated it would ultimately need $225,000 to completely landscape the club, but would spend only $140,000 this year for "necessary" items, such as lighting and fencing. Other items the staff indicated would need financing in years to come included resurfacing the existing ex-isting parking lot ($10,500) and replacing the lighting on the inside tennis courts ($43,000). in on Olympics likely location would be the Snake Creek area of Wasatch Mountain State Park. He said a study is currently being conducted to determine the possibility of a tramway connecting Cottonwood Canyon and Park City. If Wasatch is chosen, construction construc-tion must begin within two years. Although the International Olympic Olym-pic Committee will not announce the final candidate for the '98 Games until 1992, Utah would have to build sites to establish a permanent North American training facility, granted Utah residents pass a funding referendum referen-dum in November. h V i i fr China Mary When the railroad could no longer employ the Chinese who had come to this country to make money for their impoverished im-poverished relatives at home, many stayed on in Park City and other similar communities. China Mary (Ah Yuen) was one of a handful of Chinese women living in Park City during the 1880s. Widely known for her beauty and ability to speak fluent English, she owned and operated a China shop on lower Park Avenue. She married three times to wealthy Chinese men. She gambled away her fortune and died in poverty on Jan. 13, 1939 in Evanston, Wyom ing. It is said she was between 104 and 110 when she died. Photos courtesy of the Park City Museum. Park City Water Consumption cifl m ill II iiiim JJ f production 4.1 Water consumption over the production by close to 3,000 mer isn't over yet. The need ever, especially if we have a dry fall. Remember the odd-even odd-even watering schedule and take care not to overwater. " ''MY-.: Kr ,. limnMi. ftl. .1BMy ftiv:.. consumption 4.2 past week exceeded water gallons or 101 percent. Sum to conserve is greater than P ' I tf7. V Xv' X ( V V i V i J STAFF Publisher Andy Bcrnlurd Editor TeriOrr Staffwrhert Ion Ccotj, mnifcr Mlgk, Miu Taylor, Heidi Weft Production manager Jennifer Madgic Photography. David Schuhi 1 Contributing writerl Rick B rough. Torn Clyde eaKummer Office manager Swan Davit Circulation manager Sutan Davit ClaMlAed manager Kim Rudman Adverlhlrn manager Pamela Halimvorth AdvertMngtalei Tom Lent Graphic! VvonneThornpton Distribution Myton Framoton Cartoonlrtt .P. Man The Park Record (USPS 0037-8370) is published weekly by the Diversified Suburban Newspapers. Second-class postage in Park City, UT. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Park Record, 1670 Bonanza Dr., Box 3688, Park City, UT 84060. Entered as second-class matter, May 25, 1977, at the post office in Park City, UT 84060, under the Act of March 3, 1897. Published every Thursday. |