Park City is ending 2009 a different city than it was when the year started, and for many people the year was one of the toughest they have faced since their arrival.

Indeed, the recession struck deep into the fabric of the city, crushing some of Park City’s critical business segments such as the lodging and construction industries.

Meanwhile, a development proposal looming above Old Town shifted from what was primarily a neighborhood dispute to the most contentious growth debate inside Park City in a decade.

Add to those a City Hall election, an attack on Main Street that was startling in its viciousness and a land deal that left some Parkites perplexed and 2009 was an extraordinary 12 months.

The Park Record’s Top 5 stories in Park City in 2009 follow:

5. Oh boy, it’s Boyer

City Hall has for years negotiated land deals — mostly open space purchases — with little controversy and the support of regular Parkites.

But in November, officials announced an agreement that had few similarities with the widely praised purchases of before. City Hall would pay $5.5 million to a developer known as The Boyer Company, with the money essentially purchasing the local government a 50 percent stake in 200 acres of land owned by the firm at Quinn’s Junction.

It was a highly unusual arrangement for City Hall that made the local government a partner on a substantial development. Park City leaders hailed the agreement as a chance for City Hall to have a role in guiding the development of a strategic piece of land. They said there would be lots of work force housing alongside the market-priced units that The Boyer Company desires.

A Boyer Company official, Patrick Moffat, said his firm was “excited” and the agreement was a “win-win situation.” Park City Councilwoman Candy Erickson, meanwhile, said “timing is the opportunity we have here” as she cast an affirmative vote.

Others did not see likewise. A few City Hall observers questioned the idea of entering into the agreement, particularly in the down economy. One, Park Meadows resident Tom Fey, told Mayor Dana Williams and the Park City Council the real estate market was floundering and the money would be better spent paying down municipal debt.

“There is no reason to bail Boyer out,” Fey said.

The ramifications of the partnership will not be understood for some time, perhaps years. City Hall and The Boyer Company still must secure development approvals for the land, a process that could become tangled at various points.

If a development is not agreed to within two years, The Boyer Company could exercise an option that calls for City Hall to purchase the remaining interest in the land for another $5.5 million plus interest.

“I think for the city the risk is almost zero,” said City Councilman Jim Hier.

4. A shocking confrontation

Main Street during the Sundance Film Festival is normally a rollicking place, complete with movie stars, paparazzi, celebrity gawkers and film-goers.

But one night during the 2009 edition of the January festival, the scene on the street became violent as someone visiting Park City for the festival was attacked on the Main Street sidewalk in an episode that was shocking for its brutality in a place where there is little street violence.

Ryan Bilbrey, who was in Park City from Los Angeles, suffered extensive damage to his face and mouth in the confrontation. He has required repeated surgeries.

Bilbrey was with his wife and friends the night of Jan. 18 when they encountered two men. Words were exchanged and fisticuffs ensued between Bilbrey and one of the men. Bilbrey ended up on the ground when the other man viciously kicked him in the face.

The police quickly captured a Lindon man named John Cook, and prosecutors charged him with a felony count of aggravated assault for kicking Bilbrey. A jury later found Cook, 26 years old, guilty of a less serious misdemeanor count of assault. In sentencing Cook to 300 days in jail, Judge Bruce Lubeck called the attack a “monstrous event.”

“There was just no need for this, Mr. Cook,” Lubeck told the attacker during the sentencing.

Meanwhile, the wife, Rebecca Bilbrey, described the months since the attack as an “absolute nightmare” as she addressed the courtroom when Cook was locked up. Cook told the Bilbreys he was “sorry for what I put you through, the damage.”

After the sentencing, the victim said he was “satisfied” with the result.

“I think a year in jail is meaningful. It makes us feel we’re getting justice,” Bilbrey said.

Prosecutors have charged another man, Kyle Erickson, 25 years old and from Lehi, in the case. The police captured him months later. A plea agreement is possible, and Erickson is next scheduled to appear in court Jan. 27, during Sundance’s 2010 run. Bilbrey has filed a lawsuit naming both of them as defendants.

3. A Treasured hillside

The Sweeney family and City Hall had been talking about the family’s ideas to build the Treasure development on a hillside above Old Town for a few years before the calendar turned to 2009.

There had been only modest progress, though, and scattered interest from regular Parkites, primarily from a core group of people who live on streets like Lowell Avenue and Empire Avenue. But in 2009 the discussions about Treasure became much more contentious than they had been before, cementing the project as the most divisive development proposal City Hall has considered since the 1990s talks about what would eventually be built as Empire Pass in Deer Valley.

The Sweeneys contend that an overall approval for development on the Treasure land was granted in the 1980s, and the current ideas for Treasure — 200 hotel rooms, 100 condominiums and commercial space — fit within the limits of the earlier approval. The project would boost business on Main Street, add a convention center and expand Park City’s tourism-heavy economy, the Sweeney side argues.

Others disagree, with people in Old Town and elsewhere in Park City condemning the Treasure blueprints. They claim that nearby roads cannot handle the expected traffic increases and the Treasure buildings will be too tall, among other concerns.

“There are people there who think it’s a perfectly reasonable option to walk away. That’s disheartening,” Pat Sweeney, who is leading the family’s talks with City Hall, said in November, after a walking tour of the land.

The city’s Planning Commission spent substantial time on Treasure in 2009, holding several well-attended hearings and taking a field trip to the site in the fall. The panel, though, did not appear close to casting a vote as the year ended, leaving much more work for 2010. The Planning Commission seemed to have mounting concerns about the project throughout the year, wondering about the overall design of Treasure and the traffic that the development might attract.

Critics of Treasure, meanwhile, have formed an opposition group. During a September hearing, Rich Wyman, a well-known development watchdog, repeatedly told the Planning Commissioners they should “send them back” to redesign Treasure.

“I look at this. This is not Park City,” Wyman said at the hearing.

2. Mayor versus mayor

Mayor Dana Williams cruised to re-election in 2005, unopposed for City Hall’s top political office in a rare uncontested mayoral election.

That would not be the case in 2009, as Williams sought a third term. Brad Olch, who immediately preceded Williams as the mayor, serving three terms of his own, indicated early he would be a candidate. Williams, though, waited a while to announce his re-election bid. Once he did, it set up a campaign between two of the most influential figures in Park City’s modern era, each with deep-rooted support and unparalleled backgrounds. It was a ballot that some observers had anticipated in 2001, but Olch that year opted out of another campaign.

Issues like the economy and the Sweeney family’s idea to build Treasure on the slopes of Park City Mountain Resort dominated the campaign. Olch was especially aggressive in the waning weeks, realizing he needed to make up substantial ground after Williams was the first-place finisher in a primary. The former mayor challenged the incumbent’s record on Treasure, the economy and City Hall’s environmental efforts. Williams answered each of the criticisms, but they were some of the most pointed charges leveled against the mayor during his nearly eight years in office.

“He never says no. That’s the approach he’s taken,” Olch said in an October interview, criticizing the incumbent’s record on Treasure. “Who’s been the mayor for the last eight years? Not me.”

Williams, meanwhile, ran a campaign stressing what he saw as the successes of his administration as he also addressed the crucial issues of Treasure and the economy. The incumbent spoke about City Hall’s green programs, long one of his points of pride, and a restructuring of the municipal government.

Voters sided with Williams, giving him a landslide win on Election Day.

“I think, actually, people feel generally comfortable and safe with the way the city is run,” Williams said just after the votes were tallied, adding, “I think people realize that there is a level of civility that we’ve tried to create here.”

He is scheduled to take the oath of office for the third time in January.

Overshadowed throughout the campaign by the mayoral contest, the candidates for two Park City Council seats also stressed issues like the economy and Treasure. Shop owner Cindy Matsumoto and City Hall watcher Alex Butwinski captured the City Council seats held by the retiring Roger Harlan and Jim Hier.

1. Boom times end

The boom times that Park City enjoyed for much of the time since the early 1990s ended in 2009 as the recession dismantled the local economy, leaving several bellwether industries in tatters and many people dazed by the breakneck fashion of the upheaval.

It seemed certain heading into the year that the local economy would suffer as the recesssion took hold nationally. But Parkites likely did not expect the area’s economy, typically propped up by crowds of visitors and the construction industry, would perform as miserably as it did in the year.

Main Street buildings sat vacant. Businesses from various sectors reported sales were down. Year-end construction numbers will fall sharply from the previous year, itself a down 12 months.

The lodging industry struggled terribly as two local brand names spiraled toward oblivion. David Holland Resort Lodging shuttered its operations without paying the property owners whose places the firm rented. Deer Valley Lodging is in bankruptcy proceedings having also not paid property owners their share.

City Hall, meanwhile, had to craft a budget in the middle of the year amid dwindling revenues, a rare situation for the local government. Later in 2009, city officials warned that revenue forecasts had been overly optimistic and a budget alert was declared, the second one in 13 months.

“I can’t tell you what is going to happen for sure. No one can right now,” David Dewar, one of the Phoenix-based principals in the firm that has the Claim Jumper, said in March as he discussed plans for his partnership’s holdings on Main Street.

But others in the private sector pressed forward during the recession. In November, in a highly anticipated opening, High West Distillery made its debut in a historic property close to the base of the Town Lift. The whiskey maker spent millions renovating the property. The luxurious St. Regis in Deer Crest opened its doors late in the year.

And there are a few new stores on Main Street trying to cobble out an existence on the popular shopping, dining and entertainment strip.

Mayor Dana Williams may have best epitomized the local economy in 2009. Having lost a high ranking real estate job in 2008, he found part-time work as a barista in a coffee shop in Old Town early in the fall.

“It’s not every day you see a mayor pulling shots of coffee,” said Rob Hibl, who owns the coffee shop with his brother.