On Sept. 4 Park City Councilmembers Bill Ciraco and Jeremy Rubell both reiterated their opposition to the proposed public-private project in Clark Ranch, located on roughly 12 acres near U.S. Highway 40.
The pair said the proposed location on a hillside neighboring Park City Heights isn’t the right fit. Rubell said it’d be challenging to integrate the new development with public transit, and cited concerns about hurting the natural setting of the area.
“Problem I have is just with the project site,” Rubell said. “I don’t think it makes any sense. The project itself is great.”
Ciraco said the topography of the site will continue to drive up costs for the project.
“Go and read the feasibility study and look at what it says about that site, about the steep slopes,” Ciraco said. “The average slopes being 17 to 25 degrees. I want to build a project. I want to build a project quickly. I just want to make sure that we’re doing the right thing with taxpayer money.”
Rubell and Ciraco previously voted against moving forward with a design contract for a frontage road that would connect the new neighborhood to Richardson Flat Road.
Despite their opposition, the project is still moving forward due to a 3-2 council majority that is supportive of the concept.
Councilmembers Tana Toly and Ryan Dickey have shown strong support for the development.
Councilmember Ed Parigian was in favor of moving the project along, but said he remains hesitant. Parigian said he’s awaiting the results from an updated traffic study.
“I need that data for me to make a solid community decision on this thing,” Parigian said.
The council heard from several residents of Park City Heights Thursday who oppose the development. Sue Gould said she supports affordable housing, but doesn’t think the city is looking at the right location.
“We have to think about the unintended consequences,” Gould said. “Building a new road could open the door to future connections to other developments, including Deer Valley East [Village]. This would bring much more traffic onto Richardson Flat — traffic that our roads and intersections are not designed to handle.”
Toly said they are doing their best to mitigate any impacts the project may bring.
“We’ve been very thoughtful in thinking through how to reduce construction vehicles and any sort of car traffic going through the Park City Heights neighborhood by building a separate road,” Toly said. “We don’t do that in other neighborhoods. A lot of communities wouldn’t do that at all, but we are definitely trying to make this as unimpactful to that neighborhood as possible.”
Dickey cited data showing that over 85% of Park City’s workforce lives outside city limits.
“I think we have a housing crisis,” Dickey said.
The majority gave approval to a site concept that involves 167 affordable rentals, some of which will be reserved for Park City’s workforce, along with 34 market-rate townhomes.
The proposed Clark Ranch development is scheduled to go in front of the planning commission for an introductory work session Sept. 10.
According to a timeline presented Thursday, construction on the project could start in September 2026, and would take two years to complete.
Park City Municipal is a financial supporter of KPCW.
