Silverlode and Eagle lift upgrades approved after ‘Epic’ public hearing

One resident thinks the Eagle upgrade is the first step toward the remodeling of what is currently the terrain park serviced by Three Kings. Photo: TownLift

PARK CITY, Utah — Vail Resorts’ application to replace to Eagle and Eaglet lifts with a new lift and to upgrade the Silverlode lift was approved on Monday afternoon after a four-hour administrative public hearing. Over an hour of the meeting was a recess in order for Park City planning staff and Park City Mountain leadership to finalize the conditions of approval.

Under the plan, Silverlode will be upgraded to an eight-chair detachable lift, while Eagle and Eaglet will be replaced with a longer, six-chair detachable lift.

The application did not have to go in front of the planning commission because of a Mountain Upgrade Plan in the 1998 development agreement between the city and then-resort owner POWDR Corp.

While Park City Planning Director Gretchen Milliken marked the final approval on Monday afternoon, “pretty much everyone on my staff was involved in the application in some way, shape, or form,” she said after a public comment session in which some remarks were directed at her.

“I appreciate that you think I have that much power, but we’re a municipality,” Milliken said.

Several adjustments were made to the project’s conditions of approval, including a requirement that there be a 30-foot setback and some kind of privacy fence (can be landscaping) along the Snow Flower property line. The amendment came after several residents expressed concerns about noise.

The initial administrative public hearing over the lift upgrades was delayed after the planning department said Park City Mountain needed to do more to mitigate parking at the base of the resort. As a result, the company announced that it will be implementing paid parking next winter.

Park City Mountain COO Mike Goar said at the meeting that it was “important to shift the behavior” around transit.

It was newly instituted in the conditions of approval on Monday that Park City Mountain must use its net proceeds from paid parking towards “transportation, transit, traffic mitigation, and/or parking measures.”

Most of the public comments during the hearing were in favor of the lift upgrades, however, several said they would like to see it go in front of the planning commission.

Eric Moxham, a Snyderville Basin resident that works with Friends of Summit County for Responsible Development (formerly organized under ‘Stop Dakota Pacific’), said he thinks the lift upgrade plan is the first step toward the remodeling of what is currently the terrain park serviced by Three Kings.

A project review completed by Ecosign on behalf of the city said:

we could imagine a situation where the existing Three Kings lift would basically go unused during the bulk of the day, due to the attractiveness of the new Eagle lift. If this does happen, then we can imagine that the lift company would choose not to operate that lift (as it would be running empty)

—

“This likely would be a precursor to the resort moving or entirely removing the Three Kings Park, which is clearly an important part of the resort’s and community’s fabric and identity as a premier training and competition venue for freestyle skiing and snowboard athletes,” Moxham said.

At the meeting, Goar cited the credibility of their consultant, SE Group, and the city’s, Ecosign. “You have two of the biggest mountain planning firms in the world involved in this project,” Goar said.

“We all can go at these projects with a great deal of confidence that the planning is appropriate, and the design is appropriate.”

Construction is set to be finished before winter.