Sep. 7--Do they have to destroy the village in order to save it?

It's a conundrum that's challenging Park City's future: how to preserve its 1880s-era historic district of small-frame structures in the face of meteoric land values.

One-time miners' shacks sit upon 25-by-75-foot lots valued at up to $750,000. And "McMansions" are cropping up like sore appendages, overshadowing quaint neighbor-

hoods.

Recently, the Park City Council slapped a temporary moratorium on demolitions in Old Town.

Now civic leaders find themselves between a steep slope and a hard place as they wrestle to revamp the town's historic-building guidelines -- always a touchy subject in Utah's top tourist town, built around its hard-scrabble history and jet-set ski resorts.

Architect Paul de Groot said many silver mining-era wooden structures are in poor condition and will be more difficult to renovate under the proposed guidelines, which he sees as too strict. The new regulations would curtail remodeling, leaving Old Town to die a slow death of "demolition by neglect."

"Owners of these properties can only hope the building falls down to the point where they can build something new," he said, "because they certainly cannot improve what they have."

But remodeling has taken a toll on Park City's historic registry.

In 2006, Park City commissioned an inventory of its historically significant structures. Of 65 named on the National Historic Registry in 1979, only 34 remained on the list two decades later. Some fear that without new regulations, the town could eventually lose its historic character.

The proposed guidelines deal with remodeling, as well as new construction. They also take into account structures that are historically significant, and may consider those that are not on the registry but deemed to add to the "fabric" of the district.

Much of Old Town is comprised of the latter category. But presently, city ordinances don't protect them from demolition, explained City Councilwoman Liza Simpson.

"One of the questions is: Do we want a list of [protected] buildings that are contributory but don't meet strict guidelines?"

The overriding issue, however, is compatibility, said Mayor Dana Williams.

"And some of the things being built are not compatible," he said. "We're getting monster houses, and Old Town was not designed for 5,000-square-foot houses."

On the other hand, landowners who bought expensive lots in Old Town want to build houses to modern scale. Property owner Melissa Kennedy-Band hopes city officials will take that into account.

"I am afraid that by changing the code in too restrictive a way, the city will end up penalizing the owners who haven't already rebuilt," she said. "That will hurt the value of unimproved property and escalate [that of] those who have already rebuilt."

Finding a balance between preserving the historic district and allowing it to change with the times is "a tricky, tricky situation to deal with," said architect Craig Elliott.

The Historic Preservation Board is still fine-tuning the proposed guidelines. Once the board makes its recommendation, the Planning Commission must sign off on the new regulations. The City Council will then hold yet-to-be-scheduled public hearings before voting on whether to adopt them.

"Over the past month and a half, it has improved dramatically," Elliott said of the proposed document. "But it still needs work. We have an opportunity to get things right."

csmart@sltrib.com

What's next

The City Council is expected, by the end of the year, to review and adopt new remodeling and construction guidelines for Park City's historic district. Public hearings will be scheduled.

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