Dakota Pacific and its Chairman and Founder, John Miller, are back with a new (bad) proposal for rezoning the Tech Center tract at Kimball Junction and adding thousands of new residents to the area. It is therefore (again) time for the broader Park City/Summit County citizens to speak up and voice our continued opposition to this (still) massive and completely unnecessary project!

Unfortunately, In 2022 and again this year, John Miller and Dakota Pacific have worked the back halls of the Utah State Capitol in an attempt to force Summit County to approve their project. Specifically, on February 16, 2023, the Utah State Legislature – in a move that is 100% corrupt and beyond egregious – seized Summit County’s land use authority when it  approved SB 84. The legislation is specifically targeted to enrich one developer, Dakota Pacific, at the expense of our community. You can read about the bill here and the County’s strong response here. 

As a community our best hope is therefore now to reach out to BOTH the County Council to voice our strong opposition to the project AND call/mail/email Gov. Spencer Cox to ensure he vetoes SB 84.

Context: 

The governing 2008 development agreement for the Tech Center was strategically negotiated between the Summit County Council and The Boyer Company to be non-residential in nature, in order to bring increased economic diversity, tax base, and higher-paying local jobs to our tourism-driven, service economy. The agreement was an important element in a transaction where the County bought part of The Boyer Company’s tract (area below Utah Olympic Park). Arguably, part of the purchase price for this transaction was attributed to stripping the remaining Tech Center tract of its residential development rights, with the exception of the subsequently built 152 workforce housing units behind the factory outlet center. In short, in 2008, Summit County Council spent a significant amount of tax-payer money to ensure that the Tech Center tract would not be turned into additional residential properties. John Miller and his friends purchased the tract from The Boyer Company in 2018 in coordination with his firm Dakota Pacific and knew exactly what they bought.

In September 2020, the Snyderville Basin Planning Commission, by a vote of 5 to 2,  recommended to the Summit County Council that it not approve Dakota Pacific’s proposed alternative, high-density residential project for the Tech Center tract. In the fall of 2021, the Council elected to reevaluate Dakota Pacific’s proposal, and was poised to approve the project (despite the Planning Commission’s clear recommendation to say no) until greater Park City residents turned out in force at a December 2021 public hearing vehemently opposing the project, after which Dakota Pacific paused their application.   

On February 1, 2023, Dakota Pacific  introduced its revised “Plan C,” a slightly scaled- back master plan. It includes 727 residential units, and a conservatively estimated 1,564 full-time residents (could easily exceed 2,000+). 

• The new plans are still massive in scale with 1.32M square feet of new buildings, more than the 1.3M square feet of predominantly commercial space that Dakota Pacific is currently entitled to!
• The new development will make the already terrible traffic situation at Kimball Junction and SR 224 even worse. The fact that Dakota Pacific commissioned a “traffic study” should be completely disregarded as their bogus analysis was conducted on weekdays in April 2022, which all locals know is shoulder season (and 2022 was a record low snow year).
• When factoring in the service needs of the residents of the proposed development, the project does not provide any net new affordable housing -  Over 75% of the units will be non-deed restricted market rate units (meaning they will sell for top dollar and will probably be listed on Airbnb and VRBO for rental by tourists rather than local residents).
• No Community Benefits - The massive increase in residents will have a significant negative impact on our infrastructure and natural resources: schools, police, fire, parks, trails, recreational facilities, water, waste, and more with no plan to address it.

In short, this project remains a terrible assault on our community and quality of life. Despite the unprecedented overreach of the Utah State Legislature, the Summit County Council has NO obligation to approve Dakota Pacific’s requested land use change. The only beneficiaries of an approval would be John Miller, his friends, and other out-of-town investors—who would stand to make a lot of money at the expense of the broader community—which has already spent a significant amount of taxpayer dollars to avoid this exact type of development!

The community’s message to John Miller and his firm Dakota Pacific should be clear: “Dakota Pacific - Build What You Bought!”.

For the Summit County Council, the community’s message should be equally simple - "VOTE NO!"  

For Gov. Spencer Cox, the community’s response should be “VETO the corrupt SB 84 and show that you care about the rule of law and ordinary Utah residents”

Community Actions and Timeline:

Today - Take Action: 

1. Sign this petition!
2. Let your greater Park City/Summit County friends know about the issue and encourage them to sign this petition as well - the link is https://www.change.org/StopDakotaPacific-Again 
3. Send Council an email to voice your concerns (cfrobinson@summitcounty.org, rarmstrong@summitcounty.org, mstevens@summitcounty.org, tbhanson@summitcounty.org, charte@summitcounty.org)
4. Send Governor Cox a message or call his office on 801-538-1000 to tell him to Veto SB 84
5. Donate your time or money to Friends for Responsible Development for Greater Park City (www.frd-pc.org to help get out the community

In the coming weeks/month - Show up to let Summit County Council know how you feel about this project:

Unlike the Utah Legislature, the Summit County Council intends to proceed with a fair and open process on the following UPDATED schedule concerning Dakota Pacific’s revised development application.

1. Attend the Council Work Session on February 22nd - A previously scheduled public hearing has been changed to a final work session with Dakota Pacific on Wednesday, February 22nd from 4:00 - 6:00 PM at the Richins Building (1885 W. Ute Blvd.,Park City, UT 84098).
2. Make a comment at the Public Hearings on March 1st and/or March 8th — County Council is holding public hearings at Ecker Middle School at 5PM on Wednesday, March 1st and again at 5PM on Wednesday, March 8th. Strong community opposition will send an irrefutable message that the community does not want this project and expects our leaders to hold developers to their current entitlements, despite the underhanded support of Utah legislators.
3. Show up on March 15th for the Council Vote - County Council will deliberate and likely take action to approve or reject Dakota Pacific’s revised development application. No public comment will be taken but your presence at this meeting will underscore your opposition to this huge, inappropriate, and completely unnecessary new residential development.