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Show mmn t Wednesday, May 17, 2000 A-2 The Park Record Hearing by Jay Hamburger Of the record staff An attorney representing the University of Utah and two representing rep-resenting the eight physicians suing the school to obtain tapes $nd documents related to another anoth-er lawsuit were told to meet and refine the issue. ' The attorneys are to report back on their progress to Third District Court Judge Robert Wilder in a telephone conference tall scheduled for late today. The physicians' attorneys nad filed motions for an injunc-iion injunc-iion and for a restraining order. Summit Water gets by Tim Westby OF THE RECORD STAFF S Summit Water Distribution Co. wants to build a treatment plant near Jeremy Ranch as part !pf its proposed East Canyon pipeline project. 1 But as the proposed plant Quadrupled in size it has failed to Jneet with approval from the jnderille Basin Planning JTommission. On Monday, Summit Water Avent before the Summit County ;Commission fo ask for an extension exten-sion of the consent agreement the 'tounty and the water company Signed a year ago. J Summit Water was also seek-jng seek-jng an amendment to its preliminary prelimi-nary site plan to allow for the Jarger building. The county originally wanted Summit Water to acquire an easement ease-ment from a neighboring property proper-ty owner for a berm that would Basin development could slow Continued from A-1 applies to all public and private water systems in the entire Basin including the proposed Promontory project, which spills into the eastern part of the county. coun-ty. The new ordinance could eventually be applied to the entire county. Doug Evans, manager of the county's Mountain Regional Water Special Service District and the primary author of the new rule called it "revolutionary." "There is ftot a county in Utah hat offers this type of program or safely, the lon fange effect of which will be protection to the current and future residents, as well as long-term fortification of our priceless water resources." Evans told the Commission while reading from a prepared statement. state-ment. The new ordinance goes beyond current state regulations and could significantly bog down development as builders wait to hae potentially costly and time-censuming time-censuming tests completed. The ordinance will impact all new developments in the Basin. Small projects with fewer than 15 connections could be subject to a scaled down version of the ordinance. ordi-nance. Deputv County Attorney Dave Thomas explained that the state only requires water wells to be tested for capacity when they are first drilled, but over time wells in -the Basin often produce less water. Thomas used an example of a well tested at 160 acre-feet a year initially. Development is then approved based on that amount. Over the next five years, the capacity of the well drops to 130 acre-feet, but the state does not require the well to be retested. Thomas used Silver Springs Water Co. as an example of a troubled company that may have more building permits lined up I 1 i-i i r T ' i y StFx' results in alleging that the University -and its subordinate University of Utah Health Network - had failed to respond to requests for documents and tape recordings under the Government Records Access Management Act (GRAMA). A package was delivered deliv-ered to Martha Amundsen Monday morning - minutes, she said, before she had to depart for the Monday hearing at the Summit County Justice Center. The University's attorney. Alar. Sullivan, told Hilder that the package answered all the GRAMA "requests with the exception of one which he called help shield the 7,800 square-foot building from Interstate 80. But the property owner refused to sell the easement. The Planning Commission wanted the building either reduced in size or dropped further fur-ther in the ground. But Summit Water's architect, Bruce Taylor, explained that the building could not be made smaller small-er or dropped more than another three feet in the ground. Taylor is a member of the Planning Commission, but has recused himself from the treatment treat-ment plan discussions, he told the County Commission. The County Commission approved both the extension and the revised site plan. But they expressed concern over the building's visual impacts. "One of the concerns I have is trving to hide growth out in the flats." said Commissioner Sheldon Richins. "You're noi than water to support them. "At least we've done something some-thing to protect those people that have pulled building permits." said Thomas. Geologist Todd Jams explained that most of the time wells are rated at the peak of capacity levels in the summer. But because the Basin is highly dependent on snowmelt to replenish replen-ish aquifers, the testing should occur in the winter when capacities capaci-ties are at their lowest. The Commissionershowed , , strong, support to .the ordinance, "in spite of the, tcpntroversy,jpd criticism it's expected to generate. i certainly think this is necessary neces-sary and we'll learn over the next six months what changes we need to make," said Commissioner Eric Schifferli. "We should have done this 10 years ago," said Commission Chair Patrick Cone. Summit Water objects Van Martin, manager of Summit Water Distribution Co., asked the Commission to slow down and form a board of water experts to write and oversee an ordinance. He added that a week "will not kill you." While he supported the general gener-al concept of the ordinance, Martin told the Commission that an independent water board could simplify the issue. "The problem is you've made it far more complicated than it needs to be," said Martin. Martin's company is the largest water company in the Basin. In recent months. Summit Water has also been a harsh critic crit-ic of the county's water policy. For their part. the Commissioners rebuffed Martin's comments. "We've got to have a starting point. We've been working on this for 10 years, this is the f:rst time we've got off first base heading toward second." said Commissioner Sheldon Richins. r meeting "overly broad." Kilder directed the meeting and report back since Amundsen and Randall Edwards, the doctors' doc-tors' attorneys, had not been able to give the package of documents docu-ments more than a few minutes' examination. The physicians - all currently fracticing at the Park City amily Health and Emergency Center are suing the University in a related suit to overturn two-year non-compete clauses in their employment contracts, among other complaints. com-plaints. more time going to totally buffer everything." every-thing." Commissioner Eric Schifferli said that extensive landscaping plan could reduce negative visual impacts. He suggested that the county require a bond to make sure the landscaping is maintained main-tained over time. Hy Saunders ith Summit Water agreed to do as much landscaping land-scaping as the county wanted. "We've never wanted to anything any-thing but the best job we can." said Saunders. "We'll landscape as much as you want and we'll replace it when it dies, if it dies." The plant will treat water brought in via the pipeline from the East Canyon Reservoir. The lake and the creek that feeds it are heavily polluted with phosphorus. phos-phorus. A coalition of property owners, own-ers, conservation groups and the Morgan County Council has sued the state to stop the pipeline. Schifferli said the county was acting quickly to head off any potential problems this summer and to avoid a rush of building applications from people attempting to vest their building rights. Even Evans took a shot in at Summit Water in his prepared statement before the Commission passed the ordinance. ordi-nance. Referring to the Summit Water's proposal to build a pipeimeom Ihe East Canyon Reservoir tit Basin, Eians sajd. y.ejarevbejter utilizing this resource and not recycling water from a polluted reservoir, the sparse headwaters of which originate in the most densely populated area of the county." A building moratoriuBs? Schifferli has said in the past that state water experts and officials offi-cials have told him that the Basin may already have exceeded its water supply. When asked afterwards if this was the equivalent of a building moratorium, Schifferli said that would depend on how much water the water companies of the Basin have. "We donl know for sure who has the water or who doesnt." he said. "I guess we'll find out." He added that some Basin water companies always claim to have enough water and then point to other companies when they run into problems. Schifferli also said that while the ordinance is a first in Utah, similar rules are common in other states. He said that Utah water officials have encouraged Summit County to pass it concurrency concur-rency ordinance for years. The 12-page ordinance requires a host of tests that may involve How metering, static well level measurements and draw down tests and total production levels. Retesting will also be required on a regular basis. J i QBGEMDS 01 MM. X 1 fc-p-Ov - mm The National Ability Center breaks ground for a new lodge that will Include a reception area, multi-use meeting rooms, administrative staff offices, a conference room and climbing wall. NAC supporters, board members and administrators gathered Thursday, May 11, for the official offi-cial start of construction. Pictured (left to right) are Alma Stewart, John Cameron, Unda Cohen, Art Roscoe, Meeche White, Steve Sala, Jim GadcHs, Rebecca Marriott Champion, Carrie Snoddy and Rich Pittam. Lodges troubled by quick tax fix Continued from A-1 "Previous City Councils have already devastated the economic engine of Main Street . . . and by God they're going to do the same thing to the lodging industry come hell or high water," Brinton said. Mike Phillips, president of the Park City Area Lodging Association, also says the transient-room tax would hurt business. busi-ness. "The potential impacts are so far reaching. There's no question whatsoever we are against any transient-room taxes," Phillips said. "If it's just to balance their budget it's an extremely poor use of transient-room tax." The city might add its own transient-room tax to one that is now levied on lodging properties. , The ,tax could "apptv to hotels, condominiums,' ' lng ir-fami!y homes . that' aro twwd lb short-term short-term visitors and bed and breakfasts. break-fasts. c It would be a maximum of one percent and would boost the taxes on room rentals from their current rate of 10.25 percent, which already includes a transient-room tax collected by the gounty that helps fund the Park Groups are interested in budget Continued from A-1 "My guess is a lot of discussion will be about the upper Park Avenue project," Bakaly said. "It's currently in the budget now. It's a change." But the Upper Park Avenue Property Association predicts about 20 from the neighborhood Sam Raddon is remembered Continued from A-1 dried; When the copy book is empty and the type's last galley is pied; We would rest at last in heaven heav-en ith nothing at all to do. But lo! There's Dad' in a OPEN 5:30 PM DAILY AND DESSERT IS ON US !!! 3 -J5CJ& - r w J 8- l PT I ml l 1 ll ll ll ll " 1 I m i ; l rL.TS'i - 1 City ChamberBureau. A .25 percent increase would net the city roughly $200,000. The straiegy. along with cuts in department budgets, is being considered con-sidered to balance the city's budget, budg-et, which now has a predicted deficit of almost SI million. The City Council is scheduled to talk about the transient-room tax during its work session at 3:45 p.m. Thursday at the Marsac Building. Last week, the City Council seemed supportive of the new tax, though. City Councilwoman Candy Erickson says she's already heard opposition. "I really thought that a small increase in the room tax wouldn't be a big deal but I've talked to three peop!e in the lodging community com-munity who are opposed to it." Erickson said. Mavor Brad Olch admits' the could trurt'the lodging community com-munity btit it would allow (he city to avoid a property-tax increase. "The last thing I want to do is raise property taxes. Whatever we do will be punitive to some group ... At this point, it looks like it has some potential," Cich said. A city transieru-room tax would hike taxes on hotel rooms will attend Thursday's meeting. Mike Guetschow, a member of the association, says the city should consider street improvements over further research for the 2002 Winter Olympics. "We'll be asking for $800,000 in this years budget so we can start the work next spring. We'll be very upset if the city lets a street sanctum starting a paper anew!" The family was pleased with the turnout at Saturday's gathering. gather-ing. "It's quite a tribute to him that so many of bis ancestors are here today ... It show you how important he was to our family," , . i FIRST RESTAURANT IN UTAH TO RECEIVE ' -1 FOUSTAIAWAID lAnD 0X1 OF TH T0r 03 USTAUIAMS IN THl C0UN71Y DESSERT i i i -4 ! tcrii.c,tTtiwriti!n!ittMHiioirrM I 1 i I ftfUiiiiWMaiiawHwjwyeidw I &prestoy27.20C0 I 4 i Rivtrhorit Cafi ? I 54 0 liaia Street i 4 9 ) 3 )4 NAN CHAUT-NOAKER PK RCO0 to a level above manv of Park Cityls mountain-resort competitor. competi-tor. Independent Park City Chamber Bureau research shows room taxes generally are between seven percent and 10 percent. Some, though, such as Snowmass. Colo., and T.'lluride. Colo., top 1 ! percent, according to the Chamber Bureau. Bill Malone, executive director of the Chamber Bureau, is warning warn-ing against the hike in the transient-room tax. "I have concern where it places us overall . . . ," Malone said. "I think it does have 3 sticker stick-er shock aspect to it. When you do go to check out. it's on top of the bill and is one of the last impressions you leave he consumer." con-sumer." He also said the state could install another transient-room tax. uppmg tfve taxes wei more, indhote1s outside of Park CfrV but in the area could stal business busi-ness because their tax rate; are lower. "I worry about a widening gap with accommodations taxes in Park City to accommodations taxes in Kimball Junction." Malone said. "1 would hate to see anybody using that as a marketing market-ing ploy." fail apart and sends (staffers) to Sydney." Guetschow said. "It needs to get fixed sooner than later." Erickson says she supports sending money to upper Park Avenue. "If I have anything to do with it. yes. I uill find the money somehow." some-how." she said. Raddon descendent Frank Hansen aid during the celebration. celebra-tion. The plaque furthers Raddon's legacy in the neighborhood. Raddon's house. 325 Park Ave still stands and was once part of historic-home tour. MM MriQu 2SC9 is ONUS" tvery aay tnroagh May 27ta y I I I I I I Poof |