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Park City 2030 visioning headlines: ‘Return of the Ghost Town,’ ‘Olympics drives increased diversity’

The track at the Utah Olympic Park hosted the sliding sports competitions during the 2002 Winter Olympics and is identified as a venue in a bid for another games, perhaps for the event in 2030. People at a July workshop organized as part of City Hall’s efforts to create a community vision were asked to craft headlines for what they forecast to be the Park City news of 2020, 2025 and 2030. “Olympics drives increased diversity,” was one of the headlines the people wrote for 2030.
Park Record file photo

This is one in a three-article package examining the PCMR lawsuit and arrival of Vail Resorts, which ushered in an era of change in the community, as well as the other defining moments of the past decade in Park City.

Park City reaches the 2020s a greatly changed community from the one that entered the 2010s, having enjoyed a strong rebound from the recession before a landscape-altering lawsuit in the ski industry left the community with just two mountain resorts — Park City Mountain Resort and Deer Valley Resort — after decades with three.

The next 10 years could also be a pivotal stretch for Park City as it continues to adjust to the corporate ownership of PCMR and Deer Valley and as leaders move forward with an ambitious housing program as well as broad traffic-fighting efforts.



City Hall is amid an exercise that is designed to craft a community vision for the next decade. The efforts have covered a wide range of issues with leaders and rank-and-file Parkites debating their preferred ways for the community to progress.

One of the visioning activities is especially intriguing at the beginning of a new decade. People in attendance at a July think-tank workshop were asked to craft headlines for what they forecast to be the Park City news of 2020, 2025 and 2030.



The headlines forecast for 2030 are notable as they would cover a decade of progress. That is also the year the Winter Olympics could return to Utah with Park City playing a key role in a Games.

The headlines were written in the context of a set of community scenarios deemed to be possible for the next decade. Some of the headlines are:

• “Peaks Hotel turns into a senior center,” written for a scenario holding that Park City continues to be appealing to people who live in the community as well as visitors.

• “Olympics drives increased diversity,” written for a scenario outlining a community embracing bold change.

• “60% of local community live in affordable housing,” written for a scenario that has Park City struggling with growth in the surrounding area with the city turning into a place for tourists and people who own vacation homes.

• “Return of the Ghost Town. 400 full time residents in Park City,” written for a scenario holding that Park City retains tourist appeal but loses its soul for community members.

The final visioning report is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2020. It is not clear how the predicted headlines will be addressed in the report.


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