The Park City Council will begin a series of study and work sessions Friday meant to create a clear affordable housing framework.
Councilmembers will work with city staff on establishing housing goals, current and future development opportunities and policy strategies.
Councilmember Molly Miller told KPCW affordable housing is something every community seems to struggle with. She believes it’s the municipality’s responsibility to make it easier for people to live and work locally.
“There are challenges whether it's for-rent housing, for-purchase housing, attainable, affordable, super affordable, for the missing middle,” she said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” Sept. 4. “It is so complex and it is such a work in progress.”
In 2016, the council established a goal of having 15% of workers live within city limits by Jan. 1, 2026. According to a staff report, the city got more than half of the way there.
The council reaffirmed that goal in February 2025, aiming to have housing for 15% of the workforce by 2032, when the workforce is projected to grow to about 10,200 employees. Staff estimates 1,864 housing units are needed to meet the guideline.
As of August, the city has 829 affordable workforce housing units available, with 172 under construction. That leaves a gap of over 860 units. Miller said even with the proposed 106 units for the 5-acre Bonanza Park site and 164 units for the Clark Ranch development, there’s still a lot of work to do.
Without more affordable housing, she worries it will be increasingly difficult for businesses to entice workers to commute into the city, especially with more development in Deer Valley Resort’s East Village.
“The about 2,000 workers or so that we have coming from the Heber area — I'm not sure that I would drive past East Village to get all the way into town to come work at a resort in Park City proper,” She said.
Miller said Vail and Aspen, Colorado, resorts previously struggled because they lacked local workers and had to reduce operating days.
"They were in such a crunch for housing that the community kind of had a bit of an uprising, and they were like, ‘Turn this open space into housing. We cannot survive,’” she said. “I don't want that to happen at Park City.”
The council’s affordable housing study session is Thursday at 1:30 p.m. To start, the council will review current housing conditions, the regional and state policy environment and lessons from prior city housing efforts.
Park City Municipal is a financial supporter of KPCW.
