In 1964, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously said he couldn’t define pornography, but “I know it when I see it.”
During the Brighton Town Council meeting Tuesday night, Brighton Mayor Dan Knopp noted he shares Stewart’s stance when it comes to determining the boundaries for Big Cottonwood Canyon’s two ski areas: Brighton Resort and Solitude Mountain Resort. He may not be able to cite the specific latitude and longitudes, he said, but “I know pretty much where Solitude is.”
And it is not, he said, on both sides of Big Cottonwood Canyon Road.
The rest of the council concurred. With a unanimous vote, it approved a municipal ordinance that sets the ski resort boundaries roughly along the lines of their Uinta-Wasatch-Cache Forest Service permits. At the same time, the council leveled a blow to Solitude’s plan to build a parking lot on an undeveloped parcel across the highway from Solitude Village.
Solitude had wanted its 12.5-acre parcel off of Old Stage Road to be included in the boundary map. That could have helped smooth the path to the lot’s approval. Without its inclusion, the ski area still has a path to building the lot, but with more red tape. It must first petition the council to add the parcel to the resort’s boundary. If that goes through, it can then seek a conditional use permit from the planning commission to build the lot.
Solitude sought a conditional use permit for the lot early this year, but it was denied after the Greater Salt Lake Municipal Services District — which oversees planning, zoning and development issues for the Town of Brighton — determined the request was void. Among other cited issues, the district said it was denied because the resort does not have a right of way across Salt Lake City watershed land between Old Stage Road to the property.
Read more at sltrib.com.
This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aims to inform readers across the state.