Trove of emails denounce Dakota Pacific project

The land for the Dakota Pacific development project sits to the west and south of the Skullcandy building. Photo: Dakota Pacific

PARK CITY, Utah — Hundreds of pages of emails were recently released by Summit County, showing a wide disdain towards the proposed Dakota Pacific Project at Kimball Junction.

Residents, new and old, opposed the project citing a variety of concerns. Cited the most was traffic, and the increased congestion the development would bring.

The proposal would bring over 1,000 residential units, along with commercial and office space to the area west of SR 224 near the Skullcandy building. Glenn Wright, chair of the Summit County Council, has said no nightly rentals would be allowed.

The excerpts below represent a small sample of comments:

• “The last thing Kimball Junction needs is more (mostly unaffordable) housing units, more people, more cars, more traffic congestion, and more assaults on our quality of life.”
• “According to Todd Hauber, Park City School District Business Administrator, this project is projected to increase our student enrollment in Park City School District by 500+ students; necessitating the need to build another school.”
• “There are no real benefits to our community… The number of affordable units would not be worth the trade-off for the harm this development would do to the area. The only one who would truly benefit is the developer.”
• “I’ve seen enough unbridled growth and destruction of some of the very elements which brought many of us to this beautiful community.”
• “I can’t believe that you would even consider this proposal for all of the reasons that are so obvious: Growth, More People, More Traffic, Just Plain More. We don’t need it, and once it is rezoned we will lose forever the ability to have the parcel be what the current approvals allow: High Tech Jobs for our Existing Population.”
• “Please do not clutter our already overflowing community. By voting yes, you will destroy the beauty of our Park City way of life and have more traffic than any of us can bear at this point in time.”
• “Park City is on the brink of losing its small town charm, beautiful open space, wildlife habitat and is a few approved developments away from turning into Draper, Utah and Bangerter Hwy.”
• “Kimball is known to be a failed interchange and by slamming this much additional density on that property I believe we will be making a grave mistake. I don’t think that the Summit County Council has an obligation to help a developer make a project work by adjusting zoning and character of a property.”
• “This is not a solution to our workforce housing shortage. Only 330 units will be designated as workforce housing, leaving the rest of the residential development to be unaffordable for our most needed workers. If this is to be a solution for affordable housing, then make that the focus of the project, not an afterthought.”

At the Summit County Council meeting last week, only member Roger Armstrong appeared to be a staunch opponent against the development. A public hearing is set for December 1.