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Park City Council uninterested in renewing deed restriction program

Old Town, Park City in February 2023.
Parker Malatesta
Old Town, Park City in February 2023.

The Park City Council isn’t renewing funding for the city’s deed restriction program, instead looking at other ways to increase affordable housing.

Park City’s housing department copied the program after seeing similar models succeed in sister cities like Vail, Truckee, and Sedona.

The program aims to increase the housing stock for locals by compensating homeowners who agree to have a full-time resident in the home (a minimum of 10 months out of the year) or a renter for no less than a six month lease.

The program can also be used as down payment assistance for prospective home buyers, which is why Charles Pearlman applied.

“I purchased a single-family home in the Prospector neighborhood and plan to live here for many years and raise a family here,” Pearlman said. “This program helped that come true for me, a dream that I’ve had for a long time.”

In total, 19 people applied for the program since it launched 16 months ago. 11 applicants received an offer from the city. Pearlman was one of three people who accepted.

Some declined the award because they felt the legal documents and tax implications were too restrictive.

Councilmember Tana Toly expressed surprise that only $600,000 had been used out of the initial $1 million allocation.

“I thought you’d come in and say, ‘we need a lot more money,’ not that we have leftover money still,” Toly said.

Elyse Kats, who led the program’s committee, said it’s taken other cities several years to get going. A real estate market with high interest rates and low inventory was also blamed for the slow rollout.

Councilmember Ryan Dickey said the program offers great benefits, but questioned whether the city could be spending more wisely to increase affordable housing.

“When I think of, this could be 10 units in an affordable development versus a few $200,000 deed restrictions, it gets tough to say this is the most important thing,” Dickey said.

The council didn’t support adding more money to the program, however the city plans to continue processing applications for the remaining funds.

Councilmember Ed Parigian was the one outlier in full support of continuing the deed restriction program. He stressed the importance of home ownership versus affordable rentals.

The council briefly discussed a “lease to locals” program, which pays property owners to move from short-term renting like Airbnbs to long-term renting for workers. The program has also been used in many mountain towns across the U.S. The council didn't take any action on that Thursday.