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Show Wasatch PAGE 10 for News County’s Source JULY 13, 1999 Deer Crest: Courier Editorial The Real Story Midway Should Annex Bonanza Flats Park City’s Development Agreement: with United Park City Mines and Deer Valley has sealed the fate of the ver wonder why Wasatch County would willingly let Park City annex a valuable piece of county property like Deer Crest? The story is long but the answer is short: money, ‘Bonanza Flats area of Wasatch County. In a perfect world Bonanza Flats would remain pristine and undeveloped. Midway City came close to accomplishing that goal when they proved that the developer had no water. . Without.water there is no development. However when Park City agreed to provide water and sewer from their side of the basin the fix was in. | Given Wasatch County’s proclivity to give away parts of the county you can bet the farm that Bonanza Flats will be developed and annexed into Park City. The developer sells its land, Wasatch County gets the property taxes, Park City gets the municipal taxes, and Midway gets the impact. What a lots of money. | 7 building permit for the lower sta- tion of the funicu- In the early 1990s there was a lawsuit between Park City and Trans-Wasatch, the developer of Deer Crest. It appears that Trans-Wasatch sued Park City because Park City would not give them the building permits they needed to build a funic- Park City. In 1995 Park ular railway from Deer Crest to Park City. This City lar railway that s located and By Sam ALLEN in Courier Pouca Cotumaisr Trans- funicular railway, or cog railway capable of climbing steep grades, would transport residents Wasatch settled their lawsuit. As part of that from Snow Park Lodge in Park City into the Deer traffic on Keetley Road and apply for the annexation of a part of the Deer Crest development into Crest development in Wasatch County. sweet deal for Midway. Keetley Road connection, Park City withheld the agreement Trans-Wasatch agreed to block thru- Park City. In return, Trans-Wasatch got the buildWithout this connection into Park City, the There is a way Midway could at least have some say in its ing permits they needed in order to proceed with lots the developers wanted to sell would not have own future--by annexing Bonanza Flats. Like it or not, development. Since Park City traditionally been worth as much. As a result, Trans-Wasatch Midway is already a resort city. The Homestead, Zermatt, The approves higher density developments than probably would not have developed the property. Wasatch County, Trans-Wasatch was also able to Inn on the Creek are already built or under construction. Without this development, the assessed values of build more units. More resorts are planned. Adding one more resort isn’t Eos. the properties would not be as great and Wasatch In return, Park City got a whole boatload of County would have gotten far fewer tax revenues. to change the character of the town. tax revenues that it would not have otherwise Park City would not give Trans-Wasatch the | There are positive gains to be made by annexing Bonanza received. About $25 million over ten years. Most permit they needed because they objected to Flats. In addition to having a say in the planning and execuof these revenues come from taxes such as resort another element of the developer’s master plan. tion of the development, Midway stands to gain a much needand municipality transient room taxes that Specifically, Trans-Wasatch wanted to use a ed tax base. Park City expects to gain 25 million dollars over Wasatch County would not eae = oe to Wasatch County road, Keetley Road, as their ten years by annexing ‘Deer Crest. Midway could peanize a impose anyway. » ae main connection into Park City. Park City similar windfall. The County still gets to impose and ‘Collect claimed that the developers should not be allowed property taxes on the Deer Crest development but Everyone in the valley gains if the residents and tourists of — to use Keetley Road because it emptied into a it must also provide emergency services. As per ~~ small subdivision that could not handle the heavy ‘Bonanza Flats spend their money in the Heber Valley rather : the annexation agreement, Wasatch County must traffic. than Park City. If development is inevitable, and it is,.better to get our share than watch all that money drain back into 3 3 ee Park City. In order to force Trans- Wasatch to ‘stop its see DEER CREST on page 13 J Lid LAA EOP TE ERT) LL peboelbeshiel La Sodlldhy COURIER _“T just work at Twist.” CARROLL | tbtatat est ae Pree hve eeatncninteneeacennispnen GOLDSMITH es epetare DARYLE La EMILY ROUNES @ mre peepee WALKER MICHAEL — Oe Aig BRIAN | Sk ort a es % ar te tyteratet eters : Pet » Peetatst : “How would you feel about Wasatch County converting to full- time -county commissioners? “Tt would really help. ap eye Bo because of the growth. a J - TORI PROBST (R) anything about it.” ~ “I dont really know — “I’m so not political. because I dont fe eerie? eS dont even care. LR A AI Dye L, county commi y, Wasatch County employs three part- -time ramifications ofitall.” ore Wor | pues david MAISEY Pre = Something To Smile About! Have a topic you would like to see discussed? Call The Tell us. asatch County Courier at 654-2661. 654-4009 midway 783-CARE kamas Se See ~ |