Commission recommends Slopeside Village Phase 2 employee housing to county manager

The Snyderville Basin Planning Commission on Oct. 22 recommended that the county manager approve Slopeside Village Canyons employee housing Phase 2, forwarding staff’s findings and conditions after a presentation and commissioner questions.

Senior planner Tiffany Robinson presented the final site plan for Phase 2 at 1753 Aussie Way, a 7.7-acre parcel that would add two buildings (Buildings I and J) totaling 49 units and up to 324 occupant credits (called “pillows” in the development agreement). Robinson corrected an error in the meeting packet: the maximum site elevation in the summary paragraph had been transposed and she clarified the correct elevations on the record before proceeding.

Robinson explained the project follows the Canyons development agreement and that Phase 1 had already satisfied the baseline employee-housing obligation; Phase 2 is in addition to that required obligation. She summarized parking as a mix of surface, rooftop and below-grade stalls and noted design review committee and CVMA positive recommendations. Staff recommended the commission forward a positive recommendation to the county manager based on compliance with the development agreement and conditions in the staff report.

Applicant Tony Tyler of Columbus Pacific Development reviewed Phase 1 results (high occupancy, added EV stalls and a large rooftop solar array) and described Phase 2 design choices: a unit mix weighted toward one-bedroom apartments, 49 parking stalls with accessible and EV spaces, bicycle storage and potential Ozzie Way roadway extension funded by shared-cost agreements with adjacent landowners. Tyler also said Phase 2 will include additional EV infrastructure and that the development team expects to begin building-permit review once the county manager’s public hearing and approval are complete.

Commissioners posed technical questions about how 'pillows' are calculated from unit mixes, whether EV/ADA stalls would be deed-restricted to units, solar production and how off-site parking (Ecker Hill lot) would be used for overflow seasonally. Tyler and staff explained that pillow counts are derived from bedroom counts and occupancy assumptions (studios ~1.2 persons, one-bedrooms ~1.5, two-bedrooms ~2.5 with a blended factor arriving near 2.2 people per unit); they also confirmed coordination regarding parking and that some overflow parking had been used for Phase 1 in winter.

A motion to recommend approval to the county manager carried on a roll-call vote. The county manager will hold the public hearing and make the final land‑use determination and any conditions attached to final approval.

Next steps listed at the hearing included the county manager’s public hearing (penciled in by staff) and recordation of the amended final site plan to permit building-permit review and construction if approvals follow.