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Council approves expanded uses

Representatives for the Home Savings Bank building were granted a special exception by the Summit County Council last week to expand the building’s uses.

The expansion of office uses for the Home Savings Bank building, 4580 North Silver Springs Drive in the Snyderville Basin, broadens the pool of potential users to include medical and dental offices.

"They have looked in the past at perhaps leasing or selling that building, but it has always been difficult because the record is relatively muddled about what they can do with that site," Summit County Planner Sean Lewis said. "There is not a tenant in mind for this change, it’s just to allow for a wider field so they can advertise and market the building to more people. We are trying to provide some flexibility so they can be clear to a perspective user.

"It was a very narrowly defined group of uses," he said.

The Summit County Council approved the special exception on Jan. 7 after more than an hour of discussion. In addition to the expanded uses, the council also agreed to allow for the potential to increase the structure’s square footage by up to 10 percent, as long as it wouldn’t violate existing setback requirements for Rural Residential Zones.

A special exception is a provision in the Development Code, where if an applicant does not reasonably qualify for any other process, a special exception can be granted.

The Home Savings Bank building was developed using a Specially Planned Area development agreement which limited the site’s uses. The agreement ran for five years but has since expired, though the uses remained the same.

The only uses permitted for the building were community banking services and commercial/business office spaces that did not create stress on daily parking or traffic. Home Savings Bank has since vacated the building.

"I don’t have a problem with the proposed uses, but I do have a problem with the potential traffic," Council member Roger Armstrong said.

Doug Clyde, representing Home Savings Bank, said it is "very likely" the new allowed uses will have a lower customer turnover rate per hour, generating less traffic.

The uses will have specific approval and application requirements at the county level before a business can operate there. For example, offices offering services with a "high level of client interaction and traffic generated" require a conditional use permit. Medical and dental office spaces would require a low-impact permit.

"I think it is about trusting the low impact and conditional use processes to evaluate the traffic and the parking," Clyde said during the hearing.

Ted Haeger, a resident of Walker Court which is near the bank building, said he would have preferred the building’s uses remained the same.

"This is an area that is of concern to us and the only thing that concerns us is the use and traffic," Haeger said. "We do get a lot of traffic there, especially if we are dealing with an intensive use or medical thing."

The Home Savings Bank Building is located near the Blue Roof Market and Parley’s Park Elementary School, east of State Road 224. The property has been used for commercial and office uses since 2002.

Summit County


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