The Park City Council voted Thursday to approve what they, city staff and the applicant viewed as an administrative lot line adjustment—but to community members, the item highlighted a 20-year-long lack of enforcement in protecting Park City’s historic mining structures.
Former Park City Mayor Jack Thomas is a partner in Friends of Flagstaff LLC, the developer of the Nakoma residential condominium project in Empire Pass. Friends of Flagstaff was approved to build 17 units there years ago and is now looking to build the last one. The applicant requested a lot line be altered to better fit the building.
The project falls under the Flagstaff Development Agreement, which includes provisions for preservation of historic mining structures in Empire Pass. City staff concluded there was no preservation requirement for this specific development; that the application complied with the land management code; and staff recommended council approve the project. However, the Park City Planning Commission denied the item when they considered it on Sept. 11, finding it did not comply with the historic preservation requirements in the Flagstaff agreement.
Park City Museum Executive Director Sandra Morrison argues every development that comes under the Flagstaff agreement must meet the requirements outlining the stabilization of the historic structures on the land there. She listed a handful—the Judge Office building, the Daly West headframe, the Little Bell ore bin, which Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History raised $65,000 to repair. Morrison says they’ll all be gone, if the city continues to not enforce the agreement.
"Twenty years of lack of enforcement of this agreement, and 20 years is a long time—as you can see from these pictures, it has taken its toll," Morrison said. "We all regularly maintain our homes, and we certainly don't expect that if we do some maintenance this year that we'll be all set for another 20 years."
Former Park City Coucilmember Cindy Matsumoto was among several who echoed Morrison’s points. Matsumoto addressed Thomas directly in her comments.
“I just want to hold the developer on the spot because I know his heart is in the preservation of the Daly West—I've heard him say so," Matsumoto said. "I think the community is behind him in looking for a way to preserve our structures.”
After comments advocating for the council to continue the item and clarify the historic preservation requirements, Thomas addressed the public’s concerns. He says he’s walked every inch of the 17-acre Nakoma property, and there are no historic structures there. Thomas says he’s passionate about historic preservation, but he feels the responsibility of the agreement now lies on his shoulders.
“Somehow now I'm being held hostage, and my partner and I are being held hostage, for the fact that there hasn't been an agreement, this [memorandum of understanding] between the master developer and the city," Thomas said. "So, I think it's fundamental that we resolve that, and I want to see that go forward, but I also don't feel it's fair to hold us hostage.”
Councilmember Steve Joyce differentiated between what he called a legal decision the council voted on Thursday and a policy decision Morrison and others advocated for. But he agrees the city has dropped the ball on enforcing the preservation requirements in the Flagstaff agreement.
“A lot of this stuff wasn't enforced at the time," Joyce said. "I mean, there were actual triggers in place that were, you know, the first [conditional use permit] 20 years ago or something where things should have been held up. They weren't, and then they weren't, they weren't, they weren't, they weren't, so now it's it's really getting difficult.”
The city approved the lot line adjustment but also recommended holding a work session to discuss how to move forward with historic preservation of the structures. The council and planning commission are waiting on a report detailing the conditions of the structures.
