Thursday’s Park City Council Meeting was the last of the public hearings before the Treasure Hill and Snow Ranch Pastures bond goes to a vote on November 6. Melissa Allison has more:
Former Council Member Cindy Matsumoto and long-time resident Steve Streamer wrote the arguments respectively in favor and opposing to the $48-million bond which, if approved, would purchase Treasure Hill and help place an easement on the Snow Ranch Pastures.
Matsumoto and Streamer took turns reading their arguments and then had a chance to respond.
Matsumoto was emotional but kept it light hearted – making the room laugh.
After listing the many impacts of allowing Treasure Hill to be developed and sharing that her grandchildren live in Park City – she urged the community to vote in favor of the bond.
She then turned to Streamer and asked him a question before he read his argument.
“…and I urge our citizens to vote for it,” Matsumoto said.
“Thank you, Cindy," Beerman said.
“Now how many grandchildren do you have?” Matsumoto asked Streamer.
“I’m for open space but Treasure Hill is not an open space initiative,” Steamer said.
Streamer went on to say it was a shame that Snow Ranch Pastures was bundled with Treasure because he believes it is appropriately priced.
Streamer made reference to the comment that the Treasure Hill development is the equivalent of 10 Walmart’s. He said that wasn’t the case at all – it would be the size of five.
Arnie Ruston was the first to address council during the hearing and he told Streamer, his figures were wrong because, he went and measured it out himself – and it was 10.
“Regardless of five or 10 as was said," Ruston said. "It is monumental project that will literally, in my opinion, destroy this town in more ways than one.”
John Stafsholt challenged Streamers interpretation of the bond.
“Mr. Streamer does not want to see a Treasure Hill development built, he made that clear," Stafsholt said. "He just doesn’t want to pay for it. He wants tourists and second home owners to pay for the bond. Well the good news is that’s how the bond is structured. Roughly 85 percent of the cost of the bond will be paid by second homeowners and businesses and Park City primary homeowners will pay only 15 percent the cost of the bond.”
Kyra Parkhurst addressed Streamer during her comments.
“To just say, ‘well we’ve got to do it another way’ - for us to spend 15 years to get to this point is beyond anything you can imagine," Parkhurst said. "That we have all done and taken from our lives to get to this point. So, to come up here and say, ‘well wait, we just need to do it a different wa- they have told us this is not an option. Their attorneys have told them, this is your one chance, one time, this is it.”
Robin Sletten told council if the bond doesn’t pass – Park City’s future is not bright.
“Fifteen years is gonna go by in the blink of an eye," Sletten said. "And there are kids that are babies today that when they get to be 15, their experience if this bond doesn’t pass, is gonna be noise, and congestion and – you know – Breckenridge is a lovely place to ski but, I wouldn’t want to live there. And we’re going to have huge buildings towering.”
If the bond doesn’t pass, Treasure Hill will go back before the planning commission who will have three meetings in the next 90 days to make a decision either for or against the development.
Voters pamphlets are in the process of being mailed out, but you can also find information about the bond on the city’s website at parkcity.org.
I’m Melissa Allison, KPCW News.