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Show Planning Commissioners stew over Aerie house The official topic of conversation con-versation before Planning Commission last Wednesday was the Surprise PUD in Deer Valley and plans to guide its construction on the hillside north of Deer Valley Road. But Commissioner Rusty Davidson said the whole discussion was a waste of time. "I don't know why I'm sitting here. This whole conversation is a joke." Why? Because, he said the large visible house on Masonic Hill north of Main Street clearly violates the city's desires to keep ridge' lines clear of construction. "It's a real blasphemy the biggest sell-out the town's ever seen." The house, part of the Aerie project, is being built by resident Michael Troupe. Davidson wondered at the July 13 meeting how Park City can legally restrain hillside building, when the Aerie serves as a precedent. Commissioner Burnis Watts agreed. "After all of that, what else is there of the ridgeline left to pollute?" he asked. Carol Calder complained that Parkites wrongly assume that the Planning Commis--sion approved the Aerie project. City planners voted the project down unanimously, unanimous-ly, she said. The Aerie was allowed by City Council action in 1981 in order to settle a suit filed by developer de-veloper Elwood Nielsen. Senior planner John Eskelin Eske-lin told the commissioners their discontent over the Aerie should not reflect on the Surprise PUD. The developer, he said, has worked work-ed carefully on ridgeline plans. "I'm not coming down on him," said Davidson. But he felt the builder, under the circumstances, was not compelled com-pelled to respect the city's feelings on hillside building. "What I'd do, in his place is get a lawyer and I could have the business over with rather quickly," Davidson added. Development director Mike Vance urged commissioners commis-sioners to continue their vigilance on ridgelines. "In the five years I've been here, the Planning Commission has been consistent with their concern, and this (discussion of the Surprise PUD) is a continuation of that." Davidson concluded, "The next time people vote for City Council, this (the Aerie) will be a monument to that decision." |