Decision on Park City Mountain lift upgrades appeal delayed

The resort base this week, near the base of Eagle. Photo: TownLift

PARK CITY, Utah — A decision on the appeal of the approved Silverlode and Eagle lift upgrades at Park City Mountain was delayed until June 15 by the Park City Planning Commission on Wednesday following a roughly four-hour meeting.

The commission, which requested further information, heard from both the appellants and leadership from Park City Mountain, including former head Mike Goar and Deidre Walsh, the new vice president and COO of the resort. Near the end of the meeting, Goar proposed bifurcating both upgrades, in an effort to secure solely the Silverlode upgrade Wednesday night. He also called for a direct vote instead of a delay, noting that it will likely kill the projects this construction season.

Commissioners John Kenworthy, Sarah Hall, Bill Johnson, and Laura Suesser supported delaying the decision, while chair John Phillips felt the appeal should be denied.

CCCs

The appellant pointed to the company’s use of CCCs, a number that describes the comfortable daily carrying capacity of ski lifts. It’s calculated using multiple variables, including a lift’s hourly capacity and vertical rise.

Under the 1998 Mountain Upgrade Plan between the resort and the city, the listed CCC for future upgrades show:

Eagle: 250

Silverlode (New Prospector): 2,080

This year’s lift upgrades application presented by Park City Mountain and their consultant SE Group shows:

Eagle: 580

Silverlode: 1,820

“What we maintain is that there should not be this discrepancy and not such significant discrepancy in the vertical demand (another CCC variable) where the terrain hasn’t changed,” said one of the appellants, Old Town resident Angela Moschetta.

Goar called it a “false narrative,” and cited the credibility of SE Group’s work on the application.

Commissioner Sarah Hall said that if the resort can address the data discrepancy, “I think that we have a majority of people who would move forward.”

Commissioner John Kenworthy, in remarks towards Goar, said “collaboration” with the city should involve providing better numbers.

“Quite honestly, we’ve been pulling teeth, getting data from you guys that are data geniuses and sit there in their cubicles and crank data every day,” Kenworthy said. “There is no way… we can solve this, if we don’t get the factual data.”

Commissioner Laura Suesser requested that the conditions of approval also be tightened up around parking. Park City Mountain announced the implementation of a paid reservation parking system at Mountain Village as part of the upgrade application. 

“So I think staff will come back to modify conditions of approval. We will look at addressing the concerns regarding the specificity of the CCC,” senior city attorney Mark Harrington said at the conclusion of the meeting.

“We will not give you additional evidence regarding additional studies or additional resorts. And we will focus on clarifying the CCC analysis that was provided and modifying the conditions of approval with the suggestions that have been made so far.”

Residents vs Resort

The tepid relationship between residents and Park City Mountain was on full display at Wednesday’s meeting.

Former Park City Planning Commissioner Chairman Adam Strachan, who oversaw similar PCMR lift upgrades in 2015, described Wednesday’s polarizing meeting as “very rare.” 

“I hope they make everyone as uncomfortable as they made me,” he said of language used earlier in the meeting. He recommended the commission deny the appeal.

One Park City resident of 40 years said the town has become “untenable” in the past several years due to resort traffic. “Because of the sheer volumes of skiers that Vail brings to the table with their industrial tourism,” he said.

Another resident that has been in town since the ‘80s said, “the problems I’ve seen over the last few years have been mind-boggling.”

The man, who lives near the resort base, said he’s twice been almost run over and once was threatened with a firearm when telling a driver that they were in a private area.

Several people spoke in full support of the upgrades. “This is a request for approval for another advancement in the skiing experience, but more important, the overall customer experience,” one said.