Councilor Tim Henney was defeated in his bid for a third term on the Park City Council in November, finishing third to political newcomers Tana Toly and Jeremy Rubell in the race for two council seats.
Toly, Rubell, and Mayor-Elect Nann Worel take office on January 4th.
Henney has lived in Park City for nearly three decades and was heavily involved in community organizations like the Mountain Trails Foundation and Summit Land Conservancy before taking office in 2014.
Looking back on his eight years as a councilor, Henney, like fellow departing officials Councilor Steve Joyce and Mayor Andy Beerman, is proud of the city’s progress on the preservation of open space. Henney told KPCW the city’s purchases of swaths of land like Treasure Mountain and Bonanza Flat are about more than just preserving mountain views.
“The open space isn’t just about open space," he said. "It’s about eliminating entitled development rights. There were over one million square feet of entitled development rights that were eliminated through city purchases, through community purchases within Park City limits, not outside in Summit County, but right here. Right here in Park City, over one million square feet that were eliminated from the pipeline by the purchases of the community over the last eight years, and I just think that’s astounding.”
Henney added that the city’s slow progress on affordable housing was one of his biggest disappointments. He pointed to the second phase of a housing development on Woodside avenue as something he wished he could have gotten done.
“One of my great frustrations is that we had some things that could have been accomplished, and they got derailed for various reasons," said Henney. "Like Woodside II. That was very frustrating for me, and I think it should be frustrating for the community. We should have housing on Woodside II, or at least be about ready to sell those units, as we did with a number of others.”
The site of the project is also where the Park City Senior Center is located. The original plan was to build a new senior center on Park Avenue, but its members instead voted unanimously to stay put and claimed a 99-year lease on the property from 1976 is still valid – effectively killing the project in its current form. Henney was clear the senior community is not to blame for the stalled progress. He would not name names, but said others in the community were responsible.
“I think that there were some people who kind of looked at what was happening and made a concerted effort to derail it," he said. "And, you know, shame on them.”
Henney has also criticized what he calls misinformation during the last election around city projects like the now abandoned soil repository at Quinns Junction and the future arts and culture district. A common attack leveled against Henney and Beerman during the campaign was that they stifled opposing voices and were willing to subvert public process.
“You have to make decisions that are going to upset people," Henney said. "And when you start listening to those voices that are upset, yes, they can be part of the process – dissent is critical and essential to good process – but when you start pandering to that dissent, you’re done. This town will just spin its wheels and never get anything done. I’m not sure, from what I’m seeing and the voices that I’m hearing and the role and the weaponization of social media and even letters to the editor – some of these letters to the editor recently, I mean – I used to be very proud of the community for being able to discern and distill nonsense from fact and from value, and I don’t see it right now. It’s just a swirl of chaos.”
Henney said he doesn’t have any immediate plans for the future after he leaves office, but remains passionate about issues like social equity, housing, and transportation, and would be open to opportunities to work on those community priorities.
Listen to the complete interview here.
