The next step in Summit County’s consideration of the proposed Lincoln Station development on Bitner Road will be a meeting July 23rd between the applicants and two county council members. One of them, Chris Robinson, says they want a tight Development Approval that will ensure the affordable housing stays that way.
The developer is asking to rezone his four-acre parcel, which now would allow just one unit, to a mixed-use project with 78 residential units and 5,300 square feet of commercial.
But it could be worth it to the county since two-thirds of the residential is planned as deed restricted affordable housing.
The county council deferred a decision Wednesday after a discussion and a public hearing.
Robinson said what they want is a strong Development Agreement.
“Strong Development Agreement is one that can’t be unraveled by third parties. Such as, if there’s language in the development agreement that says the development’s lender can basically terminate our housing agreement in the event they foreclose.” Robinson said, “We can’t be in the situation where we work hard and come up with these important deed restrictions only to have them done away if the developer stubs his toe (...) and they become market units if the lender forecloses.”
The applicant, Vince Criscione, and his wife have indicated it’s been a long process for them. But Robinson said that, relatively speaking, the project just came to the council.
“This has been in our court now for less than 60 days. We’re dealing with it with all dispatch. The process getting to us may have been arduous, it often is at the planning commission, or the other things leading up to the planning commission. Since it’s been in our court we have dealt with it very expeditiously and are committed to doing so.” Robinson continued, “As we’ve told them on numerous occasions, including last (meeting), they’re sort of a guinea pig here. We have a general plan language that we won’t up zone properties unless there’s a compelling countervailing public interest.”
Robinson also said as much as possible, they want local residents and workers to get priority in the housing, rather than residents with jobs in Salt Lake.
In future discussions, he said they want some concrete information from the developer.
“They point to HUD requirement and lender requirements and we say, ‘ok well we need to see chapter and verse where federal statute allows HUD to lend for affordable housing only to have deed restrictions done away’.” Robinson said, “That just seems so counter-intuitive that the federal government would--they earn points for the fact that these are deed restricted units in housing and urban development lending criteria--but then to have the very thing that generated the points be gutted in the event of a default. That just doesn’t make sense to us. Know, that may be creative banking lobby efforts in winning congressional support for bad law. That’s happened before.”
