A planning meeting has been set to tackle the dispute between the Park City Planning Department and a citizens group opposed to chairlift upgrades at Park City Mountain Resort. The two sides are scheduled to meet June 8.
The resort was granted administrative approval for chairlift upgrades on April 25th, but a group of citizens appealed that decision earlier this month.
The resort plans to upgrade the Silverlode lift to a eight-person chair, and the Eagle and Eaglet lifts will be converted into a six-person chair.
Critics of the plans say the decision should have been made by the planning commission, not administratively.
Park City Planning Director Gretchen Milliken said chair lift upgrades usually do go in front of the planning commission, but a development agreement the city signed with the resort in 1998 makes these upgrades a little different.
“Normally, lift upgrades would, according to the land management code, would be a conditional use permit, and they would go in front of the planning commission," said Milliken. "However, we have a development agreement, and in the development agreement, any lift upgrades that are part of our mountain upgrade plan and compliant with the mountain upgrade plan and the development agreement, are processed as an administrative conditional use permit.”
The citizen appeal also argues that the resort’s plan to mitigate parking issues at the base area resulting from the upgrades falls short.
The resort announced in April it would implement a paid-parking system next winter and negotiated further parking mitigation plans as part of the administrative approval.
Those changes include a towing policy for anyone who parks without a reservation, and reinvesting the money generated by paid parking into transportation and parking measures in and around the base area.
The resort seeks to finish the upgrades before next season, but Milliken said that timeline depends on the appeal process.
“That remains to be determined," she said. "It’s definitely going to be a little bit of a tight timeline and a tight turnaround. They might still be able to be implemented this summer.”
If the appeal is upheld by the planning commission, the resort could then pursue action in district court.
