Letters to the Editor, Jan. 14-17, 2017
Submissions from Park Record Readers
Ongoing worries about trash and traffic
Editor:
Thanks to Doug Clyde, In his interview with Leslie Thatcher on KPCW on Jan 5, for providing some clarification on two significant County issues: trash and traffic. Mr. Clyde indicated that the new $36 trash fee was driven mostly by the fact that re-cycling has become uneconomic citing the fact that re-cycled material has declined in value and that the users of curbside bins do a poor job of sorting their recyclables, meaning that it costs more to process and results in large amounts of the recyclables going to the land fill thereby negating any saving that re-cycling might provide by reducing waste in the landfill.
Apparently, the current County public relations campaign stating that the fee is needed to pay for a new dump is only part of the story. (Also note if the County had not wasted $2 million on an option for a new fairground, it would not have needed the extra revenue.) Maybe the County Council needs a re-think on the cost/benefit of curbside recycling.
The second interesting observation Mr. Clyde made was that a large part of our traffic problem is caused by day skiers from Salt Lake and not locals going about their daily business as the traffic gurus would have us believe. Further, he explained that Vail is trying to move day-skier and employee parking out of its main resort core to provide space for high value real estate development. Connect the dots and you come to the conclusion that the transportation sales tax is largely to fund facilities and transportation for Salt Lake day skiers and to facilitate Vail’s development activities by having public funds pay for parking and transportation that should be private investment by the resorts.
Particularly egregious is the proposed bus terminal to be located next to Jeremy Ranch school, an area currently zoned Rural Residential, which will increase traffic in the school corridor and negatively impact the safety of our children all in order to provide parking for Vail. Sales taxes collected from residents and likely from locally based tourists are going to fund facilities for Salt Lake day skiers who are well known for not spending money in the local community.
Before County Council gets enamored with all its spending plans especially the Dahle parcel purchase option maybe they should think about who is paying and who is benefiting from the bond issue. Nothing requires that the bonds have to be issued and the money spent or that all of the proposed plans have to be implemented.
Robert Neumeister
Park City
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Proposed project could jeopardize ridgeline enforcement throughout county
Editor:
County staff and Basin Planning Commission members recently reviewed and discussed moving forward with a project to be built on important ridgeline overlay zone. This project will break ridgeline by over 20 feet, visible from both I-80 and U.S.40.
The current vacant lot is located in the same neighborhood as the infamous glass house on the hill that overlooks Kimball Junction — only 350 yards away.
You may recall that the glass house ordeal is what resulted in the ridgeline overlay zone reaction and subsequent adoption of county ordinance to prohibit any future new development that encroaches important ridgelines as visible from I-80, US 40, S.R. 224, and S.R. 248.
There is a Facebook page – Save Our Ridgelines. Please respond to this post with your opinion if you want to protect viewsheds, entry corridors, important ridgelines and our community against negative impacts.
Please email or call Summit county planning department and the planning commission with your comments.
There are several points to consider relevant to this week’s work session.
Steve Dowling
Park City
Like there aren’t enough gas stations
The article published on March 8, “A Maverik gas station could be coming to Quinn’s Junction,” paints a pretty dire picture for motorists searching for fuel in and around Park City.
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