Columbus Pacific Development partner Tony Tyler will head to the Summit County Council for a rezone after getting planners to buy into his Crossroads at Silver Creek project.
Tyler has dialed back the housing density since first applying to develop the northwest corner of Interstate 80 and Silver Creek Road in early 2023.
The version moving forward includes 90 housing units with a park and clubhouse; 4,000-square-foot nonprofit building; and 32,000 square feet of other commercial space.
Before voting in favor July 14, Snyderville Basin Planning Commissioner Matt Nagie commented on how long Summit County has been considering Tyler’s application.
“Years and years and years is too long for anyone to be waiting on anything from the government,” Nagie said.
The planning commission gave the development a positive recommendation after a public hearing.
Comments from residents of the nearby neighborhood — where Tyler himself lives — were mixed. Most opposed the project because they worried it would change the character of the area for the worse.
Twenty of the 90 units would be affordable apartments, and most of the market-rate units would be for-sale townhomes. Tyler has said he’d like PC Tots, where he is a board member, to use the nonprofit space for childcare.
The county council will ultimately be deciding whether to rezone Tyler’s 14 acres and sign a development agreement. He is also asking for reduced setbacks in places because of the parcel’s triangular shape.
Tyann Mooney said she’s the only person still on the planning commission since Tyler first proposed Crossroads. She called the latest iteration “much better” than before.
“This should never take four years,” Mooney agreed. “We really need to find a better way, and maybe you can work with council and say, ‘We don't want to make people wait this long to have to come through so many hoops.’”
According to Tyler, Summit County currently requires “near-construction level documents” to apply for a rezone, frontloading time and cost. And in the case of the Crossroads, he has revised his application at least three times in response to density concerns.
The county planning department is proposing changes it says will make rezones easier for all involved. That may also facilitate another Columbus Pacific project a few miles away on the Cline Dahle property in Jeremy Ranch.
That’s where Tyler is separately partnering with Summit County to build affordable housing, a fire station and a new fieldhouse for Basin Rec. The recreation district plans to ask voters to approve bonds in November to build the fieldhouse.
The Summit County Council was scheduled to discuss and vote on a new rezoning process for Cline Dahle July 8 but delayed the item.
Planners recommend requiring less detail from developers earlier in the process.
Summit County and Columbus Pacific Development are financial supporters of KPCW.
