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Show A-2 The Park Record Saturday, January 22, 2000 City: transit center is a go Leaders have faith that project money from Washington will come through in time by Jay Hamburger OF THE RECORD STAFF Park City's Old Town transit center is still a go. Uncertainty about the building's build-ing's future, which has been dogged by funding questions, was essentially put to rest as the Park City Council endorsed the city's previous decision to build the facility. During its work session on Thursday, the City Council argued that the facility is a necessary neces-sary anchor for the city's tiansit system. T support going forward with this. ' said City Councilwoman Shauna Kerr, adding that the facility will reduce the number of vehicles in the Main Street core. City Councilwoman Peg Bodell agreed. "The project needs to happen." hap-pen." she said. City Councilman Fred Jones, who as a member of the Park City Planning Commission chaired a task force to design the transit center, continued to sup-poit sup-poit the protect. He said it will be an important part of the overall transit system. "We need some provision in town to transter people from the bus to Old Town or another bus . . We need some facility." Jones said He added: "This is a project Snowbasin: The next World Cup warm weather casualty? Olympic venue resort needs a few more inches to run races; final decision on Wed. by Derek Jensen OF THE RECORD STAFF Here we go agam Two months after the first-ever first-ever cancellation of America's Opening. Park City's annual World Cup and symbolic open of the ski season, another L'tah World Cup is in jeopardy due to Lick of snow. This time it is Snowbasin. located east of Ogden. which could lose its first-ever women's downhill World Cup scheduled for early February. The report is the official downhill venue for 'he 20(12 Olympic Games. "There's no question they "What's Cooking?" is successful opening act for Sundance festival Continued from A-1 "As a young girl growing up in London. I used to think Salt Lake City was a very exotic place." she-said. she-said. The English director recalled her youthful admiration of Donny Osmond - his posters featuring featuring Salt Lake City and Prov o. "'What's Cooking'' is for me very much a film that is close to the heart." said Chadha The film follows four Los Angeles families - African American. Latino. Vietnamese and Jewish - through the trials and joys of Thanksgiving day. '"What's Cooking'.'' is verv much an attempt to look at what We are Saving a space for yOU... Send your letter or guest editorial to: Editor P.O. Box 3688 Park City. UT 84060 or editorparkrecord.com TUe Boys D03 Gr Invite you to join Hei be-Pore or fer your screening. 17? I SUeWver ive OH H PrV Gty Bus roufc Plenty 0$ fcree f rVuvg. that although is difficult ... I think is necessary if we're going to achieve a better functioning transit (system)." The City Council's decision to continue the project means City Hall needs to find the money that is needed to finish the transit center. Washington has agreed to fund SO percent of the project's cost, but the federal government has not yet released all the money necessary. The city has a letter of no prejudice' from the feds, which acts as a reimbursement reimburse-ment agreement. The project is estimated to cost 5.5 million. The city has received $5.5 million mil-lion in federal grants and Washington has pledged another Si. 7 million. Another $2.3 million mil-lion is needed from the federal government The city could meanwhile issue grant-anticipation notes, a form of debt, to fund the project. The notes would be repaid when Washington releases funds. Tom Bakaly. the city's director of capital cap-ital management and budget, said the city is potentially leaning toward issuing such notes. The City Council essentially put its faith in Washington that the rest of the money is coming. "1 guess 1 have to believe you we're going to get reimbursed one dav." Jones said. need to have some cold temperatures tempera-tures and they need some snow, but there's no World Cup site in the world that's immune to weather challenges." said Tom Kelly, vice president of public relations for the I'nited States Ski and Snowboard Association. Currently the lower half of the course is still two to three feet shy on snow while the upper half could use several more inches inch-es to be race ready. The resort didn't open until January 13 and despite some snow Thursday night, only 35 percent of the mountain's terrain is available to skiers. The problem lies in the per we mean by American." he said. Chadha brought a few of the stars in her movie, ir-.cluding big names Alfe Woodard and Julianna Margulies to the stage. "Since we've all got families and know how messed up families fami-lies can be. everyone brings experience expe-rience to the show," she said with a smile. Following the screening, stars and star-seekers headed across the street to hobnob at the opening open-ing gala as well as the AT&T (one of the festival's major sponsor's) spon-sor's) private party. These festivities were just the beginning of the independent celebration, cel-ebration, which opened in Park Citv last nieht. According to He BKhJI wou1A WVe t-o City Councilman Roger Harlan also said the city should rely on Washington's pledge. "I'm willing to take the risk." Harlan said. The funding questions triggered trig-gered the city to debate whether the project could be completed in one building season or if it should be phased over two years. When it issued a permit for the building. the Planning Commission included a no-phase clause in its approval, which was meant to avoid a drawn-out construction con-struction project. Harlan argued that the project should not be built over two years. "Do it as soon as possible and get the heck out of town." he said. The City Council reviewed several cosmetic changes in the project. While designing the building, the city found that it could accommodate extra space without changing its outside appearance. The Park City Police Departmc.it is interested in that space as a substation. The City Council leaned toward approving the extra space, but a use was not heavily debated Kerr approved of the Police Department s use. though. "1 would support a public-safety public-safety presence in there." she said. Bodell disagreed. "1 don't feel comfortable using that for a police substation." she said. sistently unseasonable temperatures. tempera-tures. For Snowbasin's snowmak-ing snowmak-ing crews to produce ample cover they would need 10-14 days of temperatures at 2S degrees or below, according to the Snowbasin race department. Warm temperatures in November also prevented Park City Mountain Resort from blowing enough snow in time for America's Opening. The drop-dead date for a decision deci-sion is Wednesday after an FIS (International Skiing Federation) representative, has a chance to examine the conditions condi-tions Iirst-lwrhJ;. "We're hopeful they'll be able to go on as scheduled," Kelly said, "but we're in a sport where there are changes and we just go with those changes." Shawn Stinson. director of communication com-munication at the Park City Chamber Bureau, lodging is up 13 percent from last year in Park City. "It's a wonderful boom for the economy here in Park City. Everyone benefits, aside from the resorts," Stinson said. He added that, although the resorts don't get as many skiers, they profit from a great deal of national and international footage. Stinson cited the Utah Economic Impact Study, which showed that the festival brought $25 million to the state of L'tah last year. Evidently. Sundance brings in cash alone with stars and dreams. ' Co" V A Blind Do Grill A SMOKE KRtt PRIVATE CLIW KIR THE BENEHT OF ITS MEMBERS lest pari on ie ROGER GLAZ'ER FAZ RECOPP Kaelee Matson, sporting the latest in on-mountain fashion, reclines near the "First Time" lift after spending hours snowboarding at Park City Mountain Resort. Legislature ready for Continued from A-1 said. "I think we were able to slip by until we saw our test scores slip below the national average." This year, the Legislature is also revisiting the state's gun laws. So far. there are about 30 proposed changes in the state's gun laws, but I re predicts only between five and 10 will eventually eventual-ly pass. "There are some loopholes we need to close." he said. The gun laws were spurred by high-profile crimes in including the shootings at the Triad Center in downtown Salt Lake City. Like education, he does not expect partisanship to muddy the debate about gun laws. The several sev-eral that are passed, he said, will find favor with Kith the GOP and Democrats ' 1 think itinrntnhe bitfs witt Continued from A-1 interest in the festival is piqued and sime locals volunteer during Sundance and do not attend many mov ies. "We have a lot ol our local customers cus-tomers who work the festival every year who frequent our section and we have a lot of people trom out of town who rent." Stewart said. bunaance stocks biocKDuster sneives Pivotal delays Promontory decision by Tim Westby OF THE RECORD STAFF Pivotal Group's deadline passed Thursday with no word on whether the development company compa-ny would go forward on the proposed pro-posed Promontory Ranch project. As of press time Friday. Rich Sonntag, project manager for the development, said he was not ready to reveal what, if any. decision deci-sion Pivotal had made. George Johnson, owner of the 6.500-acre property the de elop-ment elop-ment would be built on. did not return Park Record phone calls Friday. The development is proposed for east of U.S. 40. between 1-80 GRILL : ' sg4 ; I- iu I mm be supported by both parties." L're said. L're expects the following gun bills to be debated: Requiring proficiency training train-ing before granting a concealed-weapons concealed-weapons permit Requiring an automatic school suspension for a student who brandishes a dangerous weapon on school grounds until that student appears with a parent par-ent or guardian before a school board for punishment Enhancing sentencing so that is a person is convicted of a crime that included the use of a dangerous weapon then the person per-son cannot be paroled from a prison term Loosening restrictions in researching records before permitting per-mitting a juvenile to have a gun l're said theie are other gun bills, including legislation that would regulate jj a mentally "ijl, Helping Blockbuster. Stewart said, is the chain's desire to offer Sundance titles that do not hit it big alter the festiv al. He said Blockbuster carries some Sundance titles that are not picked up by studios. "A lot of the films that play at Sundance now come exclusively to Blockbuster if they don't get picked up." he said. and Brow ns Canyon. The Summit County Commission approved zoning for the project in late December, allowing Pivotal to build up 1.675 residential units, two hotels, five golf courses, and an equestrian center. Of the residential units. 8S5 would be estate-style homes and 790 would be smaller cottage-style cottage-style duplex and triplex-style units. Pivotal estimates the second-home resort community will cost $100 million to build. But Johnson, saying he was growing impatient with the company's com-pany's delays, told Pivotal Jan. 10 it had 10 days to make a decision. At the time, Johnson told the Park Record that Pivotal "(has to &nuA Do$ Grill brl$ ESt- - TU Pwk Record j3cst CrtocYes in 1tW - SH- UvV CVy Weetty BWl Vca Grill Is 1eOer o - S0V LW Tribune SarVtHfl Dinner 7 HiflUH a WeeV i is men i . y i gun talks person can own a gun. that are being considered The Legislature will not begin addressing issues related to the 2002 Winter Olympics until the third week of the session, l're predicts. Olympic legislation, though, will gainer interest, he said. One bill will probably address, Olymp.c finances and how venue governments, which are lacing deficits in their Olympic budgets, finance their role in 2;HC. But l're does not expect that the state will agree to release monev to offset those deficits "We don't have the money for that . . . We've got to get people in the room and talk to each other." l're said, adding that he will sponsor Olympic-finance legislation leg-islation if a consensus is reached "1 think there will be legislation at the end of the session; but f Jonl knojy what it is. 1 Even with hi many movie bulls in town. Blockbuster says its business busi-ness does not soar during Sundance. Since mtnt visitors are attending films, movie rentals are flat. "It doesn't really affect us either way. There's more people ir. town, but they're going to the movies. As far as impact to business, it's a washout." Nichols said. hold them or fold them." Adding. "I've given Pivotal more than enough time. We are all big boys. Enough is enough." Johnson also expressed hope at the time that Pivotal would follow through on it plans. Johnson originally had approval to build the Star Pointe Ranch development on the swath of land. That project consisted of 2.700 residential units and two golf courses. But in 19S. after a bitter legal fight with the Summit County Commission. Johnson entered into an agreement to sell the property and development rights, pending county approvals, to Pivotal. |