County to vote on 865 residential unit Kimball Junction tech center re-zone

Land west of the Skullcandy building in Kimball Junction that is being eyed for a massive housing and mixed use development by Summit County and Dakota Pacific Real Estate. Photo: TownLift // Marina Knight

In preparation for a vote, the County has drafted an ordinance approving and adopting an 80-page legal document that changes zoning regulations to permit the proposed development.

KIMBALL JUNCTION, Utah – As the Summit County Council prepares to vote on the Dakota Pacific Real Estate (DPRE) housing and infrastructure development in Kimball Junction, widespread opposition to the project is being reignited as the Wednesday decision draws near.

Vincent Novack and others have voiced their opposition to the project on the online neighborhood forum NextDoor in recent days. Novack believes a “yes” vote by the Summit County Council would be showing blatant disregard for what the majority of Summit County residents have to say about the project – that they don’t want any part of it.

When TownLift conducted a resident sentiment poll last year, 95% of respondents opposed the Tech Center Redevelopment Plan. Complete the survey below to share your feedback on the latest proposal, which will be voted on this Wednesday (details provided below).

“It probably won’t make a difference, but if a large contingent of county residents attend, they’ll at least be betraying us to our faces,” Novack said.

Seats on the Summit County Council are elected positions and many feel that the council would not be representing the will of the people if they vote to approve the restated development agreement.

During an interview with County Manager Shayne Scott, Scott explained that the county is carefully analyzing all scenarios. He said county officials hold concern that rejecting the project could result in legislative intervention or prolonged litigation.

“We’re technically still in litigation,” Scott noted, referring to a stay on legal proceedings while negotiations of the Dakota Pacific project continue. “I think we’re just weighing all the options here, also with the Utah State Legislature, watching this exercise very carefully,” Scott said.

During a public hearing held at the Newpark Hotel in November, the council heard overwhelming opposition from concerned citizens. Concerns centered on traffic congestion, infrastructure capacity, and the departure from the area’s original tech center zoning.

“The traffic’s terrible. We’re going to fix it, but then we’re going to build 750 units, bringing in all those new cars,” said Jodi Buren, a Kimball Junction resident.

Another resident, Eric Moxham, a founding member of Friends for Responsible Development for Greater Park City, called the project’s history “sordid'” pointing out continued opposition to the development for years and the council’s confounding decision to keep entertaining it.

“You guys want to develop units with taxpayers’ money. You’re just putting mass density into an area that can’t take any more density… This is not a vacuum,” Moxham said.

Total density rises to between 865-915 housing units 

During Wednesday’s vote, County Council could grant  Dakota Pacific an amended and restated development agreement for their property in Kimball Junction, the breakdown of housing density looks like this. The total number of units has risen to between 865-915 with the addition of 165 deed restricted Affordable Units owned by Summit County.

• 165 deed restricted Affordable Units owned by Summit County
• 250 deed restricted Affordable Units owned by DPRE
• 350 market rate units owned by DPRE
• 100 deed restricted “attainable” units (between 100% and 120% AMI) owned by DPRE

The addition of 165 county-owned affordable units came after closed-door negotiations, which took place through the summer of 2024. Sources say the county’s interest in these units is the tax revenue they would generate for Summit County.

Scott said this may not be where the council lands and according to the last meeting, he pointed out, this was not acceptable to DPRE. Dakota Pacific countered on December 11 with 385 market rate units and said they would be willing to trim 10 of their affordable units.

“This issue and acceptable unit counts to each entity is generally what will be finalized on Wednesday,” Scott said in an email to TownLift.

Additionally, the county and DPRE are $1M apart on the amount of money DPRE would be required to put into the deal for county infrastructure and details about how to phase the project around UDOT’s roadway improvements in the area need to be solidified.

The vote count will matter

In preparation for a vote the County has prepared an ordinance approving and adopting the 80 page legal document changing the zoning to permit the proposed development.

If fewer than two council members vote in opposition to the project, a referendum will not be possible and the Dakota Pacific project will be a done deal. But if the council approves the project with a 3-2 vote a referendum will be possible. A referendum would mean the project would be opened for the community to vote on the DPRE project.

Dakota Pacific in a nutshell

After Summit County won a ruling that legislation S.B. 84 does not apply to DPRE’s property at Kimball Junction, the parties agreed to temporarily pause their legal proceedings and began closed door negotiations. S.B. 84 is a bill that would have allowed for DPRE to move forward with its Park City Tech Center Project without county approval. The County then purchased the Skull Candy Building for 17.5 Million from a Dakota Pacific subsidiary and presented DPRE with a revised plan this fall as a public-private partnership for the tech center development.

The proposal changes included increasing the number of residential units to over 750, up from 500 in previous iterations, and introduced a public-private partnership structure, including a transportation center and town square concept.

A public hearing was held in early November for citizens to voice their concerns, and the two parties have engaged in weekly public meetings to negotiate the deal and two weeks later on November 22, both the Summit County Council and Dakota Pacific Real Estate said they were committed to finalizing the proposed development agreement amendment by the end of 2024.

The Summit County Council meeting will be held Wednesday, December 18 at 4 p.m. at the Richins Auditorium, 1885 W. Ute Blvd., Park City, UT 84098.