Deer Valley is requesting the city vacate a portion of Deer Valley Drive to build the project, which would include a new plaza with hotels and commercial space. Under state law, a road vacation requires the city council to find “good cause” and “net tangible benefit.”
At previous meetings about the project, residents have said the resort is not meeting those thresholds to approve the road vacation.
Park City Mayor Nann Worel and city council members have been privately negotiating with Deer Valley over the last several months in the hopes of returning to the public with a deal.
Candidate Bob Sertner, who lives in Deer Valley, said traffic management should be part of the equation.
“It’s a partnership, it has to work in hand,” Sertner said. “If the city gets what it wants, it’s going to be a reduction, in my opinion, of traffic, and something that makes it safer for the residents who live and work and play in the area. If the resort gets what it wants, it gets the road vacation, and it gets to make a better base area.”
Candidate Bill Ciraco said he wished he had more information on the closed door meetings between city leaders and Deer Valley.
“There needs to be a clear public benefit and good cause,” Ciraco said. “We need to see a revised traffic study to incorporate what the effect of the Mayflower operation is going to be on that area.”
Candidate and current Councilmember Ryan Dickey said he couldn’t provide details of the private negotiations.
“What I would say is we haven’t seen from Deer Valley a deal that represents good cause for the road vacation,” Dickey said. “What that looks like to me is a significant community benefit that directly mitigates the impacts of the development itself.”
Candidate John Greenfield said the public benefits should come in the form of traffic mitigation, given a study for the project found it will increase the daily amount of cars in Snow Park by over 3,000.
“My view is that these impacts, I think a lot of it is traffic, will impact the whole community,” Greenfield said. “So I feel that the benefits that Ryan was talking about, whatever they may be, should impact the whole community. It makes sense that if the impacts would be traffic related, that the benefits would be traffic related too.”
Candidate Matt Nagie, who has a transportation engineering background, said he’s not worried about more people, rather more cars.
“When the original proposal came forward, the proposal was, ‘here’s our proposal, we’d like to request a vacation of the right of way, we’re proposing 2,000 parking stalls here at Snow Park, and there’s going to be a 34% increase in car traffic on Bonanza [Drive], what do you think?’ My take on that was, that’s a bit absurd.”
Nagie said he’s curious to see if Deer Valley reduces parking in Snow Park with its new base along US 40 coming online in 2025. The new base area, previously part of Mayflower Mountain Resort, will offer 1,200 parking spots when complete.
Candidate Ed Parigian said an alternative plan formed by citizen group Protect The Loop should be considered.
“Rarely have I seen the initial plan be the best plan,” Parigian said. “So when they come and say, ‘Alright here’s our plan, this is the best, it’s the only way to do it,’ I’m a little skeptical. That doesn’t give us any input to reflect what the community wants. So in that respect, I’m a little disappointed that they’re just standing by this.”
Deer Valley’s Snow Park proposal is scheduled to return to the city council Nov. 2.
Election Day is Nov. 21. Mail-in ballots are scheduled to go out to voters Oct. 31.
