Should City Hall develop a standalone arts center and artist studios on a 5-acre parcel under municipal ownership stretching inward from the southwest corner of the intersection of Kearns Boulevard and Bonanza Drive?
Or are affordable housing, a parking garage, a hotel or housing to be sold at market rates preferred on the land?
As Park City leaders continue a lengthy exercise designed to craft a vision for the future of the acreage, the municipal government has posted a survey inquiring about a range of issues related to the land. One of the important questions centers on what should be included as the ground is developed.
City Hall announced the $19.5 million deal to acquire the land in 2017 with the intent to develop an arts and culture district with the Kimball Art Center and the Utah offices of the Sundance Institute as the anchors. In the intervening years, though, there have been questions about whether a district like the one envisioned at the outset is the best option for the land.
Park City leaders are currently gathering a large amount of input from Parkites via open houses and other methods, and the survey will provide the municipal government with another data set.
The answers to the question inquiring about what someone desires to be included when the land is developed will provide an especially important reading on the sentiments of the public since the ultimate uses for the ground will drive the rest of the discourse as a project moves through the City Hall review process.
The answer options:
- A standalone arts center
- Affordable housing
- Community green space or a plaza
- Transit stop
- Garage
- Artist studios
- An arts center that would be part of a building with other uses
- Housing that would be sold at market rates
- A hotel
- Dining and retail outlets
Any development would have enough room to include at least several of the options.
The level of support for the arts-related options will be notable since the land was acquired with the intent to develop an arts and culture district. There appeared to be broad support for a project like that at the time of the 2017 announcement of the municipal acquisition. There have been questions, though, about the cost of a district, which has been estimated to run into the tens of millions of dollars.
A district has been billed as something that would further solidify Park City’s reputation as a destination for arts and cultural tourism as well as add to economic diversification in a community where recreation is the key element of the economy.
Residents have continue to express public support for a heavy arts and cultural aspect in any development, but the current process is expected to be pivotal in the decision making about the use of the land.
Some of the other topics covered in the survey:
- The level of public investment someone supports as the land is developed. Answer options run from zero investment by the public to more than $40 million.
- The possible funding strategies for a project, with answer options including new tools to Park City like tax-increment financing, using financial tools that already exist, a subsidy from the municipal General Fund and uses for the land that would create value, perhaps a hotel or housing sold at market rates.
City Hall has also posted a survey that covers topics related to Bonanza Park — 200 acres east of Park Avenue and on both sides of sections of Kearns Boulevard and Bonanza Drive. The 5-acre municipal parcel that is covered in the other survey is within the broader Bonanza Park, which stretches through land owned by a patchwork of private owners.
The Bonanza Park survey inquires about what someone sees as the project goals, with answer options including a mixed-use neighborhood, supporting business owned locally, and the expansion of the availability of workforce or otherwise affordable housing.
The survey also includes a question covering the way someone wants Bonanza Park to develop over certain periods with a timeline extending to 20 years. Another question, meanwhile, focuses on whether taller buildings should be allowed in Bonanza Park than are currently permitted through zoning rules and under what conditions.
The surveys close Nov. 17. There are links to the surveys on the municipal website, http://www.parkcity.org. The direct link to the item about the surveys is: https://www.parkcity.org/Home/Components/News/News/43029/23. The direct link to the survey about the municipal land is: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5AcreSiteMtg2 while the direct link to the survey about Bonanza Park is: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BonanzaMtg2.