During a public meeting on Wednesday, the Summit County Council voted 4-1 to approve a change to Dakota Pacific Real Estate’s (DPRE) development agreement at the former Park City Tech Center.  The new development agreement grants a zoning change and allows the construction of 865 to 915 residential units which includes 165 affordable units to be built by Summit County. There will also be commercial space, a medical building, and possibly a continuing care facility.Showing the usual disdain for public opposition, the discussion and vote took place at a “public” meeting where no comments were allowed, during working hours (4:05 p.m. start time), one week before Christmas.  Three of the council members — Tonja Hanson, Chris Robinson and Canice Harte — took turns justifying their vote, most of them blaming threats, real or implied, from the Utah Legislature. Interestingly, DPRE successfully lobbied the Legislature to intervene on their behalf repeatedly throughout this five-year ordeal. Why our council didn’t establish a similar relationship with the Legislature has never been explained.Tonja Hanson, during her remarks, seemed angry and denigrated the early opposition battle cry “build what you bought.” Hanson stated the original development agreement would have allowed DPRE to build 24 Skullcandy buildings on their property, which in her opinion is worse than the project approved.  Of course, whether this made any economic sense has never been determined. Hanson went on to say that since all of the new construction would be west of the Richins Building, someone driving by would not even notice it. However, I’m sure the traffic caused by 2,000 to 3,000 new residents would be blatantly obvious.Hanson also repeated the claim that many county residents were actually in favor of the project but were intimidated by the opposition enough to remain silent. This myth has never been substantiated.  Thousands of emails opposing DPRE have been sent to the County Council and can be seen due to a Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA) request on the Summit County website.  The news website TownLift has conducted two online surveys, the most recent on Dec. 17, and both have reported over 90% opposed to the project. I defy anyone to produce evidence that more than 10% of Summit County residents were in favor of this development at any point.Roger Armstrong, the only council member to vote against the zoning change and proposed development, cited two primary factors for his decision. One, Armstrong remains concerned about the project density. Two, he stated he “hates bullies,” characterizing the state Legislature as such. While Armstrong’s perception of the bullying tactics employed by the Legislature is correct, in actuality there were three “bullies” participating in these negotiations.As well as the Legislature, DPRE certainly took on the persona of a classic bully. They barely backed off their original proposal, which may just have just been an opening gambit, and constantly stated the concessions asked for by the council didn’t “pencil out” like it’s the county’s responsibility to ensure their profitability.  Additionally, DPRE has extracted over $56 million in county funds for various aspects of the development. Throughout the process DPRE showed total disdain for the council and the opinion of county residents. Finally, the Summit County Council itself bullied the residents of the county. By discounting overwhelming opposition time and time again, the public felt ignored and unimportant.  Ultimately, our voices were not heard. The opposite of love is not hate; it’s indifference. The Summit County Council certainly made us feel we aren’t important enough to be listened to. Vincent A. (Van) NovackSnyderville BasinThe post A lump of coal appeared first on Park Record.