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Show UofU Graduate Class Studies PC Planning '- i - . ,1- V ll ; ft , I r" T TV, xlM r Dr. Phyllis Southwick, student Steve Varley, Park City Police Chief Garth Wilkinson, and Councilman Bob Wells. A picture of Park City as a town in the midst of monumental growth and change emerged as a graduate class in the School of Social Work at the University of Utah heard prominent members of the local community discuss the town's planning, politics, citizen involvement and law enforcement Friday at the Memorial Mem-orial Building. The graduate class of 15 students in "Social Planning," taught by Dr. Phyllis Southwick, who is also a Bountiful, Utah, councilman, heard City Planner David Preece, councilman Bob Wells, former councilman Jan Wilking and Police Chief Garth Wilkinson give their impressions and observations on the present state of Park City. Park City was one of three communities chosen by the class for study and examination in comparison with the "Bolan" model of community planning. "We wanted to visit the community and see how they are looking at planning past, present pres-ent and future," said Elaine Pacheco, chairman of the five-person five-person committee that chose Park City as its area of study. City Planner David Preece spoke first, reviewing Park City's boom and bust mining town history and resurgence since the 1960s as a ski resort and, most recently, a growing bedroom community. As an example of the growth now taking place, Preece noted that the permanent population of Park City has grown from approximately 1200 in 1970 to over 4100 in 1977. Preece also reviewed the evolution of Park City's master-plan master-plan and Land Management Code since the mid-1960s and praised those involved in the planning process. "We're very fortunate to have a top-rate planning commission and top-rate city officials," he said. "I've been working for six years in other cities and I've never seen such a group of professionals." Preece described the process of reviewing individual development projects, which involves submitting submit-ting the plans to the planning office prior to their review by the planning commission. The planner plan-ner discusses the plans with the developer, paying special attention atten-tion to whether architecture is compatible with the area where the project is planned, and makes recommendations that any necessary neces-sary impact studies be prepared. The plans are also submitted to the local fire, sewer and school districts for their review and comment. "Hopefully, any problems can be worked out before the plans come to the planning commission," commis-sion," said Preece. Preece said many of the requirements now asked of developers have not been made in the past, but noted that because of the new policy, "Park City is starting to see some quality developments." Councilman Bob Wells discussed discus-sed the political make-up of Park City, describing what he observed as the four main groups that comprise the local population. The first group, he said, is comprised of those who were here when the town was very different than what it is today. They are the "oldtimers," who, for the most part, live primarily on fixed and limited incomes. "The viewpoint of the council is that those people fall into the category of deserving something above and beyond what is normally provided by the city," he said. The second group is made up of those who came in the late 1960s or later, who came because Park City is a nice place to live, but also earn their living here. Because their incomes are provided pro-vided directly or indirectly from the resort, said Wells, the attitude of this group tends to favor limited growth. Since 1975, a third group, those who have also moved to Park City because it is a nice place to live, but who derive their income from commuting to Salt Lake City or who have already "made it," has been "increasing substantially," Wells said. A final group is made up of those who came initially to work as seasonal employees, liked Park City, and decided to stay. They are less concerned with income, are concerned with the commun ity, but haven't "made it" yet, Wells said. Summarizing, Wells said that during the initial period of economic recovery in the late 1960s, the town was not prepared to cope with fast growth and welcomed development. At the present time, growth is encouraged encour-aged as a result of natural pressures, including Park City's proximity to Salt Lake and the unique situation that most of the surrounding land is privately owned, and a system that allows the economy to "catch up" after years of little growth. Now, however, the town has a three-fold control over growth, Wells said its annexation policy, Land Management Code, and fee structure, which includes a substantial impact fee on new development. Former councilman Jan Wilking, Wilk-ing, Business Manager of The Newspaper and a driving force behind adoption of the Land Management Code, spoke on the "citizens point of view" and gave his reactions to some things that have happened to Park City since he arrived in the late 1960s. When he first came to Park City, Wilking said, most new people in town were thought of as "hippies." Many came from California to work at the resort in the winter and collected unemployment unem-ployment during the summer. Over time, however, more people have come to Park City to start a business, be a success and make money. "The ones I know have done quite well," he said. Wilking noted that growth and rising prices have caused several changes in the community. Many new residents, working at hourly wages, want to get involved in the town, but are forced to live in the surrounding areas, such as Kamas or Oakley, where rents are cheaper. When he first arrived, there was a "great deal of interaction" among members of the community, commun-ity, he said, but rapid growth has caused Park City to lose some of the qualities of a small town. Wilking also observed that most residents are "not that concerned" with growth, as they are in other western resort towns, but he predicted that as more and more development occurs, more pressure will surface to control growth. Police Chief Garth Wilkinson discussed local law enforcement, noting that when he arrived in Park City two years ago, he inherited a force of only three officers and a department that had had four chiefs in three years. Since then, he said, the force has grown to nine officers, in addition to a full-time Animal Control Officer, and the department's depart-ment's budget has doubled, from $125,000 to $250,000. Wilkinson said he has tried to change the philosophy of law enforcement in Park City from "look the other way," which gave the town a reputation as a place to go "for a good time," to one of "impartial enforcement of the law." The Chief described improvements improve-ments that have been made to the department's record-keeping and filing system and said the initiation of a police investigator has improved the clearance rate for solving cases from "near zero" to 30 percent, higher than the national average. Asked what the major crime problems are in Park City, Wilkinson said narcotics is "one of the largest problems," and added that the department handles "a lot" of burglary and theft'Cases.---"-" -.-".-- v |