The Snyderville Basin Planning Commission received another brief update Tuesday from the developer looking to build nearly 2-million square feet at Kimball Junction. The Dakota Pacific group purchased the property that was slated to be the Park City Tech Park and is now looking to revise the development agreement to build more of a town center.
The new owner of the Tech Park, Dakota Pacific, wants Summit County to revise the development agreement that dictates the uses on the property. Instead of the approved 1.4 million square feet consisting of a tech park and 150 residential units, Dakota Pacific is looking to build a mixed-use project of nearly 2-million square feet, including more than 11-hundred residences.
During the meeting, planning commissioners received an historical summary of how the property came to be zoned for research commercial. Snyderville Basin Planning Commissioner Chair Malena Stevens says the presentation was helpful.
“We had some commissioners that wanted to know more of an historical perspective on the property as far as what was entitled previously. All of us know about the Tech Center but there was a very high-density sprawled plan in place prior to the Tech Center. So, it was a very interesting and very helpful to see what had been envisioned at different times on that property and to know the history of how we got here preserving a lot of open space in that area.”
Dakota Pacific representative Jeff Gochnour told commissioners that the project they’re proposing is a mixed-use development that comports with the county’s transportation, sustainability and affordable housing goals. Gochnour says their traffic study shows the peak traffic flow from the built-out tech park would be more than the mixed- use project they’re proposing. He believes it’s a development where residents wouldn’t need cars to get to and from work.
Stevens says they’ll look carefully at the traffic impacts as they proceed with the project.
In the coming months, she says they’ll dig deeper into the request to increase density and change the uses of the project.
“We’re trying to approach it in bite-sized pieces so we can really dig into each of these pieces such as what is the percentage of affordable housing to market rate. Why do they feel the additional density is justified? We’re going to go thoroughly into the transportation plan to look at what the transportation patterns and impacts will be, in addition to other matters.”
The planning commission will delve into the project at almost every meeting over the coming months. She expects they’ll start to take public input in February.
The applicant is also asking Summit County to consider a land swap to build a new civic center. However, Stevens says that’s not within the planning commission’s purview.
“His part of the proposal is that they would like to do a land swap with the county for the parcel that the Richins Building is on. Then it would be for a parcel that is in the project that would potentially allow for some additional gathering spaces, both indoor and outdoor. Where that process is a much different process that will have to occur concurrently…”
Gochnour didn’t provide any renderings of the project proposal. Stevens says the applicant plans to return in a couple of weeks with more details.
