Park City Council will be holding a work session on the proposed toxic soils repository at the Gordo Property along SR 248 at Thursday’s meeting.
In response to widespread public concern regarding the transparency surrounding the proposed toxic soils management project along SR 248, Park City Mayor Andy Beerman and City Councilors Max Doilney, Becca Gerber, Tim Henney, and Steve Joyce released a statement on Monday in an attempt to assure citizens of their commitment to public engagement for the project.
Councilor Nann Worel told KPCW late Wednesday that she did not add her name to the statement because she felt it did not go far enough and was a "missed opportunity to talk about process and what the community could expect as next steps."
The project, which is an attempt to clean-up some of the toxic soils in Park City leftover from the city’s mining days, would construct a facility to hold up to 120,000 cubic yards of soil that will be lined and eventually capped once it is full.
City council will also cover the project during a work session as part of Thursday’s regular meeting. City staff is asking for council support for a 60-day information period that would include additional community outreach and public input opportunities.
Community members during a public comment section at last month’s council meeting, as well as on social media and in various letters to local media, said they felt adequate notice and information was not given to the public before the city got the ball rolling on the project.
Park City Manager Matt Dias spoke to KPCW on Wednesday and said the city was surprised at the public’s response given the council was first presented with the option last June and the project was again on city council agendas in November, February, and April.
“I guess the lesson here is we can do more, we can always try to do more,” Dias said. “We obviously didn’t see this coming. We want the public to know that we take this seriously. We understand that they feel that they were caught off-guard. We obviously don’t want that outcome, this doesn’t help us, we’ve run around a little bit crazy over the last two weeks trying to figure out what happened. I don’t know that we would have done anything differently other than maybe holding some community meetings or neighborhood meetings that people weren’t asking for or demanding at the time.”
The deadline for public comment on the project to the Utah Department of Environmental Quality ended on May 4th. The department has told KPCW that as of Wednesday, department officials are still reviewing the comments and did not give a timeframe for when they, or any official department responses, would be made public.
Dias added he, his staff, and the council recognize the importance of the project and welcome a re-examination and re-engagement of the community before any additional steps are taken.
“At the end of the day, this is an important decision for our community,” he said. “Long-time locals have been living with our mining legacy for decades and we want to make a thoughtful decision that balances community needs, preserves our natural environment and our commitment to sustainability, and a financially viable decision for the organization and our housing plan and our arts and culture plans and our transportation plans moving forward and we’re committed to that. I’ve never seen this council want to charge forward when we get this level of feedback and outreach, so, happy to take a step back and re-engage.”
Thursday’s city council meeting is scheduled to begin at 4:00pm. The soils repository discussion is scheduled for 5:15pm.
Details on how to participate virtually can be found here.
