Some Park City residents are challenging a city panel’s approval of plans by Utah’s richest man to build a sprawling new home on the mountain overlooking historic Main Street.
Ten residents contend the mansion proposed by billionaire Matthew Prince, founder of the technology security firm Cloudflare, is larger and taller than city ordinances allow and that the planning commission should have rejected the application last month instead of giving the project the go-ahead.
Prince, who according to Forbes is the wealthiest man in the state and the second-richest Utahn behind Gail Miller, ended up back before the planning commission after an attempt to have the Legislature insert language approving the project into an affordable housing bill in 2024 failed.
At a public hearing on the issue, Eric Hermann — who with his wife, Susan, owns the parcel adjacent to Prince’s and is one of the residents challenging the approval — said he was “shocked” to see that, rather than “requiring the design to conform to Old Town rules and guidelines,” the city staff recommended “the rules and guidelines be changed or removed to allow the applicants design to be approved.”
The Hermanns and other residents residents argue the planning commission should have denied Prince’s proposal to demolish two homes on his King Street property and erect his new mansion because:
• The proposed 53½-foot tall structure would exceed the 27-foot height restrictions for the historic area. Prince’s lawyers maintained it would not violate the limit because the height is measured from the bottom finished floor, and Prince plans to leave the lowest two floors of his home unfinished.
• The footprint of the new home would exceed size limits. While no single floor is larger than the allowed 3,500 square feet, the way the floors are staggered means the entire footprint of the home would be roughly 11,300 square feet.
• Planners should have included a large parking garage when calculating the building’s footprint. Prince’s team counters that, because the parking area is not enclosed on all sides, it is technically a parking area, not a garage, and therefore is not included in the structure’s total area.
• The Prince home would overlap with sensitive lands, is in a steep slope and does not comply with the requirements for those areas.
• A driveway to the home would utilize an easement across the Hermanns’ property. The Hermanns object to Prince’s plan to put in retaining walls that they say would be 8 to 12 feet tall without their consent. Prince’s lawyers say the plan has been changed to address that issue.
Park City house appeal by Robert Gehrke on Scribd
“It’s really a lovely piece of architecture,” said Bruce Baird, an attorney representing Prince. “It’s just a typical NIMBY [not in my backyard] issue.”
Park City’s planning commission approved Prince’s proposal to build the hillside mansion in February on a split vote.
“The four members of the planning commission, with very good advice from staff … did the right thing,” Baird said. “It’s a complicated issue of law, but we think they made the right analysis.”
The appeal of the planning commission’s decision will be heard by a recently formed appellate board that consists of three members appointed by the City Council. It will be the second appeal the board has heard. Regardless of how the board decides, the matter can still be taken to 3rd District Court.
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