One can support affordable housing in Park City but oppose this plan as I and 2,399 (and counting) of our neighbors who signed the PLACE-PC (“More Park, Less City”) petition do. My reasons for opposition are too numerous to list in this letter, so I will focus on one: emergency services. T he Bonanza/Kearns/Monitor intersection is the main egress from Park Meadows to the hospital. Many times during the day, I must wait for two, three light changes to turn left on Kearns.  In addition, throughout portions of the day, all lanes on Kearns in both directions west of Bonanza can be completely blocked.  There is no shoulder or bus lane on either side of this section of Kearns for emergency vehicles to pass. Referring to the east side of town where the hospital and residential areas such as Studio Crossing and Park City Heights are located, Park City Police Chief Wade Carpenter stated in the Aug. 13 City Council meeting: “That corridor on 248 — we have a real concern on that area because we could become land locked. And currently, if we have major accidents on 248, we have to literally go all the way around 224 and access the highway on 40 to access that area.” Despite claims to the contrary by the City Council and Brinshore, the Bonanza Park development company, common sense dictates that a housing development with 106 apartments plus commercial space is sure to add hundreds more cars to this already congested intersection. If traffic mitigation were a priority, Brinshore would do a real traffic study, not the one-day snapshot on which they are relying to assert their claims that traffic will not increase in this area due to the addition of a development of this magnitude. Additionally, this failure to plan for emergency service access to the high school and McPolin Elementary is a threat to the most precious resource in our community, our children. God forbid there is an emergency or a need to respond to an active shooter situation at one of those schools. What will those responsible for green-lighting this development have to say to families when response times for first responders to arrive at the schools or transport victims to the hospital are doubled, tripled, or worse because they have to drive up to I-80 and down Highway 40?  This plan exacerbates an egregious and indefensible breach of proper planning standards, prioritizing development at the direct expense of public safety in an intersection that has already critically failed. I will close by challenging statements by the mayor and some on the council claiming that planning is too far along to cancel or amend this project. I refer you to the March 19 council meeting at which a termination agreement was explicitly defined: Pay a $75,000 fee. Pay Brinshore’s expenses up to $1 million.  By my count, we taxpayers are on the hook to pay this developer more than $80 million for the privilege of building this overpriced, up to four-story development in Bonanza Park that in addition to being a threat to public safety will require a height exemption and will block the mountain views.  While some argue that this project is not being funded by the Park City taxpayers because most of the money for this project comes from a tourist tax, it is still our money collected for the use and benefit of Park City residents and workers. This tourist tax money should be spent just as wisely as any other tax collected by our city officials from or for the residents. Math may not be my strong suit, but I believe $1,075,000 paid toward a good faith effort is a whole lot less than an $80 million blunder. At well over $700,000 per unit of Park City tax dollars, whether collected directly from residents or collected on their behalf through a tourist tax, I’m sure the council in conjunction with a community task force can find a much more cost-effective way to meet affordable housing goals without jeopardizing public safety by further overloading a stressed intersection. I say cut our losses and cut the check! Allison H. Cook Park City  The post Public safety threat appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less