The Park City Planning Department has an opportunity for those who are interested in Park City’s historic neighborhoods—or if you’re just interested in enjoying a walk around town.
The Planning Department wants input from residents and visitors regarding the architecture of certain historic areas. So, they’re asking people to take a walking tour of different character areas around town. A character area may have been shaped by factors such as the natural environment or patterns of development—whatever the reason, the structures within share unique characteristics.
The Planning Department has identified 11 character areas, though the tour only addresses three. Participants will trek through Upper Main Street, Lower Main Street and Park Avenue and rate eight non-historic buildings in each area to determine how they fit in with the character of the neighborhood. The Planning Department provides a route to follow—though rogue tour-takers can take any path they’d like. The tour is estimated to take one hour.
Park City Planner Hannah Tyler says you don’t need to be an architect or have a background in planning to fill out the survey.
"Types of questions are going to be what do you think of the overall size of this building; what do you think about the architectural design; does it fit in; is it compatible," Tyler said. "We're really trying to provoke a little bit more of the public’s look at Old Town from an architectural standpoint, and say, 'what do you guys think of these streets, and what's standing out to you?' That's really what we want to get out of this."
Tyler says the survey results will help the Planning Department with a supplemental set of character area considerations—separate from the historic design guidelines in the land management code that the Planning Department has been revising. That way, if homeowners or developers want to build or make additions, they can consult those character area design elements—though that won’t be a requirement.
Tyler says further defining the character areas should demonstrate that there’s not just one singular historic district style.
"Our goal also through identifying these is that people start to recognize the eclectic nature of every little part," Tyler said. "Every different street of Old Town was developed so differently."
The deadline for participants to send in their surveys to the Planning Department is May 31. They can be scanned and emailed or returned in person to the Planning Department’s office at the Marsac building. More information about the tour can be found at parkcity.org.
