Neighbors Eric and Susan Hermann filed suit in Third District Court on Wednesday alleging they have been harmed by the Park City Planning Commission’s approvals and denials of their previous appeals of plans for a large new home at 220 King Road.

In their lawsuit against the Park City administration, the couple claims that they have suffered damage as a result of the municipality’s actions and plans. A new house is to be built on the adjacent property, which they believe does not fit in with Old Town.

The arguments they are making through their attorney, Justin Keys, are the same ones they have made, unsuccessfully, at every step of the permitting process since last October, when the Princes filed amended plans to demolish two homes on the property that were slightly taller, had slightly larger footprints and offered slightly more finished living space than the 7,500-square-foot single-family home they want to build.

Their plans received final approval from the city council last week in an administrative historic design review led by Park City Planning Director Rebecca Ward. Ward concluded that the roof overhang on the north end of the building would need to be about 13 feet shorter and that the floor-to-ceiling windows on the east side that remained in the plans would need to be removed.

The princes bought the property in 2020 and have been working since then to build the home where they plan to raise their children and see their daughter marry.

Matthew Prince tried unsuccessfully in the spring of 2022 to get the state legislature to override the local permitting process. In October 2023, the Princes submitted revised plans to the Planning Commission and asked for comments on them. In early 2024, they asked the commission to rule on their plans, which triggered a 45-day deadline under state law.

Major changes to the plans, which the Planning Commission narrowly approved on Feb. 14 at the end of a nearly six-hour meeting, included raising the roofline 80 feet to break a 120-foot straight section and leaving two basement floors incomplete to meet an interior height requirement that applicants said was necessary in the master planning district where the property is located.

The Planning Commission found that the plans complied with Sweeney Master Planning District rules that require larger homes on larger lots to have views of the Old Town Historic District on small lots. The application for the home on 1.23 acres was complicated by the overlapping districts and the view of 220 King Road from City Hall.

The Board of Appeals upheld the Planning Commission’s process and approvals, and last week the application passed design review and can now be appealed to the city’s Board of Adjustment.

In the lawsuit, the Hermanns argue that historic district zoning regulations should take precedence over the Sweeney Master Planning District’s regulations and cadastral notations for 220 King Road. They say the Princes made few changes to their application after planning staff raised concerns about it in 2022, and that they forced the Planning Commission into a rushed decision in 2024.

The lawsuit also notes that the appeals board failed to consider a late letter from the Hermanns challenging the Planning Commission’s determination that the city’s sensitive land boundary does not abut Prince’s property and is not applicable to their application. The lawsuit alleges that the appeals board should have held another meeting after determining that the Hermanns’ claims that there were errors at the commission’s meeting regarding the sensitive land boundary were incorrect.

The lawsuit also alleges that the Planning Commission erroneously determined that improvements to the driveway, which crosses property owned by the Hermann family, as described in the plan could be made under the easement.

The Hermanns argue in their 24-page lawsuit that the commission approved illegal cadastral records and therefore the board’s approval was also illegal.

They are asking the court to revoke the Planning Commission’s approvals and award them reasonable attorney fees.

The existing homes at 220 King Road were demolished in July. The new Prince home would have 7,461 square feet of finished living space, a 5,898 square foot unfinished basement and a 1,103 square foot home office.

The largest level with four floors, including the two basements, is 11,300 square meters and includes the living area, a parking lot, a turning area for fire engines and ancillary areas.

The Princes own The Park Record.