The Park City Mountain Resort base area development is on the agenda once again with planners considering their request to approve the project under the 22-year old master plan development agreement. The public and Park City planners toured the area Wednesday afternoon.
The development was granted approval in 1998. Twenty-two years down the road, present owner Vail Resorts is disentangling from the development by planning to sell the 10 acres of parking lot to PEG Companies, a real estate developer in Provo.
About 80 people joined the base area tours. Balloons, cones, ballasts, and paint helped to provide visual renderings of the four phases of the development.
Parking plans were clarified by PEG President Robert Schmidt. He said the original MPD allowed for about 1,800 parking stalls but that has been revised down to 1,200 with about half designed to go underground. They anticipate charging $20 to $25 for day skier parking.
“So, PEG Development is in a purchase and sale agreement with Vail, meaning that we will purchase the base area and develop it,” Schmidt said. “Part of our agreement in that purchase and sale is that we will build the 1200 stalls. We will own those stalls. But we will hire Vail to act as our manager. So, they'll manage the day-to-day operations of those parking stalls. However, they will be responsible to us as the owners of those stalls.”
Lowell Avenue resident Nancy Lisonbee said she is concerned about the changes from the original 1998 plan and is hoping Park City will require the developer to get a new MPD.
“If you look back at the 1998 plan that was approved, all of the parking was underground,” Lisonbee said. “So, what they're proposing now is four stories of parking structure and then four stories of condos and affordable housing on top of four stories of parking structure. So, it makes it an eight-story parking and condo structure. If they put the parking underground like they had been originally approved by the city in 1998, then you got normal size buildings that would fit in with the community.”
The traffic circulation plans show two lanes of one-way directional traffic circumnavigating the entire development. Schmidt said the traffic circulation plan has been submitted to the City.
“We’re confident that this is a very safe plan,” he said. “First, we remove a lot of conflict points where we have left turning movements and right turning movements and through movements of vehicles. In creating one-way circulation loops, we create greater gaps in traffic. You know we feel like we’re providing safe crossings at grade with a much safer traffic plan than exists today. It is the right solution for this project.”
Enhancements to the existing transit stop at the base of Park City Mountain are included in PEG’s proposal but they have no plans to build a transit center.
“Neither the city, nor us, nor Vail owns or controls that land,” Schmidt said. “Now there is an easement over it, so that the city can use it as a transit center, but it involves property owners at the lodges and the condos there, right around the transit center. And so, we have entered into some dialogue with those folks. I would say it's been positive thus far. If there are improvements that the city desires, I suppose it's up to the city to come back to us with a proposal. We haven't received that yet but that's very likely could be part of the discussion that we have going forward.”
Schmidt said Vail Resorts is aware of PEG’s plans. They have reviewed them and understand their proposal and he said they’re in general agreement.
