Park City - Main Street Mall: changes will be dramatic
The Main Street-facing side of what is now the Main Street Mall will undergo a dramatic change under renovation plans that will put commercial space on the Main Street level and mostly residences on the upstairs floors. Courtesy of Park City Municipal Corp.
City Hall officials want to protect the street, neighbors during construction
by Jay Hamburger OF THE RECORD STAFF
Park City officials and the developers who want to refurbish the Main Street Mall are scheduled to continue their talks with the local government on Wednesday, bidding to win a favorable recommendation from a key City Hall panel to clean up the lot lines underlying the building.
Similar discussions about other properties typically attract little attention, but construction at the Main Street Mall, which is situated on prime land at 333 Main St., will likely have significant impacts on the street.
The Planning Commission is scheduled to hold a hearing and discuss the project at a meeting starting at 6:30 p.m. in Room 205 of the Park City Library and Education center. The panel might forward a recommendation to the City Council on Wednesday. The elected officials hold the authority in matters like lot lines.
Some of Wednesday's discussion is expected to address measures the developers will put in place in an effort to reduce construction disturbances to nearby businesses on Main Street and neighbors on Park Avenue. The mall sits in a tight location with businesses on the uphill and downhill sides of Main Street and houses on the Park Avenue-facing side.
According to a report to the Planning Commission, City Hall staffers want the measures to detail construction-staging areas, road and sidewalk closures and how the crews will work during busy times like the Sundance Film Festival, Independence Day, Kimball Arts Festival and popular ski weekends. The measures could also address construction deliveries and worker parking, the report said.
The developers want to refurbish the mall into a building with mostly residences on the upper floors and commercial space on the Main Street level. The mall is a hulking building that, with its contemporary architecture, stands out on a street with many Victorian buildings.
An artist's rendering of the Main Street-facing side shows a dramatically altered appearance that more closely resembles other buildings on the street. The mall's existing architecture has long been criticized by people who prefer the Victorian streetscape.
Kirsten Whetstone, the City Hall planner assigned to the project, said staffers have made a preliminary determination that the designs for the Main Street-facing side fit within the local government's strict guidelines in Old Town. Staffers in late 2007 determined the designs that had been proposed then met the guidelines, but they were later tweaked, requiring another favorable determination for the revisions, Whetstone said.
Whetstone said City Hall has received interest in the plans from business tenants in the mall and people who live on upper Park Avenue, the street directly behind the mall. She said some of the businesses had questions about relations between tenants and mall officials, and others had questions about mechanical equipment planned on the outside of the redone building and the construction plans.
She said she expects testimony on Wednesday from nearby business owners and upper Park Avenue residents.
Michelle Downard, a Building Department official who helped craft the proposed measures for the construction crews, said a covered walkway will likely be built to protect pedestrians on Main Street and the crews will be restricted from parking, receiving deliveries and accessing the site from Park Avenue.
She said City Hall wants Main Street traffic flowing as well as possible, but she said there is a "good chance" of partial closures of the street closest to the site.
The developer did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.
Rick Anderson, who owns the Eating Establishment, a restaurant close to the mall, said he wants City Hall to make sure sidewalks are not blocked during the construction and the workers do not park in Main Street spots. He said he prefers the staging grounds be on Swede Alley and Park Avenue.
"I hope they can get it done in a season. I'm not sure they could," Anderson said. "My concern is traffic not be diverted. So much of Main Street business is dependent on foot traffic."
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