The Snyderville Basin Planning Commission unanimously recommended the development agreement’s amendments Jan. 13.
The changes stem from the Utah Olympic Park's separate application to build a hotel around its freestyle pool.
They include extra height for the hotel, but park leaders also said they wanted to clean up other parts of the agreement with the county while they were at it.
“I wanted a 10-foot exception on a hotel so I could move a chunk out of the way of the pool, and it wasn't as obstructive. That's where I started,” Conabee said. “And then [Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation President and CEO Colin Hilton] started looking at his master plan and was like, ‘Well, there's other things I want to do. We probably need to bring that too.’”
The other items include designating the UOP as a “major sporting event venue” so it can secure lower cost debt financing before the 2034 Olympics.
Additionally, the UOP wouldn’t need to come back to the planning commission for repeated public hearings to get permits for some projects allowed under the development agreement.
Initially, the park wanted to adjust the location of housing near the top of its bobsled track, but that garnered public pushback. It dropped that idea late last year but retains the right to build there under the existing development agreement.
Neighbors in the Sun Peak area worried about traffic through the UOP’s back gate, so Hilton says the park has drafted a “back gate use policy.”
“It's secondary and shall not be used as a general public park entrance, nor shall it be used for routine sport programs or general visitor traffic,” he told the planning commission Jan. 13.
The gate use policy would allow access for emergency, safety, maintenance and operational purposes.
Hilton also said construction vehicles could use it on a case-by-case basis if the front entrance wasn’t an option.
If the UOP does build housing near the gate, those residents may get gate access passes.
Regarding traffic mitigation, both Hilton and planning commissioner Tyann Mooney supported extending Bear Cub Drive to meet Olympic Parkway beneath the park’s front entrance and beneath the Run-a-Muk Dog Park.
“I’m a big fan of seeing that [road] extend, because right now, Olympic Parkway coming onto [state Route] 224 is a hot mess a lot of the time of the day,” Hilton said.
Connecting Olympic Parkway and Bear Cub Drive is part of Summit County’s long-term transportation plan and included in the Snyderville Basin Cemetery District’s latest designs for gravesites in the area.
The planning commission didn’t require the new road to be built before the UOP can change its development agreement.
The Summit County Council has the final say on the changes and will likely discuss them later this year.
Summit County and the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation are financial supporters of KPCW.
