Rail Trail moves forward, City Council to prioritize public concerns in next steps

The Park City section of the Rail Trail. Photo: City Government of Park City, Utah

PARK CITY, Utah — At Thursday’s meeting, City Council approved using the Rail Trail Master Plan as a guide for future proceedings. City council will make addressing public concerns their number one priority before moving forward with the plan.

Issues were raised by several members of the public, chief among them being environmental impact, safety, and their disapproval of widening the trail. The allowance of e-bikes was a safety issue, and the need for additional signage relating to rules and etiquette were also raised by the public.

City Council concluded that moving forward these would be key talking points as each concern needed to be addressed on an individual basis.

Mayor Nann Worel confirmed the use of the Master Plan as a “guiding document”, and for the public to be aware that “each individual component will come back for additional comments, additional information, and additional opportunities for the public to weigh in … but they’ll be come back and be considered individually.”

The widening of the trail was not voted on, according to Mayor Worel, “that will probably come back as an individual item for further discussion, and there’ll be additional opportunities for people to weigh in here.”

As of the time of the meeting, only $500k, coming from the Summit County Recreation Arts and Parks (RAP) Committee grant, has been applied to any approved plans. The estimated total should the entirety of the Rail Trail Master Plan be adopted will total over $2 million.