On Thursday, the Park City Council approved a $7 million contract with Rocky Mountain Power to bury power lines underground in the Bonanza Park neighborhood.

The existing lines run from the Rocky Mountain Power substation near Munchkin Road across Kearns Boulevard to Park City Cemetery and Boot Hill.

Park City plans to develop a new mixed-use district with apartments, commercial space, underground parking and a new location for the Kimball Art Center on a 5-acre site it owns in Bonanza Park.

For a long time, overhead power lines were considered an obstacle because development was restricted within a radius of 20 metres.

Burying the lines will free up a significant portion of the site for future construction, Luke Cartin, Park City’s sustainability manager, told the city council on Thursday.

“The benefit is that it removes a 60-foot-wide air easement from Bonanza Park that affects about 20% of the site,” Cartin said. “That greatly increases your site flexibility and property value.”

Cartin says that lifting the easement will not only create space for construction, but will also create burial sites in the cemetery and reduce the risk of wildfires.

Park City has been studying the possibility of relocating the Bonanza Park substation for years. Laying the power lines underground is a step toward that goal, says City Council member Jeremy Rubell.

“If we can ever talk about actually moving the substation, it can be moved along that underground line,” Rubell said. “So if it goes that way, that’s a step toward a permanent solution. If not, the lines will still be underground lines, and it’s still an improvement on all fronts.”

There is no exact timeline yet, but Rocky Mountain Power intends to begin work on the power line project sometime next year.

As for the 2-hectare neighborhood, the city council is expected to finalize its plans later this year and send a request for proposals (RFP) to developers.