Since Dakota Pacific has again ignored the wishes of the citizens of Summit County by “soliciting ($?)” the support of legislators throughout the state and burying enabling legislation in a much larger and important bill, we now are faced with 3 choices:

Stop our resistance and let the development at Kimball Junction proceed unimpeded.

Wait until the next legislative session and hope that legislation can be rescinded.

Just say NO and refuse to issue the permits and deny the access to roads and utilities that would enable development to proceed.

This last approach, refusing to obey the law, will create a huge furor in the Utah Legislature and inevitably result in loud threats and legal action. During the course of that process the names of the people who introduced the legislation will be spotlighted, and their financial and personal relationships to Dakota Pacific will be prominently featured. If the legal action goes all the way through the courts, Summit County may very well lose. Or some other sort of settlement could result, such as Dakota Pacific selling the property to Summit County rather than facing further delays, costly legal action, and a further tarnished reputation. Or (gasp!) proceed with development according to the original zoning. When Dakota Pacific chooses to ignore the people of Summit County, it’s time for us to simply refuse to cooperate in any way!

Ken Miller

Park City

The post Letters, Feb. 22-24: It’s time to simply refuse appeared first on Park Record.

My reaction to the Dakota Pacific proposal comes from two sources. First, I am a homeowner in Foxpoint. Second, I am very knowledgeable about local government planning and zoning, having just retired after 26 years as mayor of Shoreview, Minnesota, a community of 27,000 that is considered a premiere suburb and known for its recreational amenities. I was stunned to learn of the power play of the Utah Legislature to seize local control of a development that should be managed by Summit County and its residents. It appears that the justification for this move is to provide affordable housing. I am a strong advocate for affordable/workforce housing and served on the governor’s task force in 2002 — an outstanding effort by 23 communities to support each other as we provide regional solutions to housing accessibility for all.

This Utah state bill that removes local control will not have a significant impact on affordable housing because it only insists that 10% of the proposed housing units meet affordable standards. In Shoreview, we passed our own city policy that demands 10% of any proposal more than 20 units must be considered affordable. The state bill is a ruse!  It is an excuse to get approvals for a development proposal that is too large for the site and will exacerbate traffic issues in Kimball Junction.

In the Twin Cities of Minnesota, we have regional governance through the Metropolitan Council and through a thorough analysis of available land, existing housing, and transportation availability, cities are provided with housing goals or quotas that need to be met with future comprehensive plans. This is the fair and equitable way to achieve affordable housing goals. All cities need to participate and work together to find solutions to housing issues that are critical to business success and employment solutions.

The concept of state control of local issues is appalling and must be rejected. As an elected local official, I’ve been listening to NIMBY objections for 45 years and I want to assure you that my objections are based on policy, not on the impact this project might have on my personal property.

Sandy Martin

Snyderville Basin

The post Letters, Feb. 22 -24: State control of local issues is appalling appeared first on Park Record.

U.S. Congressmen John Curtis and Blake Moore, state Senators John Johnson and Ron Winterton and state Representatives Kera Birkeland and Mike Kohler: We in Summit County are very concerned with the state mingling in our zoning and planning for our land use development. We are all appalled that the four county representatives voted for this bill and pleased that our senators did not.

I have read your regret on the way some of you voted for this bill and ask you and the other representative to help Summit County prepare to file a lawsuit against the state to fight this, should the governor approve this proposed disaster. If the governor sees this proposal, then an immediate VETO is needed.

We understand the traffic survey is very skewed and distorted in favor of the developer as was the back-door lobbying to push this illegal bill. A Traffic Impact Study (TIS) was commissioned by Dakota Pacific and peer-reviewed by Wall Consulting, which was supposed to be an out-of-state audit with no known connections to Dakota Pacific. The study was fundamentally flawed since the assumptions were all given by Dakota Pacific. This includes just studying the traffic on weekdays only. No traffic data was collected for the weekends! We all know the entire valley comes up to ski on the weekends during the ski season. The vehicle traffic data was taken from UDOT cameras on a single day in April.

What they are not addressing with any of the proposals is the 500 to 600-plus school-aged children (as per the latest proposal of 700-plus units) that would reside in the housing units and the need to build a school for them in the neighborhood as well. The Park City School District owns land between the Kimball Junction Tech Center and Olympic Park. The traffic survey does not address that very real concern as well.

The backdoor lobbyists and the politicians that are pushing this are for the developers who are paying the donations and they are the only ones in favor of this proposal.

We encourage you to show up at county meetings to hear and speak to the corporations, lobbyists and politicians that are trying to override the existing county zoning laws. But mostly we encourage you to listen to your constituents in Summit County, particularly residents of Park City and Snyderville. 

The County and Dakota Pacific appear to be on a path for a lawsuit and we should welcome this and support the county if it comes to this.

Len Starbeck

Summit County GOP Snyderville Regional Chair

The post Letters, Feb. 22-24: To our legislators – help us sue the state appeared first on Park Record.

Do outsiders see value in Park City? The metropolis of Hideout sees enough value in Park City that they want to annex us so their residents can buy bread!

The Utah state legislators do not seem to be as concerned about the value of Park City. You would think our ski resorts and proximity to the airport would provide value when Utah wants to attract tourists. What will happen when they create a blockade at the junction? The time from the SLC airport will go from 30 minutes to 180 minutes (approximately). When tourists realize how difficult it will be to get into and out of Park City they will find easier destinations.

That actually has pros and cons. If you live here that means less tourist son the ski slopes. If you are not involved in the tourist industry in Park City that sounds good. On the other hand, we may need to “skin up” up the mountains when the blockade keeps ski mountain employees from getting to work. It will also mean less in taxes for the state.

When the Legislature realizes this, they will seek another developer to help them out. Maybe they will write a bill that if you have a “white barn” that is not being used for milk production, a developer can take control of it and convert it to low income housing? After all they only have our best interest in mind.

Maybe it is time to see if the state of Wyoming is interested in annexing
us?

James Duebber

Snyderville Basin

The post Letters, Feb. 22-24: Tourists will find easier destinations appeared first on Park Record.

In the last week , we in Summit County have been witnessing an unprecedented attempt to usurp local control from our County Council. Several members of the Utah Legislature, including Casey Snider and Wayne Harper, have written a bill to attempt to punish Summit County because in their view, the county failed to respond to requirements from H.B. 462, which asked for a plan for a Housing and Transit Reinvestment Zone (HRTZ) by the end of 2022.

Dakota Pacific has submitted an application to the county to build an entire neighborhood in the middle of Kimball Junction. Their plan includes market rate townhomes, condos, retail, commercial space, and several hundred units of affordable housing.

The Summit County community does not want, nor need, this outrageous project and on Dec. 1, 2021, nearly 1,000 citizens came to a County Council public comment meeting to let the councilors know that Dakota Pacific is not welcome in our community. This project would create more traffic chaos in Kimball Junction and stress our infrastructure behind its capacity for years to come.

Dakota Pacific, after hearing from the community devised a new strategy which was to use its influence and power with the Utah State Legislature to force Summit County to accept an unwanted and deplorable new neighborhood in Kimball Junction. The State Legislature was managed by its leadership in the House and Senate to pass a new bill that bypasses local control to overturn a development agreement from 2008 that entitles owners of the property to build in accordance with a Tech Park plan with no residential housing.

It’s unprecedented that the Legislature would pass this legislation without even reading the bill. It was introduced five minutes before the vote. The members of the Legislature,  acting under the direction of the leadership, passed this bill without knowledge of the situation in Kimball Junction or consideration of the residents of Summit County.

What are we to think about their allegiance to a corporation like Dakota Pacific that could not show any community benefit and gain the acceptance of their monstrosity of a project to the good people of Summit County? I would call it arrogant incompetence or outright corruption. We the people of Utah expect more of our Legislature but we have seen no evidence it will act in the best interest of its citizens.

Gary Peacock

Snyderville Basin

The post Letters, Feb. 22 – 24: Is our Legislature corrupt or incompetent? appeared first on Park Record.

I am a local here in beautiful historical Park City. My concern is Vail Resorts. I enjoy and prefer to ski at Park City Mountain. I used to go before work for an hour or so, or during a lunch break, or after work. I rarely ski on the weekends. Vail has taken that away from many of us locals.

When I ski it is generally not all day, usually a couple of hours. The reservation concept does not work for my type of skiing time or for other locals, as we need flexibility.

Please find a way to give locals a break, maybe a special pass if you’ve lived here seven-plus years and are a permanent resident and not a tourist or second-home owner. The canyons lot gets very full. And frankly I cannot afford an extra $25 daily parking fee and it is a huge inconvenience to park at Canyons. I used to ski four times a week.

Maybe charge an hourly fee without reservations needed?

This has been an amazing season.

You, Vail, it seems, are in it for the coin and not for the benefit of all to be able to ski. Please stop your focus on the tourists. We locals support our city. The tourists do not, aside from small businesses and hotels.

Charge the tourists, not the locals!

Jodi Storey

Park City

The post Letters, Feb. 18-21: Charge tourists, not locals appeared first on Park Record.

After listening to Dakota Pacific’s project discussion, I want to take this opportunity to urge ALL COUNTY COMMISSIONERS to vote against this project. The developers knew exactly what all the zoning restrictions were on this property when they made the decision to purchase the land. Summit County has no obligation to insure the developers profit financially from their decision.

The commissioners represent the people of Summit County and the overwhelming majority of residents are opposed to this massive development. It is still a massive project EVEN though Dakota has scaled it back in response to  community opposition. It is ridiculous to assume that the Kimball Junction area can handle a development with so many new residents. There is no guarantee that state funding can rework traffic issues that already are intolerable.

County commissioners can use this opportunity to say No to the unbridled development of Summit County. Let’s think about further demand on water, schools and services that a project like the Dakota proposal would require.

Once and for all, STOP DAKOTA PACIFIC!

Howard Kantor

Park City

The post Letters, Feb. 18-21: ‘Overwhelming majority’ oppose Dakota Pacific appeared first on Park Record.

We just wanted to let you know we enjoy Tom Clyde’s columns very much and look forward to each one. He is just the best. His writing is excellent, highly entertaining and spot-on. Can his column be syndicated so it appears in the Wasatch Wave or Salt Lake papers? Probably not, but the folks in Wasatch County could learn a lot from him.  

We love The Park Record. Thanks for all you do.

Suellen Winegar

Midway

The post Letters, Feb. 18-21: Tom Clyde is just the best appeared first on Park Record.

The revised proposal submitted by Datoka Pacific to change the zoning of the already approved Tech Center with a high-density mixed development should not be approved due to the detrimental consequences to the area residents. The Dakota proposal continues to take time and resources away from the city council and the community in general for something that was already addressed during the initial zoning approval as Tech Center.

The latest Dakota Pacific revised proposal to add 727 residential units to the Kimball junction area will add approximately 2,260 new full-time residents (using latest census data of 3.11 persons per household) to the already congested area. This number is about 700 more full-time residents than the number provided by Dakota Pacific during their presentation. On top of the over 2,200 new full-time residents, we need to add the traffic generated by the retail/commercial units.

The traffic study presented during the County Council meeting has some important flaws that resulted in the underestimation of the impact of the project in the area. The peer review comments regarding the traffic study addressed some of the flaws. The model used to generate the results presented to the council requires some recalibration to reflect the current conditions of the analyzed intersections. The traffic model depicted a decrease in traffic at many of the intersections from 2019-2022, which is not in alignment with what we are experiencing in the area. Average values are not enough to provide an assessment of the traffic and impacts the project will have in the area. Peak events, which are becoming more of a norm for Park City, shall be included and presented. The model shall align with data used by UDOT that shows many intersections are already failing during peak winter days. The increased peak volume of side streets not currently shown in the model are definitely a concern as well as the lower factors used in the model. 

There are too many negative impacts that this project will have on our schools, recreation facilities, air quality, water constrains, traffic congestion, parks, etc. Overall, the Dakota Pacific project does not bring or provide anything positive to the community and I think that Dakota Pacific should develop the land per approved zoning or consider selling the land to the community.

Ruby Diaz

Park City

The post Letters, Feb. 15-17: Dakota Pacific is smoke and mirrors appeared first on Park Record.

In January 2023, a consortium of state and regional experts published a report noting that the changes we make “over the next few months” to save the Great Salt Lake are paramount to our state’s economy, health and habitability. On Feb. 8, several news outlets reported that Tiger Woods’s design firm will be building an 8,000-yard golf course at the Marcela Club, which will be accessible to 500 high-net-worth member households. There are few events that as starkly demonstrate the disconnect between our reality and developers’ priorities in our state. The U.S. Geologic Survey estimates that Utah golf courses currently use 38 million gallons of water per day, and several reports suggest this is a drastic underestimate.  Upon hearing stories on our local media, I kept wondering, “why is no one asking if Tiger Woods is also bringing the water for this course?”

It is important for all of us with lungs to understand what the drastic shrinking of the Great Salt Lake means. Toxic dust from the drying lake, containing arsenic, cadmium, mercury, and cyanotoxins, among other noxious pollutants, has already been observed as far away as southern Utah and Wyoming. Those dusts cause cancer in our families and make soil and livestock toxic. This means our ability to safely breath, eat and raise our families is literally at stake.

We have evidence-based strategies that can be activated and legislation to empower state and local authorities to act with commensurate resources. Paramount to this is conservation, which means drastically reducing the water we use and making those choices now. This includes not building more golf courses in the second driest state in America, even if they were already approved. The approval of this project was lunacy. Choosing to still move forward with it given the information we have today is unethical.

Golfers are certainly not to blame for the shrinking Great Salt Lake. We all are. But we need to take the easy wins where we can to save water, even if it means changing course.

Theresa Wolters

Park City

The post Letters, Feb. 15-17: Will Tiger Woods also bring the water? appeared first on Park Record.