On Thursday the Park City Council is scheduled to discuss their long-term vision for enhancing commuter parking lots in Quinns Junction.
Park and ride lots are located on the outskirts of town and are seen as critical tools to reducing traffic congestion, especially during ski season and special events.
Examples include the parking lots at Richardson Flat, Jeremy Ranch and Ecker Hill Middle School. The goal is to get drivers out of their vehicles and onto public transit to reach ski resorts or Main Street.
Park City began running bus service from Richardson Flat in 2022 and has since added direct routes to Park City Mountain and Deer Valley during the winter.
The lot has seen a consistent increase in daily average use in the last three years.
But Park City doesn’t own the property, and city staff say contaminated soils in the area could make it difficult to redevelop.
An alternative could be the vacant, city-owned Gordo property along state Route 248 across from Richardson Flat Road and the Park City Heights neighborhood. Park City recently completed a soil cleanup at the 22-acre property and is awaiting final sign off from state environmental regulators.
The Gordo property sits on the boundary of city limits and could hold more than 800 surface parking spaces, according to a staff report. But Park City officials have also previously discussed creating essentially a new neighborhood on Gordo. A concept explored last year involved underground parking, affordable housing, a new transit center, along with space for retail, recreation amenities and child care.
Deer Valley Resort has committed $15 million to the city to pay for a new transportation facility along the S.R. 248 corridor, which a project on Gordo would qualify for.
Park City Manager Matt Dias said city staff are looking for the council to give direction about how to utilize Richardson Flat and the Gordo property moving forward.
“We hope we get a bunch of questions from council about either enhancing the level of service at the existing park-and-ride or coming up with a nuanced strategy to maybe have two park-and-rides, depending on the project location and the types of services that they want,” Dias said. “Our team is asking though, sometime this summer, if we could potentially have a project location to really start working towards.”
The council has discussed adding restrooms and other amenities like electric bus charging at park-and-ride locations.
On Thursday the council will also get an update on the Leadership Park City program and consider approving a nearly $5 million contract to add a new multi-use path and sidewalk on Homestake Road.
Thursday’s meeting begins at 3:45 p.m. at City Hall. The agenda and a link to attend virtually can be found here.
Park City Municipal is a financial supporter of KPCW.
