Deer Valley hosted an open house Wednesday to field questions about the future development of Snow Park. The resort’s plan involves building a new village with hotel rooms and commercial space on the parking lots adjacent to the base.
Deer Valley Vice President and COO Todd Bennett said the ski beach in the village would include a new gondola.
“The notion is that the gondola will start somewhere between lots one and four,” Bennett said. “It will go to Silver Lake, just a little bit to the left of the existing Silver Lake Lodge is where we believe it will land… There will be an unload station there, and then the line will continue up to Park Peak… The intention is to have a lodge at Park Peak and basically two gondola terminals flanking that lodge.”
The other gondola line would run down to Deer Valley’s new base area along U.S. 40 in Wasatch County. Bennett said they’ll soon announce a name for that base village set to open in winter 2025 with 1,200 parking spots.
Bennett added they haven’t decided on the gondola’s operating hours, but hinted that it could run in the summer.
“I’d love to grow the summer business to a place of a little bit more stability, because if we can do that, we can create more full-time jobs,” he said.
As part of the expansion, Deer Valley is also looking to add 100 parking spots to the existing portal at the Jordanelle Gondola.
In December the Park City Council approved the preliminary outline of a deal with the resort relating to the development.
Part of the agreement requires Deer Valley to reduce day skier parking by 20% compared to peak conditions today, which Bennett called “significant.”
“As an operator, I don’t feel great about that,” he said. “I want to make sure that there’s always parking available for anyone who wants to come and go, but I also recognize the reality of the situation, which is it’s getting really busy in town.”
Deer Valley resident Rob Deyerberg, who attended Wednesday’s open house, said he appreciates the resort’s transparency about its plans.
“I’m cautiously optimistic,” Deyerberg said. “Mainly optimistic because I see their intent to do things right. They know they need to go with the growth that’s necessary and the changes that are necessary… Cautious on, well, you don’t really know about unintended effects until things happen.”
Deer Valley’s project still needs government approval. Resort planners said Tuesday they intend to begin the review process with the Park City Planning Commission in April, with the goal of breaking ground in April 2025.
