To one person, a development in Park City involving the Kimball Art Center and the Utah offices of the Sundance Institute could help advance the community.

But to someone else, such a project is not needed.

As City Hall and Parkites prepare for another round of discussions about the future of key municipal acreage stretching inward from the southwest corner of the intersection of Bonanza Drive and Kearns Boulevard, officials have released a trove of comments that were collected during engagement exercises in the fall of 2023 and in early 2024. The comments were not anonymous, but they were aggregated for release with the names removed.

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The comments show there remains an extraordinary splintering in the community nearly seven years after an agreement was announced that, at the time, was heralded as a deal that would solidify Park City as an arts and cultural destination. City Hall acquired the approximately five acres of land for $19.5 million with the intention of developing an arts and culture district anchored by the Kimball Art Center and Sundance. Progress, though, was slow amid the pandemic and then a desire for the community to revisit the possibilities for the land with a different set of elected officials in office than the one that approved the acquisition of the land with hopes of an arts and culture district.

“I like the building pad for KAC and Sundance — this is a definite community builder,” a person who lives in Park City Heights wrote, using an abbreviation for the Kimball Art Center.

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Someone else, a Park Meadows resident, offered a differing opinion.

“We do not need an Arts Center or studios. Kimball and Sundance can space in an existing place around town,” the person wrote.

Park City leaders are continuing to gather input, and the opinions have highlighted the wide-ranging desires of Parkites and people who live outside the city. Some continue to support the original concept while others see there being other options. The leadership of the Kimball Art Center is especially interested in developing a permanent location on the land, but Sundance has appeared tentative as it considers the long-range future of the festival. Park City’s elected officials will ultimately decide the fate of the land, and the input is expected to have some level of influence on officials’ choices.

The comments touch on numerous issues related to an arts and culture district as well as the Kimball Art Center and Sundance. Some people provided ideas while others were more blunt in their assessment of the situation involving City Hall, the Kimball Art Center and Sundance. 

A gathering scheduled for Tuesday is designed to provide another opportunity to provide public input as leaders weigh the possibilities for the acres under municipal ownership and the wider Bonanza Park district. The event is scheduled from 5:30 p.m. until 8 p.m. at the Santy Auditorium and the community room at the Park City Library. More information about the event is available online here: lab2.future-iq.com/park-city-bonanza-park.

A sampling of the comments, some edited for length, included the following:

• “I just don’t see the need for such a large dedicated space for a stand alone arts center for Sundance Institute or Kimball Art Center,” written by a Silver Creek resident.

• “Good to see a presence of KAC or Sundance as well as additional arts spaces. This is a CRITICAL addition . . . This site is an opportunity to connect Arts and cultural assets together for the first (and potentially last) time. We likely will not get another opportunity like this — focus should be on assets that truly benefit our community like Arts and gathering space,” written by someone who is not a Park City resident but works close to the location.

• “As a local, I do not support paying for a building for Sundance. They ignore ‘ordinary’ locals,” written by someone who lives in Park Meadows.

• “This site is a generational opportunity to create a community anchor and gathering space. Art and cultural spaces are critical to the diversification of our economy and the enrichment of our population . . . Both the (Kimball) and Sundance should they choose to participate should finance their own facilities,” written by someone who lives in Prospector.

• “This plan has way too much space dedicated to an Art Center which isn’t going to have day in and day out vibrancy through all seasons of the year. This development should be a new destination (at all hours of the day and night). This emphasis on ‘Kimball Art Center or Sundance Institute’ just completely kills that. This development should be a major hub and place where Parkites live and come to for their errands and daily lives,” written by someone who lives in Bonanza Park.

• “I’d like to see both an arts center and the Sundance headquarters in the space,” written by someone who lives in Prospector.

• “No to Kimball and Sundance. They have never put money where there mouth is,” written by someone who lives in Prospector.

• “Standalone art center is needed,” written by someone in Park Meadows.