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Show Enviornjuentalists Fight Losing Battle composed of laymen, acts as an override to the County Commission and can reverse an approval for go-ahead of the project. From there, the spokesman said it can go to the courts for final arbitration. arbitra-tion. It now appears that the Patsy Marley Hill Development Develop-ment will get the necessary zoning change and proceed as planned. At a public hearing hear-ing before the Planning and Zoning Commission on Dec ember 12, Alta Ski Lifts threw their support behind Cahill, and recommended that the project bo approved. The final outcome of the Patsy Marley Hill Development Develop-ment can be expected to evoke much emotion and criticism from all sides. One local resident lias commented, comment-ed, "... twenty-five homes in that area would be like moving an entire city block into the mountains. We don't need that!" The Canyon District Planning Plan-ning Commission also recommended rec-ommended that the rezoning be subject to the solution of the problems of zoning compatibility com-patibility with adjacent Alta, winter overnight parking, and inclusion of water and sewer lines. Alta Mayor Bill Levitt voiced opposition to the development de-velopment at the urging of the Town Board of Trustees, saying the rezoning to FR-5 would conflict with Alta's FR-1 zoning. Cahill countered with a letter of compatibility to the Salt Lake Planning and Zoning Zon-ing Commission, stating, "Patsy Marley Hill, re-zoned re-zoned to FR-5 is compatible compat-ible to the land adjacent in the Town of Alta. PatsyMar-ley PatsyMar-ley is outside of Albion Basin. Ba-sin. All rezoning applications applica-tions must be considered on their own merits. Patsy Marley has 13.79 developable develop-able acres within 19.31 acres which is enough land tobuild 27 single family houses, use the allocation directed to Patsy Marley by the Alta Little Cottonwood Canyon General Plan, and conform with all the zoning regulations regula-tions within Salt Lake County Coun-ty and the Town of Alta." Local residents feel that rezoning of the area would set a precedent for further development of the Albion Basin area, and it is common knowledge that development companies have sizable holdings there. At an October 8th meeting, the Salt Lake County Planning Plann-ing and Zoning Commission voted to recommend approval approv-al of the rezoining to the County Commission who will make the final decision. Any decision by the County is likely to come before the year is out. If approved the way is paved for the developer tc apply for a Conditional Use Permit as the next stage in the project. A spokesman for the County Coun-ty Commission said that the approval given by the Planning Plann-ing and Zoning Commission can be expected to effect any decision made by the County. Coun-ty. "The Planning Commission Commis-sion is thefront-line recommendation recom-mendation and they do weigh heavily upon that recommendation," recom-mendation," he said. Two avenues of recourse are available to environmentalists environmen-talists if the project is approved. ap-proved. The Board of Adjustment, Salt Lake area environmentalists environ-mentalists are fighting what appears to be a losing battle in the war against development develop-ment in Little Cottonwood Canyon. At issue in the midst of the public outcry and the fury of words is a "planned community" development, adjacent to Alta at the mouth of the Albion Basin, a natural water source for the City of Salt Lake. ' Alexis Kelner, Chairman of the Citizens Committee to Save Our Canyons has described des-cribed in a public newsletter the situation. t Shortly after the building- block structures of Snowbird Snow-bird began to appear in the Canyon several years ago, , a number of high density developments began to fill . the drawing boards of local property owners. First proposed as Grizzly Resort, the project under fire was conceived by John Cahill, owner of the Alta Peruvian Lodge. Grizzly Resort Re-sort was designed as a plann-il plann-il ed unit development to house . up to 1,100 people. Action on the resort was tabled for a number of years by the Salt Lake County Planning and Zoning Commission pending Afiu . AitoA.ittle Cottonwood Canyon Study as the basis for directing the course of further development develop-ment in the area. Necessary to the original Grizzly Resort development develop-ment was a zoning change from FR-50 to FM-20 to permit one unit per 20 acres instead of one unit per fifty. As time passed, the name of the development was changed from Grizzly Resort to Patsy Marley Hill, and the concept of the development was changed. Under the new plan, 25 single family dwellings dwell-ings would be built, "arranged "arrang-ed in clusters to economize on services and to mitigate the visual impact of the development." de-velopment." The new proposal also required re-quired a change in the original orig-inal Rezoning Application by Cahill. It was necessary to rezone the property to FR-5 or one unit per half-acre. On review of the development, develop-ment, the Canyon District Planning Commission, a citizens' cit-izens' advisory panel to the , County Planning and Zoning Zon-ing Commission recommended recom-mended denial of the rezoning, rezon-ing, but complimented the developer for ". . . their sensitivity, good taste and concern for the environment in planning the subdivision." |