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Canyons Base Will See Workforce Housing Break Ground Next Year

A workforce housing project located in the parking area below Canyons Village is scheduled to be completed by the fall of 2023.

Canyons Village Management Association Executive Director Brian Madasci says the 20-year-old development agreement for affordable workforce housing at the resort required putting 50% of the units on site and 50% off site. Madasci says the management association renegotiated with Summit County in 2017 to put 100% on site in the lower village. The project is located near a transit hub and the Canyons Village at Park City Mountain Resort.

“Again, the obligation is by 2023 and we’re hoping to have it 50 percent by 2022. And when we say an obligation with Summit County, that’s just fulfilling our workforce commitment that we agreed to back in 1999 and exceeding it. But it’s more than the obligation. We’re doing what’s right for our employees, for the community. Even if there wasn’t an obligation, this is something we wanted to do for our employees in Canyons Village.”

The Canyons Village Management Association is overseen by a board of trustees, which Park City Mountain Resorts sits on. Madasci says this is the first and only workforce housing project the association is planning to build, and he believes it will meet employees’ needs within the Specially Planned Area at Canyons Base area.

“We did work with the resort on the design as well as our other employers within the SPA. We also did years of surveys from employees, full time, seasonal as to what they were looking for. We did tours with other areas to figure out the design and come up with something we think works for everybody.”

Madasci says employers at Canyons Village hire about 2,000 employees for the season, including full and part-time staff. He says priority will go to full-time Canyon’s Village workers, then part-time workers, with most units filled by Canyon’s seasonal workforce.

“We’re looking to accommodate over 1100 employees. There’ll be a combination of two, three and four bedrooms as well as some town homes. Looking to start construction with breaking ground in the summer of 2020 with hopefully close to 50 % of those being occupied by 2022 with the remainder by 2023.”

Madasci says the agreement with Summit County is that rent will be priced not to exceed 30% of area median income, or AMI. The AMI in Summit County according to Housing and Urban Development data is about $110,000 for a two-income household. Hospitality service jobs in Summit County range from $10 to $19 per hour.

“Definitely, it’s affordable housing in the sense that we’re sensitive to the income of those seasonal employees and our year-round employees. We’re looking for some subsidies from our employers as well as say the rental rates for something that the employees can afford. We’re also looking at turnkey, fully furnished so an employee shows up on day one. They sign their papers. They can be in. They can start working the next day or if they’re here for a little bit before, they’ll have time to get settled in the community before having to start work.”

Vail Resorts does not share the number of employees they hire seasonally for Park City Mountain Resort. A company spokesperson directed KPCW to a link showing job openings for the entire organization, which is posted with this story.

https://jobs.vailresortscareers.com/park/go/Park-City-Jobs/3525900/

The spokesperson provided a statement to KPCW, saying Vail continues to look for ways to spur more workforce housing development across their mountain communities. In addition to the Canyons development, Vail will be required to provide workforce housing as part of their base development agreement at Park City Mountain.

Vail CEO Rob Katz was the keynote speaker at a Park City Leadership event earlier in the year. He was asked about Vail’s responsibility to provide seasonal workforce housing.

“This was a mistake. And it was a mistake by us and a mistake by our community partners too. You know, we’re going to go through another recession at some point. And I hope that we collectively keep investing in housing through that recession so that when we come out the other side, we don’t find ourselves in the same spot.”

KPCW will continue to follow the workforce housing issue in Park City and Summit County.

Vail’s statement:

Seasonal workforce housing remains a top priority across all of the mountain resort communities in which Vail Resorts operates. We are constantly looking for ways to ensure our seasonal employees have what they need to live and work in our resort community and as a company, Vail Resorts is committed to finding ways to spur more workforce housing developments across our mountain communities.

In Park City, we continue to work collaboratively with our local community partners on housing opportunities and there are several projects that are scheduled to be constructed over the next few seasons that will be available to our employees. Canyons Village Management Assoc. (CVMA) is responsible for the construction of about 1,100 workforce housing beds on a parcel adjacent to the Cabriolet lot in Canyons Village. The CVMA has selected a developer for this project that is currently in the planning phase for the design and unit mix. Occupancy is expected for the 2021-22 season and employees of Park City Mountain will be able to utilize these beds. There will also be an employee housing obligation tied to the Park City base area redevelopment. 
 

 

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