A problem of excess
Regarding the proposed Highland Estates development: Several letters published by The Park Record are opposed to the project while acknowledging a need for more affordable housing. I, too, am opposed but for a very different reason: We do not have any housing shortage, affordable or otherwise. Instead, there is an excess of people who wish to live here but who have not figured out how to make it work with their personal situation.
Let’s be clear: An excess of people who wish to live here does not mean we have a shortage of housing. All it means is there is an excess of people who wish to live here, period. Neither the city nor the county have any obligation to accommodate people who don’t currently live here. Let’s do a thought experiment: Let’s say we polled everyone who lives in Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and New York City and asked them, “Would you like to live in Park City if it were affordable?” and d
“An excess of people who wish to live here does not mean we have a shortage of housing,” writes Phil Palmintere. “All it means is there is an excess of people who wish to live here, period.”
County must play zone defense
Despite what the developer’s PR push has said, the Highland Flats proposal controversy is not about affordable housing. It IS about zoning. The land is currently zoned rural residential, and the density requirements allow the developers to build three units/homes. They were aware of this zoning when they purchased it. They now want the zoning changed to allow them to build 410 units! There are currently 264 homes/lots in the Highland Estates neighborhood with a minimum size of 2/3 of an acre. The developer wants to add 410 (almost double) to what is currently there on less than 40 acres! A lot of thought, time and energy went into zoning all across the county, determining what each community should look like, and how the land should be used. They considered things like sustainability, safety, growth, traffic, available utilities, etc. If every developer that says “affordable housing” is allowed to re-zone any area they want, what is the point of
Courtesy of Colbreen PC LLC
The Snyderville Basin Planning Commission heard in no uncertain terms the overwhelming public opposition to allowing a proposed large apartment complex near the Highland Estates neighborhood.
The nearly 50 commenters who spoke to oppose the project during a hearing Tuesday night dwarfed in number the handful who supported it.
They used words and phrases like “horrific,” “appalled,” “shoehorned,” “atrocious,” “square peg in a round hole” and “hard no.”
Planning commissioners voted to pause discussions after the hearing and indicated they would resume talks at the commission’s next meeting March 9.
The proposal calls for 410 housing units spread across 27 buildings on a 41-acre wedge of land southwest of the Interstate 80-U.S. 40 interchange. It is directly across Highland Drive from the Highland Estates subdivision.
It’s easy to dismiss the opponents of a proposed affordable housing project in the Snyderville Basin as Karens or members of the NIMBY crowd, writes Amy Roberts. But, in truth, they have valid concerns.