Mayor Nann Worel and the Park City Council on Thursday evening received unscheduled input in support of a developer’s plan to demolish a standard-bearer hotel and rebuild at the high-profile location.

Tracy Harden, a Park City resident, spoke to the elected officials about the entitlement process that continues to unfold with Chicago-based Singerman Real Estate locked in talks with the Park City Planning Commission.

Harden is a marketing and communications consultant who has performed contract work for Singerman Real Estate regarding the project. Her comments were on behalf of herself, though, and the developer did not have prior knowledge of her plans to address the elected officials.

Singerman Real Estate wants to tear down The DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Park City – The Yarrow at the corner of Park Avenue and Kearns Boulevard and then rebuild.

The Singerman Real Estate concept for the land involves:

• 174 condominium-hotel units
• 60 units of restricted affordable housing
• 5,935 square feet of restaurants or bars
• 2,543 square feet of retail space
• 6,500 square feet of office space

The firm is seeking an exception to the City Hall rules regulating building height at the location. The Planning Commission in late August delayed a key decision regarding whether to grant an exception the height restrictions. That decision will be crucial since the design hinges on whether an exception is granted. The panel addressed issues like whether the project provides an adequate amount of open space and landscaping. The Planning Commission is slated to return to the discussions at a meeting scheduled on Wednesday.

Harden spoke about the importance of the location to the future of the wider Bonanza Park district and described what she sees as “the lack of progress in the redevelopment of the Yarrow hotel.” 

“In last Wednesday’s Planning Commission meeting, the design and the development team was essentially sent back to the drawing board again. They are on Plan ‘D’ or ‘E.’ The team is not incompetent. They do not lack knowledge, skill or experience in the Park City planning process,” she said.

She supported the development team and Singerman Real Estate, noting the involvement of Peter Tomai, a Park City-based development partner with Singerman Real Estate, and longtime Park City architect Craig Elliott.

“Despite this knowledge, this combination of knowledge and commitment, they are still going around in circles with planning. Planning is focused on code. The development team is taking code into consideration as well as view corridors, sun exposure on sidewalks, the frontage protection zone and, importantly, a design that functions,” she said.

“It’s exasperating to witness the time and money both from the city and the development team after two and a half years,” she added.

She also requested the elected officials become involved in the talks with the location being so visible.

“Tonight I’m asking you, our city leadership, to step forward and bring the development team and planning together for a big picture design discussion that sets a united vision for this corner. If we see the corner as a gateway to Park City, let’s bring our best and brightest to the table. It needs leadership. It needs collaboration. And it needs compromise,” she said.

Harden also praised the Chicago firm itself.

“Singerman Real Estate has put an incredible amount of effort into creating something that will benefit our community. And if we lose their passion, we all lose out. Please get involved,” she told the mayor and City Council.

The elected officials did not respond to the comments. The mayor and City Council typically decline to engage speakers at the point in a meeting when Harden delivered her comments.

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Park City leaders on Thursday evening delayed a decision on whether to adopt an election system for municipal contests known as ranked choice voting.

The elected officials indicated they want to wait for the results of a Utah Valley University study about the impacts of ranked choice voting.

Mayor Nann Worel and the Park City Council expect to return to the issue once the results are released, which City Hall anticipates within several months.

One of the topics the elected officials discussed on Thursday centered on the lack of a primary election under ranked choice voting. Park City holds primary elections if there are more than two candidates for the mayor’s office and more than four or six candidates for the City Council, depending on the number of City Council seats on a ballot.

Primary elections extend the campaign timeline and typically require candidate fundraising and spending during the primary season and then again before Election Day in November.

City Councilor Tana Toly was one of the elected officials who mentioned the costs of Park City elections. She also said the City Council could accomplish more during an election year if there was not a primary election as she described her support of ranked choice voting.

Another member of the City Council, Ed Parigian, worried about adopting ranked choice voting with the possibility the method is not allowed in the state on a long-term basis.

Ranked choice voting involves voters ranking the candidates in the order of their preference. If a candidate receives greater than 50% of the first-place votes, they win the seat. Should none of the candidates receive greater than 50%, the person who finished last in first-place votes is dropped and the second-place votes on that candidate’s ballots are redistributed to the remaining contenders, effectively as first-place votes. The process continues until a candidate tops 50%. Another round is conducted to determine a second-place winner in an election with more than one seat on the ballot.

Ranked choice voting eliminates the need to hold primary elections.

The method is allowed in Utah municipalities under a pilot program.

One of the candidates in the Summit County Council election this year, Democrat Megan McKenna, provided input to the mayor and City Council in support of ranked choice voting. She described the method as more democratic and resulting in a representative voice.

Park City could opt for ranked choice voting in the 2025 municipal election, when the mayor’s office and two City Council seats are on the ballot. A decision is not required for months, meaning the elected officials have time to research the voting method.

The municipal government earlier collected a wide range of opinions about ranked choice voting from Parkites and people who live elsewhere. The anonymous comments included statements favoring the voting method and opposing ranked choice voting. Arguments in favor included the potential of moderate candidates emerging as winners while those in opposition mentioned, as an example, the introduction of complexities into voting. 

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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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Park City leaders on Thursday evening delayed a decision on whether to adopt for municipal contests an election system known as ranked choice voting. 

The elected officials indicated they want to wait for the results of a Utah Valley University study about the impacts of ranked choice voting.

Mayor Nann Worel and the Park City Council expect to return to the issue once the results are released, which City Hall anticipates within several months.

The post Park City Council punts on ranked choice, for now appeared first on Park Record.

The Park City Police Department in late August and on the first day of September reported numerous cases on the roads, as crowds arrived in the community for the busy Labor Day weekend.

The agency heavily patrols the roads, and traffic stops for speeding and other moving violations are commonplace.

In one case in late August, the police received information about possible road racing. That sort of complaint is unusual inside Park City.

On Thursday, Aug. 29, at 5:15 p.m., the Police Department fielded a complaint about issues with drivers on Amundsen Court. The police were told of “high speed, high races, with very high end cars,” according to department logs. The person said the issue occurred between 8 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. over the course of several mornings.

Public police logs sometimes do not provide detailed information about cases.

Other cases reported by the police recently include:

• On Sunday, Sept. 1 Police officers over the course of an hour-plus ending a little bit after 8 p.m. stopped a series of drivers along S.R. 224 in suspected speeding cases. Public police logs did not provide details about the speeds involved and whether the drivers received tickets or warnings. In one of the cases, the police said, a headlight on the vehicle was not working.
• On Sept. 1 at 5:19 p.m., someone contacted the police indicating a vehicle was speeding and “making a lot of noise” in a parking area along Kearns Boulevard. The vehicle was a white Audi, the police were told. The department classified the case as suspected disturbing the peace.
• On Sept. 1 at 8:32 a.m., a police officer pulled over a driver on S.R. 224, indicating the vehicle was traveling at 67 mph in a location where the posted speed limit is 45 mph. Public police logs did not provide details about whether the officer issued a warning or a ticket.
• On Sept. 1 at 12:01 a.m., a police officer stopped a driver in the area of the intersection of Main Street and Heber Avenue, listing a variety of suspected traffic offenses. The police said the stop involved a lane violation, impeding traffic, a turn-signal violation and a horn violation. Public police logs did not provide details about whether the driver received warnings or tickets.
• On Saturday, Aug. 31, at 5:50 p.m., an officer pulled over a driver in the area of the intersection of Swede Alley and Heber Avenue and described the case as distracted driving. Public police logs did not provide details about the circumstances leading the officer to determine the driver was distracted. The logs also did not provide details about whether the driver received a warning or a ticket.
• On Aug. 31 at 4:03 p.m., an officer pulled over a driver in the area of the intersection of Bonanza Drive and Prospector Avenue after, public police logs said, observing the person following the police vehicle “too closely” for approximately one mile. The driver also failed to remain in one lane, the police said.

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On Sunday, Sept. 1, at 10:52 p.m., a party was reported on Three Kings Drive. The police were told an officer would hear the people once they pulled into a parking lot. The department logged the case as suspected disturbing the peace.

The police at 10:42 p.m. received information about a party, described as loud, in an apartment on Kearns Boulevard. The police were told there was “a lot of yelling” and the noise was making it difficult for the person to sleep, according to public police logs. The police classified the case as suspected disturbing the peace.

A police officer at 6:21 p.m. pulled over what was described as a motorcycle powered by electricity on S.R. 224. The police said the motorcycle was not registered. 

The police at 5:31 p.m. assisted a motorist whose vehicle apparently ran out of gas in the area of the intersection of Kearns Boulevard and Comstock Drive. The driver told the police an automobile service carrying fuel was summoned.

A vehicle broke down in a travel lane on Park Avenue at 9:38 a.m. The vehicle was moved, the police said. An officer warned the driver, though, for a “cancelled and expired” vehicle registration, according to department logs.

A case classified as suspected disturbing the peace was reported at 2:47 a.m. on Lowell Avenue. Public police logs did not provide details.

On Saturday, Aug. 31, at 6 p.m., a vehicle impound was reported on Sullivan Road, a small street bordering City Park. Public police logs did not provide details about the reason for the impound.

A barrel was reported to be in the road in the eastbound off ramp on U.S. 40 at 3:53 p.m. The police said the barrel created a traffic hazard.

The Police Department at 1:04 p.m. received information about a water fountain at a park on Payday Drive that was malfunctioning. The police were told “water is going everywhere, according to department logs. The person who contacted the police “could not explain what was wrong,” the logs said. The police classified the case as a utility issue.

On Friday, Aug. 30, at 11:36 p.m., the police received information about a truck and two cars that were parked on Prospector Avenue with people “playing loud music.” The scene then “quieted down,” the police were told, but “they are still out there looking suspicious,” according to department logs. The police classified the case as suspected disturbing the peace.

The Police Department reported three parking issues on Main Street involving drop-and-load zones in quick succession starting at 8:13 p.m.

Two moose — a cow and a calf — were reported on Oak Wood Drive at 1:29 p.m.

On Thursday, Aug. 29, at 10:18 p.m., a hit-and-run traffic accident was reported in the area of the intersection of Deer Valley Drive and Bonanza Drive.

A hit-and-run accident was also reported in the area of the intersection of Kearns Boulevard and Bonanza Drive at 1:13 p.m. Public police logs did not provide details.

On Wednesday, Aug. 28, at 11:47 p.m., the police received a report of a speaker “playing loud music” at City Park. The department logged the case as suspected disturbing the peace.

Two deer were seen close to the road at 7:45 p.m. along Holiday Ranch Loop Road.

On Tuesday, Aug. 27, at 7:33 p.m., a bobcat, described as large, was reported on Snow Creek Drive.

On Monday, Aug. 26, at 5:13 p.m., someone reported leaving “a bag of purchases” on a terrace on Deer Valley Drive. Public police logs did not provide details about the items. The department classified the case as a suspected theft.

The post Park City police blotter: Party with ‘a lot of yelling’ reported appeared first on Park Record.

Some in Park City would prefer City Hall alter the municipal election system to ranked choice voting.

Doing so, the supporters say as an example, could result in fringe candidates having less of a chance of winning an office.

But there are others who want the mechanics of Park City elections to remain as they have been, with the top vote-getters winning outright. The critics of ranked choice voting say the system could be confusing, among other arguments.

Park City leaders are considering introducing ranked choice voting in the 2025 City Hall election, when the mayor’s office and two seats on the Park City Council will be on the ballot.

Mayor Nann Worel and the City Council on Thursday are scheduled to discuss the topic and possibly provide direction. A decision whether to opt for ranked choice voting would be made later.

Ranked choice voting is a system that has a voter rank the candidates in the order of their preference. If a candidate receives greater than 50% of the first-place votes, they win the seat. Should none of the candidates receive greater than 50%, the person who finished last in first-place votes is dropped and the second-place votes on that candidate’s ballots are redistributed to the remaining contenders, effectively as first-place votes. The process continues until a candidate tops 50%. Another round is conducted to determine a second-place winner in an election with more than one seat on the ballot.

The voting method eliminates the need to hold primary elections.

Ranked choice voting is allowed in Utah municipalities under a pilot program.

Park City earlier in the year gathered opinions from Parkites and others, but a City Hall report drafted in anticipation of the meeting on Thursday indicated there was “minimal” input. Even so, the engagement efforts resulted in a cache of written comments. City Hall compiled those comments and provided them to the elected officials as part of the materials for the Thursday meeting.

The anonymous comments included those left by people who live in Park City and those from outside the municipal limits. The comments, many of them impassioned, are extraordinarily wide ranging and illustrate the difficulty Park City leaders may encounter in building community consensus if they pursue ranked choice voting for the election in 2025.

Comments expressing support of ranked choice voting included:

• “The voter really needs to focus on why they are choosing a particular candidate and also needs to investigate all candidates to make informed choices.”
• “The candidates must appeal to the middle — to a broader base. It has the potential to break down partisanship.”
• “I can vote more strategically and guarantee that my vote matters even if it doesn’t match the majority of other voters choices.”
• “The higher chance of moderate people being elected and no one’s vote is wasted. It feels like better consensus could be found.”
• “Makes elections less about the fringes and the crazies.”

Some of the comments expressing concern regarding ranked choice voting:

• “Highest vote getter wins. Second highest is second and so on. Stop changing what has worked for years by new ideas that are manipulating elections.”
• “It violates the concept of One Person One Vote. It appears to be a sham of the Constitution.”
• “Complicating voting often results in lower trust and less informed decisions.”
• “Some voters may oppose it because they do not understand how it works.”
• “Confuses and demoralizes voters. Weird, unpredictable outcomes.”

The City Council meeting is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. at the Marsac Building. The elected officials are slated to take public input about the topic. More information about the meeting as well as the materials compiled for the mayor and City Council about ranked choice voting are available on the municipal website, www.parkcity.org. The direct link is: www.parkcity.org/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/39646/15.

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A committee seated by Park City leaders to study the future of the Main Street core wants a concept that would remake Swede Alley to receive further consideration.

A staff communications report drafted by City Hall in anticipation of a Park City Council meeting on Thursday recaps a mid-August gathering of the Main Street Area Plan Committee. The committee was seated to consider possibilities for the shopping, dining and entertainment strip as well as nearby locations that serve supporting roles to Main Street.

The communications report summarizes the committee work to date and outlines the wishes of the majority. The recap addresses what would be an ambitious revamping of Swede Alley. The elements include:

• Two hotels that would have underground garages.
• An “updated” transit center.
• A grocery store designed for the community.
• A “local liquor store.”
• A post office.
• A space described as a “central town square.”
• Gathering spaces for the community.

The communications report also says the majority wants further consideration of workforce housing on the land where the Sandridge parking lots are located just off Marsac Avenue and close to Main Street.

Much of the information about Swede Alley appears to draw from a recent report issued by a consultant working with the municipal government on concepts for the Main Street core.

Swede Alley nowadays generally serves more utilitarian purposes supporting Main Street. Much of the parking in the Main Street core is along Swede Alley itself and in the China Bridge garages along that road. The bus rider entrance and exit to the Old Town transit center is also on Swede Alley.

The additions of hotels and a grocery store would be dramatic changes to Swede Alley. They could ultimately be seen, though, as boosting Main Street itself by attracting more people to stay in the commercial core rather than opting for lodging elsewhere.

A housing project for the workforce on the land where the Sandridge parking lots are located, meanwhile, would likely be heavily scrutinized in tightly packed Old Town. The planning process for a development at the Sandridge location would address difficult topics like the traffic a housing project would generate and the design of the buildings.

The Main Street efforts are continuing amid increased competition in the Park City area, including at Kimball Junction and in Wasatch County. There is concern the other commercial options could siphon business from Main Street. That sort of scenario could impact City Hall sales-tax collections in addition to the sales numbers at the individual businesses along Main Street.

It is not clear to what extent Mayor Nann Worel and the members of the City Council may discuss the information about the Main Street core on Thursday.

The City Council meeting is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. at the Marsac Building. More information about the meeting and online attendance is available on the municipal website, www.parkcity.org. The direct link to the meeting information is: https://parkcity.org/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/39646/15.

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A waterworks failure occurred along Main Street on Thursday evening and the repairs and cleanup continued on Friday.

Evidence of the failure remained visible on Friday morning and there was heavy machinery on the 300 block of the street. The machinery by 8:30 a.m. on Friday had excavated a rectangular cutout in the middle of Main Street. There was sand and mud in the vicinity of the Egyptian Theatre entrance and a nearby walkway linking Main Street and Swede Alley. It appeared the failure caused damage to brickwork as well. Caution cones had been placed at the location.

Park City officials did not immediately respond to a Park Record request for information about the issue.

Randy Barton, the manager at the Egyptian Theatre, described that a large amount of water flowed out. He estimated the issue started at approximately 6 p.m. on Thursday.

“We had like a little geyser coming up out of the sidewalk,” he said.

Barton said the basement of the Egyptian Theatre and a basement-level restroom flooded. A pedestrian tunnel underneath Main Street used by the Egyptian Theatre also flooded, he said. There was flooding in the breezeway on the north side of the theater building as well, Barton said. There was limited damage to Egyptian Theatre carpets, he said.

Barton estimated the damage to the Egyptian Theatre at possibly $5,000.

Booker T. & the M.G.’s shows on Friday, Saturday and Sunday are scheduled as planned.

There are occasional waterworks breaks along Main Street. An especially significant one occurred in July of 2019, when a torrent of water rushed onto the street. Authorities closed much of Main Street to traffic. 

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