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Mine Bench affordable housing will be led by the private sector, says Park City Council

The Mine Bench Property on Marsac Avenue could be the site of a future affordable housing project.
Park City Municipal
The Mine Bench Property on Marsac Avenue could be the site of a future affordable housing project.

The Park City Council further explored the idea of affordable housing at the Mine Bench property on Marsac Avenue last week. The council said if there is housing to be built, it will be done by the private sector.

Park City owns a 29-acre swath of land on Marsac Avenue near the Stein Eriksen known as the Mine Bench. The site is the old entrance to the Ontario Mine and is currently used as a city public works facility.

The Park City Council has been considering the idea of building affordable housing at the site since early 2021, and took another step toward making that a reality last week.

The council discussed a possible request for proposal, or RFP, it would issue to developers.

Councilors agreed that the site is an attractive candidate for a public-private partnership, similar to the current Homestake affordable housing project.

Councilor Becca Gerber said the private sector will be expected to take the lead on any future housing at the Mine Bench.

“That area is a great opportunity for workforce in that area," Gerber said. "Our thought was that we should really leave it up to the developers. If they have an idea as to how they can make that space work, we should really let them come back to us with the ideas. We don’t want our staff to invest a ton of time and work in that space for right now.”

However, there were a few concerns with the site. According to a city staff report, the parcel would have to be rezoned to allow for development. The land is also located on a steep slope, which presents a design and construction challenge, and soil mitigation work would have to be done to remove the old mine waste.

The question of who would live there was also up for debate.

Partnering with a major local employer like Deer Valley, Park City Mountain Resort, or a hotel was suggested, but Councilor Ryan Dickey said he’s hesitant to partner with a private sector company that has the means to provide housing for its employees elsewhere.

“I’m a little squeamish about creating housing for private companies who have access to the capital markets and can much more easily actually find housing in our market for their employees," he said. "We see them do it today. I probably more lean towards, actually, folks who live in town and even work in the public sector, as far as prioritization.”

City staff was directed to put together a draft RFP and conduct further research on similar projects in other communities before returning to the council later this year.

Sean Higgins covers all things Park City and is the Saturday Weekend Edition host at KPCW. Sean spent the first five years of his journalism career covering World Cup skiing for Ski Racing Media here in Utah and served as Senior Editor until January 2020. As Senior Editor, he managed the day-to-day news section of skiracing.com, as well as produced and hosted Ski Racing’s weekly podcast. During his tenure with Ski Racing Media, he was also a field reporter for NBC Sports, covering events in Europe.