Planning commission reviews proposal to allow gated resident access to Red Pine areas in Canyons DA

Snyderville Basin — The Snyderville Basin Planning Commission on Sept. 12 held a work session on a proposed Sixth Amendment to the Canyons development agreement that would alter a long-standing prohibition on private vehicles in parts of the upper-mountain Red Pine, Tombstone and Red Pine Lake development areas.

Tiffany, senior planning staff, told commissioners the existing section 3.15 of the development agreement — adopted in the 1999 amendment — was intended to limit private automobile traffic in those development areas while allowing emergency and service vehicles. The applicant, represented by Dave Smith, asked the commission to consider language that would permit access "for residents and guests by gate control" while still prohibiting general public vehicle traffic.

The applicant said the request was motivated in part by life-safety guidance from the Park City Fire District. "The fire marshal basically said, look, you're not gonna be able to do this without a gondola, without violating the requirements for the Park City Fire District and the International Fire Code," Smith said, summarizing a fire-district letter staff included with the application.

Commissioners probed technical details. Several members asked for the fire-code sections and the assumptions behind the fire marshal's evacuation concerns, including how the district quantified people-per-square-foot and how that would translate to egress capacity. Commissioners also questioned traffic assumptions and which prior Hales Engineering studies — including the transportation master plan tied to the 2018 amendment — included Red Pine in their modeling.

Several commissioners emphasized the original DA intent. Commissioner Thomas said the automobile prohibition was "intentional" and part of how entitlements were allocated in earlier negotiations; other commissioners said they wanted a fuller primer on the DA's history so newer members could assess tradeoffs between access, density and design standards.

Staff and the applicant said the proposal is at an early planning stage and will return with more information. Tiffany asked the commission what additional evidence they wanted before the application advances to public hearings and to the County Council: requests included the fire-code citations the fire marshal relied on, specific evacuation assumptions and metrics, clarification of which prior traffic studies included Red Pine assumptions, and potential transportation-mitigation options (including remote parking and shuttle/roundabout scenarios).

The commission did not take formal action at the work session. Staff said the item will come back for formal public hearing(s) and a recommendation to the Summit County Council, and that they plan to coordinate with the Park City Fire District, county engineering and transportation staff to provide the requested technical analyses.

The planning commission closed the work session and reconvened for the regular meeting.