The Park City Planning Commission met Wednesday reviewing the Park City Mountain base development. City planning staff hopes to have a decision from the commission by the June 10th meeting deciding if the applicant, PEG Development will be allowed to amend the existing agreement or if they’ll have to start over and apply for a new one.
The presentation from Park City Planner Alexa Ananth gave a review of PEG Development’s request to amend the 1998 resort development agreement. The PEG presentation gave commissioners a high-level overview and orientation showing the 10-acre, four phase base development plan.
“Then that will be followed by a discussion of the project and an opportunity to ask questions you may have and to discuss what, if any, additional information you need to make the decision of whether the applicant can amend the existing DA [Development Agreement] master plan versus needing to file for a new MPD [Master Plan Development]. Finally, it'll be time at the end for the public to share input on the project as well through the comment section.”
About a dozen electronically submitted public comments covering a range of issues were read during the meeting with no responding remarks from the planning commission or the developer.
Liz Jackson from the planning department read each of the 12 public comments which stated concerns about pedestrian flow, connectivity, safety, parking and building setbacks. Other concerns were for view corridors, and spill over wear and tear on the existing ice rink plaza, which is maintained by The Mountain Lodge homeowner’s association.
“And then we have a Reed Schott. The Planning Commission staff report mentions the peg development proposal has several major modifications compared to the 1998 PCMR concept master plan. The peg proposal has narrower setbacks, taller and more dense buildings, up to seven stories, less pedestrian and trail connectivity, 600 fewer underground parking stalls, fewer view corridors and traffic/ transportation issues. Therefore, in my view, PEG should not amend the development agreement but submit a new MPD as recommended by staff.”
Vice-Chair of the Planning Commission, John Phillips said they’re absorbing the 900-page staff report and he believes a site visit is critical to a decision on either approving an amended development plan or requiring the applicant to start over. The original 1998 base area design has expired due to lack of action.
“Getting to a site visit early in this project regardless of which way we go, is I don't believe, the applicants going to want to significantly change where they’re at. It's just a matter of how we're going to process it. So, I'd like to think that we can get to that decision relatively quick in the next meeting and then maybe we can start signaling and getting into more details of the different concerns that we see.”
According to Park City Planning Director Bruce Erikson, the original 1998 development agreement has been adjusted six or seven times to accommodate multiple projects including the town bridge and the Marriot Mountainside Hotel. Commissioners requested a site visit prior to the next planning meeting which is scheduled for June 10. It would be open to the public, but Erickson says no comments are allowed outside public open meetings actions. He said planning staff will be there to make sure Open Meeting Laws are being observed.
