This year’s Senate Bill 26 effectively rezoned Dakota Pacific Real Estate’s land in Kimball Junction, according to a county staff report.
So the Salt Lake City-based developer can apply to build its development, but Summit County Community Development Director Peter Barnes said his department hasn’t been given guidelines for how to process the application.
April 9, the county council may vote on a temporary code change to establish those guidelines.
“At the end of the day, when an application form comes through my office, I need to know what to do with it and do it as efficiently as possible,” Barnes said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” April 2.
The “most appropriate” process, according to the draft ordinance, is an administrative development agreement.
A development agreement is exactly what the Summit County Council struck with Dakota Pacific in December; it’s what a recent citizen referendum effort sought to overturn.
But that agreement was legislative, meaning it was voted on by elected councilmembers.
An administrative development agreement is executed by county staff. And SB26 requires the process to be administrative — not legislative — meaning it wouldn’t be subject to a referendum.
“We've talked internally about how we would handle an application process,” Barnes said. “It's just the administrative processing side of it that caught us a little bit off guard.”
The proposed process includes a stop at the Snyderville Basin Planning Commission. Commissioners would ensure Dakota Pacific’s project complies with SB26, county code and the general plan.
Then they recommend approval or denial to the county manager, who makes his decision based on those same factors after a public hearing.
The agreement the council approved in December allowed a 725-unit neighborhood and public private partnership to develop and redevelop the land around Skullcandy’s headquarters.
Dakota Pacific isn’t bound by the terms of that agreement because it didn’t sign it.
It would be bound by the terms of an administrative development agreement, the proposed code states.
The agreement won’t be possible unless the council votes to allow it April 9. And it would be temporary: the draft ordinance says developers may only apply for administrative development agreements for the next six months.
When they approved an agreement the first time, councilmembers said they expected state lawmakers to make sure the development happened one way or another.
Thousands of Summit County residents supported a referendum to overturn the agreement. Since the clerk’s office says as many as 2,000 petition signatures aren’t valid, it may not be enough to put the issue to a countywide vote.
It’s unclear if SB26 would circumvent a successful referendum, but Dakota Pacific has another path to development pending: creating its own town. The company is not bound by any agreement with anyone if it goes that route.
The land in question is known as the Park City Tech Center, since it was initially zoned for tech offices like Skullcandy.
A sign that could be changing? Its main thoroughfare, Tech Center Drive, is up for a name change at a public hearing April 30.
Summit County is a financial supporter of KPCW. For a full list, click here.
