Hey Whole Foods, You’re High… I Mean Too High

Next Tuesday, the Snyderville Basin Planning Commission will be looking at a project called Canyon Corners. This is development that was approved a while ago. If you are driving by Walmart towards Ecker Hill Middle School, it’s the parking lot on your right.

The developer has changed their plans from a few years ago and now wants to put in two merchants in the space. Earlier plans hinted that one of those merchants was Whole Foods. The developer had originally asked for more square footage than originally allowed but has backed off that and now the square footage is equal to the original plan (61,000 square feet).

What I don’t understand about developers is that they have access to the same documents as we citizens do. In this case I am referring to the Snyderville Basin Development Code. Within the code it sets a maximum height of 32 feet for a building. If you recall from a few years back, there was a lot of hubbub about the Visitor’s Center on Highway 224 being taller than it should be. It looks like this building has the same issue.

According to the Summit County Community Development Department report, the developer wants a building height of 36.6 feet. So the proposed development is almost 5 feet too tall and doesn’t meet code. Why do you care? In this case it could block view of the mountain ridges. It’s also a slippery slope. If this development can be too tall, why not every development.

I don’t get why developers try to slip things past our planning commission. It just ends up wasting everyone’s time. Hopefully our planning commission will strike this plan down and make the developer come back to the table with a plan that doesn’t violate code.

I believe the idea of Whole Foods moving there is an Ok one, if they can also figure out the traffic issues, but not if it blatantly violates code.