The decision to determine the future of the Kimball Special Event Center outdoor deck has been taken out of the Park City planning commission’s hands and turned over to Planning Director Bruce Erickson. That comes after the Park City council remanded the project be returned to the planning commission. Leslie Thatcher has more.
Park City planning director Bruce Erickson says after meeting with the attorneys for the Kimball Special Event Center, the parties have agreed to let Erickson make the call for the future of the newly renovated building, that formerly housed the Kimball Art Center at Main St. and Heber Ave.
Erickson says the applicant has indicated they will move forward with using the indoor space as a special event center - which is an allowed use but will withdraw their application for a conditional use permit for the outdoor deck. Instead, an application for an administrative conditional use permit for the outdoor deck will be filed and it’ll be up to Erickson to decide whether to approve it.
“If we get all of the paperwork in place, the application is withdrawn, and it’ll be replaced with an allowed use indoors which is similar to the way we manage the Yard and it’s the successor and interest to how we manage Park City Live . Then, we’ll do an administrative conditional use permit when they apply for the deck. In the conversations we’ve have with the legal team and the applicant’s attorneys , most of the conditions of approval that we were bringing forward on the regular conditional use permit would still apply to our administrative conditional use permit.”
The issues for the outdoor deck, he says, remain the same.
“What we’re discussing right now is the 6 months one year and three year review cycles would remain in place. The noise restrictions would remain in place. The drop-off and pickup we’re still discussing. I’m not sure that we’ve reached a consensus on what’s best for the neighborhood in that location."
By separating the two spaces, Erickson says the applicant can open the indoor space, while the issues for the rooftop deck get sorted out.
“The indoor is going to just going to move ahead in the allowed space. The outdoor is going to be an administrative conditional use permit. And here’s is why I think this is a reasonable solution. Over the course of the last 18 months or so, it’s virtually impossible to get a measurable impact that we can mitigate against. You get all of these, sort of, what-ifs and what can we do about this and what about that. Well, it’s virtually impossible to mitigate anything without having an operation in place and a review period which is what the planning commission and the city council look for. So, in this way we can have a management plan, we can adjust for the outdoor deck, the noise stuff is going to be in place, the traffic management things are going to be in place and the review periods right now are going to be place. So instead of having this long, what-if debate, it’ll be much more, what do the professionals think - how can we negotiate this deal."
Park City planning director Bruce Erickson. While he thinks the attorneys have done a good job negotiating moving this project foreword, he says both the planning commission and his decisions are appealable. The Park City planning commission meets Wednesday at 5:30 in the city council chambers in the Marsac Building.
