Q&A with MAYOR ANDY
Mayor Beerman answers the most commonly asked questions about the potential Treasure Hill deal
Park City Municipal Corporation and the owners of the Treasure Hill Project are negotiating an agreement to purchase 100 percent of the project to permanently preserve the hillside as open space and prevent any future commercial or residential development. The proposed buyout would consist of the City purchasing the entire project, ending decades of community uncertainty. The purchase would be contingent upon a voter-approved general obligation bond to be placed on the November 2018 ballot.
The Purchase and Sale Agreement (PSA) establishes a total purchase price of $64 million to buy the land, including a $6 million down payment. What is the funding source for the $6 million? We will redirect funds set aside to build the Main Street Plaza (adjacent to the Wasatch Brew Pub), which was projected to cost $6 million to $8 million. The Main Street Plaza was going to be paid for with the resort City sales tax, which can also be used to purchase open space. The City will be looking for alternatives to generating vibrancy at the top of Main Street, including public/private partnerships.
If you approve the PSA and make the earnest money payment, but the bond fails, what will we get for our $6 million non-refundable down payment? The City will purchase a 10 percent density reduction from the project, subject to the terms and timing of a settlement agreement in the PSA.
City officials have said they’d like to further reduce the bond by canceling additional capital projects, reducing services, and/or selling City property. Currently City Council is targeting a bond of $55 million or less. Aside from the $6 million down payment from the Plaza, how will you determine which projects to suspend? City Council will discuss this during our regular budgeting for outcomes process, which occurs every May and June. We invite the public to attend these City Council meetings and provide us with input.
If the bond fails in November, will the City still be able to pursue the 50 percent density buy-down that was proposed a few weeks ago? No, the landowners have withdrawn that proposal. If the bond fails, they will pursue the pending Conditional Use Permit, modifying the 17.2 refinement reduced by 10 percent or otherwise modifying their application.
What is the status of the City’s bonding capacity? Will this bond crowd out future opportunities? The State of Utah allows a city to bond at four percent of their total taxable value in any one year. This means Park City has $253 million in remaining debt capacity. Thus, we have plenty of bond capacity left. We also have a AAA bond rating (the highest rating of any municipality in Utah), which allows us to borrow at very favorable interest rates. The neat part about a general obligation bond is that it allows the voters to make the ultimate decision.
How might the City use or transfer the development rights to reduce the cost of the bond? The transfer of development rights for this project (22 unit equivalents out of the 216 UEs total approved on the property) would allow us to consider moving density to more appropriate locations, including Deer Valley, Bonanza Park/Prospector, and Snow Creek shopping center. Any development transfers would be subject to public hearings and an approvals process by both the Planning Commission and City Council. The Planning Commission would only increase the density of a location if it determined compliance with master plan criteria, including neighborhood compatibility.
Why have you determined to keep the land entirely open space and not site affordable housing there? Our goal is preservation of this sensitive parcel and protection of Old Town. We also believe it would be too expensive to locate affordable housing on the site because of the steepness of the slope and other costs to prepare the land.
Why is preserving this land so important? Treasure Hill has consistently been residents’ top priority for open space preservation, which is one of the City’s core values. Preserving the hillside also protects the charm and character of Old Town, the City’s heart and soul. A prolonged period of construction impacts and the additional traffic and intensity produced by a large-scale residential and commercial development project would irreparably change the historic district forever. In addition, allowing this project would exacerbate severe employee shortages and put further strains on our workforce housing stock.
Keeping Treasure Hill as open space clearly advances all three of the City’s critical priorities: transportation, housing, and carbon reduction. And thousands upon thousands of hours of public input and feedback has led Council to this critical point in time.
