2021 Park City Election Guide

Nann Worel

Worel is a current member of the Park City Council and previously served on the Park City Planning Commission.

What actionable steps will you take to manage growth in a sustainable way?

“With huge developments at PCMR, Deer Valley, Bonanza Park and Quinn’s Junction looming over Park City’s already strained infrastructure, we have an imperative to create an overarching plan to weave all of these pieces of the growth puzzle together before they are designed and built. To ensure smart growth today in the face of development entitlements granted long ago, we must optimize connectivity between the proposed projects, existing neighborhoods and infrastructure. The only way achieve the goals set out in Park City’s Vision2020 process is to facilitate collaboration and innovation among our largest community projects, be they private or City-managed.

Specifically, I will ensure the City’s Land Management Code is constantly updated to protect our community to the full extent allowed by Utah law. Updates to the General Plan are imperative to ensure it is a usable, relevant document. And a Long Range Transportation Plan with measurable goals must be adopted and constantly tracked and evaluated. All are necessary tools that must be incorporated into an overarching City Plan. Such a plan will give the Planning Commission the necessary guidance as they consider proposed projects. Finally, I will immediately bring together our regional partners to focus on regional planning and strategies to mitigate the impacts of growth outside of our City limits.”

Give me your greatest hope and deepest fear for Park City.

“The residents of Park City constantly inspire me with their engagement, expertise, resilience, and optimism. They prove time and again we will all come together during crisis, we care deeply about the nonprofits that ensure all residents have access to the basic services they need to be able to live here. This gives me hope that our community will become stronger as more and more voices and ideas are not only brought to the table, but listened to and their ideas incorporated into the fabric of our community.

My biggest fear is if the City is not proactive in partnering with the Chamber on Sustainable Tourism efforts, we will become “just another tourist town” or, worse, one that squanders the natural amenities that bless our lives daily.”

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Andy Beerman

Beerman is the current mayor of Park City.

What actionable steps will you take to manage growth in a sustainable way?

“Nearly every challenge facing Park City is connected to growth and its impact on quality of life. Under Utah law, there is only one silver bullet to stop development: buy and protect land as open space. In my decade of serving, I have taken a lead role in protecting over 3000 acres including: Bonanza Flat, Clark Ranch, Armstrong Pastures and Treasure Hill. I’ve also encouraged new opportunities such as permanently protecting our local parks—starting with the Library Field. Many of our current and future challenges are external, so it’s critical we work with our neighbors along the Wasatch Front and Back. My involvement as a Commissioner in the Central Wasatch Commission and the Utah Quality Growth Commission has given Park City a voice in regional planning. I rallied a coalition of local governments to raise millions to help secure Bonanza Flat, a critical watershed for Summit, Wasatch and Salt Lake Counties. Locally, we need to aggressively address traffic which is abhorred by all. We will not build our way out of traffic—we must be innovative and tactical. This is why I advocate for a focus on transit, walkability, and active transportation. I am encouraged by Park City’s recent work to pursue sustainable tourism. We need to restore balance and prioritize our community over the economy. Given a second term, I will continue to use all the tools we have to push back on growth, plan with our neighbors, and put our locals first.”

Give me your greatest hope and deepest fear for Park City.

“My hope for Park City is we continue to pursue the Vision 2020 and successfully bring our reality closer to our ideals. To do this, everyone needs a seat at the table. We need to prioritize social equity and affordability. Ultimately, all of our residents should feel safe, welcome and valued, and share equal access to Park City’s opportunities. As a community that deeply values our natural setting, we must continue to push our efforts to reduce our carbon footprint and to protect our wild places, clean air and water. And we need to build a more resilient community in anticipation of climate extremes: preparing for extended drought, heat, wildfire, and the loss of snowpack. To stay authentic, its critical we protect our essence, which is our people, our place, and our history. To preserve our sanity, we need to continue to address traffic, and seek bold and innovative ways to overcome both our geographic constraints and growing popularity. Park City is fortunate to have the resources to address our looming challenges, we just need the will and stamina. I’m all in with optimism and conviction to lead our town to a better future. Love is a powerful force, and we love where we live. Now, it’s time to think big, act local, and move forward together.”

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Jeremy Rubell

Rubell is a business consultant.

What actionable steps will you take to manage growth in a sustainable way?

“When we talk about sustainability, it is important to level-set the definition. To me, it is a way to say that as a community we need to make sure whatever we do today should not negatively impact us today or in the future.

Strategic planning is the key to ensuring sustainability. Projects and initiatives are building blocks, not dead-end solutions. It is a chess game, and a very unique skill to be able to proactively anticipate future impact, one that I have proven time and time again in my professional career.

I support updating our General Plan, which is almost 10 years old, to reflect today’s priorities.
Another concept is searching for the cost/value sweet spot, because value is not a linear concept. If we can achieve 80% of the value at 50% of the cost while providing a platform for future success, that is more times than not a better answer than attempting to prove 100% of the value at 100% of the cost while precluding future incremental gains.

We need to make sure that we do not outgrow our infrastructure and make suboptimal decisions in pursuit of instant gratification. I’ll bring my experience in the Energy and Utilities industry experience to bear in focusing on infrastructure as impacted by projects, and ingrain it throughout our approval processes for private endeavors as well. Executing poorly is expensive, and significantly impacts our quality of life. That is unacceptable, we must take action before it gets even more out of control.”

Give me your greatest hope and deepest fear for Park City.

“My greatest hope is that we restore our culture of kindness, and can keep the magic that makes our community so special. It requires a strong leadership style, and the humility to learn from the past. We must not dismiss the community concerns that we are becoming divisive and there is a lack of transparency into City efforts, that would be a great disservice to us all.  We must acknowledge where we’re at to be able to improve upon it.  Let’s celebrate success while learning from the past, not defending past actions.  Community benefit should be priority one in all that we do, putting locals first.  Leading by example is critical, and based on my experience, we need fresh perspective and a new style to tackle our historic and future priorities.  Issues can always be learned; style and approach are more intrinsic.  

My greatest fear is that we abuse our environment to the point of impacting future generations.  We are a passionate community who cherishes what we have.  It is a choice to live in Park City.  As proven by my career in Energy and Utilities, I am a strong supporter of smart environmental initiatives that work.  I do not grandstand with pomp and circumstance.  Getting down to business and a pragmatic approach to preserving what we have are the only ways to realize true results.  This is a regional and national issue.  We must collaborate on solutions without excessively burdening taxpayers and residents.  There are ways to do this!”

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Tim B. Henney

Henney has served two terms on Park City Council.

What actionable steps will you take to manage growth in a sustainable way?

What can be built in Park City is known as long as current and future Councils do not grant additional entitlements. The task is to manage the form those entitlements take when they are built-out. Currently the only way to REDUCE future growth is to buy land and strip the entitlements rendering it undevelopable. In the last 8 years alone Park City has removed millions of square feet of entitlements from the development pipeline through Open Space purchases, Clark Ranch, Bonanza Flat, Treasure Hill, and the Armstrong Farm.

The only justification for increasing entitlements might be for a 100% affordable housing project, otherwise I pledge NO NEW ENTITLEMENTS.

The direct mechanism by which Park City manages growth (build-out) is the application review-denial-approval process regulated by the Planning Commission to ensure compliance with the Land Management Code (LMC). The LMC is essential in implementing the mission and vision expressed in the General Plan in order to align the mechanism for managing growth with our community values and priorities. The LMC is a living document in a constant state of refinement. Current efforts continue to improve alignment between the LMC and the General Plan.

There are two private sector parcels of land with significant entitlements yet to be built, the base of Park City Mountain and Deer Valley Snowpark areas each with applications before the Planning Commission. I support the Planning Commission process and LMC compliance to manage the form those projects take as well as any private or public redevelopment projects.

Give me your greatest hope and deepest fear for Park City.

My greatest hope for Park City is that it continues to be a place that I’m proud to call home and future generations look back with pride to the work that was done during my time on council; to create a place that prioritizes diversity, equity and inclusion, a place with a complete and connected community where those who work here can also live, a town that is car optional, a place where future generations look to our work on sustainability and renewable energy with gratitude and pride that we took bold action to create a healthy home for them. My greatest fear is the powerful free market forces that have discovered Park City will overwhelm our town, commodify our community assets and extract, for profit, our authentic local culture. I fear that the extreme right wing of our community will gain a foothold in local government and open the doors to climate deniers, land speculators, transactional/profit at any cost developers, election deniers and we will fall victim to exploitation of our people and place for profit in a manner that future generations will look back with sadness and a sense of loss.

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Tana Toly

Toly is the co-owner of Red Banjo Pizza on Main Street.

What actionable steps will you take to manage growth in a sustainable way?

• “Stick to our land management codes and general plan to address development issues with little room for exceptions
• Regional land use and planning with Summit County
• “This region must implement a regional strategy to shape and channel growth to outcomes mutually desirable to the neighboring communities. Planning with a regional focus begins with a shared vision, followed by the creation of regional land use and transportation strategies”. General Plan
• Re-imagining current city property ( land or building) to fulfill our housing needs. The first option should not always be to continue to build out more because this creates a larger energy impact on the environment.
• Support Open Space initiatives”

Give me your greatest hope and deepest fear for Park City.

Hope:

• “That we maintain our small town feel, historical character, natural setting and sense of community
• That we work with our region to create a long term transportation solution that isnt 100% buses
• That we realize the amazing innovation and creativity that exists amongst our residents.
• That everyone in the community has a place and a voice in shaping the future of the town.
• That we bring in our own local experts to solve the issues of the day through collaboration and creative planning.

Fear:

• That we will become New York of the mountains. That skyscraper buildings will tower over the mountains.
• That we will always be two steps behind and miss great opportunities because of egos and vendettas
• That we become fearful of and enemies with our neighbors because they look, think or act different than us
• That our kids will continue to leave after graduation and never return to start their own families in PC
• That we will lose our mom and pops and the authenticity of small businesses.”

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