Park City residents do fully support Deer Valley's entitled rights to develop a base village under a Master Planned Development (MPD) application. 

Simultaneously, Park City residents do not support Deer Valley's current Right of Way (ROW) Vacation petition to take 2.6 acres of public roadway in order to expand their property boundary/rights and add a ski beach. As initially proposed and then further negotiated by some of City Council, it will set dangerous precedent and amount to a land-grab if local government authorizes the vacation of the roadway without good reason, sufficient mitigations, and meaningful compensation in return.

HISTORY
Park City Municipal Resolution 8-98 and Utah State Code 609.5 govern ROW vacations in Utah and specify that the petitioner must demonstrate good cause and net tangible community benefit in order for a ROW to be vacated. Additionally, the petitioner must resolve all material harms the vacation would cause any person. Finally, the ROW sought can have no utility. 

As proposed, Deer Valley's base development plans would increase traffic by 34% 365 days a year, including peak and off-peak periods. Planned circulation changes will introduce significantly more conflicts between personal vehicles, high occupancy passenger vehicles, buses, cyclists and pedestrians, and also dramatically impact ingress/egress for many residents to their homes and neighborhoods. A smaller-drop off than currently exists is measurably father from lifts and will result in increased conflicts for day-care, ski-school, and day-skiers. The proposal is contingent upon multiple easements that would further impact area property owners. 

In good faith, a group of residents submitted an alternative proposal based on broad community feedback in an effort to collaborate and compromise. A platform for negotiation was provided to Deer Valley and the City. Specific traffic mitigations and circulation improvements could have garnered community support for the ROW vacation and measurable reductions in peak traffic.

Over 21 months and despite repeated requests from Planning Commission, Planning Department staff, and the community, Deer Valley has refused to submit any alternatives to its plans. Code stipulates that the burden is on an applicant to amend their plans in a reasonably expeditious manner or be subject to a vote. Instead, Park City Municipal Corporation invited the applicant to closed door negotiations in pursuit of a "deal" and protracted the process out of the public's view. Mayor Nann Worel and two City Councilors (outgoing Max Doilney and recently elected full-term incumbent Ryan Dickey) led these negotiations and on November 30th presented results to the public. The terms include:

• internal lift infrastructure the resort already requires to connect its terrain
• 67.1 units of affordable housing Deer Valley is obligated to build and will now earn credit for at an offsite workforce housing development it is independently pursuing in the Iron Horse neighborhood
• a misrepresented day skier parking reduction based on wrong numbers and miscalculations
• 30,000 square feet of bonus density for Deer Valley to build out at Silver Lake
• a promise to process Deer Valley's MPD under old code
• a promise for City Council to amend the LMC in the future in order to support less expensive, onsite toxic soils remediation for Deer Valley
• $15M in funding for a new park & ride facility that taxpayers will have to match with existing transportation funds (as opposed to optimizing Richardson Flat with budget money already earmarked)

As negotiated, the deal is significantly advantageous for Deer Valley and represents net loss for Park City residents and taxpayers on account of unmitigated traffic and harms, the $15M upfront to Deer Valley infrastructure, and the ongoing burden to taxpayers for maintaining the infrastructure. 

THE ASK

Utah Senate President and MIDA Board Member Stuart Adams has now confirmed that MIDA will not pursue annexation of Deer Valley nor will the Legislature pursue legislation to facilitate Deer Valley's taking of the ROW. Therefore, Council is encouraged to represent its constituents vigorously in demanding better mitigations and improvements that meet with broad community support. Council is also encouraged to restore transparent public process and leave it to Deer Valley and its attorneys to prove good cause, net tangible community benefit, and no harm. And Council is requested to vote inline with a well-established, consistent, and reasonable community majority.

Our request to City Council is that they vote NO on the current ROW Vacation petition slated for action December 14th, 2023. A NO vote will allow Deer Valley to proceed with its MPD application while it reconsiders its ROW Vacation petition with terms that are more favorable to the community and considerate of its unprecedented ask for 2.6 acres of highly utilized public roadway. 

If signing this petition as a Park City resident, property owner, or immediate stakeholder, please indicate your zip code. Thank you for your support.