Day one of the Park City City Council’s retreat on Thursday finalized the city’s “Vision 2020” initiative and reviewed the city’s transportation accomplishments over the last year.
Derailed one year ago at the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, city council put the finishing touches on the “Vision 2020” project on Thursday.
The council coalesced around four pillars: social equity & affordability, environmental leadership, authentic local culture, and transportation innovation.
The pillars also led to a new acronym, SEAT, and a new motto: “Where everyone has a SEAT at the table.”
Councilor Steve Joyce told KPCW on Friday that despite a new slogan and refined messaging, the overall goals identified by the greater community in Vision 2020 have not strayed too far from the city’s past visioning efforts.
“I think it’s gonna be pretty crisp and I don’t think much has changed in the last bit,” Joyce said. “If you look at what the people came back and told us as part of the visioning, it was more of a refinement of what was already our four critical priorities, than, like, you guys are barking up the wrong tree, you oughta be doing this instead.”
Another topic discussed by the council was how aggressive they should be in pursuing those goals going forward.
Councilor Max Doilney said it seems like no matter what action they take, some people will feel like it’s too little, and others will say it’s far too much.
“It seems like it’s a snowball that goes in either direction and it doesn’t matter what you do, you’re gonna catch it,” he said. “And I understand that’s some of what we’re hearing, but is that the loudest voice in the room or is that a reality?”
Joyce agreed with that take and added that change, no matter how big or small, will be hard to accept for a lot of Parkites.
“The big thing that we heard that’s gonna be hard is ‘be bold,’’ said Joyce. “Everything is moving fast around us. All the stuff out at the Jordanelle and you just got done with a discussion of the base of Park City and the base of Deer Valley and all these things. It’s like, ‘be bold, do big, bold things,’ and as soon as you do big, bold things, it’s change and people don’t like change; it’s really uncomfortable and you don’t know what it’s gonna be like in the end and people really start pushing back and go ‘woah, woah, woah, woah, slow down.’”
Balancing the rate of change with preserving an accessible small-town feel when a six-figure salary is a near requirement in order to live comfortably in Park City will be one of the biggest challenges going forward for the council.
City Manager Matt Dias said on Thursday that fact is not lost on him or his staff at city hall.
“This is emblematic of Park City,” said Dias. “Park City is the ultimate contradiction about quality of life, small town, and then these super expensive homes and how much it costs to go out to dinner here and all these areas. Apparently, we’re a contradiction.”
The council retreat continued on Friday and can be streamed on the City Government of Park City Facebook page.
