Vail Resorts wants to expand lifts at two high-traffic areas at PCMR. Resort executives say the investment would reduce lift lines and move skiers around the mountain more efficiently.
Four Parkites, however, appealed the permit that Park City issued allowing the expansion. The planning commission granted that appeal on Wednesday, which appellant Mark Stemler called “a big win.”
Angela Moschetta, who also appealed the permit, echoed that sentiment.
“We feel that this is a win for public process and for the community, and hopefully fosters more transparent and collaborative dialogue with Vail,” Moschetta said.
Stemler said traffic and parking are particular concerns the resort should address before the city allows the lift expansions.
Moschetta said the appeal group is starting to discuss potential solutions for what she described as overcrowding at the resort. But she said solutions are hard to come by without specific data about how many skiers visit PCMR daily.
“The parking lots fill up before 8 a.m.," she said. "Overflow parking was triggered 68 days last winter that we know of for certain, and there's likely more, except that the city stopped sending out text message alerts midseason.”
Moschetta also described crowded slopes, lift lines and lodges. She said Park City has a role in addressing those crowding issues, and the city has a right to cap the number of skiers at PCMR.
She said the appeal group is not against lift upgrades. But the group wants to use the tools that are available to ensure that Vail is operating PCMR within the limits established in the 1998 agreement the resort has with the city.
“This really was the first opportunity that some of us citizens saw to challenge Vail on a technical basis," she said. "I think that we have all anecdotally observed what feels like an increase in skier numbers, and so the administrative approval of this permit represented an opportunity to appeal and to challenge some of Vail's assertions.”
She hopes Vail reapplies for the lifts, but that the new application is reviewed by the full planning commission and the process results in solutions for what she sees as problems at the resort.
Deirdra Walsh, PCMR’s Vice President and COO, wrote in a prepared statement that PCMR is concerned with, and confused by, Park City blocking what she called a significant investment that would improve the guest experience at the resort.
The resort will not be able to install the lifts for next ski season, which Walsh called a disappointing outcome for PCMR skiers and riders.
Park City spokesperson Clayton Scrivner wrote in a prepared statement the city respects the planning commission’s decision and appreciates the public process, though it grew “contentious and tense” at times.
Stemler, who has lived in the Park City area for 42 years, said he no longer skis at PCMR — the crowds have chased him away. He said he doesn’t speak for everyone who filed the appeal, but he wants to see the resort’s plan to charge for parking scrapped for next year.
He added that he’s considering legal action to prevent the upgrades if necessary.
"If Vail comes to the table and backs up some of the stuff we need to get done in town, I won't pursue (an injunction),” he said.
Stemler is the landlord for Main Street buildings including the one that houses the No Name Saloon. He said he’d like to see skier traffic routed through Old Town by replacing the Town Lift with a high-speed gondola that runs deeper into the resort.
The other two locals who appealed the permit did not immediately respond to a request for comment from KPCW.
