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What Should Park City Look Like In The Future? City Hall Wants To Know.

A survey for Park City’s 2020 community visioning project went live Wednesday. The survey results, along with additional community engagement, will guide the City’s plan for the future. 

What are Park City’s strengths and weaknesses? What community issues need to be addressed? What do you want Park City to look like decades down the road? Park City Municipal is undertaking its next community visioning project to further define its identity, and Community Engagement Manager Linda Jager says the survey is the first step.

“What we really want to do is take the pulse of the community before we get started in the visioning process and see what's important to them," Jager said. "What issues are important to them, opportunities that we may have missed as a community, what are they looking forward to most, and use that as a baseline for discussions going forward.”

The survey, hosted by research and consulting firm Future iQ, asks participants about their demographic information; their neighborhoods; and whether they work in Park City or visit Park City, before diving into questions about what Park City is like now and what it could be in the future. The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete.

Budget and Strategic Planning Manager Jed Briggs says two documents guide the City in its decision making. The general plan addresses land use and is organized by values, such as small town feel and natural setting, that were determined 10 years ago in the last visioning session. The strategic plan is driven by the City Council’s critical and top priorities, including housing, transportation, social equity and energy. Briggs says defining community values provides the why behind the City’s decisions.

“That really helps to influence and inform what our critical and top priorities should be," Briggs said. "Then, once you start to figure out the 'why,' then you work on the 'what.' The 'what' is really these priorities these desired outcomes, and then you develop your goals and your actions.”

Councilmember Tim Henney expects the survey results will feature a lot of the same sentiments the community has already expressed—how necessary affordable housing is, how the traffic is unbearable. But Henney says the community should pay attention to and participate in the process because it’s important to know what the City stands for and where it’s headed, both for people who want to live here and those who already do.

“You hear it all the time from people—I hear it from people, too: 'This is not the town I moved to 40 years ago,'" Henney said. "Correct; it's not. So, you need good information to know is it going to be the place you want to be 10 years from now; do you want to be here tomorrow; are you happy here today. That's really at the core of what we're trying to do.”

As part of the engagement process, the City will also host two think tank workshops in July to discuss the survey data. Those interested in participating need to apply online by July 15. Further community engagement sessions with the public will take place throughout the summer. The Park City Vision 2020 survey ends July 28 and can be found at parkcity.org.

Emily Means hadn’t intended to be a journalist, but after two years of studying chemistry at the University of Utah, she found her fit in the school’s communication program. Diving headfirst into student media opportunities, Means worked as a host, producer and programming director for K-UTE Radio as well as a news writer and copy editor at The Daily Utah Chronicle.