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Show The Park Record Saturday, January 24, 1998 Second-home tax bill altered Festival draws international fans A-2 Two amendments take much of sting out of bill for Park City and Summit County by Bruce Lewis OF THE RECORD STAFF Senate Bill 17, a move by State Senator Dave Buhler to reduce the tax load on owners of second homes, was approved by the Utah State Senate's Revenue and Taxation Committee on Thursday. Two amendments took much of the sting out of Buhler's original proposal, according to one local official. Buhler's bill originally called for all second homes to be taxed based on 75 percent of appraised value not 100 percent as is the current status as long as the home is not rented for more than 24 days annually. Primary residences in Utah are currently taxed at 55 percent of the property's assessed value. A primary residence is defined as a resident's home for half or more of any calendar year. Committee members heard testimony from a number of witnesses, wit-nesses, including Park City Attorney Jodi Hoffman, said Joan Calder, executive director of the Park City ChamberBureau, who also attended the bill's hearings Hearings could begin Continued from A-1 wind northward into the open space surrounding the barn on the Osguthorpe Farm. At the farm itself a 10-spot parking lot has been proposed. Another trail, also proposed to be 12 feet wide, would be built from the farm's yard and run through the northeast north-east corner of the property. Vegetation is expected to be placed throughout the area. The proposed trail would cross wetlands and several members of the Parks and Recreation Board expressed concerns that the wetlands wet-lands would be harmed during Sliiers get r jsl , A SCOTT SiNEJPARK RECORD After skiing every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for two weeks at Deer Valley Resort, four- and five-year-old students from Creative Beginnings were presented with graduation certificates. Twenty-one students from the Park City school took part in this year's ski lesson les-son program, the eighth year of Creative Beginnings students skiing at Deer Valley. Isivp The bifpstgle Park City's most sophisticated, luxury apartment community, Canyon Creek is designed for those who appreciate the year round, active ambiance of Park City. Canyon Creek is a beautiful 20 minute drive from Salt Lake City. Arrive to work refreshed, having avoided the hectic city traffic; yet be close enough to enjoy the metropolitan life style. 5500 Sq Ft Clubhouse Indoor Exercise Pool Simd Volleyball Playground Aerobic Studio Scenic Walking Path Climbing Wall Thursday. "I was impressed by how thoughtfully the Senate committee commit-tee considered the potential impact of this proposal," Calder said. "I believe it was a classic case of solving one problem and creating others. They truly grappled grap-pled with the issue." "The fact of the matter is that if someone's taxes go down, somebody else's will go up," she said. "There are a number of people who are struggling to hang on to their primary home, and a tax increase for primary home owners and businesses which are taxed at the 100-percent rate would have hurt a large number of people." Calder said that Buhler's publicly-announced impact of about $38 per home in Summit County was refuted by Hoffman, who predicted a far larger impact for the county and Park City. The exchange became heated at times, Calder said, as Buhler's and Hoffman's numbers added up to differing impacts on local residents. Committee members appended append-ed two amendments to the bill: - The 25-percent exemption on construction. The project is estimated to cost $978,000, with approximately $800,000 already available for the project through Park City's capital-improvements project funding and federal transit funding through the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act. An additional $66,000 is projected to be available for the project in Park City's next budget. Where the remainder of the funding will come has yet to be determined. Construction of the parking area would require a conditional-use conditional-use permit from the Park City Planning Commission, while a Creative 900 Bitner Road Park City, UT 8016556200 1,2 & 3 Bedrooms WasherDryer hookups AttachDetach Garages Mountain Views Exercise Facility Skiing & Nightlife Minutes to the City property taxation will apply only to the first $100,000 of appraised value of each second home. Additional value over $100,000 will be taxed at the 100-percent rate. - The provision to allow the exemption to continue, even if the second home is rented for up to 24 days annually, was eliminated eliminat-ed by the committee. A second-home second-home owner will lose the 25-percent exemption on the first $100,000 valuation if the home is rented for one or more days. Left untouched was Buhler's provision that the exemption would only apply to one acre of a second-home's property; additional addi-tional acreage would continue to be taxed at the 100-percent rate. "The impact on places like Park City, Summit County and Washington County will obviously obvious-ly be much less with these changes," Calder said. "At the same time, the small-vacation-cabin owners who Senator Buhler was trying to help will also see a lighter tax bill." From this point, the bill goes to a hearing and vote by the full Utah State Senate. If it survives that vote, the bill will be forwarded forward-ed to the State House of Representatives for their consideration. in March many of the proposed improvements improve-ments to the buildings will require hearings in front of the Park City Historic District Commission. Von Puttkammer said the HDC could possibly hear the plans at a meeting scheduled for March 2. He also said the Park City Planning Commission and Park City Council will eventually provide pro-vide input to the plan. Parks and Recreation Board Chairman George Hull, though, said he would like to see the project pro-ject move forward as quickly as possible. "There is some concern to get this thing going," Hull said. Beginning DANIEL ZENDER Master Designer, Metalsmilh & Stone Inlayer of exquisite jewelry at The Crosby Collection at the Marriott Summit Watch lender will be showing pieces of Lightning Ridge Australian Opal and I4K Gold. Friday & Saturday, January 23rd & 24th -Afternoon through 8:00 p.m. Sunday, January 25-1-6 323 Main Street Park City 435.649.6522 Marriott Summit Watch Suite 1110 435.658.1813 I O I W SCOTT SiNEJPARK RECORD Yuki Sakamura who works for the Tokyo branch of the Sundance Film Festival was in town this week to see how the U.S. festival works for both the film makers and for audiences. Cinemas to Continued from A-1 films, does not rely on marketability. marketabil-ity. We're very interested in giving these films a chance," Gilmore said. Redford explained although most of the films he worked on throughout the course of his career could be considered 'independent,' he, contrary to most of the approximately approx-imately 900 independent film makers mak-ers working in the U.S. today, had the support of the mainstream. "Clearly, if you track it, the nature of independent filnvis moving mov-ing more toward -the mainstream. The body of worlds more- pol Road to 2002 Olympic venues raises environmental concerns Continued from A-1 wildlife impacts, to recreational, visual, noise, and air quality concerns. con-cerns. Slated for construction across the brush-covered land on the west side of S.R. 224 owned by Property Reserve, Inc. (PRI), BIOWEST is concerned the new road could cause negative visual impacts as it crosses the landscape and climbs the hill toward the sports park. Additionally, construction of the road itself has proven worrisome, worri-some, as nearby drainages travel toward the East Canyon Creek. Keeping sediment from the road from contaminating the drainage during construction will have to be addressed, Chanson said. There are also wetlands, springs, and seeps in the area that could be negatively impacted by the road's construction, if the process is not carefully monitored, he added. An additional concern is that the new road could impact existing feature 'indie' products ished, but not at the expense of the edgier, more raw independent films. We want to make sure the later does not slip through the cracks. Because we live in a climate cli-mate of change, we are trying to adjust to that change without altering alter-ing the original purpose. We think the Sundance Cinemas are a step in that direction," Redford said. The start-up phase of Sundance Cinemas is currently underway, with design plans and theater locations loca-tions already confirmed. Some of the cities scheduled to christen the Sundance Cinema chain are Austin, Tex., the University ..of Pennsylvania, New York,' Chicago and some locations in Canada. . wildlife, Chanson said, including elk and deer. "The aspen (grove) at the base of that ridge provides a good big game habitat, as do the springs and seeps," he said, adding that there was some concern about raptor habitats in the area, although no evidence of nests have yet been found. An important part of the environmental envi-ronmental assessment process, Chanson said, is an upcoming open house, scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 4 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Ecker Hill Middle School. During the open house, public input and suggestions regarding the road will be accepted accept-ed by BIOWEST and UDOT representatives, rep-resentatives, who will also provide information detailing conceptual designs, evaluations and project schedules through displays for interested citizens. "Officials will also be displaying display-ing information regarding three .other Olympic-related projects," Chanson noted, including the Kimball Junction interchange, C O 1 t 1 Presents: Jesse T. Hummingbird 1996 Indian Artist of the Year Creator of Old-Style Cherokee Masks. 323 Main Street Park City 435.649.6522 Marriott Summit Watch Suite 1110 435.658.1813 A Sundance Film Festival awards ceremony and party will be held at the Park City Racquet Club tonight at 7 p.m. Jurors will release their Best of Sundance pics, retiring media director Saundra Saperstein will be honored hon-ored for 17 years of service with the Film Festival and People's Choice awards will be delivered. The Sundance Film Festival documentary doc-umentary competition grand prize winning film will be shown at the Eccles Center on Sunday, Jan. 25 at 9 a.m. The dramatic grand prize winner will also be screened at the .Eccle,s Cjenter on Sunday at noon. ' For if orrnatibn, call the film festival festi-val headquarters at 645-7509. Silver Creek interchange, and S.R. 248 in Park City. The open house is an important way for officials to gather information informa-tion from the residents in the Snyderville Basin and Park City who are the most likely to be impacted by the road, he noted. While some environmental impacts still need to be effectively assessed and addressed, the actual road construction is necessary and must begin soon in order for it to be completed by 2002, Chanson said. "We would like to assist in designing a road that is environmentally environ-mentally complimentary to the area," he said, adding, however, that "the importance here is to meet those Olympic needs, and to do so with an expedited time schedule." The Ecker Hill Middle School is located at 2465 Kilby Road off the Jeremy Ranch 1-80 exit north of Park City. Because of the open house format, residents and concerned con-cerned individuals can attend at any time from 5 p.m until 8 p.m., Chanson said. 1 TV CRSBY I S C t 1 fl': Jesse Hummingbird, International Artist of the Year, will be present at the showing of his work at : The Marriot Summit Watch FrL&Sat., Jan. 23 & 24 from the afternoon through 8 pm Sun., Jan. 25 1 pm - 6 pm I POOR |