The post office is one example of a historical building sitting on valuable real estate on Main Street. City leaders are asking themselves: what if it became a town square?
“This is a place where, regardless of who you are, you could spend time, linger in the outside space and then transit back and forth in a more friendly way to Main Street,” said Erik Daenitz, a consultant with Zions Bank who used to be an economic development and data analyst at city hall.
He presented the Main Street Area Plan to the Park City Council Thursday, Nov. 7, ahead of public open houses Tuesday, Nov. 12.
The plan is the brainchild of a committee of residents and business owners charged with keeping Main Street a tourist destination, as new resort areas open, like Deer Valley’s East Village. The plan includes big ideas about transportation, shifting the focus from cars to pedestrians.
It explores reducing parking on Main Street and substantially redeveloping Swede Alley. The plaza on 5th Street, where the post office is, could connect the two.
The MSAP committee found that the post office dates back to the 1920s, but was remodeled and expanded decades later.
“Only about a third of that’s historic, and a lot of the historic value has been degraded — it was taken off the historic registry,” noted Councilmember Ryan Dickey, a committee member.
So returning the post office to its original 1920s footprint could be a chance to improve Old Town’s charm and functionality in one fell swoop.
The city wants to hear what residents think at two open houses Nov. 12.
“It's all at the concept level, right now, right?” Councilmember Jeremy Rubell said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” Nov. 8. “So the idea being: dream big. Some of this stuff seems less feasible than other stuff, and we know that.”
As such, it discusses plenty of other ideas: a potential gondola connection between the Brew Pub lot and Deer Valley’s Snow Park base, new hotel and a grocery store or child care center.
Residents can review the plans and give input at two open houses Tuesday, Nov. 12. The first from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. followed by another from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at Miners Hospital in City Park.
