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Show A-6 Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, October 24-27, 2020 The Park Record Hideout annexation caps unusual saga U C Designs by Knight A Fine Jewelry Boutique County, town have different aims for process, project Think ahead! ANALYSIS ALEXANDER CRAMER The Park Record remodel old jewels to fresh new designs 1662 Bonanza Dr. Suite 3A Park City, UT 435.649.2005 www.bkjewels.com In late 2019, Nate Brockbank and Josh Romney submitted an application to Summit County to develop land on Richardson Flat, but the proposal never made meaningful progress through the county’s vetting process and now lies dormant. In the ongoing Hideout annexation saga, that detail didn’t receive as much scrutiny as did the commotion, lawsuits and name-calling from officials. But if the application had proceeded through Summit County’s planning process, the future of Richardson Flat would likely have been very different. 434 Main Street Park City, Utah 435-655-9505 www.purplesageparkcity.com Thank You Park City! The support and trust we have received from the local community this summer and fall has been overwhelming. There were many nights when we couldn’t seat you all. We are truly honored to serve you and be a part of this community. We will be closing for our normal fall break October 25th to November 23rd. Please check our social media pages for updates, info on opening specials, and what exactly we will be doing to keep your indoor dining experience safe when you come to join us for dinner. Until we see you again please stay safe, wash your hands, and wear a mask. We love you Park City! Get 53% Off the newsstand price when you subscribe! For an in-county rate of only $56 a year, you can save 53% from the newsstand and receive: Instead of the long, deliberate development approval process in Summit County that often appears to be an uphill battle for developers and can take years, Hideout’s approval of the Richardson Flat project took months. And, though the rough concept was long in place, the details only came together in the final days. Through it all, with the specter of tens of millions of dollars of environmental cleanup just feet from the proposed new town center, the developer’s attorney played a commanding role in the deliberations. He has decades of experience in seeking and winning development approvals and claimed multiple times to have written parts of the state code that apply to how land is used. The agreement the town entered into with the developer last week may have repercussions that reverberate for decades. Other similar agreements are routinely debated in lawsuits and this document may well be scrutinized by lawyers in the future who are working for clients trying to eke out as much value as they can from Richardson Flat. Only time will tell the quality of the project the town secured for itself, the strength of its protections against financial liability and the unity of vision between a developer seeking residential development and a town desperate for businesses. If the project ultimately is built — something that is not assured, given pending lawsuits and a possible referendum — the final result is certain to be different than if that 2019 application was still winding its way through the county’s planning office. Hideout’s annexation and its strange beginnings Hideout’s annexation of hundreds of acres of Richardson Flat was unusual from the start. It was born of seemingly tailor-made legislation passed on the last night of the Legislature’s general session in March that has since been repealed. No one at Summit County seemed to notice the change in state code, or what it meant, until a July meeting when the Wasatch County town revealed it wanted to control land within Summit County’s borders. The County Council has a lobbyist on retainer, it receives regular updates about the Legislature and county officials frequent the capitol during the general session. Still, the legislation slipped by. Hideout town councilors unveiled the plan to annex the land for the first time in July and voted to begin the process after minimal discussion and public comment. A 4th District Court judge later indicated the lack of meaningful dialogue in that meeting, along with other possible open meetings law violations related to providing notice of the meeting, played a role in her decision to bar the town from operating under the agreement passed that day. The town restarted its annexation bid after that court ruling and a botched virtual public hearing, and has attempted to increase transparency, including posting documents online and creating more detailed agendas. In the days leading up to last week’s final annexation vote, the Hideout Planning Commission and Town Council spent more than a dozen hours negotiating the development agreement andm the project itself in public, seem-d ingly on the fly. Hideout Mayor Phil Rubinw pushed back on the characteri-t zation that the town was rushingw things. a “We’re not making this stuff upl as you go,” Rubin said in a recents interview. Still, the final vote came threep days before the deadline when thee annexation the town was pursuingw would once again become illegal. t As Hideout’s process playeda out, the development plan mor-s phed in real time from something on the scale of another Kimballm Junction — which Brockbank,a the developer, said he never in-m tended to build — to a mixed-use,t mostly residential project, evenm though town officials have insist-l ed their motivation is to provide commercial services its residentsa already sorely need rather thanc more residential development. p Brockbank’s attorney flatly toldw the Town Council 600 residentialm units was what was needed to make the project commerciallyv viable, and that’s the amount in-i cluded in the agreement the Towna Council ultimately passed. It rep-w resents a reduction from the 836p units that Brockbank previouslye sought, and the town securedh d p Please see Unusual, A-11 d a a t l Court report According to the Summit County Attorney’s Office, the following cases were heard on Monday, Oct. 19, in 3rd District Court at the Summit County Justice Center. Ryan Filipiak, 37, of Heber City, entered into a 12-month plea in abeyance to criminal mischief, a class A misdemeanor. The court ordered the defendant to pay restitution of $2,783.38 and complete other standard terms and conditions. Samantha Marie Ruma, 27, of South Jordan, entered into a 24-month plea in abeyance to assault, a class A misdemeanor. The court ordered the defendant to complete standard terms and conditions. Madeleine Ruth Soule, 26, of Park City, entered into a 12-month plea in abeyance to child abuse, a class B misdemeanor. The court ordered the defendant to make a $300 donation to the Peace House and complete other standard terms and conditions. Darrell Stewart Sargent, 28, of Oakley, entered a guilty plea to unauthorized vehicle control for an extended time, a class A Misdemeanor. The court placed the defendant on court probation for 12 months and ordered the defendant to serve 364 days in jail with credit for 74 days served and to complete other standard terms and conditions. Continued from A-5 in the wake of those wildfires. The preemptive power shutoff policy was included in that plan, as was the commitment to install weather monitoring equipment in high-risk areas, which Hall said has taken place. Hall said that the utility is using in-house meteorologists along with a third-party service to evaluate conditions and that the decision to cut power ultimately rests with the utility. “We don’t ever want to turn the power off, but we also want to keep communities safe. This is one more tool in our toolbox to help keep communities safe,” Hall said. “We’ll be in communication with customers and watching this closely and doing everything we can to keep customers safe.” Power shutoff INTERMOUNTAIN MORTGAGE COMPANY • Home Delivery • Park Record E-edition • Real Estate Monthly • All Park Record Magazines • Free Sunday Salt Lake Tribune Call 435-649-9014 to get your subscription today! Select option 3 when prompted Save even more with a 2 year subscription! ANDY BAILEY Andy has an extensive history in real estate with experience in the mortgage industry, construction industry and the title industry. His multifaceted real estate approach gives him the tools necessary to provide the best and most accurate financing solutions for your individual needs. Andy has been a part of the Utah communities in everything from skiing, ranching and music to hunting, fishing and rodeo. His deep love for the outdoors and living free is why Utah is his home. 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