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Show City Officials Request Highway ' Buffer Zone' County Planning Commission steering committees held their final public input sessions last week and Park City-Snyderville city officials and citizens made requests to the group, who will now develop policies and goals as a compass for the development of a Master Land Use Plan. Leon Uriarte, Burnis Watts and Jan Wilking represented Park City to the group, chaired by Mary Lehmer, and suggested a 75-foot buffer zone on both sides of the highway between Kimball's Kim-ball's Junction and Park City. This they claimed would preserve the integrity of that open space and enhance the environmental aesthetics of the well-travelled corridor. Most Parkites in attendance attend-ance agreed they didn't want the highway area to become a commercial strip. Sign Control Additionally, Wilking said Park City '. folks would . prefer that no signs be allowed on either side of the highway. At least, he suggested that in formulating Summit county's first zoning law, planners should make requirements require-ments on the size, density and style of allowed signs. County Planner Max Green-halgh, Green-halgh, said Parkites who turned out for the meeting were unanimously supportive of some type of planning and zoning control, and he added "there's great sentiment to preserve the aesthetics of the Snyderville Basin." Horsewoman Dorrie Spurlock raised a point Greenhalgh said he hadn't yet heard. She urged that wildlife be protected and enhancr ed, and urged that a study be performed to determine : their future needs. Robert Swaner, who works for the Fish and Games Commission echoed these sentiments and announced plans for a recreational development just east of Kimball's Junction near the interstate where he'd like to install a mini-golf course, overnight lodge, picnic tables, and maybe equestrian trails. Agriculture Some with agricultural interests inter-ests talked about how they wanted farm land zoned. Veterinarian Veter-inarian Delbert Osguthorpe who owns farmland outside Park City wants to see that area remain agricultural. To the oft-asked query, "Will rising land costs induce farmers to sell?" he responded that as the US. sells more food to the rest of the world, agricultural land will someday be the most valuable use. He also noted that for every development approved, that much less water is available for agriculture. Greenhalgh Green-halgh recalled that through the county's history, agriculture has been the area's sustaining economic ec-onomic support in contrast to the boom and bust mining and recreational interests. Coalville At the Coalville steering committee com-mittee session, everyone at this most-heavily attended meeting favored some kind of planning and zoning control over land use. "We want to remain rural, even if it means restrictions," seemed the consensus. The Kamas group was about evenly divided between those -who feel government should impose restrictions on land use to preserve the agricultural and rural atmosphere and . those who say property restrictions are unnecessary. Greenhalgh said some heated debate ensued in Kamas over . this issue. In the next two to three weeks, the committees will be hard at work determining overall policy. Question about development patterns pat-terns (should it continue to fragment agricultural land or be more consistent?) and other issues will be attacked. In a few weeks, the groups will then publicly communicate, defining goals and policies. Watch the RECORD for details. |