A new Harmons grocery store at the back of the outlets – where the Halloween Store is now, among other tenants – would be somewhat bigger and taller than that area is zoned for. But its presence could revitalize the outlets, which have had increasing vacancies in recent years.
The Snyderville Basin Planning Commission met Tuesday night to consider a developer’s proposal to bring a Harmons to the outlets.
Commission chair John Kucera told KPCW that the commission talked through concerns with the applicant, who will bring it back to the planning commission later.
The applicant is seeking exemptions to size and height, as well as a removal of 31 parking spaces, which Kucera said wasn’t a problem since the outlets are actually oversupplied with parking by their metrics.
Some residents have questioned why the county would put another grocery store there instead of along U.S. 40 in the Home Depot area. There are two grocery stores near Kimball Junction and the outlets; Whole Foods and Smith’s. A couple of miles west is a third, the Fresh Market in Pinebrook.
But Kucera said there are several reasons why the application has potential to be approved.
“The idea is certainly to create some demand and vibrancy of the outlets number one, number two, you know Harmons operates throughout Utah, they've been in a variety of different competitive markets and they found that being close to other grocers tends to bode well for everyone and brings everyone to the area,” Kucera said. “Our job is to probably let the free market decide and if they believe that they can be a responsible, good operator there, then that's the place that it would go you know, they're also only so many places where the size of grocery store could fit and this is certainly one of them.”
Only one public commenter spoke Tuesday night, who raised a concern about backroad traffic by the Powderwood condos.
If the planning commission approves the proposal, the project would go next to the Summit County Council. Kucera said there would be ample opportunity for more resident input, and he expected to see the application back on a future agenda fairly soon.