A set of design documents Summit County Manager Shayne Scott approved Feb. 2 include a gondola running down the middle of Tech Center Drive.
It’s a possible addition to the controversial Dakota Pacific Real Estate project coming to the Kimball Junction area over the next several years.
Summit County hasn’t approved a gondola yet, but it did require the Salt Lake City-based developer to plan to accommodate one in last year’s development agreement.
The meeting Feb. 2 was only about the residential and commercial development’s look and feel. Community Development Director Peter Barnes says it will be “mountain modern.”
“What is ‘mountain architecture,’ and what is ‘modern architecture?’ Are you talking to someone who lives in Switzerland, someone who lives in Tibet, someone who lives in the foothills of the Wasatch Front?” Barnes said. “‘Modern’ means different things … hence, the document is filled with illustrations.”
The illustrations detail where a gondola would go. They show cabins running east-west above cars and pedestrians on Tech Center Drive, potentially across state Route 224 to Redstone.
The design documents don’t show exactly where a gondola would pick passengers up or drop them off.
Previous iterations of the Dakota Pacific development plans imagined future gondola connections to the Utah Olympic Park and even Canyons Village.
Now that Dakota Pacific has its architecture approved, Barnes says the developer can start subdividing its property to create building lots.
Officials say the first visible change to the area will be the demolition of the Kimball Junction library branch planned this year.
Summit County will move offices and services from the Sheldon Richins Building into the PEAK Center, formerly the Skullcandy building, to prepare for the development.
Eventually the Dakota Pacific development area will include 885 housing units, about half of them affordable and reserved for local workers.
Summit County is a financial supporter of KPCW.
