The Summit County Council will soon decide whether to finalize a series of amendments to the Utah Olympic Park’s development agreement after a monthslong conversation between the park’s operators and the Snyderville Basin Planning Commission.
The original development agreement was created in 2011, with the intent that the document would be revisited throughout the years as the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation refined its vision for the park. The agreement outlined allowable uses on the property, such as a hotel, employee and athlete lodging, maintenance facilities and ski runs.
Foundation CEO Colin Hilton in October told the Planning Commission that the amendments didn’t change the heart of the agreement and only served to make further development more efficient for both the county and the nonprofit.
However, multiple residents opposed the initial proposal. They expressed frustrations with ongoing construction and traffic in the Snyderville Basin, which they said would only be exacerbated by affordable housing on the park’s property, as well as specific concerns regarding the scope of the development and its effect on wildlife.
But the county’s legal counsel has since directed the Planning Commission to disregard some of those concerns, saying commissioners are only able to consider the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation’s application when making a decision. As a result, traffic congestion in the Snyderville Basin, access to Bear Hollow Drive via the park’s back gate, and the nonprofit’s financial information were not allowed to factor into the commissioners’ recommendation to the County Council.
Hilton still addressed a few of the more controversial points surrounding the proposed amendments last week, though. He said the new development agreement, if approved, would include a provision limiting the use of the gate on Bear Hollow Drive as a general entrance for the public.
However, the provision allows Utah Olympic Park staff to use the gate in certain situations, including operational and maintenance access, emergency access, construction access on a case-by-case basis, pedestrian access and residential access. The road also serves as an emergency exit route for the Sun Peak neighborhood in case of a wildfire.
Legacy Foundation staff additionally brought maps and renderings of the proposed future developments on the Utah Olympic Park property. The renderings were from the perspective of major intersections in Kimball Junction and intended to show the Planning Commission that the buildings slated for construction won’t prominently alter or obscure the skyline.
The map is similarly meant to assuage concerns about wildlife by detailing where the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources’ protected wildlife habitats are in comparison to the park’s property. The wildlife habitat specifically overlapped with two parcels earmarked for affordable and attainable employee housing, but Hilton said the Foundation has already committed to working with the Division of Wildlife Resources to comply with mitigation requirements.
The partnership with the Division of Wildlife Resources was also added to the amended development agreement as a condition of approval.
Hilton also said parcel 6-A and parcel 6-B, which were both located near the ridgeline bordering the Sun Peak community, were moved back to their original spot further down the mountain based on neighbors’ concerns. The two parcels will likely become affordable housing for employees and athletes in the future, but Hilton said the park is holding off on solidifying plans for those parcels for now.
Around 257,000 square feet of the property is slated for commercial development, with the largest piece earmarked for Parcel 3, which is where the 190,000-square-foot hotel will be built. The rest of the commercial space will go toward offices for Legacy Foundation staff and partnering sports organizations.
The Utah Olympic Park’s master plan also includes 96,980 square feet for affordable housing and 75,000 square feet for “attainable housing,” or housing that does not meet the definition of affordable housing but is still sold or rented at a lower market rate.
Another 139,850 square feet will be dedicated to operational support buildings to house equipment.
“We’ve reduced the amount of commercial and added affordable and attainable housing because it’s what we feel is the best use for what we’d like to develop there,” Hilton said.
One of the major amendments to the development agreement was a request that the county issue low impact permits for the park’s construction rather than attaching a conditional use permit to each development. Low impact permits still require oversight from the Planning Commission, but the Legacy Foundation would not need to hold a public hearing, expediting the process for both the nonprofit and county staff.
The Planning Commission unanimously forwarded a positive recommendation to the County Council regarding the amended development agreement. The County Council is set to discuss the document and hold another public hearing at 6 p.m. on Jan. 28 at the County Courthouse in Coalville.