Those interested in the proposal to build the Treasure development should lace up their hiking boots on Wednesday.
The Treasure land, overlooking Old Town, is a popular spot for hikers and bicyclists in the summer and fall. The hike on Wednesday, though, has greater importance than a typical climb from Old Town.
The Park City Planning Commission is prepared to walk the Treasure site with the developers. The public is welcome to tag along since the hike is a part of an official Planning Commission meeting about Treasure.
The visit to the site will provide an extraordinary chance to learn about Treasure at a time when the Planning Commission is still in the early meetings of the current round of discussions about the project. Anyone who has followed Treasure over the years has seen the images showing how the buildings would look on the hillside, and some might have dwelled on the concept while looking at the land from any number of vantages.
The Wednesday walkabout, though, will put someone on the land itself, and with guides who are well informed on the Treasure issues. The Treasure side will discuss various sites on the acreage, and some of the locations will have data markings posted for the event. The information that will be gleaned from the visit to the site will be a solid complement to the maps, charts and other materials that are presented at a typical Planning Commission meeting about Treasure.
By the end of the hike, people will have learned much about how the developers see the project fitting on the land, a crucial part of their argument in favor of Treasure. It is likely, though, the Treasure opponents could use the visit to the site to embolden their case against the project as well.
The Treasure developers last led such a tour of the land in 2009, when a previous roster of Planning Commissioners and others hiked to locations similar to those that will be visited on Wednesday. Sixty or so people attended. Even more should make the climb this time since it could be the last opportunity prior to a Planning Commission decision.
The tour starts at 4:30 p.m. Those interested should gather at the Lowell Avenue-Empire Avenue switchback.