On Thursday a majority of the Park City Council signaled support to consider the Mawhinney parking lot along Park Avenue as a location for the new senior center.
The Mawhinney lot has 47 total parking spaces and is located next to the skate park in City Park across from the library.
Park City Council member Ed Parigian said the site has several benefits.
“It’s on the main drag, we’ll get kudos from everybody driving by,” Parigian said. “It’s right on the bus stop. It would enable the seniors to stay in their existing spot while we build a new one.”
Other councilmembers said they’re open to the plan if the seniors agree.
Craig Weakley with the Park City Seniors nonprofit said they haven’t had deep discussions about the Mawhinney site, but it could work.
“The seniors feel very strongly that a center needs to be built that meets our needs,” Weakley said. “So size is important… and I think the answer is somewhere between 10,000-15,000 square feet, and I’m confident that we could find agreement in that space on a size.”
The council previously considered a proposal for a new 10,000 square-foot facility with housing at the senior center’s existing location on Woodside Avenue.
If a project moves forward on the Mawhinney lot, council members said the city could build housing and underground parking on the existing site.
But first, city staff will need to complete a feasibility study to determine if building on the Mawhinney lot can work.
Councilmember Ryan Dickey told KPCW he’s sympathetic with the senior community who may feel the project is losing momentum.
“The speed of government is frustrating,” Dickey said. “Some of that’s the nature, the structural issue of government, some of it probably isn’t.”
Dickey said he’s proud of the city’s progress with the Engine House affordable housing project, a new City Park building and improvements to the MARC’s aquatic facility.
But he said major projects, like the five acres in Bonanza Park previously envisioned for an arts and culture district, have hit financial hurdles.
“These high visibility projects - like the senior center - have, in this inflationary environment, run into some really tough cost challenges that really weren’t on the table when those projects started," Dickey said. "And so all we can do is iterate and do our best.”
Park City Mayor Nann Worel said she plans to approach Summit County officials about funding for the project. Park City has already budgeted around $3.5 million for a new senior center.
