The owner of The Yarrow filed an appeal April 2 with Park City seeking to overturn the planning commission’s move to deny a redevelopment proposal.
The owner of the property, Singerman Real Estate, wants to demolish the decades-old hotel to make way for a modern mixed-use development. Buildings would be up to 45 feet tall and include a condo hotel, affordable housing, commercial space and offices.
The proposal exceeds the 35-foot height limit established by city zoning for the property located at the intersection of Park Avenue and Kearns Boulevard.
Only one commissioner voted in favor of the project in March; five others were against.
The city’s appeals panel will now decide whether the planning commission acted properly when it rejected the project. Under city code, when an appeal is filed the panel has 45 days to hear it and issue a ruling.
But for months the city has been seeking to fill the third seat on the appeals panel — right now it only has two members.
On April 14, an attorney for the Yarrow owner proposed pausing the appeal or extending the deadline because of the board vacancy. On April 23, the planning commission plans to discuss changing the structure of the land use appeal process, which could impact how the application moves forward.
But the appeal could also be setting up a test of a new law set to take effect May 7.
Passed this year, SB262, allows local legislative bodies, like city councils, to settle land use litigation with a private property owner.
Park City Councilmember Jeremy Rubell asked during a meeting last week about how the council could get involved in the Yarrow redevelopment application.
“Wanted to know what the process looked like, and any tools council could have, to essentially get involved in the application,” Rubell said.
Rubell said the process could make sense, given that Park City is currently creating new code for the Bonanza Park neighborhood, which would govern the Yarrow property going forward.
“It does seem the planning commission did their job in applying the current code,” he said. “It’s also a fact that we are very close to modifying the current code to allow for some density and height bonuses in favor of community benefit — this is a pretty good poster case for that. So it would really be sort of accelerating that process and being able to leverage where they are from a timing perspective and not miss the opportunity just because it takes years and years to actually modify the code.”
Before the council can formally approve an agreement, Park City Attorney Margaret Plane told the council that two things need to happen.
First, the application must exhaust all administrative remedies, which means going through the city’s appeal process. Then, a lawsuit would have to be filed in district court. If that happens, the city council would have the ability to settle with the property owner through a consent agreement. Planning commission review and a public hearing wouldn’t be required.
Another option would be to negotiate a development agreement, which the council could approve as a settlement after a planning commission recommendation and public hearing.
