© 2024 KPCW

KPCW
Spencer F. Eccles Broadcast Center
PO Box 1372 | 460 Swede Alley
Park City | UT | 84060
Office: (435) 649-9004 | Studio: (435) 655-8255

Music & Artist Inquiries: music@kpcw.org
News Tips & Press Releases: news@kpcw.org
Volunteer Opportunities
General Inquiries: info@kpcw.org
Listen Like a Local Park City & Heber City Summit & Wasatch counties, Utah
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

What Will The Kimball Junction Of The Future Be Like For Livability?

Credit Snyderville Basin Planning Commission
/
Snyderville Basin Planning Commission

Residents and businesses in the Kimball Junction area have participated in a planning process with county planning staff for the past couple of years. The Blue-Ribbon Commission has helped define the proposed changes to the existing 2014 Snyderville Basin General Plan. 

The Summit County Council will consider the changes in the June 19th meeting.
Bev Harrison lives in the Fox Point town homes at Redstone. She is the chairperson for the Homeowner’s Association Transportation and Land Use committee.  She calls the proposed Kimball Junction neighborhood plan “sweet” and says it’s a great vision for future development.

“It envisions Kimball Junction as a very different place than it is now. It would be more similar to the street that goes through the center of New Park, along the little plaza going out from the Maxwell’s area and down toward the bowling alley."

Harrison says the neighborhood amendment recommends zoning changes that would require streetscapes with businesses and retail on the first floor and housing above. It would be friendly for walkers and bikers. There would be connections between both east and west neighborhoods and area trails.

“There likely would be centralized parking and getting away from big, black paved spaces and putting several levels of parking throughout.”

Former Fox Point resident Gordon Mills was on the Blue- Ribbon Committee and he says it’s not a master plan but rather an amendment to the existing General Plan.

“One of the big things that’s missing is connectivity between he east and the west sides. Another is the walkability. You can navigate parts of Kimball Junction like Fox Point and New Park Condos and Redstone quite easily. But, if you look at the vast parking lots and outbuildings that sits between there and Smith’s, it’s not very conducive to a comfortable lifestyle.”

Mills says specific issues like height and density are not sorted out yet and will be addressed in more detail once the amendment is adopted.

“There’s really kind of a visionary concept of what Kimball can be. I think it’s the foundation upon which future planning can build very successfully.”

The committee met with the Utah Department of Transportation to address the challenges of nearly 30,000 vehicles passing through the junction each day. Mills says they talked about several options to include building more tunnels under SR 224. They also discussed a bypass around the tech park for through traffic. A third idea considered would be to drop SR 224 to 15 feet below grade and create a street scape of businesses, housing and recreation above.

Joe Rich owns Great Harvest Bread Company located on the west side of Kimball Junction in the Wal-Mart Plaza. He thinks the existing tunnel under 224 and the Kimball transit center have been underutilized.

“Didn’t put people close enough to where they needed to be, I don’t think. I mean, Redstone, there’s a lot over there but leaving there and coming under 224, you end up in a field. I see this bus station right by Kimball Junction, I just never saw people use it that much to be honest with ya. And, I drive by that all the time.”

Rich comes from Ogden where he says the e-scooter program has been successful and could help alleviate traffic in Kimball Junction and make connecting the east and west sides easier. Last month the County Council voted to disallow commercial e scooter operations in the area.

“They just use their cars, which makes more traffic and it’s a problem that’s just going to perpetuate, I think. The strict covenants that they have where they don’t want certain things happening, it will limit Park City and Kimball Junction, where it might help solve some issues.”

Once approved by the Summit County Council, the Snyderville Basin General Plan Amendment, 
http://summitcounty.org/DocumentCenter/View/9347/PH-Staff-Report-and-Ordinance-No-899,
will be used to guide future development in the Kimball Junction neighborhoods.
 
      
 

Related Content