On Thursday the Park City Council approved a $7 million contract with Rocky Mountain Power to move transmission lines in the Bonanza Park neighborhood underground.
The existing lines run from the Rocky Mountain Power substation near Munchkin Road over Kearns Boulevard to the Park City Cemetery and Boot Hill.
Park City has plans to develop five acres it owns in Bonanza Park into a new mixed use district with housing, commercial space, underground parking and a new home for the Kimball Art Center.
Overhead power lines have long been seen as a hurdle, due to restrictions on development within 60 feet.
Burying the lines will free up a significant portion of the site for future construction, Park City Sustainability Manager Luke Cartin told the city council Thursday.
“The benefits of this is it does remove a 60-foot aerial easement from Bonanza Park, which impacts roughly 20% of the site,” Cartin said. “That significantly increases your site flexibility and land valuation.”
Along with freeing up space for development, Cartin says the removal of the easement also opens up burial plots at the cemetery and reduces the risk of wildfires.
For years Park City has explored relocating the substation in Bonanza Park. Putting transmission lines underground is a step towards that goal, city council member Jeremy Rubell says.
“If we can ever have the conversation about actually moving that substation, it can move along that buried line,” Rubell said. “So this is a step towards a final solution if it goes that way. If it doesn’t, the lines are still buried, and it’s still an improvement all around.”
No precise timeline has been set, but Rocky Mountain Power intends to begin work on the power line project sometime next year.
Regarding the five acre district, the city council is expected to finalize its plans and send out a request for proposal, or RFP, to developers later this year.
