In a 3-2 vote Thursday night, Park City Councilors Max Doilney, Becca Gerber, and Ryan Dickey voted to approve a contract with Specific Performance, Inc. for up to $174,000.
The contract empowers SPI to negotiate on behalf of the city with the developer, J. Fisher Development, on the Homestake affordable housing project.
Councilors Tana Toly and Jeremy Rubell voted against the contract after voicing concerns over a lack of specifics, like the number of units and how transit would fit in.
Toly said she was uncomfortable moving forward without taking a look at those details.
“I would like to know what we’re even talking about before I hire somebody to come and negotiate something that I don’t even know what it is," said Toly. "I was in the same meeting with you guys when we did the MOU, and I was like, ‘how many units is it? How tall is this building? Where is all the open space?’ Nothing to me seems concrete and I feel like I need some more of that before I would spend more money on it.”
The council voted to approve a memorandum of understanding, or MOU, for the project with J. Fisher in December. Toly had not taken office at that time and was participating in that meeting as a private citizen.
The city owns the Homestake property, located west of the Boneyard saloon, and is partnering with the private sector on a project that will offer at least 80% of its units as affordable housing, according to the MOU.
City staff said Thursday’s contract will free up the city’s housing department to work on other projects like the Clark Ranch property, or the site of the now-stalled arts and culture district.
Rubell also asked why the city was seeking outside help to get more details on the project.
City Manager Matt Dias then clarified the contract, saying there is simply not enough staff at city hall to take everything on if the council still wants to accomplish its goal of 800 affordable housing units in Park City by 2026. He also said the city is not locked into the full $174,000, and will only pay for services rendered by SPI.
“I’m not gonna recommend, professionally, that we try to bring this in house," he said. "I think these types of services are best relied on in the private sector, people that do this for a living in the industry. I think we’re better at managing them and managing these types of services than having full divisions that do this, because it would take full divisions given your goals, or the existing goals.”
Affordable housing is expected to be a major topic of discussion at next month's city council retreat, where the future of the Homestake project could be discussed.
