Summit County Council Member Kim Carson joined her colleagues in approving a density purchase for the Commons at Newpark development at Kimball Junction.
And she declined to support a suggestion to hitch another item to the proposal.
As we’ve reported, the approval shifted some 27,370 square feet, held by the Snyderville Recreation District, over to a revised plan for the Commons at Newpark, held by Gary Crandall and his sons.
Council member Chris Robinson said he favored the plan but thought this was a good opportunity to also pursue an agreement to preserve the amphitheater space next to the Commons.
Carson, though, said she didn’t see that idea connecting to this plan.
“We didn’t have the information we needed to be able to add that.” Carson explained, “I felt like that was a separate issue that we needed to address through another process. I understood Chris’ point, when we have some type of leverage to use it, but in this case, I just didn’t feel like that was appropriate. As we had more discussion with the developer it sounds like it probably wasn’t a good connection.”
Among other items on the council’s busy agenda this week, they were introduced to some East Side code amendments for adaptive re-use of historic buildings. We asked who will decide about the significance of a building.
“The planning commission will make that decision and we have asked them to streamline to look at those definitions.” Carson continued, “There were four items in the packet that were criteria. One of them is this a person that’s had a significant place in history and there’s a connection with that person to that building. If the building itself has had a significant impact on local history. So, we’ve asked that they do a little research on those definitions and make sure that they’re in line with industry standards.”
