PC Planning recommends petitioning UDOT to make Twisted Branch Rd. public

The Park City Planning Commission reviewed the Sommet Blanc project application on Wednesday. The developer wants to build 49 residential units a 3,900 square foot restaurant at the base of the Ruby Express chairlift at Deer Valley. Photo: Park City Planning Commission

PARK CITY, Utah — Both the Park City and Snyderville Basin Planning Commissions met this week.

What to know:

Park City Planning Commission

• Members unanimously approved amendment changes to the 2007 Empire Pass Master Planned Development and the 2007 Flagstaff Development Agreement for the Sommet Blanc project in Empire Pass.
• The commission also unanimously recommended that the Park City Council consider taking action and that the project’s developer, REDUS, petition the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) to transfer and vacate the existing portion of SR-224 — from the Mid Mountain Trailhead to the Wasatch County line over to Twisted Branch Rd. — and dedicate Twisted Branch Rd. (which is currently a private street) to the state to serve as the new alignment of SR-224.
• The move comes with the understanding that the developer and UDOT “will continue to support and not undermine the seasonal closure of the newly aligned SR-224 and prevent winter vehicle traffic on newly aligned SR-224,” commissioner Laura Suesser said. “With the exception, however, that Brighton Estates homeowners and renters shall have the vehicle access year-round on the newly aligned SR-224, and the city shall be permitted year-round access.”
• Per a staff report, Park City doesn’t know if UDOT plans to alter SR-224, and has said that any discussion would have to involve REDUS, which is a subsidiary of Wells Fargo.

• Mark Fisher, who’s a local landowner in Brighton Estates, has for years expressed concern about traffic safety along Empire Pass. “Having used that road a lot over the last 20 years, and watched the increase in volume… I’m just wanting the record to indicate my great support for some of the comments I’ve heard from some of the commissioners about opening the discussion aggressively with UDOT,” Fischer said Wednesday.  “The city has to take leadership.”
• The proposed parking lot will require the Mid-Mountain Trail to be re-routed slightly.

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Snyderville Basin Planning Commission

• Thomas Cooke stepped down as Chair, John Kucera was tapped to step up from his role as Co-Chair. Two new members — DJ Hubler and Tyann Mooney — participated in their first meeting on Tuesday.
• A work session was held on the proposed Harmons grocery store in the Outlets. A key part of the discussion entailed the Snyderville Basin General Plan Policy 2.3, which calls for new entitlements to promote the public interest. This was specifically applied to the developer’s plans to install a mezzanine in the grocery store.
• Harmons, which was established in 1932, is a Wasatch Front brand that has over a dozen stores in Utah.
• The developer argues that they will bring stability to the Outlets, as its occupancy has decreased from 95% to below 80% in the last two years. That is largely due to the effect the pandemic has had on brick and mortar retailers as shopping has shifted online. The addition of the grocery store would bring the occupancy level back above 95%.
• No formal action was taken at the meeting.