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Show Proposed City Master Plan could set stage for year-round industry by Christopher Smart Does Park City have too much ground zoned for commercial use? Is enough land designated for light industrial use and should the town try to encourage year-round industry? Is Park City strictly a resort or should it become a bedroom community for Salt Lake City? The city council started wrestling with these and other questions Jan. 31 as it began to consider the Comprehensive Master Plan, an overall guide which acts, in a general fashion, to guide zoning and land use. While the council was successful in defining many of the questions I that surround the make-up of the Comprehensive Plan, and hence the town, the body reached no consensus and has scheduled an extended work session on the topic Feb. 21. The generalized discussion began with reference to a recent speech by city manager Arlene Loble when she asked the Park City Rotary Club: "What is Park City becoming?" Her comments were directed toward a growing commuter population which is independent of the town's tourist economy. Her speech also touched on the possibility of attracting "high tech" industries to Park City in an effort to broaden the economy. "I didn't know there was confusion as to what we are going to be," said city councilman Al Horrigan. He added that Park City has two golf courses and two ski resorts. The resort nature of Park City is "set in concrete." But city councilman Tom Shellen-berger Shellen-berger wasn't sure about Horrigan's view. Shellenberger suggested to the council that it consider building a year-round economy. Referring to recent statements by Park City entrepreneur Randy Fields, Shellenberger Shellen-berger said, "Fields made a point we have to diversify." Shellenberger told the council provisions for light industrial zones should be included in the Comprehensive Compre-hensive Master Plan. Thus far, he said, city government has done only "lip service" to broadening the local economy by attracting industry other than tourism. Councilman Bill Coleman, on the other hand, said he isn't convinced that Park City needs to attract light industries. "There is merit in not pursuing industry," he said referring refer-ring to Salt Lake City. Coleman maintained that young adults who have grown up here don't have to leave the area to find employment because Salt Lake City is within driving distance. Whether Park City should diversify diver-sify its industrial base or look toward commuters is not altogether in the hands of city government, according to councilman Jim Doilney. "When I moved here seven years ago nobody commuted to Salt Lake City. Now a lot do. It's an evolution that will continue," he said. With respect to residential zoning or commercial and light industrial zoning, Doilney said, "It isn't a choice between one or the other but ' how much of each'.'-'"1 Zoning could determine if office space will become as valuable as condominium space, Doilney said. He pointed to Prospector Square as being "symbolic" of what the town could become. Doilney said that currently too much density is allowed there which has the effect of driving property values down in the town as a whole. Prospector Square is filling up with large condominium projects, rather than small retail shops, Coleman said. He suggested that Prospector could be used as a tourist-bed base. That idea was met with objections from both Doilney and Horrigan. "Just because you have tourist beds doesn't mean you have tourists," Horrigan said. He argued that beds without amenities like shops, restaurants and saloons won' t attract tourists. The process of adoption of the Comprehensive Master Plan includes in-cludes a public hearing which should take place about the end of March, according to Loble. The tentative schedule could state final adoption of the zoning guide in April. |