Move those houses

Well, this is my very first blog! I have thought for years that blogging would be a good way to keep the public informed about what’s happening in Park City from my perspective. It took Len Warren helping me to get this set up to get started. So, first of all, thank you to Len.

A lot of my time right now is being taken up by a program we’re starting that would help move existing housing inventory in Park City. At the end of 2008, we were one new home building permit ahead of last year, but only because there were twelve houses sold in High Ridge in the last 90 days of the year.

It’s important to keep those new homes moving because they all carry special assessment taxes; if they are not sold, the builder is responsible for paying the taxes that make the bond payments for those streets, water and sewer lines. If the builder runs out of money, the bonds have to be paid to protect the City’s credit, so we might actually have to pay some of them ourselves. Not a good thing for the City budget, which is very, very tight. Eventually, we would get our money back, but it could really stretch us in the meantime.

Since I would almost always rather attack problems before they actually become problems, I wrote to all of the active home builders in Park City, asking them to meet with me to seek solutions. I thought focusing on the upcoming Home Show would be a good start. Three builders came to the first meeting, only two of them active now. We talked about lots of ways to sell the “spec” homes and lots, and decided to meet again a week later.

We sent out another letter, letting the builders and developers know that we were working on a program, and that they needed to attend this next meeting to be included. It worked. Seven or eight different builders came that time, and the ideas fairly flew. It’s just amazing what a little cooperation can accomplish. They suggested numerous ways to promote Park City and living here. The ideas ranged from checking on the cost of listing our housing developments on Leeker’s paper grocery bags to a full fledged advertising campaign.

Here are some of the things we’re working on:
Checking on the cost of those bags. John Leeker has no problem if the builders pay for the printing.
Starting a sort of clearing house for mortgage rates and grants/loans that make it easier to buy a new house.
Planning a giveaway for potential home buyers who visit all eight of our developments during a specified period of time.
Really pumping up our presence at the Home Show.

Then, we asked the builders what Park City needs to do to attract more people up here. I was stunned when they said “improve the appearance of the city”. Many, many people have told me that Park City has never looked better, but those guys think our main streets need to look even better. We need to make the entrances to the city more welcoming, adding signs and landscaping. We need to make another effort to clean up residences. If you think it’s not important, talk to realtors, builders, developers. We’re getting a great reputation as a vibrant, exciting place to live, but really need to work on first impressions, they said.

So, last week, I asked John Lehnherr to meet with me and a landscape architect for ideas. John has pushed for improving the appearance of 61st and other entrances to the city for four years, and I knew he would work on this for me.

Darrell Boger, the Director of Code Enforcement, agreed to take another run at cleaning up yards and houses, particularly ones that are most visible to visitors.

Judy Ferguson, our Planning Clerk, is helping with the total project and Vicki Schoonover is keeping track of the mortgage information.

The Council meets on Wednesday, January 7th, to discuss what to do with the six million dollars, and I will ask for a small portion to be set aside for beautifying our community. We’ve come a long way, but still have a ways to go.

I’ll keep you posted (double entendre intentional) about this and other things. Check back often, and do let me know what you think.