Deer Valley releases polling data showing support for Snow Park development | ParkRecord.com
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Deer Valley releases polling data showing support for Snow Park development

Planning Commission meeting draws a crowd as range of project issues addressed

The Park City Planning Commission, City Hall staffers and a Deer Valley Resort contingent were seated at the front of the room during a Planning Commission meeting on Monday addressing a development concept at Snow Park. The meeting was moved to The Prospector, on Sidewinder Drive, to accommodate the large crowd. | David Jackson/Park Record
| David Jackson/Park Record

Deer Valley Resort on Monday evening released a survey result showing a majority of the people polled support the redevelopment of the Snow Park Lodge parking lots, highlighting the information during a meeting when a large crowd raised questions about the proposal.

The survey asked whether the respondent would support the redevelopment of the lots based on what they had learned about the project. According to a slide shown during a Park City Planning Commission meeting, nearly 58% said they would support the project. Another nearly 22% were unsure while a little more than 20% answered “No.”

Deer Valley said the poll was conducted by a communications firm through text messages. The text messages were sent to a random sampling of people across Summit County. The resort said 501 people responded and the survey has a 4.4% margin of error. The responses represent people in Park City and outlying Summit County in an effort to balance out the localized biases, the resort said.



The results appear to show Deer Valley has support, at least on an overarching level, for a development on the land. The details of a project, though, could over time sway some in either direction as arguments are made for and against the specifics.

The polling information from the Deer Valley side was one of the notable moments during the meeting. The Planning Commission is in the early stages of the talks about a major development on the land where the parking lots are now located. The meeting was held at The Prospector rather than in the Park City Council chambers at the Marsac Building to accommodate the crowd that attended.



The Planning Commission was not scheduled to make decisions about the project on Monday. The panel instead heard a presentation from the Deer Valley side and received a little more than one hour of testimony from the crowd. The testimony covered a wide range of topics, especially traffic and transportation issues in lower Deer Valley. Speakers stated they wanted additional meetings between the Deer Valley side and nearby homeowners; a claim that there has not been significant collaboration between the sides; calls for traffic issues to be addressed beyond the immediate Snow Park area; and requests to retain a road loop in lower Deer Valley.

There is “going to be one shot at it,” Keith Golan, who lives close to Snow Park, said. He said if the sides cooperate the project can be “so outstanding.”

Allison Kitching, involved in a homeowners association in the Rossi Hill area, argued to retain the road loop and called for cooperation “to achieve a ski village.”

The Deer Valley team said two-way traffic will remain on the road loop, explained that a hotel planned in the project would be situated in close proximity to transit and indicated way-finding would be incorporated in the development leading people to transit.

The Planning Commission is expected to continue addressing the Snow Park concept well into 2023. A panel review of a proposal as large and complex as the one at Snow Park can take months, and sometimes years, before the Planning Commission is ready to cast a vote. The talks about the closely related topics of traffic and transportation will likely be extensive, as an example.

There are development rights attached to the land where the Snow Park parking lots are located dating to the 1970s, when Park City officials of that era granted an overall approval for Deer Valley. The resort, though, must secure another approval before work could begin. The project entails residences and commercial space. Large garages would be built to account for the parking spots that are lost as the lots are developed.

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