Round Valley development promoted as place to live and play
By DEANNE WINTERTON
Standard-Examiner correspondent
MORGAN - Details of the new golf course community in Round Valley were revealed to the public at an open house this week, drawing both the curious and the concerned.
"The best way to describe it is a recreational community, where you can live but also recreate," said developer Brad Johnson.
The 343-acre Rivala development will include about 62 percent open space, developers said at the Tuesday meeting. Almost 38 percent of the land will be developed into low, medium and high density residential uses, including a 68-room condominium lodge or hotel.
Developers said almost half the residences, roughly 40 percent according to studies, will be considered secondary homes not occupied the entire year.
Because many of the 561 total units on the property may be vacant at any one time, the developer chose to make it a gated community with private roads.
"We want private roads because second homes will be left vacant for long periods of time," Johnson said. "We would like to control people driving the roads so there's no vandalism."
Developers also are aiming for more affordability than neighboring Park City developments. Although the market is difficult to predict, especially given a projected eight-year buildout and 2009 start date, Henroid said he's aiming for condo units in the mid-$300,000 range.
Such prices in the project will more than double Morgan County's property tax revenue, according to 2006 figures, the developer said. In that year, the county collected a net revenue of $140,000, and Rivala's residential units would boost that figure to more like $350,000, the developer said.
Some Morgan residents expressed concern that they may be priced out of their homes as the newer, more expensive Rivala units come to market. Studies prepared by the developer show the project will add about 988 resi- dents at full build-out, including about 198 schoolchildren. Developers were quick to add that the project would also create 150 jobs.
Such numbers will increase consumer spending in the nearby Morgan community, as well as transient room taxes from the project's hotel.
The development's location to nearby urban areas, as well as a diverse mix of recreation opportunities, puts the project in a unique situation to draw visitors from Salt Lake City as well as Park City, Henroid said.
Developers want to change zoning on the ground, historically used as a dry farm and gravel pit, from A-20 to MPDR. The change would allow flexibility to cluster different densities on different parts of the project.
Plans call for single-family homes on lots ranging in size from half an acre to more than an acre and a half; condos ranging in size from 800 to 1,200 square feet; and a condo lodge/hotel with forsale units part of a rental pool.
Commercial elements in the project would include an outfitters cabin, complete with concierge services offering fly fishing, river rafting, and other recreation opportunities.
Since April 2007, the developer has been preparing studies to complete the application to the county for a rezone. Henroid invited the public to peruse the 5-inch thick application detailing slope, environmental, wetland, geotechnical and traffic studies.
Most of the 60 residents who showed up for the presentation were concerned about 100 South, a residential road that's currently the only access to the land in question.
"I don't want that access," said 100 South resident George Francis. "It will be jam-packed twice a day," because of the street's proximity to three local schools.
Developers assured the crowd that they had no preference between that route and an optional route starting on Commercial Street.
"Both options are expensive," Henroid said. "Either access will revitalize existing retail and commercial. One hundred South is just our current access, but the county hasn't been shy in telling us they prefer Commercial Street."
Rivala's zone change will be on the next planning commission's agenda March 20, where a public hearing will be held.
