A developer is looking to partner with Park City Municipal on a mostly-affordable housing development near U.S. Highway 40, on land known as Clark Ranch.
The 344 city-owned acres straddle the highway, and the development is proposed on about 10 acres on the west.
Planning commissioners have so far said the rest is intended as open space, but no formal protections exist. The council could change that at its Nov. 6 meeting.
“What staff is coming forward to council with is a 15-acre carve out,” City Sustainability Director Luke Cartin said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” Nov. 5. “What we're actually going to suggest to council is to allow up to 10 acres of developable land and then put the other five acres into public, publicly available, open space that will have a deed restriction on it.”
The conservation easement the council could vote on would ban development and subdivision of the rest of the 330 acres. That includes all of the property east of U.S. 40. It would also ban new roads.
A staff report states that, if approved, the easement would preserve public access for hiking, biking and winter use. It would also allow weed management, wildfire mitigation and a potential gondola.
The land would be monitored by the nonprofit land trust Utah Open Lands, which would hold the easement.
The carve out for development would be on the west side of U.S. 40 where the Alexander Company has applied to build housing. The council would lock in that location as the only place development is allowed if it approves the easement as drafted.
Park City Municipal is a financial supporter of KPCW.
