In a 4-1 vote, Park City Council members approved preliminary plans for the 5-acre Bonanza Park. The proposal is now headed to the Park City Planning Commission. The site borders Kearns Blvd. to the north and Bonanza Drive to the east.
Park City acquired Bonanza in 2017 for $19 million and first planned to develop an arts and culture district on the property. But when designs for the site tipped over the $100 million mark, Park City hit the reset button.
Public feedback collected in 2024 showed locals were more interested in a mixed-use area with retail, art, open space and affordable housing. After six public meetings throughout 2025, the council and Brinshore Development, LLC, refined concepts.
Brinshore presented an updated proposal Thursday. The plans include 10 buildings with a coffee shop, restaurant and 106 residential units. The units are a mix of one, two and three-bedroom apartments with options for residents earning 40%-80% of the Area Median Income (AMI).
Brinshore’s Karly Brinla said the two options are meant to provide a full day of activity. The AMI mix is meant to support Park City’s workforce.
“We really wanted to create a community that was serving Park City residents and people that work in Park City,” she said. “We're trying to serve everyone from ski instructors, restaurant workers, up to slightly higher paying jobs like registered nurses and police officers in our AMI mix.”
At the council’s request, the development team also included almost 20 units with market-rate rent. But Brinla said those would cost the city about $100,000 extra per unit because market-rate housing isn’t federally subsidized.
About two acres of the site — or 70% — will be set aside for open space. That’s nearly the size of the Library Field and more than the roughly 1.2 acres of open space at the Studio Crossing development.
The open space would hold a small amphitheater with lawn space, a playground, another common lawn space, and an arts pavilion.
Development team member Stephen Swisher said the arts pavilion is not meant to be a large performance space.
“The arts pavilion we talked about is a fairly small sort of arts workshop space that's meant to have multiple uses and be available to both artists and community members for different kinds of events,” he said. “It's meant to be more like a workshop or an art studio or arts classroom.”
Development team member Katie Wilking said the idea is to have the restaurant and cafe spaces open out onto the green space.
“We have the idea of, somebody could be sitting at the cafe, their kids could be playing in the green space. You can still have your eyes on them, you know, everybody's safe, but you can still have some downtime,” she said.
The concepts also include bike lanes on Kearns Blvd. and Bonanza Drive, as well as two bus stops on Bonanza Drive. An underground parking garage with about 250 stalls is also planned.
After Brinshore’s presentation, almost 30 community members provided input. The majority weren’t opposed to the plans, but wanted more space for arts and culture.
Many agreed with Kendall Kelley’s remarks, which called on the council to invest in dedicated arts spaces. Those, she said, are community gathering places.
“What we are lacking is a central, accessible place for indoor community gathering, specifically for arts, culture and year-round programming,” Kelley said. “Because of that, people are leaving Park City just for the day, or whatever their scenario looks like, specifically to go to places like Heber and Salt Lake City just to access these kinds of spaces.”
Other public commenters advocated for the site to be entirely open space. A few were concerned the development would obstruct the view of the mountains, but Brinshore said some trees on the site will be taller than the buildings.
Councilmember Ed Parigian said he believes there’s enough arts space in the plans. He said his experience suggests arts and culture aren’t as widely supported as people say.
“The arts and culture district in 2017 was never supported by this town, despite what you hear,” he said.
Parigian also said the proposal follows many of Park City’s core values, including affordable housing, transit and reducing pollution.
Councilmember Molly Miller was also in support, saying the site is a choice between a functional future or a town that feels more like a museum exhibit.
“For years, the five-acre parcel has confronted us with our own indecision,” she said. “When our workforce living in town drops from 20% to 12, we lose employees and neighbors. We lose the ski patrollers and paramedics who serve us by saving us, the bartenders and baristas who save us by serving us, the artists who create, embody and nourish the vibrant soul of our community, and everyone in between.”
Councilmember Bill Ciraco said he doesn’t favor the current design, but supports moving forward. That’s because the project would next enter the planning commission process, which includes more public input, before it returns to the council.
Councilmember Tana Toly was the only ‘no’ vote. She said she wanted to see more arts and culture space, something big enough for concerts. She said the project should reduce the number of units to allow more space for art.
Brinshore cautioned, however, that decreasing the unit count below 100 will make it much harder to get low-income tax credits from the Utah Housing Commission. Under the current proposal, the commission would contribute around $60 million to the project.
Toly also addressed some public comment concerns, including one that the council hasn’t taken community input seriously.
She noted city staff had gathered feedback from thousands since 2023 and conducted a feasibility study that revealed broad support for a mixed-use development.
“Who's missing in this room? It is the workforce, and it is always the workforce, and you never hear from the workforce. You want to know why? This is the second busiest week of the entire year,” she said. “They don't have the time. They don't have the luxury of being here and making public comment.”
The housing is for the workforce, Toly said.
With approval from the council, Brinshore’s proposal will move to the planning commission, which is an iterative process.
The development team hopes to settle on a pre-development agreement by August and begin the permitting and financing process by December.
If everything goes to plan, construction will start in December 2027 with a grand opening in winter of 2029.
