A Park City panel on Wednesday was not prepared to vote on a Deer Valley Resort proposal to build a new lift, delaying a decision by at least two weeks and scheduling a visit to the location.

The Park City Planning Commission spent limited time on the effort by Deer Valley to build what is for now known as Lift 7. Nobody testified during a public hearing. The Planning Commission is expected to return to the discussions on April 24.

Deer Valley wants to build its first six-passenger lift and needs to win an approval from the Planning Commission. With the lift, Deer Valley also wants to add 4.6 miles of ski runs, a terminal and accompanying building for storage and an operator house. Lift 7 would stretch for 0.56 of a mile on Park Peak and serve beginner terrain at the resort’s upper elevations. Deer Valley sees the lift as being a key connection to the terrain.

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Todd Bennett, the Deer Valley president and chief operating officer, on Wednesday described Lift 7 as an instrumental component of the resort’s overall plans. He noted the lift would bring beginner skiers higher onto the slopes.

Steve Graff, Deer Valley’s vice president of mountain operations, told the Planning Commission that part of the resort is naturally conducive to beginner terrain.

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The Deer Valley team also said the resort is not proposing to increase skier numbers with Lift 7.

A summary drafted by Deer Valley and submitted to City Hall prior to the meeting says Lift 7 would  “not offer up-mountain access from any of Deer Valley’s base areas, thereby not augmenting the resort’s capacity or creating additional parking demand.”

The summary also says the lift “has been meticulously designed to avoid crossing any public roads, ensuring sufficient utility clearance, and imposing no additional parking impacts or requirements.” It notes “traffic and parking arrangements for the entire resort are comprehensively addressed within the ongoing Snow Park development applications,” a reference to a major development concept at that base.

The statements could eventually be pivotal as the Planning Commission and the community consider the proposal since there has been concern in the past about the possibility of lift upgrades or new lifts increasing crowds. Increased crowds on the slopes, the concerns go, could generate more traffic in Park City, as an example.

The bid to build Lift 7 is ongoing amid the wider work at Deer Valley as it remakes the resort. Deer Valley is pursuing the project at the Snow Park base, where the resort’s primary parking lots are located.

More talks about the future of Snow Park are expected later in 2024 after earlier lengthy negotiations between Deer Valley and Park City leaders resulted in a public-private partnership between the two sides. The partnership between City Hall and Deer Valley is meant to address transportation and housing. The Deer Valley East Village, a large expansion on the Wasatch County side of the resort, off U.S. 40, is underway and will become another base.