Park City residents are pressing the Planning Commission to deny height exceptions and demand more data before approving the proposed 5-Acre Site mixed-use development at Kearns Boulevard and Bonanza Drive, with the first of two August hearings set for Wednesday, Aug. 12.

Six of the seven buildings in the proposal exceed the 35-foot zoning height maximum, according to plans presented at the commission's June 24 site visit. Resident Nate Marine, in an Aug. 5 letter published in the Park Record, called on commissioners to require a specific on-the-record finding for each building seeking an exception and to produce view-impact renderings before any vote.

"A building program that cannot fit inside the zoning envelope is a building program that is too large for the parcel," Marine wrote.

Marine also asked the commission to require current occupancy and absorption data for Park City's existing deed-restricted housing inventory before approving 106 new units, and to test the traffic study's trip-generation assumptions against actual regional commuting patterns rather than generic multifamily rates.

$75 million financing question

The project's financing model drew a separate challenge. Resident Phoebe Hailey warned in an Aug. 1 letter to the Park Record that the city is considering committing up to $75 million in Transient Room Tax funds to subsidize the development. Hailey argued that tourist-driven revenue fluctuates during economic downturns and that shortfalls would shift the burden to local taxpayers.

Resident Luisa Power cited a lower figure of $40 million in TRT commitment in a July 29 letter to the Park Record. The city's official project page does not specify a dollar amount.

Arts district promise

The financing and zoning debates sit atop a deeper grievance: Park City spent $19.5 million in 2017 to acquire the land for an arts and culture district anchored by the Kimball Art Center and the Sundance Institute. Both have since left. The Sundance Institute relocated to Colorado; the Kimball Art Center moved to Kimball Junction.

Marianne Cone, a self-described Park City artist since 1971 who has owned a Main Street gallery and created public art, wrote in an Aug. 1 letter to the Park Record that the current plan's tall buildings hide interior public spaces and urged the city to reconsider the site's direction before the project becomes irreversible.

What the project includes

Park City owns the land and is partnering with Evanston, Illinois-based Brinshore Development on the project. According to the city's project page, the development would deliver 106 residential units (88 deed-restricted affordable), 32,581 square feet of commercial space including restaurant and café uses, about 8,000 square feet of dedicated art space, a childcare center, a small amphitheater, community green space and an underground parking garage.

The City Council directed Brinshore to submit applications for Planning Commission review on March 19. The opposition group PLACE PC has gathered more than 1,100 petition signatures against the project.

Council Member Tana Toly has defended the proposal. "If we can't build housing here, if we can't build a space for the community here, in an industrial area where there are actually no directly impacted residents, then I don't know where you'll build housing in this community," Toly said on KPCW on July 11.

What happens next

The Planning Commission, chaired by Christin Van Dine, is scheduled to review the traffic impact study at its Wednesday, Aug. 12 meeting, with a second hearing set for Wednesday, Aug. 26. The three formal items before the commission are the affordable housing mitigation plan, the traffic study and the requested building height exceptions. Clayton Scrivner, Park City's director of communications, said in a July 8 statement that the commission will evaluate the proposal for compliance with the Land Management Code.

Residents can submit written comments to the Planning Commission ahead of the Aug. 12 hearing.