YOUR AD HERE »

Developers defend Canyons maintenance building site

Aaron Osowski, The Park Record
This drawing is a rendered view of the proposed relocation of the Canyons ski maintenance building on Canyons Resort Drive coming from State Road 224. If built, 60 percent of the new structure would be buried. (Photo courtesy of Todd Burnette)
20131220__4-canyonsbuildingp1

To meet its completion date of Sept. 30, 2014, the Canyons Golf Course needs to relocate the maintenance building currently located on Frostwood Drive. Despite nearby property owners’ concerns, developers insist the building’s proposed location on Canyons Resort Drive is the most logical.

The current building is located where Hole 11 of the golf course is planned and the proposed relocation is in between the Grand Summit Hotel and the Hidden Creek Condos on Canyons Resort Drive. Todd Burnette, finance spokesperson for TCFC Finance Company, said any proposed site must have ski-in/ski-out access and be on a paved road.

"We’re absolutely not replicating the old building. This is being designed from the ground up with all of the latest and greatest construction methods and buffer zones built in," Burnette said. "It won’t look like an industrial building."

Features of the proposed building site include a landscaped roof, 12-foot light poles instead of 16-foot, a re-excavated retention pond, an oil and gas separator for runoff and a heavily landscaped buffer zone on the border with the Hidden Creek condos, which includes transplanted 12 to 16 foot aspens and evergreens.

Mauricio Pons, Senior Director with Alvarez and Marsal, said 60 percent of the new structure would be buried in the ground and the main entrance would be on the second floor. He explained the alternate building locations are not suitable for several reasons.

At one alternate site on the other side of the mountain, the necessary road easements are not available. At another, located on a 30 percent-grade hill, a 40-50 foot rock cut would be needed, creating a large visual impact on State Road 224. Another location near the Hyatt Escala Lodges would be surrounded by more density than the proposed site.

However, in a resolution opposing the proposed building location, the Canyons Grand Summit Resort Hotel Owners Association stated that the site would "require diesel snow grooming and other maintenance equipment transit to and from the ski area on a path adjacent to the Grand Summit Hotel."

Pons clarified that, for the current building, snow cats use a back trail that is adjacent to the Grand Summit and would continue to use the same trail with the new site. Travel distance and diesel fuel consumption would also be decreased with the new site, as it would be closer to the mountain.

Regarding view corridors of the maintenance building, Pons said that a four-to-five-story building next to the Grand Summit is slated to be built eventually. The parking lot across the street from the site is slated for development as well, which would block the building from the Silverado Lodge’s view except for one viewpoint down Canyons Resort Drive.

If built, the structure would only occupy 10 percent of the roughly 160,000 square feet of density already approved for the parcel, Burnette said.

Regarding lighting concerns expressed, the 12-foot light poles would keep light pollution more concentrated at the site. Pons said that, using photometric analysis, light underneath the poles will be roughly 2.1 lumens.

Burnette and Pons said they are confident that the new building would have less visual and environmental impact than the previous structure.

"With the green roof, it looks like a meadow during the summer and the snow stays on top during the winter," Burnette said.

Summit County

Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

Readers around Park City and Summit County make the Park Record's work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Each donation will be used exclusively for the development and creation of increased news coverage.