Summit County planners are still looking for a new location for Recycle Utah, which will have to move fairly soon, away from its home in Park City.
County Development Director Pat Putt said that isn’t the only community facility they’re trying to site in the Basin.
Putt said some deadlines are coming up, since Park City is preparing to lay out its planned Bonanza Arts and Culture District.
But Recycle Utah, Park City and the county are still trying to find a temporary location and then a permanent home for the recycling bins.
“As far where that interim, or where that long-term location will be, that hasn’t been identified. But I can speak with confidence that everybody on all sides are trying to find a solution for this because, again, they’re a key community player that we would hate to see go away, short term and , God forbid, long term. So we’re working on it.”
He said the recycling center would probably fit in one of the Basin’s commercial zones, with a Conditional Use Permit required for approval.
Another hoped-for public space has been a County Council priority for even longer—a Snyderville Basin Cemetery. Putt said several years ago, the Council created a Cemetery District for the Basin. But they never appointed a board for the District, since the county was never able to narrow down a site.
He said one spot they looked at was near Kimball Junction.
“I know shortly after I started—that was probably 2013 or early 2014, we took a look up on the property, the open space below the Utah Olympic Park. And it was just a very cursory, initial look. That was deemed at the time probably not to be the best location for a host of reasons, not the least of which is the soil conditions. It was pretty rocky and I would suggest that digging would be hard.”
The problem, Putt said, is that they’re running out of available land.
“Y’know, we’ve acquired a lot of open space. That is, again, taking—not that open space acquisition’s bad. It’s a good thing, but once again, taking off the table the potential for the discussion of siting a facility like that.”
And there’s also another need—a spot for a senior facility.
“How do we provide services—housing, care facilities for our seniors. We recently had a group of area residents come to the Council and express that need. I always like to harken back to a number of years, our former pastor at St. Mary’s, Bob Bussen, always liked to remind people that in Park City, we don’t do aging and death, we do lunch. And I think Bob’s comments there is, we need to be mindful of that demographic as well.”
Putt said when the county acquired the Gillmor parcel along the Highway 40 frontage road, they set aside 120-125 acres for development. But not all the possible uses can fit there. The county, he said, has to craft a Master Plan to decide what goes on the parcel.
