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.

The post Park City hotel project ‘still going around in circles’ appeared first on Park Record.

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. 

The post Park City delays decision about ranked choice voting appeared first on Park Record.

Park City was still finding its feet in the summer of 1985 when Sally Cousins Elliott’s daughter took a tumble biking home from day camp near the underpass on Deer Valley Drive. Ramshackle buildings lined Main Street, every other door boarded up.

Sally was away from home at the time with her husband, Torch, building cabinets for their new kitchen in the shop room at Hill Air Force Base when the news came in. Eight-year-old Cat needed stitches, 10-year-old (future) Dr. Libby declared. A trained professional was inclined to agree, though there was no promise that the kids could pay up.

As a thank you, Sally wrote letters to the doctor and day camp director saying she would do anything to repay their kindness and trust. That gesture led to a call asking her to join the city’s parks and recreation advisory board — forging the start of a 40-year commitment to the Park City community.

This week, the Park City Chamber/Bureau honored Sally for her contributions with the Myles Rademan Spirit of Hospitality Award during its annual meeting at Pendry Park City.

The honor is bestowed upon residents who embody the vision of Park City and aspire to make the community a better, more inclusive place. It’s named after Rademan, who served as a city planning director in the late ’80s and is the brain behind City Hall’s leadership program. 

“What started as a kind of mentorship quickly turned into a partnership,” he said during the award ceremony on Wednesday. “So many of the amenities that we take for granted in our town have her fingerprints all over them.”

It wasn’t intentional on Sally’s part. She just wanted to help bring people together. After all, she knows how to work a room, and she hates being bored.

Sally skipped her senior year of high school in Muskogee, Oklahoma, to study sociology at the University of Oklahoma. She met Torch there in 1961, becoming best friends and eventually sweethearts before he departed with the Army for Vietnam.

The couple married in 1967 when Torch returned, spending the next 20 years traveling the world for his military career. They spent two years in Korea, a stint in Alaska and some time in Texas before Torch decided to retire from the military and attend graduate school. But it was up to Sally to decide where.

Snow was the only thing Sally cared about. Skiing was an Elliott family passion with all three children, including son Chip who was attending West Point and competing on racing teams. Initially, they only planned to stay until Torch completed his PhD. But two months in, after that first Miners Day parade, they were hooked.

“We sat down with a drink and looked at each other like ‘Why the hell would we ever leave a place like this?’ and we decided OK, we’re staying,” she said sitting on the back porch of her Prospector home. The Elliotts purchased it for $95,000 two years after they moved to Park City. “When you’ve lived all over the world, you pretty much know a good place.”

Sally said the family came at the right time. Only a couple thousand people were living in the city then, and everyone knew everyone. 

It didn’t take long for Sally to become a standout figure with her magnetic energy, firecracker spirit, fierce determination and sharp wit. Her unvarnished honesty and unexpectedly colored vocabulary added to the charm, too.

Sally also dove headfirst into challenges despite not always having experience and never shied away from asking questions. As an Army wife, she always liked to research the history of the new places her family was living in to help them connect to their new home, so she did the same thing in Park City.

Parkites took Sally for tours around town, and eventually her work on the parks and recreation board led her to become connected with City Hall staff such as Rademan, former City Manager Toby Ross and former Park City Mayor Brad Olch.

Her inaugural task was to help “green” Park City. 

“This is an old community. We can’t talk about firsts, right? Because things have happened, and then they’ve fallen by the wayside, and then they’re rehabbed,” Sally said.

She was in charge of collecting donations to benefit the cemetery, though she confessed she had no idea what she was doing. Sally found discounted lilac shrubs for sale through the Lone Peak correctional facility and purchased 50. Olch contributed a portion of wedding officiant fees to the mayor’s tree fund, which helped beautify the lawn.

Sally went on to become chair of the parks and recreation board and started the city’s garden club. Yet she felt like there was still work to be done, particularly at the south end of City Park.

“I decided if nobody else was going to clean it up … I better run for office and make sure it happens,” Sally said. 

So, she did. Voters elected her to the Park City Council, and Sally served from 1990 to 1994. During that time, she said she “didn’t get one damn thing done.” Others, however, might disagree.

Park City Municipal purchased the McPolin Osguthorpe farm the year Sally took office, to ensure the open space was permanently preserved. The City Council also started a committee to tackle land issues, which later broke off to become Utah Open Lands.

Two years later, Sally was a part of negotiations to create what is now the Historic Union Pacific Rail Trail. She employed “40 fabulous felons” who worked alongside her from April to October.

At the end of her term, Sally decided to forgo reelection in favor of running for the Utah Legislature. As a woman and a Democrat in the mid-1990s, it didn’t work.

Instead, Sally started a destination management company that she ran for 10 years called Utah Escapades. However, she was called to service again in 2004.

Summit County operated under a three-person commission style of government in which elected officials held both the executive and legislative power. Former Commissioner Shauna Kerr, the first woman elected to the panel, planned to retire, and Sally felt like there needed to be someone to represent trails and open space.

Voters elected Sally to represent them. She served with former Commissioners Bob Richer and Ken Woolstenhulme until Summit County Proposition 1 was approved in November 2006, creating a five-member council and county manager position. Sally served another term as a county councilor in 2008 to help with the transition and share institutional knowledge. 

The county mostly dealt with infrastructure issues such as the landfill and recycling center. Otherwise, the most pressing issues then were mostly the same as they are today. 

Sally is most proud of her work on trails, open space and affordable housing. Her biggest regret is that she was never able to see stronger preservation ordinances approved in the county code.

She’s also been instrumental in historical preservation efforts across Utah. Sally has served on numerous boards over the years, including the Utah Quality Growth Commission, the Utah Heritage Foundation, the Park City Chamber/Bureau, Mountain Trails Foundation, Utah Women’s Political Caucus, Park City Historical Society and Recycle Utah.

Whenever there’s a problem in Park City, Sally said somebody rises to take charge. For her, that often occurs in the kitchen. 

She learned to help her mother entertain guests when she was a preteen, collecting recipes from McConnell’s magazine and Better Homes and Gardens. She’s since become an expert in “Scotch whisky diplomacy,” though she isn’t afraid to break out her secret weapons: soup and lots of bacon.

That’s how the Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History, her most recent passion project, formed, as it turns out.

“If you’re sitting at somebody’s dinner table, the fact that there are four different opinions at the table and pretty much two sides to everything, you can sort of get a pickle off the tray and put it in your mouth and suck on it for a minute,” Sally explained. “People are much more willing to share if they’re sitting in a home.”

And to Sally, that’s exactly what hospitality is. It means bringing people together, taking care of one another and everyone pitching in for the common good. It’s sharing the same warm welcome she received when she moved to Park City with newcomers as well as passing on, and preserving, the good things the community has to offer.

The post Sally Elliott honored with Spirit of Hospitality Award appeared first on Park Record.

Summit County’s tourism economy experienced another snowstorm of success this year, with the region rolling in as the state’s second-largest economic driver behind Salt Lake County.

Tourism in Utah generated an estimated $12.71 billion in direct visitor spending during the fiscal year, supporting almost 160,000 jobs statewide and creating $2.35 billion in state and local tax revenue, according to the Utah Office of Tourism Managing Director Natalie Randall. 

Almost $1.65 billion, or 13%, of that came from visitor spending in Summit County. Salt Lake dominates the list of counties with an annual visitor economy of $4 billion, or 40% of Utah’s total. Still, more than $18 million collected intransient room taxes last year in the greater Park City area made up 17% of the total statewide revenue. 

The figures are still preliminary, but if confirmed, they would make for another record-breaking year for Utah’s economy.

“We’re the only state agency that’s wholly dedicated to marketing the state, but it is important as we take into account the balance and as we see the growth, especially in communities like Park City and a mature visitor economy, the development pieces and the stewardship pieces as well. Economic impact in our state is significant. Tourism provides a significant piece to that,” Randall said. 

Another historic winter in the Park City area, combined with strong retail and lodging numbers as well as the Park City Chamber/Bureau’s rebranding effort, allowed the area to emerge as a significant contributor to the state.

Around 15% of total spending in Summit County comes from visitors, leading to a tax revenue of $291.5 million for the county and support for 15,000 local jobs. 

The metrics were lauded as the Chamber/Bureau’s latest achievements during its annual meeting on Wednesday at Pendry Park City. 

Over the last six months, lodging numbers have started to level out. Occupancy rates are up 3% and rates are up 1%. President and CEO Jennifer Wesselhoff said Summit County is exactly on pace for this time last year.

“Where the rubber really hits the road though is in our tax collection, and where visitor spending continues to drive and increase in all of the tourism-related categories for Summit County tax collections from January through August, those categories are up … between 3-5%,” Wesselhoff said. “We have a lot of success to build upon in the upcoming year, and we have such an incredibly strong foundation.”

Almost 90% of funding for the Chamber/Bureau came from the transient room tax, which is paid by visitors for short-term lodging in Summit County. Wesselhoff estimated international travelers account for 12% of overnight visitation, a demographic that’s been returning to the community in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. More than 8,500 people visited the Visitor Center help desk in 2023.

Wesselhoff also highlighted how the new tourism brand, legislative efforts focused on housing, transportation, diversity and sustainability as well as the return of the Winter Games in 2034 could impact future visitation.

The Mountainkind ethos was unveiled as a way to present Park City as an “unparalleled mountain community where respect for each other and our natural world defines us.” The Chamber/Bureau hopes the message inspires tourists to support small businesses and take care of the environment while officials plan for the next 10 years. 

Local tourism officials plan to focus on attracting quality visitors to the Park City area while they plan for future developments associated with the future Olympics and prepare to take on the international spotlight. 

“Economic impact numbers are a priority, but we prioritize at the top of our mission, elevating life in Utah and considering quality of life is a key piece to that balance,” Randall said.

About 78% of Utahns say tourism has a positive effect on the state’s reputation, according to a resident sentiment survey. 

That number is higher among Park City residents, 91% of whom said tourism is important to the local economy. However, Randall acknowledged there was still work to be done with only 40% of Parkites saying the positive effects outweigh the negative. 

A large majority of Chamber/Bureau members have said maintaining community character and a sense of place is important to them.

The post Summit County ranks second in the state for visitor spending appeared first on Park Record.

The local arts and culture scene generates about $177 million in economic activity, according to a new study presented by the Arts Council of Park City & Summit County.

The Arts Council partnered with Americans for the Arts, a nonprofit organization committed to advancing the arts and arts education, to participate in the Arts & Economic Prosperity Study for the first time. The study, in its sixth iteration, is intended to demonstrate the significant economic and social benefits of arts and culture in local communities across the nation. It represented 373 regions across all 50 states and Puerto Rico.

Jocelyn Scudder, the executive director of the Arts Council, said the nonprofit collected data from more than 750 events and at least 20 organizations in Summit County to document the industry’s contributions. About 59% of visitors were nonlocal compared to 41% residents.

“So what this study does, especially since it was so widely and broadly surveyed, it helps out community better understand the contributions of arts and culture from this economic and social benefit perspective, and supports our local advocacy efforts for increased investments,” Scudder said. “Arts and culture is truly a critical piece of life here in Summit County for both residents and visitors.”

Summit County added $176.8 million to the local economy through arts and culture events in 2022, bringing in more than $6.5 million in local tax revenue and supporting 2,000 jobs. Thousands of volunteers also donated 46,000 hours of time to 20 Summit County organizations, valued at an estimated $1.4 million.

Jake McIntyre, a data specialist for the Arts Council, explained that’s about 17% of the total industry spend in Utah. 

Attendees in Summit County spent around $84 per person per event on average, with tourists usually spending more than locals. The cost doesn’t include the cost of admission or data from the Sundance Film Festival. The film festival alone generated $126 million in visitor spending in 2023, skewing the overall data.

To compare, Salt Lake City generates about $512 million in economic activity while Salt Lake County creates $593 million. Arts and culture brings in about $31 million in Cache County and $13 million in Davis County. 

Around 75% of arts and culture attendees in Summit County said they would feel a great sense of loss if the activity or venue were no longer available, and 85% said the event promoted a sense of pride in the neighborhood. Almost 70% agreed the facility where they were surveyed is an important community pillar.

Scudder said the data shows Summit County is outpacing communities in similar areas or with comparable populations, opening up the potential for further economic activity.

“I think the biggest takeaways for me and for the Arts Council generally is, first of all, our local arts and culture organizations are powerhouses in this community. They contribute not only to the social well being of our community, but are also economic drivers here in Summit County,” she said.

The post New study reveals Summit County arts boost local economy more than Savannah, Boulder appeared first on Park Record.

The Heber Valley Railroad is working to restore and display a vintage Rio Grande sign that once stood upon the Rio Grande Depot in Salt Lake City before it was replaced a little over a decade ago.

The railroad wants to display it atop a planned extension for its shop building.

But, as Mark Nelson told the Heber City Council this week, the railroad first needs the city’s sign-off to display a sign that doesn’t necessarily fit the city’s ordinances.

He showed the council members a photo of the 114-year-old Rio Grande Depot in Salt Lake City and directed their attention to the illuminated “Rio Grande” sign atop the structure.

“The sign you see lit up here is the 75-year-old Young Electric Sign Company neon sign which they built way back in the ’40s or ’50s,” Nelson said. “About five years ago, they had Young Electric Sign Company build a new sign for them, and they took that sign down.”

He said the Heber Valley Railroad asked them for the old, now-replaced fixture, and he showed a photo of the sign hanging on the side of a storage building.

“We have had many meetings with a lot of individuals, but primarily Young Electric Sign Company and have signed an agreement with them to have them restore the sign, to remove the neon, to restore all the sheet metal that is bent and worn and to rebuild the sign with a new structure, and with LED lights that can be controlled the way LED lights do now,” Nelson explained.

He showed depictions of what the restored sign could look like sitting atop the Heber Valley Railroad’s shop building for someone standing on 600 West.

Then came his request to Heber City.

“I’ve met with (Planning Director) Tony Kohler and started at least the conversation and wanted to come here and ask Heber City to consider a conditional use permit or whatever might be required so that we could someday show the sign,” Nelson said. “I think we will have the construction of the letters, the restoration of the letters, done this year before the end of the year, but the coach storage building won’t be done this year or next year. And so I’m not sure about the when.”

The Heber Valley Railroad, he added, doesn’t intend to light the bright letters against Heber City’s sky every night, but rather on special occasions.

“It’s a very cool historic sign, and I remind everyone that these tracks are Rio Grande tracks,” Nelson said. “These tracks were built by the Rio Grande Railroad in 1899.” 

Beyond the tracks the tourist trains run on, Nelson said the company is connected with its Rio Grande roots through the paint jobs on its cars.

The company’s closed-window streamline cars sport a bumble bee paint scheme Rio Grande used in 1949, and its other Pullman green cars reflect what Rio Grande and many other railroads used in the ’20s and ’30s.

“We have several Rio Grande cars that we already own. We have a Rio Grande diesel,” Nelson said. 

The project will cost $100,000. So far, the Heber Valley Railroad has received a grant from the Utah Department of Transportation for about a fifth of that.  

Ostergaard was slightly concerned that the council’s decision to allow the sign could set precedence contrary to the city’s current ordinance, but Funk assured him the city could approve the sign through a legislative agreement to make sure that wouldn’t happen.

Nelson also informed the councilors that the railway is looking to begin extending a platform near the southwest corner of the crossing of 600 West and 300 South by the railroad station so it will stretch all the way to the intersection. While he didn’t believe he needed any permits or permissions from Heber City for the project, he did say it would be helpful if the company was able to also build a switch in the area with a track that would cross 300 South.

Nelson said had several conversations with representatives from local governments about the project. So far his search hasn’t shown who definitively owns the specific land and right-of-ways the project will use.

“Would we have to do — and this may be a question for (city engineer Russel Funk) — any signage, blinking lights saying train and stuff like that?” Councilor Sid Ostergaard asked.

Funk said there would definitely at least need to be signs. 

Heber City Mayor Heidi Franco said she thought the project would be a good opportunity to support the railroad.

“I think it’s fine as long as it’s not a parking place for old box cars,” Councilor Mike Johnston said. 

Nelson assured him the track wouldn’t be.

The railroad plays a significant role in bringing tourists to Heber Valley. According to Nelson, it carried about 135,000 passengers on 545 trains just last year.

The post Heber Valley Railroad pitches idea to install vintage Rio Grande sign appeared first on Park Record.

Heber City Manager Matt Brower walked out of Tuesday’s City Council meeting a little richer, thanks to an $11,000 bump to his own base pay, and the raises he had gotten from the elected officials for his team as well.

According to council members reflecting on his performance and considering what his salary was in comparison to what surrounding cities are paying their managers, Brower’s earned the increase.

Sherie Ashe, Heber City’s human resources manager, explained how her department was recently asked to look at earning data regarding all Heber City employees.

Though the results are not all ready for everybody, she did have results for Brower’s position.

“An organization called Wasatch Comp Group surveyed 16 different entities that included Wasatch County, Park City, Millcreek, Summit County, Orem, Cottonwood Heights, West Jordan, Pleasant Grove, Provo, Spanish Fork, Lehi, Draper, Saratoga Springs, Murray, American Fork and Springville. So, cast a wide net,” Ashe said. “They all came back, actually, with an average wage for city manager or city administrator of $208,293, and their maximum range average was $237,747.”

Matt Brower, Heber City’s manager, was making $197,879 annually.

According to a Heber City staff report, that put him 5.73% below comparable positions in surrounding areas.

“To stay competitive and ensure fair compensation, an increase in the city manager’s salary is recommended,” the document stated.

Brower has been with Heber City for six years, and Ashe recommended the council increase his base pay to at least match the surrounding average.

“I’m not opposed to this. I think you’ve done a good job,” Councilor Mike Johnston said. 

His peers agreed, though Councilor Yvonne Barney wanted to wait until the next beginning of a fiscal year to work the change into the budget rather than using current surplus funds.

“I’m not saying no to the amount, I’m just saying I would prefer to do it the right way and wait until we have the next discussion and for the next budget,” she said. “That would be my recommendation going forward.”

The new fiscal year just began July 1.

“I think Matt does a great job,” Councilor Aaron Cheatwood said. “I know if we’d had this detail a couple of months ago when we had budgets, we would have talked about it then. We didn’t. We do now, and I am not willing to look at that number and see those ranges and look at those averages and then say, ‘Matt, we value you, but not at average for the next year.’ That doesn’t make any sense.”

He wanted to make the change more quickly.

“Matt goes to bat for his staff every single year on what we pay them, and he’s never once talked about what we pay him,” Councilor Scott Phillips said. “As we can see, his pay has dropped behind where it should be. And everything we discuss in meetings is because of the vision he’s brought to the city.”

He talked about Brower’s push for Heber City’s downtown revitalization and his focus on the community’s long-term plans.

“I would definitely support putting this into action now,” he added. 

Brower didn’t stop batting — or perhaps quarterbacking — for his employees even as his own salary was up for discussion, interrupting Cheatwood mid-motion.

“I’m a great football fan, and quarterbacks can’t perform without great running backs and great receivers in a line that will protect them,” he said. “If you are going to increase my salary, what I’d like you to do is just give me half of it, and let me take the other half and share it between my lead team as a way of me thanking them.”

“There’s the Matt we all know,” Barney said. “I like that idea.”

Phillips motioned to raise his salary the full $11,000 suggested and also advocate $7,500 to his “A team.”

As long as their performance doesn’t disqualify them, each department head will get a $500 annual raise starting the first pay period in October. At the same time, Brower’s new salary will go into effect.

The post Heber City raises manager salary appeared first on Park Record.

A pillar of Recycle Utah’s mission is education, and they’ve worked through partnerships to start at the beginning, education the next generation. 

Their programs for kids in Summit County are offered in and out of the classroom, and they educate over 5,000 elementary students a year, according to the Recycle Utah website. With curriculum designed to align with Utah Core Curriculum Standards, Recycle Utah educators visit classrooms for lessons on basic recycling, natural resources, conservation needs, alternative energy and climate change, to name a few.

Out of the classroom setting, Recycle Utah organizes summer camps and field trips through community partners like Summit Community Gardens and EATS. Camps cover topics like pollution and the benefits of buying local, and field trips include tours of the recycling center and the Three Mile Canyon Landfill. 

But what about for adults who want to keep learning well past their school and summer-camp years? That’s why Recycle Utah started their Green Drinks series, held every two months, six a year. 

“It’s our main adult education program,” said Chelsea Hafer, Recycle Utah’s community outreach manager. “Each Green Drinks, we have a different topic, and we have different speakers.”

The format is actually a national program, she explained, where an international network of people who work in the environmental field meet up at informal sessions in their cities. A simple website lists the locations around the world where these meetings are met and also provides resources for new people to launch a Green Drinks series.

The concept began in 1989 at an England pub when two eco-conscious parties met by happenstance, pushed their tables together and began chatting, according to the Green Drinks website. Edwin Datschefski, one of the pub attendees and an employee at The Environment Council, built a website in 2001 in his spare time, and it has since spread.

“I think the strangest thing about Green Drinks is that the goals are so vague and the benefits hard to quantify — but they are undoubtedly there,” Datschefski writes on the site. “When you have seen people come and make new links and learn and argue and set up new schemes and get new jobs etc, it is a good feeling.” 

He explains the concept he created as biological because it is distributed, viral and adaptive: having no central organization, spread by word-of-mouth and different based on each city. 

Mary Closser, Recycle Utah’s education director, started the Park City “chapter” of Green Drinks in 2021 with its bimonthly, second-Tuesday-of-the-month format.

“Depending on the topic, there will be speakers. Some of them are more like a presentation format, and some of them are more like tabling,” said Hafer.

The ad hoc structure is the beauty of Green Drinks, and one way Recycle Utah organizes theirs is by hosting the events at Summit County Green Businesses.

Recycle Utah initiated the Green Business program in 2016, and the group has since grown to over 30 members. It’s a point system for measuring the eco-conscious practices at a business, Hafer said, with three designated levels achieved through green actions. The action categories are energy, water conservation, materials management, transportation and thriving community and equity. 

This program is now a joint effort of Recycle Utah, Park City Municipal and Summit County Sustainability teams, the Park City Chamber of Commerce and Utah Clean Energy, Hafer said. They’re also currently in the process of restructuring and relaunching the program.

One of the already-appointed green businesses is Este Pizza Park City, which is where the next Green Drinks event on Tuesday, Sept. 10, will meet. With a focus on waste, speakers include Tim Loveday, Summit County’s landfill manager, Andy Hecht, the Park City Community Foundation climate fund manager, and Wasatch Resource Recovery, Hafer said.

“The landfill filling up, we talk about it every time we teach kids, and I think it’s a really important thing for people to know about because it’s a very big issue in our county,” Hafer said. “So Time Loveday was an obvious pick (for a speaker).” 

The topic of waste will of course discuss the landfill and ways to lessen the loads taken there.

“Thirty percent of the landfill is organic, including cardboard, that could be diverted,” Hafer said. “In Park City there’s a big movement towards diverting food waste as the first choice because I think a lot of people, hopefully, recycle and know the rules about curbside recycling. Food waste is a lot of what is taking up volume in the landfill, that’s why the Community Foundation has their Zero Food Waste goal.”

All these issues, and possible solutions, will be discussed during the Sept. 10 event, held from 5:30-7 p.m. It’s a slight deviation from their usual 6-8 p.m. time in order to accommodate for the presidential debate, Hafer said.

“We’re going to have speakers from 6-6:45 p.m. and then Este is going to air the debate, just so that people can watch it,” she said.

There will be drinks for purchase and light appetizers available.

Park City Mountain will host the next event scheduled for Nov. 12, when topics will include “protect our winters” and “dark skies.” Tickets, which are free, for all Green Drinks events can be reserved on the Recycle Utah website at recycleutah.org/events.

“Most of the people who come come to every single one because it’s always a new topic, and people are always able to learn more. Almost all of the information is incredibly interesting,” Hafer said. “If people have not been, they definitely should come because there’s always something new to learn. I learn something new at every one.”

The post Recycle Utah’s eco-conscious education programs are for adults, too appeared first on Park Record.

In the wake of three teenage girls being hospitalized after an e-bike accident Aug. 26 on Main Street, Midway’s city council this week took up the possibility of tighter restrictions.

“We were scheduled to talk about this before the accident happened last week. I think that accident just kind of brought it to the forefront,” city planner Katie Villani said. 

She informed councilors that while they don’t have the power to lift restrictions the state has already placed on the somewhat newly popular form of transportation, they can vote to add more rules that would apply to Midway specifically. The conversation didn’t revolve around any specific ordinance but rather was a chance for councilors to guide staff on what new codes they would like to see.

While explaining the different classifications and state regulations on e-bikes, city planner Katie Villani pointed out to the council that one state code provision — a rule requiring that all motorized vehicle passengers only use designated seats — could have potentially mitigated the recent accident if it were applied to e-bikes and appropriately followed.

As an example of a restriction they could set, she said the City Council could create that e-bike restriction to match what’s expected of other vehicle operators carrying passengers in Midway.

“We’re looking for guidance,” she said.

Jeff Drury didn’t skip a beat to offer his suggestions.

“If you’re under 18 and it’s got a motor, you’ve got to wear a helmet, I don’t care where it is. If you’re on a road, or a bike path that is connected to a road, you have to have a learner’s permit or a driver’s license. If it has a motor, you’ve got to understand the rules of the road. If you are on a sidewalk or any other path in the city, something that has a motor, you’ve got to be 14, you’ve got to be wearing a helmet” he said. “Boom, we’re done.”

Other councilors largely agreed, though Mayor Celeste Johnson said she didn’t want e-bikes on the sidewalk.

“I would say that the state’s pretty close to where I would start,” Councilor JC Simonsen said. “The biggest problem we have is we can’t enforce anything really right now. The mayor has tried telling them. … But we do need to enforce it.”

He wasn’t sure much more than the state’s requirements were necessary.

“The only other thing I think we could discuss would be a speed limit thing for an e-bike bike,” he said. “I’m not sure where to start with that. I mean, a pedal bike can go pretty fast too. Really, at the end of the day, all of this is a little bit about maturity.”

He said he’s glad e-bikes can help people get out and exercise and doesn’t want to stop their enjoyment. Because of that, he was hesitant to set age restrictions like Park City did when the community’s leaders decided only people ages 65 and up can use an e-bike on sidewalks and natural surface trails.

Drury said the issues he’s seen have come from riders under 14 who don’t understand how roads work and don’t have the judgment to make safe choices.

Some councilors wondered if a speed limit on e-bikes could be helpful, but Councilor Craig Simmons doubted it would be effective.

“You’re not going to control their speed,” he said. 

He mentioned how riders had ignored people trying to restrict their e-bike use in the past.

Other councilors thought a legal regulation tied to a possible fine would be enough to get people to tap their brakes.

A speed limit, Villani said, could be used as an enforcement tool for riders who are riding at unsafe speeds.

Johnson said she’s seen young kids on a trail who have caused walkers or runners to jump out of their path because they haven’t been able to control their e-bikes. An age limit is critical, she said.

“And, you can’t use your motorized thing to go through the grass,” she said. “It’s chewing up our parks. … You’ve got to stay on the designated trail.”

The post Midway City Council considers e-bike regulations appeared first on Park Record.

The Park City School District is taking on — with a lot of help from friends — what the professionals have declared a mental health crisis among the young.

Depression, anxiety and bullying have grown epidemic, in no small part thanks to social media addiction. Thinking about suicide has risen, and carrying it out by 2021 had exceeded 6,500 Americans between the ages of 10 and 24, according to the Pew Center. This is the second leading cause of death for children and teens.

Adolescent girls are the most at risk, and social media has emerged as a dangerous carrier of a contagion less obvious than COVID.

Panelists representing Live Like Sam, the Utah School Mental Health Collaborative, government agencies and others spoke in turn Wednesday evening at Park City Hospital’s Blair Education Center about their role on a team working ever closer together on behalf of local students.

Fun and fundraising fuel for Live Like Sam’s part will come soon at The Marquis on Main Street — Saturday, Sept. 21, including local “American Idol” finalist Wyatt Pike and Neil Diamond cover band Super Diamond. Tickets: livelikesam.org/gala

This was the more serious counterpart to a gala, the long warm hug that says we’ve got you to those giddy moments when you realize you’re so happy to be alive and sharing the phenomenon in this community, despite all.

The core, the catalyst to all this of course is as dark as it gets for a family, a greatest fear come true and now what? Live Like Sam’s founders lost a son and brother to a ski accident nine years ago, in October 2015, at the age of 16, not so long after winning the U.S. Junior Men’s National Championship in combined freeskiing.

Sam’s father, Ron Jackenthal, said plainly on Wednesday he was lost and needed the kind of help that his organization aims to deliver for Park City’s kids.

Underscoring the why of this team, a video showed how Sam lived larger than life and then Summit County Behavioral Health Director Aaron Newman, a Live Like Sam board member, talked about a community wake-up call when two junior high students died in 2016 of drug overdoses.

“The community realized this is an issue for us,” Newman said. “We had to find a better way to do this.”

Step by step, the county and the school district, the university and the state and others have learned to work ever more collaboratively, he and others who spoke said.

In Utah, the entity responsible for youth mental health is the county rather than a school district, he said. With state funding, the county was able to triple the mental health clinicians working in the schools from three to 10, along with beefing up crisis service with professionals available to help to six days a week, around the clock.

He encouraged the audience to download the app Safe Utah, a crisis line, which he credited as lifesaving. He also pointed out a flaw with the nationwide 988 mental health crisis phone number: For people with out-of-state numbers, the pickup is in that number’s area code, not Utah. Call 801-587-3000 instead, he urged.

Park City School District’s newly created mental health coach, Jed Thomas, a school psychologist, acknowledged the district’s issues with student bullying that culminated in an ugly civil rights report last spring that in its way has galvanized the district to do better.

“Many of you know this,” he said. “Probably the No. 1 protective factor for well being and resiliency is a trusting relationship with an adult.”

Through the University of Utah and grad students, the district has a relative wealth of access to mental health help, he said.

Along with the university and associated Huntsman Mental health Institute, Live Like Sam works with app-based Thrive and WeBeWell to extend its wellness and resiliency efforts among students. The founders of each also spoke.

Thrive, a state-certified, evidence-based mental wellness program, was developed in conjunction with and overseen by WeBeWell, that teaches local youths life skills.

The founders showed statistics about the pernicious effects on kids from social media, perhaps most responsible for an astonishing rise in anxiety in recent years. Cheers rose among the audience at the mention of keeping cell phones out of the classroom at the Park City School District, part of a nationwide drive now including statewide bans.

Live Like Sam’s fundraising efforts are key to supporting the team jelling around mental health wellness in the schools.

Jackenthal said the nonprofit he and his daughter, Skylar, launched five years ago expects to raise $500,000 this year to support the effort.

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