Representatives of the proposed Dakota project at Kimball Junction came before the Snyderville Planning Commission Dec. 10th and said they will have less traffic impact than the Tech Park approved eleven years ago.
They also talked about the role they can play in future transportation improvements along Highway 224.
The Snyderville Commisison held the latest in a series of work sessions with Dakota Pacific, which is proposing a mixed-use village including residential, retail, offices, government and transit amenities and a hotel.
They’re applying to revamp the Boyer Tech Park, approved in 2008 on the 51 acres west of Highway 224.
Dakota’s traffic consultant, Jim Charlier of Denver, said their calculations show that their project would generate 17 percent less peak-hour traffic than the Boyer Tech Park as planned. He detailed a couple of reasons for that.
“First of all, because it’s a mixed-use development, we have good internal capture. We have both commercial on site, we have jobs on site, and we have housing on site. We have two hotels. So all of these numbers are tied to that specific development plan. And that reduces the amount of trip-making because some of those trips can be local walk-bike trips. And it’s pretty significant. It’s 8 percent of daily trips, 13 percent of peak-hour trips.”
He said a significant factor here is the type of development it will be.
“What you had before was a large office park. And on a square footage basis, on terms of vehicle trips per square footage, commercial office space generates more vehicle trips per square foot than residential space does. So when you look at it on a square footage basis, it’s about a 25 percent reduction.”
Charlier said the project can have a beneficial impact in Summit County, by concentrating the prospective residential development.
“If there is demand for the 1100 units of workforce housing that we’re proposing in Summit County, then there’s demand for that and it’s gonna get built somewhere. What we’re proposing is building it here. And if it’s built here, it’s impact on Summit County roadways is gonna be substantially less, even though we’re showing traffic impact at those key intersections. And that’s because we’re taking all that development and moving it into a specific location. That reduces the trips, as we showed you earlier, 8 percent of daily, 13 percent of vehicle trips, below what the office park would have generated.”
Summit County officials hope to develop Bus Rapid Transit along Highway 224, a goal that will also have to get cooperation from UDOT. Charlier said Dakota can’t bring about those changes by themselves, but they can play a role.
He said buses coming from Park City could enter the intermodal transit center envisioned in the Dakota plan, but that will require a change to the highway.
“We don’t really want our buses making left turns at signalized intersections to get in and out of the transit center. So what we’re trying to do, what we’re proposing is that could be grade-separated. So the red lines are ramps, where the buses are coming down and under 224, and into an underground, into a lower grade transit facility, bus facility. That alone would shave several minutes off the travel time of each route, each run. If you run high-frequency service all year long, and you save a few minutes off of each run, you’re saving a lot of money. It goes into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
He said they plan to limit surface parking in their development more than the Boyer project. Residents will park below grade.
For renters in particular, he said they can provide a management strategy to deal with parking.
“When somebody leases, comes in to sign a lease, one of the options they’ll have is, “Do you want a parking space or not—or do you want two?” We can manage that to some degree by charging more for leases that have parking spaces than we do for leases that don’t. And the first thing that you’ll think about is, “Won’t people still bring their cars and just park em someplace in the neighborhood?” But we can manage that. The condition of the lease is, if you have a parking space, we’ll give you a parking sticker. If we see your car parked with a parking sticker overnight in one of our public spaces, that’s a violation of our lease.”
Jim Charlier, traffic consultant for Dakota Pacific.
