The redevelopment of Junction Commons into a mixed-use residential and commercial area is one step closer to reality now that the project is set to appear before the Summit County Council for final approval. The Snyderville Basin Planning Commission forwarded a positive recommendation to the Cou nty Council on Tuesday after more than a year of discussion between commissioners and the development team. The project aims to revamp the existing shopping outlet to have housing units on the northwest corner, with commercial and retail spaces slated for the central area of the property. Some residential units would also be located above the commercial storefronts, and the developers stressed their desire to create a walkable, pedestrian-friendly area in addition to installing bus stops for an expanded High Valley Transit route. Overall, the redevelopment would have 19 mixed-use buildings and 433 residential units, of which 205 would be designated as affordable housing. Around 40 of the residential units would be for-sale townhomes, with three specifically earmarked as attainable housing to be sold around the 120% area median income mark. The project also reduces the amount of commercial space on the property by approximately 100,000 square feet. “I want to emphasize the complexity of undertaking the redevelopment while operating an open, active shopping center,” said Adam Greenebaum, senior vice president of Singerman Real Estate, the company that owns the property. “We’ve been surgically working on this for years in terms of how we’ve handled leasing and other aspects of the shopping center. We are positioned to start this redevelopment.” Greenebaum said his company has invested more than $20 million into the Junction Commons transformation so far through its rebranding efforts, facility upgrades and attempts to attract family-friendly businesses and restaurants. The goal, he said, is to tweak the property into a hub for locals rather than focusing on its previous use as a “highway outlet center.” Planning commissioners on Tuesday were mostly in favor of the project, but there were lingering concerns about the redevelopment’s effect on traffic congestion in Kimball Junction. Specifically, Planning Commissioner Eric Sagerman said he was nervous that developers and the county were only considering Junction Commons, the Dakota Pacific Real Estate development and the Utah Olympic Park expansion as standalone applications rather than three major builds hoping to come online at the same time. “I think that’s a failed way of looking at it,” Sagerman said. “You have to look at it in conjunction with the others. That’s the reality of it. … Otherwise, we’ll continue with the same issue, and we’ll continue with the same answers, which will be a failed state.” The development team said they didn’t envision the project adding a significant amount of traffic beyond what already exists because the shopping outlet is already functioning as a commercial area. Summit County planners agreed, according to information included in a staff report. “As with all development in Summit County, traffic impacts are always a concern,” the staff report said. “This is true during construction phases, after occupancy and into the future. The applicant’s traffic study demonstrates that its proposal will not increase the failure of any intersection in the area beyond background failures occurring as a result of existing conditions.” Planning Commissioner Matthew Nagie said he didn’t want to focus too much on how the Junction Commons redevelopment would affect traffic in Kimball Junction because it’s something that needs to be viewed holistically, not put on the shoulders of one developer. “I do think that there is a palpable discomfort that I have and others have with how much is being loaded onto this area before we have a plan,” added Planning Commissioner Heather Peteroy. “I’m not saying that’s on you guys. I am saying that if we don’t put pressure on (the County Council) to make it a priority, whether that’s the partnership with UDOT or with our own resources on the roads that we own, then I don’t think it’s going to get prioritized.” The Planning Commission ultimately couldn’t impose any conditions of approval related to Kimball Junction at large because they had to stay within the scope of the developers’ application. However, they mandated a traffic mitigation plan to be included and followed for each phase of construction. Commissioners voted 6-1 to forward a positive recommendation on the proposed rezoning and master plan development to the County Council, with Tim Jeffery as the lone dissenting voice.  Jeffery said he voted against because he was uncomfortable with the size of the project and its potential effect on traffic congestion in the Snyderville Basin. The post Junction Commons redevelopment project forwarded to Summit County Council appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less