Summit County Planning Commission votes down plan for affordable housing
Adam Breen via Salt Lake Tribune
Renderings of the proposed Highland Flats housing development in Park City
and last updated 2021-03-10 15:58:09-05
SUMMIT COUNTY, Utah â
A plan to rezone Highland Flats for affordable housing received a negative recommendation from the Summit County Planning Commission after receiving extensive comments in opposition from the neighborhood, despite a plea from its developers of the public need.
Rezoning for the area was first considered in a February 23 hearing, where public comments expressed concerns about crime, overcrowding, and a decline in property values. A follow-up presentation to the Commission on March 9 by developer representative Wade Budge did not sway the commission, despite their praise of the project s concept and the need for it.
Park Record file photo
A year after a last-minute law paved the way for Hideout to annex Richardson Flat, the Utah Legislature’s final days once again included a flurry of activity. But this time, Summit County stands to benefit from a relatively late addition.
H.B. 433, the $1.1 billion infrastructure bill passed Thursday, includes a provision expressly appropriating money for “an environmental impact study for Kimball Junction in Summit County.”
It may not sound like much, but environmental studies like this one are expensive, and Summit County Manager Tom Fisher said it was one of the last major hurdles in the process to redesign the snarled intersections at Kimball Junction.
“Our community is fluid,” columnist Teri Orr writes. “Yet our actions are increasing rigid . and honestly tired and stuck and unimaginative and nowhere near . .”
The Summit County Sheriff s report
Deputies arrested a 59-year-old Park City man on suspicion of DUI on Saturday after he crashed his pickup truck into a parked car at a Kimball Junction fast food restaurant and then passed out, according to a report from the Summit County Sheriff’s Office.
The report indicates that a restaurant employee called to report that a man in a pickup truck had crashed into a vehicle parked in the parking lot and then lost consciousness. When deputies arrived, the man showed numerous signs of impairment and performed poorly on sobriety tests, according to the report.
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