After nearly an hour of public comment and a mid-meeting closed session Nov. 6, Park City leaders decided to wait a few weeks before making a decision about the future of Clark Ranch.
Clark Ranch is 344 acres in the Quinn’s Junction area the city bought back in 2014.
For the past year, Park City has had an exclusive negotiation agreement with the Alexander Company to develop housing, mostly affordable, on a small slice of the land south of Park City Heights.
City leaders and residents have been debating how large that slice is supposed to be. The debate continued Nov. 6 because the council was scheduled to vote on a conservation easement that would lock it in place.
Councilmember Bill Ciraco explained how he thought a city committee’s decade-old up-to-10-acre recommendation became 15.
“The 2021 [Clark Ranch request for proposals] … when that was canceled, then the new RFP was reissued, and staff was trying to direct the surveyors into a specific portion of the property. And their language was, ‘Here's the area where you want to look: it's 15 acres,’” he said. “Somehow, along the way, like a game of telephone, this became ‘up to 15 acres.’”
A resident group formed this fall, Keep Clark Ranch Wild, has been vocal in its opposition to the housing plans.
At the meeting, more than a dozen residents — many from the group and the adjacent neighborhood — spoke against staff’s proposal to set aside 15 acres from the land, then later identify just 10 of those acres for development.
“This is trying to truthfully thread the needle of two projects, right?” Sustainability Director Luke Cartin said.
Some worried the development might end up filling all 15 acres. Others said the whole property belongs under an easement.
“Oh, the numbers, they are a-changin’ — should this affordable housing project get 10 acres? 15 acres?” Parkite Deb Rentfrow said. “Let's go with zero acres for affordable housing and conserve it all.”
At first, councilmembers tried to create a compromise. Several said they wanted to get rid of the five-acre “buffer” and vote to put all but 10 acres under an easement that night.
But the city attorney cautioned them it could be risky to make that move Nov. 6, since the city already has an agreement with the developer involving 15 acres.
After going into closed session to discuss the legal risks for about half an hour, the council voted to wait before finalizing the easement.
Councilmembers haven’t yet set a date to discuss the plans again but emphasized it’s a priority to get an easement in place before the end of the year.
The land trust Utah Open Lands would hold and enforce the easement.
Any later changes on the property, such as a potential gondola from Richardson Flat to Deer Valley, would need to be approved by Utah Open Lands to ensure the conservation commitment is protected.
Park City Municipal and Utah Open Lands are financial supporters of KPCW.
