A Park City Mountain official on Thursday essentially sidestepped a question about operations on the Canyons Village-side base area during an appearance at the Marsac Building, providing an answer that seemed to leave open the possibility of a significant expansion of the resort’s paid-parking system.

Mike Lewis, the senior director of base area operations at Park City Mountain, accompanied the resort’s vice president and chief operating officer, Deirdra Walsh, as the resort reviewed the recently completed ski season with Mayor Nann Worel and the Park City Council. Deer Valley Resort also provided details about the ski season there.

In one of the notable moments, City Councilor Tana Toly inquired about the prospects of Park City Mountain introducing a paid-parking program at the base area on the Canyons Village side of the resort, similar to the one that debuted on the Park City side during the 2022-2023 ski season.

---

---

Lewis did not answer definitively. He said Park City Mountain after a ski season begins to craft operational details for the next one.

“This is the time of year where we’re meeting with stakeholders and coming up with our plans for next year,” he said.

---

---

Lewis explained that alterations to the operations on the Canyons Village side during the recent ski season successfully reduced traffic backups from S.R. 224.

There already are certain parking spots that carry a charge on the Canyons Village side, but the remarks on Thursday seemed to center on the prospects of turning more of the parking there into a paid system.

The introduction of paid parking to the vast base-area lots on the Park City side was a dramatic step as the resort attempted to reduce the traffic crush after the widespread criticism of Park City Mountain operations during the 2021-2022 ski season. Paid parking in any setting is seen as something that discourages people from driving to a destination.

It is unclear what sort of impacts a paid-parking system at Canyons Village that is similar in nature to the one on the Park City side could have on both of the base areas, as well as the traffic and transportation systems in the Park City area. There would be hope that paid parking at Canyons Village would nudge more people onto buses and toward park-and-ride lots, but there could also be consternation if skiers and snowboarders see a paid system there as adding to the cost of a sport that is already expensive.

It is also unclear what further role City Hall may have since the Canyons Village side of Park City Mountain is located outside the municipal borders, in unincorporated Summit County. The leadership in Summit County would be keenly interested in the details while Park City officials would also be expected to want to learn how paid parking at Canyons Village could impact traffic inside the city limits and along the S.R. 224 corridor that links the two base areas.

Deer Valley at the meeting on Thursday provided limited details about housing efforts, including possibilities that are linked to the outcome of the discussions about a development concept at Snow Park.