A plan to deed 1,200 acres of Wasatch Mountain State Park to a national hotel magnate appears to be foundering in the face of heavy criticism.
The deal, presented by Orem developer Rick Parkinson on behalf of John Q. Hammonds, majority stockholder in Embassy Suites and the Holiday Inn hotels, received a chilly reception Wednesday from the state Parks and Recreation Board.Parkinson and Hammonds wanted the state to deed the land to their Utah company, Deer Run Development, in exchange for building an 18-hole state golf course. Their proposal also called for construction of a private course, a 200-room resort hotel and about 400 luxury homes on the property, taken by the state from local landowners during the 1960s.
Parkinson and Joe Jenkins, director of the state Department of Community and Economic Development, said the project would bring much-needed economic development to Wasatch County, where the unemployment rate is 2.7 points higher than the statewide average of 3.3 percent.
Detractors said it would set a dangerous precedent regarding state park lands and that it would bring little more than low-paying jobs to the area. They also questioned the fairness to taxpayers of a trade that would give Deer Run land worth far more than the approximate $10 million cost of a golf course.
"Any landowner who is not out of his mind and has an elementary understanding of arithmetic wouldn't make this deal," said Joe Morgan, a longtime Midway resident.
Parkinson in a Wednesday interview said a private appraisal of the property put its value at about $3,000 per acre, below current prices in the scenic Midway area, which has begun to rival Park City as the state's most bullish real estate market.
Parks board member Jeffrey Packer, a real-estate broker from Brigham City, said the proposal appeared overly generous to the developers.
"We as a state do not want to be in the business of subsidizing private developers," said Packer.
Stephen Lewis, an attorney representing several environmental and conservation groups, said acceptance of the proposal would open the door to similar park-land deals at Antelope Island, Bear Lake and Snow Canyon.
"I suspect most people in Utah will not be able to afford these houses or stay at this hotel," said board member Lucille Tuttle, who said the proposal ran counter to the fundamental spirit of the state park system.
But Parkinson said the development would only benefit Utah.
"We realize some people will object to any change," he said, outlining the economic impact such a development could have, including the creation of some 300 jobs and the national attention that would be lavished on a world-class golf resort.
"Utah does not have a single golfcourse worthy of national recognition," said Parkinson, who noted too that the state - with one of the highest per-capita number of golfers - has a chronic shortage of fairways. A golf destination like the one proposed would undoubtedly attract a PGA event and would draw visitors for holiday stays averaging three days.
Deer Run would generate about $3.25 million in annual taxes, he predicted, most of it going to local schools.
Most who spoke at the Wednesday hearing were against the land swap. Some of the sentiment mirrored that expressed almost a year ago over a proposal that would've allowed Brighton Ski Resort to put a tram down Snake Canyon, creating the first trans-Wasatch ski resort. The Wasatch County Commission voted unanimously against the Brighton plan.
The commission, however, had endorsed the Deer Run proposal.