At the end of a nearly four-hour work session about Deer Valley’s Snow Park Village project Wednesday, Park City Planning Commissioner Laura Suesser said improving bus connections to the resort base should be a top priority.
“What I hear from the community is that locals don’t take the bus because it takes too long,” Suesser said. “I would like our transportation experts and Deer Valley to review our bus routes to see if there are more efficient ways or better, faster ways of getting people to our resorts.”
The planning commission heard criticisms from numerous area residents on the proposed traffic redesign of the Deer Valley Drive loop. There were also questions about the validity of Deer Valley’s traffic study, with one resident saying it underrepresented the amount of traffic the development will bring.
Old Town resident Angela Moschetta said the traffic problem goes beyond Snow Park.
“Nobody is going to take buses if those buses are stuck in traffic,” Moschetta said.
Proposed changes include a new traffic signal at the “Y” intersection, a new roundabout at Royal Street and a new “shared mobility lane” that, depending on the season, can serve as a bike lane, bus lane or be used for emergency access.
Park City Engineer John Robertson said a signal is needed at the “Y” intersection by the Deer Valley Cafe to prioritize certain directions at busy times. They considered a roundabout but Robertson said a traffic light will be more efficient.
“The roundabout doesn’t have a traffic flow ability to stop one and provide some priority over the other to help balance out the flow,” Robertson said. “The signal does.”
Commissioner Christine Van Dine said a traffic signal would likely create a better experience for pedestrians when compared to a roundabout.
“The Marsac [Avenue] roundabout, being a pedestrian in that roundabout is actually really scary,” Van Dine said.
Deer Valley has proposed building nearly 2,000 parking spaces underground with a transit center and drop-off area.
Elevators would then transport skiers up to the base area. Commissioner Henry Sigg said the effectiveness of those elevators will be crucial.
“I anticipate there could be a lot of backup there and backup in the parking garage itself from people waiting for an inefficient lift for whatever reason to get to that upper area,” Sigg said.
Deer Valley plans to institute paid parking in an effort to reduce the amount of single-occupancy drivers coming to Snow Park. It’s unclear how much parking will cost, or when exactly it will be implemented.
Commissioner John Frontero pushed Deer Valley to consider parking reservations, citing the success of Park City Mountain’s system.
Commissioner Sarah Hall also asked the ski resort to come up with a better exit strategy for cars leaving Snow Park.
Andrew Walter, president of the Black Bear HOA in Silver Lake, reminded the commission that they’re dealing with big business.
“I’d like to request that we stop thinking about this as a Deer Valley conversation and as an Alterra conversation,” Walter said. “There’s a private equity company that owns the entity that now owns Deer Valley, and we’re definitely working with a different entity than just Deer Valley that was Deer Valley in the past. And we should approach it as such.”
The next meeting on the project is scheduled for Nov. 13. Deer Valley is also hosting an opening house the following day, Nov. 14, to discuss construction mitigation plans for Snow Park Village. The resort is hoping to break ground in the spring next year.
