Deer Valley and Park City Municipal hosted a public site tour of the Snow Park base area before the planning commission meeting Wednesday afternoon. About 30 members of the public and staff walked around the parking lots to visualize where parts of the project would be located.
If plans are approved, the surface parking lots would be moved underground, and residential units, hotels, and commercial space would be built on top. The bottom station of the Silver Lake Express chairlift would also be shifted down the hill in order to spread out skiers at the base area.
In the evening’s meeting, Deer Valley presented its transit and circulation plans for the site.
In a nutshell, the Resort wants to reimagine Deer Valley Drive and incentivise use of Deer Valley Drive East around the ponds as the primary entrance to the base area.
Two-way traffic would remain on all parts of the road so residents can easily access their homes, but a one-way counter clockwise dedicated bus lane would also be added to Deer Valley Drive and Doe Pass Road around the ponds as a way to encourage the use of transit.
John Nepstad of transportation consultant Fehr & Peers detailed plans that include reconstructing the intersection at Deer Valley Plaza so no left turn would be needed to loop around the ponds.
“Starting with the messaging on the side of the road on Deer Valley Drive between the roundabout and this new intersection, there will be messaging [that says] skier traffic go straight," he said. "It will be a straight shot. This intersection is going to be realigned where you have to physically turn to go down Deer Valley Drive West, where as today you go straight.”
Although the majority of the commissioners were supportive of the plans, commissioner Laura Suesser expressed concern that Deer Valley Drive East would be too overloaded with traffic if all buses were routed onto that road. She asked for more clarity.
“I think that some of the details of the circulation plan still need to be clarified, particularly how the buses go back out onto Deer Valley Drive West to go north without having a dedicated bus lane," said Suesser. "I don’t think we should be driving all the bus traffic onto Deer Valley Drive East, as the applicant has said, but I don’t see the capacity of Doe Pass Road accommodating two lanes of bus traffic, so I’m a little confused about that.”
The planning commission is currently discussing phase one of the Snow Park project, which would approve the proposed parking structure, transit and mobility hub, and overall site plan. The residential, hotel, and commercial plans will be part of future applications.
The planning commission will next discuss the Snow Park Project on January 26th.
