Park City Coffee Roaster owner-operator Rob Hibl said he’s had the same landlord since 2008 when he opened the coffee shop at 1764 Uinta Way in Kimball Junction. He said he has a good relationship with the landowner, Alex Lofft, but is frustrated with no pothole repairs year after year.
"Some of the cars are just allowed to stay overnight," Hibl said. "And so, plowing doesn't happen in those areas in the wintertime, and there's no enforcement of making them move in the parking lot. And so, in the wintertime, what happens is the salt guy would plow, come throw salt around, and it just kind of hovers around the bottom of their vehicles and then creates this wedge kind of thing into the ground."
Summit County Public Works Director Derek Radke told KPCW he receives frequent complaints about the potholes around the parking areas in Kimball Junction. He said the county maintains its roads, but the Kimball parking lots are private property held by the landowners. Radke said he didn’t have contact information for the owners or property managers. He said there are no minimum parking lot maintenance requirements for businesses operating in Summit County.
The properties at Kimball Junction are owned by multiple landlords. Hibl said some landlords repaved a portion of the Kimball shopping area parking lot south of the post office building a couple of months ago, but the owners of his complex haven't repaired the potholes near his business.
"They repair it a lot of times just by putting rocks in the holes and that doesn't really help because, with the water and everything, it just gets washed away," he said.
Hibl said there had been car crashes due to drivers trying to avoid the potholes near the Richins apartment complex. He said customers have complained to him for years. He passes the complaints on to the property management company and the landowner.
"We hear it a lot, and I've collected a lot of them and sent pictures," Hibl said. "I probably have 20 pictures I've sent to my landlord and the property management company. And they understand. They're trying to figure out what to do because it's an expensive process. But they don't build that into their HOA dues. So, they just want to pass it along. It's one of those things that's an expensive fix-it, but it needs to be done. So, we've had two crashes in that parking lot specifically for people trying to avoid the potholes."
Blooming Property Management CEO Michael Kirkland manages some individual units. He said a different property management company maintains the common areas such as the parking lots. However, he said his company would take over the parking lot maintenance contract on November 1. He plans to do the needed pothole repairs before the winter comes.
"In preparation for taking over, we have already gotten a bid and got approval to proceed," he said. "So, it's probably going to cost about $9,000 to get it done."
KPCW contacted the property owner, Alex Lofft, and the property management company, PMA, for comment but received no response in time for this report.
