Deer Valley's rights to develop the Snow Park parking lot date back to the late 1970s.
Resort Vice President and COO Todd Bennett told the Park City Council earlier this month that those rights allow Deer Valley to build hundreds of condos, but that's not the resort's intention.
“We took great care to develop a plan that doesn’t focus on only for-sale real estate,” Bennett said. “This plan does not maximize the use of the established entitlements that we have to just sell condos. We wanted to build something more holistic, we want to do something that we can be proud of. We want to do something that’s best for the resort and best that serves the community. And I think that’s an important point – we could just build a condo village there, and we don’t want to.”
Instead of building a condo village, Deer Valley proposed to completely reimagine the Snow Park base area, by constructing a ski beach with hotels, commercial space, a new transit hub, and some condos.
But the resort does not have the approved rights to build the ski beach, like it does the condo village.
In order to move forward with its plan, the resort is asking the city to give up about 2.5 acres of Deer Valley Drive. That would allow Deer Valley to build where cars currently drive.
It would also end the current traffic flow on the Deer Valley Drive loop, which many residents are opposed to. Doe Pass Road, which cuts in between the Snow Park lots, would become the new entryway to the resort where a new bus station would be built.
Without that portion of Deer Valley Drive, the resort will have to go back to the drawing board, according to Jake Romney, director of development at resort owner Alterra.
“It makes it possible to have this really cool ski beach, it makes it possible to have all this après ski experience, makes it possible to have the transportation hub, and have all of these really kind of neat features and amenities about the property,” Romney said.
Bennett said building a vibrant base area is important, as they look to turn Snow Park into a year-round destination.
Romney also argued it would help with traffic congestion.
“We’ll now have après ski experiences, so there is the linger-longer effect, people will be able to hang around a village, grab something to eat and drink after skiing, end your day," Romney said. "Let traffic kind of migrate out a little bit, more metered, instead of everybody exiting all at one time.”
There have been other suggestions for how to limit the impact of such a major development. A transportation analysis conducted on behalf of Deer Valley found that the project will bring an additional 3,500 cars to Snow Park daily.
Last year, Park City Planning Commissioner Sarah Hall asked Bennett if Deer Valley would ever allow night skiing, in an effort to further spread out skier traffic. Bennett replied by saying the resort is open to “creative solutions.”
Planning commission chair Laura Suesser suggested a new road connecting Snow Park to U.S. 40 to alleviate traffic.
Neighbors complain the new village will add too much traffic to an area already dealing with growing backups on ski days, resulting in a negative impact. Deer Valley argues that the project will have a positive benefit, by prioritizing public transit and adding amenities.
Deer Valley’s proposal involves pulling the Carpenter and Silver Lake lifts towards the parking lot, which would become the center of the ski beach, and converting Silver Lake into a gondola. Bennett told the Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast that the resort is considering converting Carpenter Express from a four to a six pack.
The resort’s planning team initially said the new Silver Lake gondola would allow for an aerial transit connection between Old Town and Snow Park, however, the Park City engineer ultimately said that’s not feasible.
To legally approve Deer Valley’s request, the council must find the road vacation has “good cause” and a “net tangible benefit.”
City councilmembers offered limited comments at their most recent meeting with Deer Valley, and none signaled how they would vote on the road vacation.
The decision also comes as Bennett has spoken optimistically about the possibility of combining terrain with the new Mayflower ski resort right next door to Deer Valley on the east side of the resort. Mayflower is set to open in late 2024 along U.S. 40 across from Jordanelle Reservoir.
The Deer Valley traffic analysis notes that an "agreement is under development that will provide parking, lift access and full base amenities to skiers going to Deer Valley at Mayflower base, along US-40. This potential agreement will also provide for employee parking with a shuttle program between Mayflower and Snow Park."
In 2019, Deer Valley signed a 199-year lease for its Mayflower and Sultan lifts, which are on Mayflower’s land.
At its meeting Thursday, June 15, the council will hear from Deer Valley and city staff, and then open up for public comment.
Another public hearing on the road vacation petition, and potential action by the city council, is scheduled for July 6.
If the city decides to give the section of the road to Deer Valley, the full project will head back to the planning commission for review.
