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PARK CITY — The 910 Cattle Ranch might have been developed into 116 luxurious homes. The luxurious valley might have been clear minimize to make room for a golf course, winding canyon roads, and even a small ski resort. After over a decade of negotiation, nevertheless, Summit County has obtained the funding it wanted to buy the land outright for $55 million.
That is the biggest open area buy in county historical past, and it’ll join a 52,000-acre hall of conservation easements, state parks, Nationwide Forest and different protected land.
“It is essentially the most impactful factor I’ll most likely ever do in my profession,” Jess Kirby mentioned. She’s the Summit County lands and pure assets director and performed a task within the acquisition.
Twenty years in the past, the sprawling 8,588-acre property within the western a part of the county — one of many final contiguous single-owner mountain ranches within the Snyderville Basin — was to start with levels of large-scale growth.
Its proprietor, David Bernolfo, had commissioned aerial surveys, costing tens of hundreds of {dollars}, to map the rugged terrain. He had employed legal professionals and actual property consultants to place collectively a land use and growth rights software, aiming to search out the utmost value the land might be offered to somebody focused on constructing it out.
However Bernolfo, now 80-years-old, was not like different actual property buyers. He lives and works the property, which is greater than your entire metropolis of Millcreek, and was meaning to donate the proceeds of the sale to his charitable basis.
That plan fell aside after Summit County amended its growth code within the early 2000s, decreasing the attainable variety of models on the property. Bernolfo sued the legislation agency and the true property group he was working with, alleging they had been negligent in defending the land’s vested growth rights, in keeping with courtroom paperwork. He walked away with $12.8 million.
On the time of the lawsuit in 2013, Bernolfo’s lawyer, Michael Mihm, mentioned in a press launch, “It’s the single largest piece of developable personal property within the space,” however “after dropping 40% of the density rights, it not makes monetary sense to develop the property.”
This loss has change into the acquire of close by residents. On Aug. 24, 2023, the County Council held a particular assembly, on brief discover, to think about the approval of an unique possibility settlement to buy the ranch, positioned simply north of Jeremy Ranch, for $55 million.
“We now have been working since 2017 to purchase this property,” mentioned Councilman Chris Robinson, calling it a “very uncommon alternative.”
“There’s an previous saying that the chance of a lifetime have to be seized inside the lifetime of the chance,” he mentioned.
“As we see the county develop and develop, these wild areas are going away,” mentioned Roger Armstrong, Summit County Council chairman. “That is past something that I imagined can be attainable, and it is taken so lengthy.”
The deal itself was a wierd one, in keeping with Robinson, because it was labored backward to accommodate shopping for the property from Bernolfo’s charitable basis. The council authorized a nonrefundable $15 million cost to order the choice to purchase the property for an extra $40 million. That possibility was set to run out in August 2026.
The downpayment got here from a Normal Obligation Bond for open area that Summit County voters handed in 2021. A $60,000-per-year lease settlement in the course of the interim interval was included within the deal, with 50% of the cost going towards the acquisition value.
A whopping 4.5% curiosity cost was additionally within the contract, which meant $1.8 million a yr can be going to Bernolfo — that does not contribute to the value of the property — till the county discovered the funding to buy the land outright.
One other wrinkle — 1,800 acres of the ranch are in Morgan County.
On the assembly in 2023, most residents voiced robust assist for the choice settlement and expressed hopes that the county undertake cautious and studied “landscape-scale preservation,” so the wilderness shouldn’t be “cherished to dying.”
Leslie Miller, Bernolfo’s associate, mentioned, “It is extra than simply open area; it’s important habitat that might change into the crown jewel of Summit County.”
“I’m very painfully conscious of the care with which we have to tread,” Robinson mentioned, “in making an attempt to ensure we do not screw it up by over-loving it or over-programming it.”
The contract was signed the following day, triggering a seek for funding. Kirby mentioned it prompted many sleepless nights with the amount of cash on the road.
It wasn’t till Monday, Could 13, the county discovered it had been given a $40 million grant from the U.S. Forest Service and will breathe a sigh of aid. Kirby says the funds most likely will not arrive till the summer time of 2025, so the county might be paying the lease and curiosity till then.
The imaginative and prescient for the property is slowly coming collectively. Within the contract, the county listed attainable makes use of together with operating, biking, fishing, nordic and skate snowboarding, tenting, livestock grazing and selective timber harvesting. As a foundational situation of the deal, nevertheless, searching won’t ever be allowed.
However a lot will must be finished earlier than the general public is allowed to benefit from the paradise. The ranch might be managed as a wildlife sanctuary. A baseline conservation plan ought to be finished by August to grasp what upkeep the forests and riparian areas want.
The 5 miles of creek are presently not a sustainable recreation fishery as a consequence of lack of vegetation and gravel bars, Kirby mentioned. A part of the grant funding, nevertheless, goals to reestablish the Bonneville Cutthroat Trout within the space. Research on the lots of of elk and moose will must be finished, and severe weed and fireplace administration plans in place.
“We actually want to do that proper,” Kirby mentioned.
Till at the least 2025, the land might be closed to the general public, although a number of restoration and habitat enchancment tasks are taking place this summer time. Volunteers and the Summit County Sheriff’s mounted posse and deputies might be patrolling the world, alert to poaching and trespassing.
Bernolfo, who didn’t reply to requests for remark, retains entry to his residence till the grant cash comes via and the acquisition is finalized.
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