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Show Snow Creek gets height approval, but support commercial challenged by Ch ristopher Smart The Park City Council granted a height variance Jan. 10 for the proposed 350-room Snow Creek Hotel project, clearing the way for developers to pen blueprints which could include 38,000 square feet of commercial space. Ttie 4-1 split council vote followed a spirited afternoon work session and allowed developers Merle Toomey and Malcolm "Mac" MacQuoid up to 10 percent "support commercial" of the overall non-retail space included in Snow Creek's convention center, hotel and proposed office structure. City councilman Bill Coleman, who cast the lone dissenting vote, told Toomey his proposed theme village surrounding the hotel was, in effect, a request for a zone change. The proposed commercial area, Coleman said, is equivalent to about 20 businesses on Main Street. , The land is zoned residential. Coleman maintains that slow business on Main Street indicates that commercial space is not needed on the Snow Creek site, northeast of the intersection of Utah Highway 224 and Keams Boulevard. He believes the Snow Creek Village will compete with Main Street. But in voting for the measure, which allows 71 -foot maximum height, councilman Jim Doilney said, in reference to planning commission's project master plan approval, "Seems like we've been saying 10 percent all along. And it seems like they (Snow Creek developers) want 15 percent." Confusion surrounding the amount of "support commercial" allowed to the project arose when developers cited the Park City Land Management Code as saying that hotels are allowed five percent commercial space inside the hotel proper. Toomey and MacQuoid wanted an additional 10 percent outside the building. , . But councilman Al Horrigan told Toomey during a heated discussion that 10 percent was "tops." "Support commercial should be geared toward the hotel and not the -rest of the community. The fivfe percent in the hotel has to come tout of the total." . .. .1 U ' To this Toomey retorted7'W,e'll pull out the commercial space and 1 the convention center if you'll okay the height variance." It. was the:, promise of the convention facility that brought political pressure to bear on the planning commission and city council to approve the mammoth project. x J And as part of the council's, height approval, as proposed by councilman Bob Wells, Snow Creek developers must reach an agreement with the municipality and the Chamber Bureau concerning the convention center before the building permit can be issued. Beyond the commercial theme village and convention center, a proposed ice rink caught the attention of the city council following an advertisement which appeared in the Park Record. The ad, apparently paid for by citizens in favor of the hotel project, promised an ice ' skating rink. Although the city council doesn't have direct control over commerical space and amenities such as ice rinks, councilmen told the developers the project's height variance would not be approved unless those issues " were clarified . Horrigan told Toomey the "ad came-across as a blatant attempt to gain public support." Toomey attempted to short-circuit that criticism by taking responsibility for the ad. -"I apologize for it and I never want to hear another goddamn thing about it." He went on to explain that the project's, proposal was for a iiatural-treezing pond rather than the type of ice rink at the Park City Resort Center. |