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Park City officials near vote on Deer Valley's Snow Park Village development

Renderings of Snow Park Village.
Deer Valley Resort
A conceptual rendering of Snow Park Village.

The Park City Planning Commission is working to finalize parking details for Deer Valley’s major redevelopment of the Snow Park base.

Deer Valley’s Snow Park Village project involves building a new ski beach surrounded by hotels, condos and retail on the resort’s existing base area parking lots.

The Park City Planning Commission is reviewing phase one of the two-phase proposal. The phase one application involves a nearly 2,000 space parking garage that will be three stories and partially built underground. Phase one also includes an underground transit center and road, as well as utility and pedestrian improvements.

The second phase of approvals pertain to the resort’s proposed vertical development, which includes 120 hotel rooms, 100 condos and 30,000 square feet of commercial space, along with an event center and a new ski club.

Deer Valley officials told the commission they intend to charge for parking, however it’s unclear how much it’ll cost and when it’ll take effect.

The resort struck a deal with the city council in 2023 to reduce the availability of day skier parking by 20%, to limit the project’s traffic impact. A traffic study projected the new development will generate more than 800 additional daily trips to Snow Park.

On peak days, Deer Valley currently parks around 1,700 day skiers. The agreement would limit day skier parking stalls to 1,360. The remaining parking spaces would be designated for other uses, such as guests visiting retail spaces.

Deer Valley CEO Todd Bennett told the commission the resort is open to using parking reservations - similar to Park City Mountain - but they don’t want it to be a requirement for the project.

“I’m a firm believer that a reservation system is more friction for the customer experience,” Bennett said. “But there are plenty of times where a reservation system would be of great value.”

During public comment, Steve Hancock said the resort should consider dynamic pricing for parking to ensure spots don’t fill all the way up.

“If that means that the parking garage goes to $100 or $200 a day, you might be surprised,” Hancock said. “People are paying $300 for lift tickets. Maybe they’ll pay $100 to park.”

The commission has been pushing Deer Valley to find ways to reduce the amount of single-occupancy vehicles coming for a ski day. Hancock said encouraging skiers to use public transit instead could prove difficult for the resort’s clientele.

“People don’t go from Escalades and Land Rovers to riding the bus,” he said. “I think a lot of people just sort of assume the bus is for poor people, and that’s just not your audience here.”

Planning commissioner Bill Johnson described his personal struggles using the bus to get to Deer Valley.

“I try to take the bus from my house in Bonanza, right by the police station, and it takes me 45 minutes to get there,” Johnson said. “Then it takes me an hour to get home, and that’s why we have single-occupancy use. That’s not necessarily your problem. It’s a holistic, community problem. We need to fix the traffic.”

Resident Bill Watson said they’ve seen a lot of success in the Solamere neighborhood this winter with direct shuttle access to Deer Valley.

“People love the vans, and if we can get more vans… I think we can push on this,” Watson said. “The other thing, I think the East Village is making a difference. I really think traffic is down other than at the end of the day.”

Commissioner John Frontero asked Deer Valley to find more ways to reduce demand for employee parking. Commissioner Laura Suesser also suggested Deer Valley use parking discounts to encourage skiers to stay at the resort longer after lifts close, in order to reduce the rush hour traffic load.

The commission is next scheduled to meet with Deer Valley on Feb. 26. The commission could vote to approve phase one at the next meeting, or continue discussions into March.