Park City Area (Provo, Heber, Summit Park: appointed, ski resorts, real estate market)

[BBSCL]

Hello,

We are a family of 5 looking to relocate in the Park City area. We have been up there and are familiar with the Real Estate pricing. We really do not want to be more than 20 minutes from PC, so we have looked at areas just outside of PC, i.e. Summit Park, and Jeremy Ranch which really seems to be more affordable and is still close to PC and it falls in PC school districts which I understand are very good. Can anyone give us some feed back on these areas as well as Heber.

Thanks in advance.

Baden

[snowstorm]

If you can afford smmit park or jeremy ranch .... do it. I lived in PC for 5 years when I first moved out here and if I move back I won't even look in PC I'd look in jeremy or summit. The town of PC is way over congested now a days and your close enough outside of town to access whatever you might need there. Summit park is beautiful!!!! and so is jeremy ranch and the schools as well. Heber is a little further, especially in snowy conditions. Would you be commuting to PC for work? Heber is amazing its just a different area. Jeremy,summit and Pc are basically right next to each other. Heber would be a much cheaper alternative than any of the other 3.
If you are willing to go as far as heber, theres Kamas too.

[BBSCL]

Thanks for the reply. We will not have to commute for work as we are self employed and work out of the house. We like the idea of living as close as we can to PC without the Park City prices. Any other info you can shed on Summit and Jeremy, please feel free! Is there any kind town in Summit? (stores,gas etc)

Thanks again

Baden

[RockyMtnr]

The "major" town in Summit County is Coalville. East of that, off the split of I-80 and I-84 is Henefer which also abuts Echo Resevoir - which has some boating, ski-do-doing, mediocre fishing, etc. It's all small after PC and after summit, there's nothing to the Wyoming line (abt. another 40 miles). There is plenty of building still going on on the JR side and east - and I believe it would still be PC schools.
Midway rests next to PC and used to be a great alternative but I'm sure is overgrown now. Kamas/Francis is, as mentioned, really neat. Heber City started filling up long ago and has traditionally been plagued by a "small-town-gang" syndrome but has all the services you need and you're still only 40 miles from SLC and depending which end of town you're on, about 30 miles from Provo.

[BBSCL]

What other towns are near Park City (15-20 minutes from down town PC)

We have been looking in Summit to build, but found out most of the lots there are cliff lots making it expensive to build on.
We still would like to build and be near PC and still be in a good school district for the boys. How difficult is getting a zone variance for schools?

Thank you!

[jbgbjb]

I too am moving to Park City this summer. I purchased a home in Midway (next to Heber) a year ago for retirement reasons, but loved the area so much we are making it our home this summer. Now the problem. The school districts in Park city and Heber/Midway area are in different districts. In fact, the all the other schools in Utah other than Park City to not bode well. Go to:http://www.parkcity.k12.ut.us/ to see about the PC schools. I can tell you that I have a friend that moved from PC to Heber because of the lower housing cost. She has a 12 year old son and is very disappointed in the schools there. No books or materials. Be aware that the Heber Valley has a projection of population increase of 50,000 ov the next 8 years. The schools are not ready for that influx.

Becareful in Summit Park. It is Beautiful, however it is on the North side of the mountian and some (most lots) do not get much sun. Very cold and more snow in winter. Snow stays around 30-50 days longer than Jeremy or Pine Brook. I was looking at property in October with a realator. She had a 4WD jeep and the car was sliding backwards up one of the hills. You have to have a VERY GOOD 4WD car to live there in winter. Hop this helped.......

[snowboardqueen]

Greetings from PC!

Perhaps you may want to rent for a year, while looking for a home for your
family. The real estate market is very soft currently with a lot of inventory.
By fall you may be able to get a "good buy".

Summit Park can be brutal in the winter. A lot more snow and plows
that can put your driveway entrance under 6 ft. when they come through
to clear.

Jeremy Ranch, Pinebrook, Prospector, Ranch Place are all communities that are in PC school district and "affordable". The district is getting very strict on waivers because of the increase in population. Best to buy a home within the district. Or if you want to build, there is a ton of vacant land
on the market currently. I'm sure you could find your dream spot within
the district.

Summit Park offers little in the way of retail. A Sinclair station and the
No Worries Cafe are the mainstays. Jeremy has some small retail
shops with gas and a Pizza Hut. Across I-80, is Quarry Village a retail
area before entering Pinebrook. There is several restaurants, retail and
an Albertson's. All this is at exit 141. At 142, which is Kimball Junction, also called Dysfunction Junction because of the traffic tie-ups, is all you
could ever want from Wal-Mart to McDonald's~WildOats to Healy Hansen.

[live2ski]

We have lived in Summit Park for 6 years and love it. The caveat is that we were very knowledgeable about living in snow country and very selective in our purchase. We get a lot of snow, as much as the Park City ski resorts, sometimes more. You will need a large snow blower and will be running it at least once a week. You should also plan on 4 wheel drive. Most of the houses are on steep lots and very shady. You really don't want them. Try to find a relatively level lot but most of all a sunny one. Also, many of the houses get blasted by freeway noise but if you pick carefully, you can mitigate this. Another thing to think about is where is all the snow that you shovel and throw with the snow blower going to go. This is really important because our snow banks are over our heads by Christmas. If the house has a steel roof (ours does) think about where the roof avalanches are going to land and accumulate. You would not believe how many houses have the gable wrong on their garages and the avalanches bury their driveways.

I realize this is a lot to think about but if you get the right place you will have skiing, snow shoeing, hiking, mountain biking, and moose right out side of your door.

The snow drops off fast immediately east of Summit Park. Jeremy Ranch, Pinebrook, Park City, Wanship, etc. all get about 1/4 the snow we get. Housing prices are the cheapest in Wanship, Coalville, Kamas, and Francis.