The Park City Council approved a consent agreement on Thursday to resolve a long-running dispute between the municipality and Matthew and Tatiana Prince over a proposal by the couple to build a new home on the hillside overlooking Old Town. City councilors voted 3-1 in favor of the agreement. Bi ll Ciraco, Tana Toly and Diego Zegarra cast aye votes, and Ed Parigian was the dissenter. The council members who voted for the consent agreement said it was a hard decision, but it was time to move forward. The Princes want to replace two houses built at 220 King Road by the previous owner with a home that has 7,500 square feet of living space and a 1,000-square-foot home office next to it. The property at 220 King Road would also have 6,000 square feet of unfinished basement space. The consent agreement is intended to resolve all three cases against the city, according to attorney Mitchell Stephens, who is representing the municipality in the suits. He anticipates that the agreement would moot much of what is happening in the litigation. The agreement, which was proposed by Pesky Porcupine LLC, a Prince company, affirms the Park City Planning Commission approvals and reinstates Planning Director Rebecca Ward’s Historic District Design Review approval with 24 conditions imposed by her. For its part, Pesky Porcupine must do additional landscaping to mitigate visual impact, installed in phases as early as reasonably possible, and make road safety improvements in the area. The improvements include the installation of a new fire hydrant and infrastructure at the Prince property. In addition, Pesky Porcupine is required to cover the cost of defense for all future legal challenges related to the three cases and the consent agreement and development activity at 233 and 209 Norfolk, which are properties owned by company affiliates. Matthew Prince, co-founder and CEO of cybersecurity company Cloudflare, and his wife, Tatiana, who own The Park Record, bought the property in 2020.  Pesky Porcupine submitted applications for the necessary permits to build the home, which is in the large-lot Sweeney Master Planning District overlooking the small-lot historic district.  During the lengthy process to get the project approved, three lawsuits were filed in Third District Court challenging land use decisions. Eric Hermann and Susan Fredston-Hermann, whose property adjoins the Prince lot, sued the municipality over the Park City Board of Appeals’ decision affirming the Planning Commission approvals of the plat amendment and conditional use permits for the home.  In the second suit, Pesky Porcupine challenged the Park City Board of Adjustment’s reversal of aspects of Ward’s approval of the Historic District Design Review application.  The third suit, which was also filed by the Hermanns, argues that the Board of Adjustment decision did not go far enough. They say the design’s size, massing, proposed materials and general ornamentation do not reflect the character of the historic district the home would overlook. This suit has been consolidated with the Pesky Porcupine suit. Pesky Porcupine is an intervenor in the two Hermann suits and the Hermanns are intervenors in the company’s suit. Intervenors are third parties who join an ongoing lawsuit because they have a vested interest in the outcome of the case. The dispute over the home has turned bitter. Formal and informal resolution attempts failed, including a two-day mediation last summer with the city, Pesky Porcupine and the Hermanns.  Before the vote, the Hermanns and several other community members urged the councilors to reject the consent agreement. “We had the misfortune to have people buy the property next door who have no respect for the eclectic charm of Old Town and the code designed to protect it,” Fredston-Hermann said. “We’ve been offered incentives to settle, but we have met a stone wall regarding the only thing we’ve ever requested: build to code. We believe that the Old Town code should apply to everyone who builds in the Old Town, regardless of wealth and power.” A few speakers supported the consent decree. And Wade Budge, Pesky Porcupine’s attorney, said six other homes in the Princes’ subdivision are a similar type and size to the couple’s proposed home. Matthew Prince, who was born and raised in Park City, told the council that city staff members have made sure the plans for the home have followed the code exactly as written. “No project, no single-family home has ever gotten as much scrutiny as this,” Prince said. “It’s hard to hear that we’re getting special treatment because it doesn’t feel like it’s special unless what is special is literally national news publications writing about my family and my home.”  He added the site had two large, “very ugly” homes that previously were used as nightly rentals.  “What we want is to be able to build a home where our family can live,” Prince said. “The reason why tonight is important to me is I want to move past this.” Some speakers also asked the councilors to delay a vote until after Jan. 29, when a hearing is scheduled on the Hermanns’ claim in their suit against Park City that the approval of the conditional use permits has expired. Eric Lee, the Hermanns’ attorney, said there was no compelling reason to make a decision on Thursday. Waiting would maintain the status quo and give the Hermanns their day in court, he said. “This has been going on for three or four years,” Lee said. “My clients are certainly willing to sit down again and try to resolve this. If you sign this consent agreement tonight, though, that just necessarily escalates the dispute. It does nothing to resolve it.”  Lee also noted that a new member is joining the City Council who could bring a different perspective to the issue. Molly Miller was selected on Thursday to fill the seat of now-Mayor Ryan Dickey and will be sworn in this month. The council in any case had a three vote majority in the decision. The post Agreement allows the plan to build house above Old Town to move forward appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less