Park City to vote on Deer Valley Snow Park special tax districts

PARK CITY, Utah — The Park City Council is scheduled to vote on Resolution 01-2025 on March 26, which would create three Public Infrastructure Districts (PIDs) for the Deer Valley Snow Park development, culminating a process that began more than a year ago.

The PIDs would allow Deer Valley Development Company to tax its own property to fund public infrastructure within its Snow Park development area. This request stems from a December 2023 Letter of Intent between Park City and Deer Valley Resort that laid out a framework for addressing several community priorities.

According to the staff report, the Letter of Intent was created to “further support several community priorities, including improving transportation, creating more affordable housing, and furthering economic development.”

Under that agreement, Deer Valley committed to contribute $15 million (to be matched by Park City) toward a regional off-site parking and transportation facility or affordable housing, cap day skier parking at the Snow Park base area to 1,360 spaces, and create a coordinated gondola transportation network connecting the new Deer Valley East base area to Snow Park.

The proposed resolution follows multiple public meetings, including a Public Financing Tools 101 session held by the City Council on September 5, 2024, to inform council members and the public about how PIDs function. A formal public hearing was held on February 27, 2025, where council members raised questions that were later addressed by Deer Valley. The PID’s were originally on the docket for the March 13 council meeting for a vote, but were removed last minute.

If approved, the districts would start with small initial boundaries of approximately 0.69 acres but could expand to include up to 23.33 acres. Property within these districts would be subject to a maximum additional tax rate of 1.5%, with debt terms up to 31 years per bond issuance.

“The property taxes and assessments may only be levied against property within the PID’s boundaries,” states the governing document. This means these special taxes would only affect Deer Valley Snow Park properties, not other Park City residents or businesses.

Karen McShea, Vice President of Community Development for Deer Valley, confirmed in writing that “the vast majority of our condominium buyers will be second or third home buyers who do not reside full-time in Utah.”

The proposed districts would be initially governed by five trustees appointed by the City Council: Todd Bennett, Jen Pasquier, Hannah Tyler, Matt Greenberg, and Karen McShea. If residential properties are developed within the districts, board seats would gradually transition from appointed to elected positions as more homes are built and occupied.

Deer Valley has committed that they will not record the vacation plat for Snow Park or sell any bonds until they finalize a Public-Private Partnership Agreement with the city. The districts would be required to provide annual reports to Park City and record disclosure notices for future property purchasers about the additional tax impacts.

To join the Park City Council special meeting on March 26 via zoom, click here.