P&Z Working With Water's Edge Resort

Anita Weston, reporter

Rich Civic Times

GARDEN CITY, September 7, 2016.  A Preliminary discussion and approval for the phase containing the Hotel and waterpark in the Water’s Edge PUD was addressed.  This resort is located between 50 and 150 South Bear Lake Blvd.  The request was made by Arete Land Company, LLC.

Those involved with this resort reported that the Traffic Study is in progress.  The wetlands delineation is under consideration.  It was noted that the north boundary of the PUD is wet because of the drain UDOT placed in that area many years ago.  The wetlands report is expected soon.  There are still some parking issues, but the phase under discussion is not involved with any of these issues.

The owner’s have flipped the plans for the water park.  However, the room count has not changed in any way.  In Phase 5, there are still 54 units.  In the Hotel Phase, there are 91 parking stalls.  All parking is ahead for the next phase as well.  The change with the pool is not considered a major change which means the approved plans are fine. 

The representatives for Areta Land Company noted that the division between commercial and the beach zones was determined to be 390’ from the Bear Lake Blvd.  Thus, the building heights are within the city ordinances for the hotel.

The Commission members asked why the Huefner’s fence had not been done prior to building the office next to their property.  It was noted that not all of the decisions have been made about the external colors to be used on the buildings and structures going up in the resort.  They wanted to use the same color combinations on the fence between the two properties.  It was noted that the owners of Water’s Edge had gone to Huefners and signed a private agreement between the two parties guaranteeing that the fence will be put in place next spring.  Huefners agreed with their request to wait until next year.

The Commission asked why the phase numbers had been moved around.  The owners didn’t realize that the numbers had been changed from the previous plans shown to the Commission.  They said they will look into that matter.

It was noted that Norm Mecham obtained final plan approval on phases 9 and 10 last fall.  Water’s Edge was requesting approval of Phases 1 and 5 at the present meeting.  However, the City’s Engineer, Zan Murray, had submitted a list of items that needed to be taken care of prior to giving permission to work on phases 1 and 5.  Some members of the Commission felt that because this list was quite long, that the items on the list should be completed prior to approval being given.

The Commission asked the owners return next month for final phase approval of phases 1 and 5.  The motion was made to continue this issue at the next Commission Meeting.  The Commission informed the Water’s Edge owners that they will need to get the information for the next month meeting submitted two weeks prior to the next meeting so that the members of the Commission will have time to go over the list and make sure that all items have been completed.