The possibility of someday creating an aerial transit system in Park City, long seen as a measure that could combat traffic, has emerged as part of City Hall-led discussions about the future of the Main Street core.

A committee seated by Park City leaders is considering wide-ranging concepts that, if pursued, would be designed to enhance Main Street as it attempts to remain competitive amid commercial development elsewhere in the area.

One of the ideas that has been mentioned is the construction of a gondola route. Aerial transit via a gondola system has been discussed off and on in Park City since at least the 1990s, but the concept has never advanced beyond preliminary talks or studies. There have been questions over the years about the funding mechanisms for construction, operations and maintenance as well as potential destinations and routes.

A group known as the Main Street Area Plan Committee in mid-August discussed a gondola route between the Main Street core and Deer Valley. The notes from the meeting in August and a City Hall staff communications report provided limited details about the concept. There is an interest in Main Street businesses better tapping customers in Deer Valley, though.

The staff communications report indicated there was interest in “exploring” the possibility of a gondola linking Deer Valley with the southern reaches of the Main Street commercial district. The separate written summary of the August meeting showed the Main Street Area Plan Committee received information about prior work regarding aerial transit and spoke about alternative alignments.

The written summary says earlier “transportation projects had rejected the idea of building a gondola from Park City to Deer Valley” via the Deer Valley Drive corridor based on “a lack of space in the right-of-way.”

“The committee wondered whether it might be possible to connect to Deer Valley via a different route over Royal Street and city-owned greenspace,” the summary says. “This would help high-value customers travel from Deer Valley to Main Street, and could connect with the new Gondola to Deer Valley East Village.” It also describes a “potential to build a gondola from the Sandridge parking lots to Deer Valley over green space and Royal Street, including a concept for how to connect the station to Main Street.”

The summary seems to describe an eventual vision for a gondola system that could carry people between the Main Street core, through Deer Valley and to Deer Valley East Village off U.S. 40 in Wasatch County. Deer Valley East Village is under development and is designed to be another base for the resort.

Deer Valley Resort has said it is crafting blueprints for internal routes that would effectively connect Snow Park, Silver Lake Village and Deer Valley East Village via a gondola system. The design of the system, Deer Valley said earlier in 2024, leaves open the possibility of becoming a stop on a broader gondola network, if it were to be built someday.

A gondola route linking Deer Valley with Main Street has been seen as a likely segment of any wider system since they are two of the most important destinations in the community. Other possibilities that have been mentioned as stops over the years include the Park City-side of Park City Mountain and City Hall-owned land off the intersection of Kearns Boulevard and Bonanza Drive that could eventually become important to the overall transportation system.

It would be years before the first segments of an aerial transit system could be built outside the confines of private property like the mountain resorts. Further studies would be required into routes, decisions would need to be made about equipment and agreements between various parties would need to be negotiated. City Hall, the County Courthouse, the Utah Department of Transportation and the two mountain resorts would each likely have a role, depending on the precise routes.

Some see aerial transit via a gondola system as a transportation improvement that could reduce traffic in the Park City area. The thinking holds that drivers could be intercepted via parking lots or garages well outside Main Street and the mountain resorts. They would then board an aerial transit system to travel to those destinations, cutting some of the traffic into and out of Park City.

There would also be funding questions with the likelihood of an aerial transit system linking the various locations pushing into the tens of millions of dollars. Although timelines regarding any talks about aerial transit are not known, Park City and Summit County leaders have shown an interest in tapping monies, including transportation-related federal funding, that may become available as the area prepares for the 2034 Winter Olympics. If that is the case, leaders could want to make decisions well before the Games to allow time to build any improvements prior to 2034.

The talks about the Main Street core are ongoing and it is not clear when Park City leaders will make decisions about whether to pursue any of the concepts the committee has considered during its work. Discussions involving Park City’s elected officials, the committee, Main Street businesses and rank-and-file Parkites are upcoming, with a schedule running through December.

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Deer Valley Resort earlier in the summer gathered responses from six developers interested in a joint venture to develop workforce housing along the Bonanza Drive corridor, which has not been widely publicized as the resort continues to pursue a project at the location.

An executive of Deer Valley owner Alterra Mountain Company described the July request for proposals during an event on Tuesday designed to introduce the Ski Rail concept, which is slated for resort-owned land at 1555 Lower Iron Horse Loop Road.

Willa Williford, the Alterra Mountain Company vice president of workforce housing, said the deadline for submittals has passed. Alterra Mountain Company is seeking a partner for a joint venture addressing development of the project and financing. She said local, regional and national firms responded to the request for proposals.

She said Alterra Mountain Company is “very impressed” with the wide range of funding strategies outlined in the responses, including several that have proposed to provide financial guarantees. Some responses describe a hope of tapping low-income tax credits as part of the strategy, she said. 

Williford said a decision about whether Alterra Mountain Company enters into a partnership or pursues the project on its own is desired in September.

The information about the request for proposals is significant at a time when Deer Valley is beginning to introduce the Ski Rail proposal to the community. The upcoming decision about a partnership will be a key step for the Alterra Mountain Company and Deer Valley side that will influence the rest of the discussions.

Deer Valley owns the Lower Iron Horse Loop Road location where the project is envisioned. The resort operates a laundry facility on the land. The concept for housing for the resort’s workforce calls for a project with at least 200 beds. That number would be an especially large bloc of worker housing within the Park City limits.

The Ski Rail proposal is linked to Deer Valley’s efforts to build a major development outside Snow Park Lodge. Longstanding development rights are attached to the land where the vast Snow Park parking lots are located. Deer Valley, though, must secure another key approval from the Park City government before a project can proceed. Deer Valley has said the plan exceeds the minimum workforce housing required as part of the Snow Park concept.

Deer Valley touts the Ski Rail location as well situated for a workforce project, noting that nearby bus lines connect to the resort and the residents would be living inside Park City and close to services. The location is close to the Prospector district, the Iron Horse district and the Kearns Boulevard corridor.

The Tuesday event, billed as an open house, drew a medium-sized crowd to the Deer Valley Plaza lobby on the Snow Park entryway. Deer Valley representatives spoke to the group about the proximity to pedestrian, bicyclist and bus routes. They described a project would be three stories high with the possibility of four stories. There would be laundry facilities at the site and the units would be furnished. The project is forecast to be fully occupied in the winter with high occupancy numbers expected in the summer, the crowd heard. 

Some in attendance told the Deer Valley officials storage space within a project would be important for the people who live there.

Deer Valley wants to ensure that the rents are affordable for the workforce and said the monthly dollar figure would not exceed 30% of a worker’s income.

Deer Valley hopes the project is ready for occupancy before the start of the 2027-28 ski season. The construction timeline, though, will depend on the City Hall review of an application.

There will likely be questions during the review about the traffic a project would generate along the busy Bonanza Drive corridor and the overall design of a project. Traffic issues can entangle an application during the review process.

An informational board on display at the event listed a series of ideas for Ski Rail amenities. They included a television room, a free library, games, communal seating, nooks, a quiet space and a coffee bar.

Another board covered ideas for amenities outdoors, such as a picnic table, games, artworks, a charging station for bicycles powered by electricity and a shade structure.

A diagram of the Ski Rail layout, meanwhile, showed green spaces labeled resident commons and resident green, with a landscaped buffer also included on the grounds. Two plazas are also shown on the diagram.

Deer Valley is pursuing an aggressive effort that involves significant development and terrain expansion. The Deer Valley East Village is underway in Wasatch County, while the planning work is continuing at Snow Park to essentially create a new base area.

The post Deer Valley considers joint venture to develop workforce housing appeared first on Park Record.

Deer Valley Resort is pursuing the development of a significant project to house its workforce along a busy Park City road corridor.

The project is known as Ski Rail, a reference to the location’s proximity to the Rail Trail, and is proposed at 1555 Lower Iron Horse Loop Road. Deer Valley owns the land and operates a laundry facility at the location.

Deer Valley wants to develop a project with at least 200 beds. A timeline for the construction will hinge on the review process.

The Ski Rail proposal is linked to Deer Valley’s plans for a major development outside Snow Park Lodge. City Hall requires a bloc of workforce housing as part of a project like the one proposed at Snow Park.

“We’re committed to investing in Deer Valley’s future and addressing the needs of our employees and community through the proposed Affordable Master Planned Development,” said Deer Valley’s vice president of marketing, Susie English, referring to the Ski Rail project. “Our plan not only exceeds the minimum housing obligations for the Snow Park redevelopment but also ensures that housing is conveniently located on transit routes with direct access to Deer Valley. By situating housing within half a mile of major services, we aim to provide our staff with a vibrant in-town living experience, enhancing their quality of life while keeping them connected to the community.”

The location is near a wide range of businesses in the Prospector district, the Iron Horse district and along the Kearns Boulevard corridor.

It is almost certain the review process will address traffic. The location is accessed off Bonanza Drive, one of the busiest municipal streets and a road that regularly suffers backups during the morning and afternoon rush hours. There can also be turning difficulties from side streets onto Bonanza Drive during the busy times.

There could be questions about the impact of adding a substantial number of residences so close to Bonanza Drive. People who live nearby could also have concerns about any additional traffic on Bonanza Drive, as well as in the Iron Horse area. The businesses close to the location, though, could see a Deer Valley workforce development as potentially increasing the customer base in the immediate area.

The proposal is another element of Deer Valley’s aggressive push to remake the resort. The concept for the land outside Snow Park involves the development of a new base. Large garages would be built to account for the parking spots that are lost as the lots are developed.

Deer Valley and City Hall leaders in 2023 reached an agreement to pursue a public-private partnership addressing transportation and housing. City Hall and Deer Valley will each contribute $15 million as part of the partnership. 

The resort, meanwhile, is also expanding off U.S. 40, in Wasatch County, with the Deer Valley East Village.

Deer Valley is scheduled to host an open house centered on Ski Rail. It is slated for Tuesday, Aug. 13, 3 p.m. until 6 p.m. at the Deer Valley Plaza lobby located at 1375 Deer Valley Drive. RSVP at: https://tinyurl.com/48vmts7m.

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Tickets to competitions in the Park City area during the 2034 Winter Olympics could be even tougher to come by than they were during the Games of 2002.

And the ones 22 years ago for crowd favorites like freestyle skiing and snowboarding were, essentially, pure gold to the people who managed to procure them.

A scarcity of tickets may be a byproduct of the overarching vision for the venues for a Games in 2034. Early depictions of the three local competition venues point to the possibility of lower crowd capacities, something that would be expected to reduce the number of publicly available tickets in circulation and bring about wider ramifications for the operations of a Games.

As excitement builds with the likelihoodthe the Games of 2034 will be awarded to Salt Lake City in July, attention seems to be shifting from a bid process that has stretched for years to the actual mechanics of the staging of a second Winter Olympics in the state.

The Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games, the group bidding for the event in 2034, recently provided some details about the slate of proposed venues, including Park City Mountain, Deer Valley Resort and the Utah Olympic Park. The projected crowd capacities of the venues are notable even nine and a half years prior to the start of the Games since they are crucial to a range of logistical matters, extending well beyond ticket availability, that will be addressed during the planning stage.

Information released as part of a broader submittal to the International Olympic Committee indicates the venues at Park City Mountain and Deer Valley are conceptualized to hold fewer spectators than in 2002. The venue for the sliding sports at the Utah Olympic Park would also hold fewer people than in 2002. A comparison of the capacities for the ski jumping venue at the Utah Olympic Park was not readily available.

The crowd capacities of the venues for 2034 could shift over coming years as the bid committee transforms into an organizing committee and the detailed designs for each location are finalized. It could be some time before the capacity figures are known with certainty.

The Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games described the capacity numbers submitted to the IOC as projections prepared long before the event would be held. The capacities were based on factors like the field of play of the competitions, the geography of the finish areas, the estimated demand for tickets and the transportation system, the group said. It also said there were unspecified “lessons learned from 2002” as the capacities were considered for another Games.

“Given that we are 10 years out, the capacities may change given changes in the factors noted,” the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games said.

The number of spectators each of the venues has the capacity to hold will be a pivotal variable in the overall organization of a Games since it will influence many other aspects of the plans. The spectator figures, as examples, will affect the blueprints for parking, transportation and security, as well as the designs of the temporary stadiums built at the venues. Staffing and the need for volunteers will depend at some level on the crowd figures, and the process of the loading and unloading of the venues for each competition will hinge on the capacities.

Park City would be one of the top draws during a Games for lodging and celebrations, as in 2002. Even if the crowds at the competitions are smaller than during the previous Games as a result of the venue designs, it seems likely Park City will retain its role as a charming, mountainous counterbalance to the metropolitan setting in Salt Lake City and the Wasatch Front. The Games of 2002 illustrated Park City has the ability to attract large crowds wanting to experience the atmosphere even if they lack tickets to the competitions.

If the venues in 2034 hold fewer spectators than those in 2002, meanwhile, some the effect on the market for tickets would be forecasted. The official post-Games report drafted by the organizing committee that staged the 2002 event indicated 99.8% of the tickets for competitions at Park City Mountain were sold, 99.4% of the tickets for competitions at Deer Valley were sold and 100% of the tickets for sliding sports at the Utah Olympic Park were sold. The figure was 95% for ski jumping at the Utah Olympic Park.

Tickets for competitions at the three Park City-area venues commanded prices on the secondary market well above face value in 2002. Successes by American athletes at the three locations seemed to drive demand even higher and, as the Games wore on, Park City thrived amid the giant crowds. 

The Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games filed the submittal with the IOC in the period before the Lausanne, Switzerland-based organization’s likely awarding of the Games of 2034 to Salt Lake City. The selection is anticipated to occur on July 24, during IOC meetings in Paris on the eve of the opening of the Summer Olympics in the French capital. Salt Lake City is the IOC’s preferred host for 2034. Leaders from Park City and Summit County are slated to travel to Paris with the state delegation for the IOC meetings, with the trip also acting as a fact-finding mission with the two jurisdictions expected to expand their Games efforts after the award of the 2034 event. There will be extensive work in coming years between Park City, Summit County and an organizing committee.

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Bransford Land Company, the firm that recently filed a formal challenge to Deer Valley Resort’s plans to build a new lift, dropped the appeal on Monday afternoon, City Hall said on Tuesday.

A representative of Bransford Land Company did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment. Deer Valley did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

In a brief letter to Park City’s planning director, Anne Bransford, the chairman of the firm, did not provide details about the decision to drop the appeal.

“Effective immediately, Bransford Land Company, LLC respectfully withdraws our appeal to the Planning Commission’s approval of Lift 7 submitted on June 3, 2024. As always, BLC respects the efforts of your staff and Planning Commissioners. Thank you for your time and consideration,” the letter, released through a Park Record request under state open-records laws, said.

The sudden decision was unexpected after Bransford Land Company emerged as a chief critic of the resort’s planned route for a six-passenger lift on Park Peak, known for now as Lift 7. The lift would run for 0.56 of a mile on Park Peak and serve beginner terrain at the resort’s upper elevations. Deer Valley sees Lift 7 as a key connection to the terrain.

The Park City Planning Commission approved Lift 7 in a unanimous vote in May. Bransford Land Company filed the appeal shortly after the vote. The firm, which has long owned acreage in the area of the Lift 7 route, had argued there was another option for a lift alignment involving its land.

Bransford Land Company in its appeal argued for “a safer and less destructive plan for a Lift 7 pod.” The appeal said “the process was rushed and manipulated.”

“Public commenters supporting the application and Planning Commissioners maneuvering with the Applicant towards their shared goal of a quick approval cited unsupported assumptions about the benefits and logic behind Lift 7,” the appeal also said.

The Planning Commission cast the vote approving Lift 7 after a wide-ranging discussion and testimony from people who supported the lift and opponents. Supporters covered topics like the possibility of new terrain, especially for beginner skiers. Critics, though, were worried about issues like the impact on wildlife.

The Bransford Land Company challenge was slated to be put before the municipal Appeal Panel. A date had not been set.

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The group pursuing the 2034 Winter Olympics for the state on Monday released the most complete concept map to date of the proposed competition venues, detailing which disciplines it wants to locate in the Park City area and elsewhere in the Games region.

The Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games included the map in a broader submittal to the International Olympic Committee as the Lausanne, Switzerland-based organization and the bidders in Utah prepare for the likelihood of the Games of 2034 being awarded to Salt Lake City in July. The submittal covers the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games’ responses to the IOC’s Future Host Questionnaire and provides information about topics across the bid.

It has been certain the Park City area would play an outsized role in the map of the venues, as was the case during the 2002 Winter Olympics, but the precise list of competitions that would be proposed for the individual venues has been unclear. 

According to materials filed as part of the Future Host Questionnaire responses, the proposed Park City-area venue map includes the following:

• Park City Mountain hosting snowboarding halfpipe, snowboarding slopestyle, freestyle skiing halfpipe and freestyle skiing slopestyle.

• Deer Valley Resort hosting freestyle skiing aerials and freestyle skiing moguls.

• The Utah Olympic Park hosting ski jumping, the jumping portion of the Nordic combined, bobsled, luge, skeleton, snowboarding parallel giant slalom, snowboard cross and freestyle skiing ski cross.

Soldier Hollow in nearby Wasatch County is slated to host the cross-country skiing portion of the Nordic combined, biathlon and cross-country skiing. Snowbasin, in northern Utah, would host the ski-racing events in both the speed and technical disciplines.

There could be alterations to the map as an eventual organizing committee finalizes the venue list, but the concept that is proposed in the submittal appears to have been crafted over time and includes significant changes from the program during the Games of 2002. Park City Mountain and Deer Valley each hosted ski racing in the earlier Games, one of the prime examples of the differences between the two years.

The venue map is critical to the rest of the planning since so much of the infrastructure of a Games will be based on the locations of the competitions. The map will influence the blueprints for transportation, parking, security, staffing and celebrations in and around Park City. It will also be crucial as the competition grid is ultimately created, which will identify the dates and times of the events.

The submission illustrates the progress the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games is making with the meetings of the IOC in Paris in July nearing. The IOC in July is widely expected to award the 2034 event to Salt Lake City and the 2030 Games to the Provence, Alps and Côte d’Azur regions of France. The Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games as recently as April had indicated the precise skiing and snowboarding competitions slated for Park City Mountain and the Utah Olympic Park had not been determined by then.

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A landowner in Deer Valley critical of plans to build a new lift at the resort formally appealed the approval of the upgrade, continuing to argue for an alternative.

The Bransford Land Company filed the appeal paperwork at City Hall in the period after the Park City Planning Commission approval of a six-passenger lift on Park Peak, currently known as Lift 7. The firm was a chief critic of the alignment as the Park City Planning Commission processed the Lift 7 application. The Planning Commission cast a unanimous vote in May after talks stretched through the spring.

Lift 7 would run for 0.56 of a mile on Park Peak and serve beginner terrain at the resort’s upper elevations. The resort sees the lift as a key connection to the terrain.

The challenge will be put before the municipal Appeal Panel.

The Bransford Land Company has long owned acreage in the area of the Lift 7 terrain. The appeal contends there was another option for a lift alignment involving the firm’s land.

“To support a safer and less destructive plan for a Lift 7 pod, BLC proposed using our adjacent land to allow the applicant to realign the lift and ski runs, relocate the bottom lift terminal, limit disturbance to vegetation and wildlife, and better comply with code and governing agreements,” the appeal says.

The filing says the Bransford Land Company “approached the applicant respectfully and repeatedly about an alternative plan for which BLC would offer an easement on part of our property.” It outlines that the Bransford Land Company “appealed to” City Hall staffers and the Planning Commission “to urge the planning director to ask the applicant for alternatives.”

The filing claims City Hall officials and the top staffer at Deer Valley Resort, President and Chief Operating Officer Todd Bennett, “misrepresented the status and potential of BLC land for constructing an alternative Lift 7 plan.”

“Public commenters supporting the application and planning commissioners maneuvering with the applicant towards their shared goal of a quick approval cited unsupported assumptions about the benefits and logic behind Lift 7, as well as the applicant’s industry reputation, as sufficient reasons to award the” permit, the challenge says.

It also contends the review of the lift “was rushed and manipulated.”

The Planning Commission approved Lift 7 after a wide-ranging discussion and testimony from supporters and critics. The supporters generally cited the possibility of new terrain, particularly for beginners, while critics worried about issues like the impact on wildlife. The Planning Commission as it cast the “Yea” vote included a set of conditions that addresses wildlife.

Deer Valley released a prepared statement regarding the appeal: “Deer Valley is grateful for the Park City Planning Commission’s unanimous approval of the Lift 7 CUP on May 22, 2024, and the community’s overall support for this project. We are committed to continuing to deliver on our original brand promise founded by the Stern family and are dedicated to our Expanded Excellence vision, evolving the ski experience for future generations. Lift 7 is a crucial part of our Expanded Excellence lift and terrain expansion, designed to add terrain for all skill levels while prioritizing skier safety, wildlife preservation, and managing the project’s environmental impact to uphold our commitment to sustainable growth. We take great pride in being good community partners and will continue to work with Park City Municipal and our partners through the appeal process.”

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Where might skiers park when Deer Valley Resort eventually commences construction on a major development at the Snow Park base?

And what about the concept of a gondola linking Deer Valley base areas that has attracted attention in recent months?

People following Deer Valley’s efforts to remake Snow Park will have opportunities in coming months to hear from resort officials about those and other topics related to a project.

Deer Valley in early June publicized a schedule of topics it plans to address in public gatherings through the end of the year. The schedule offers a preview of some of the key topics related to Snow Park and when they will be discussed. There are four remaining entries on the timeline following three events that were already held.

These four are upcoming:

• Construction and mitigation, in August.

• Sustainability, in October.

• Public realm, in November.

• Vertical architecture and program, in December.

Deer Valley is readying the details of what will be a significant submittal to City Hall seeking an approval for a Snow Park project. The resort is gathering public input as it prepares the submittal. The timeline was part of the materials presented during an open house Monday at Snow Park Lodge centered on the project Traffic and access were some of the important topics at the event.

The timeline in some ways resembles, at least broadly, the Park City Planning Commission process as the panel considers large, complex development proposals like the one expected to be filed by Deer Valley for Snow Park. The Planning Commission can spend months, and sometimes longer than a year, addressing issues along some sort of schedule. Meetings sometimes can be designed to consider specific topics in a similar fashion to the upcoming Deer Valley-hosted events. Discussions about especially difficult topics can stretch through multiple Planning Commission meetings.

The Deer Valley-hosted events centered on Snow Park have drawn large crowds seeking information about the project. The open house on Monday attracted approximately 250 people to Snow Park Lodge to learn about transportation-related issues.

The outreach efforts by Deer Valley are in anticipation of the eventual submittal to the municipal government. There are development rights attached to the land where the Snow Park parking lots are located dating to a 1970s municipal overall approval of what would be built as Deer Valley. The resort, though, must secure another approval before a project could start.

Deer Valley wants to remake the Snow Park base with residences, commercial spaces, a hotel and entertainment. Large garages would be built to account for parking that is lost as the lots are developed. The project is part of a wider vision for Deer Valley’s future that also includes a large expansion in Wasatch County known as Deer Valley East Village.

Some of the details of the upcoming schedule of gatherings are intriguing since they highlight when Deer Valley will address some of the topics that will likely be particularly notable throughout the City Hall process. They include:

• The August addressing of construction and mitigation. The timeline indicates some of the topics that will be outlined include temporary parking, access and staging. The issue of temporary parking will, with near certainty, draw wide interest from Deer Valley customers and the broader community since the Snow Park lots are so important to the operations of the resort. Deer Valley would be expected to discuss the plans for parking as work is underway on the lots, such as where spots will be available for drivers and what times of year there could be disruptions to parking. Other topics listed on the timeline for August include access and staging.

• The November addressing of a category labeled “Public Realm,” when Deer Valley is expected to provide information about several high-profile aspects of the development concept. A gondola is listed as a topic under the “Public Realm” category. The schedule does not provide details about a gondola, but there has been discussion about the possibility of Deer Valley eventually linking the Snow Park, Silver Lake Village and Deer Valley East Village bases with a gondola network. Deer Valley would also be an important location should a wider aerial-transit system be developed in Park City, which has been broached over the years but has yet to advance. The “Public Realm” listing also includes the ideas of a ski beach and a plaza, two possibilities that would be of note to skiers.

• The December addressing of what is labeled as “Vertical Architecture & Program.” The schedule indicates the residential, hospitality and retail aspects of a development are slated to be covered. The future of Snow Park Lodge is also listed as a topic. Deer Valley could present information about the designs of a project since residential, hospitality and retail square footage will be the core of a development. The possibilities for the future of Snow Park Lodge would also attract interest with the building being the entry point to Deer Valley for so many skiers as well as people headed to the resort in the summer and fall.

The post Deer Valley outlines upcoming talks about Snow Park project construction, gondola, architecture appeared first on Park Record.

City Hall has received an appeal of a Park City Planning Commission approval of a contested lift at Deer Valley Resort.

The municipal government confirmed receiving the appeal, but details were not immediately available. It was not immediately known who filed the appeal.

The Park Record on Tuesday filed a request with City Hall under state open-records laws for a copy of the appeal.

The challenge will be put before the municipal Appeal Panel.

The Planning Commission in May approved a six-passenger lift proposed by Deer Valley on Park Peak. The Planning Commission cast a unanimous vote after discussions that stretched through the spring.

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Deer Valley Resort as part of the concept for a major development at the Snow Park base envisions installing, in partnership with City Hall, a stoplight along Deer Valley Drive on the perimeter of the base.

A stoplight is under consideration at the intersection of Deer Valley Drive and Deer Valley Drive East, a spot sometimes referred to as the Y intersection. A stoplight at that location would be the first on a street controlled by the Park City government. All the other stoplights inside the Park City limits are on roads — S.R. 224 and S.R. 248 — under the jurisdiction of the Utah Department of Transportation.

The Deer Valley team on Monday evening indicated agreements would need to be negotiated regarding the operations and maintenance of a stoplight. A roundabout, meanwhile, is proposed at Deer Valley Drive West and Doe Pass Road.

The information about a stoplight was one of the highlights of an open house held at Snow Park Lodge as Deer Valley continues to showcase the concepts for a Snow Park project and gather input from people who live or own properties in lower Deer Valley and others.

A stoplight would be a glaring addition to the streetscape in lower Deer Valley with there being so few of them in Park City and none on municipal streets. The installation of stoplights inside Park City over the years has been seen as another signal of growth in a community where some longtime residents pine for the era of decades ago when stoplights were not needed.

A stoplight would be designed to address the traffic headed into and out of a development at the Snow Park base. The closely related topics of traffic and circulation have for years been key points in the discussions about large developments like the one proposed at Snow Park.

The Park City Planning Commission will likely spend significant time on the topics when it reviews an application for Snow Park development. It is not known how much of the discussion would be spent on a proposed stoplight, but such a measure would be part of a broader package of steps to address the issues.

Deer Valley is continuing to gather public input as it prepares what will be a landmark application to City Hall for a development at Snow Park. Input sessions like the one Monday are designed to offer the public an opportunity to hear from Deer Valley officials and discuss issues related to a development on a one-on-one or small-group basis.

Approximately 250 people attended the event on Monday. The crowd spoke to Deer Valley executives, including President and Chief Operating Officer Todd Bennett, questioned the resort’s consultants, and studied poster boards showing various aspects of the concept. There was information available about pedestrian and bicyclist access as well as about parking and garage access. The crowd was scattered through the open house and there did not appear to be any single overriding topic that drew an outsized amount of interest.

There are development rights attached to the land where the Snow Park parking lots are located dating to a 1970s overall approval of what would become Deer Valley. The resort still must secure another approval from Park City officials before commencing work on a project.

Deer Valley envisions remaking the Snow Park base with residences, commercial spaces, a hotel and entertainment. Large garages would be built to account for parking that is lost as the lots are built upon.

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