Time to stick a fork in 2023. It was a strange year around here, but they all are. Given the terrible ski conditions this season, it’s almost easy to forget that last winter was a crusher. PCMR was open “all the way to May,” and it was really good skiing right up to closing day. 

So what else happened this year? Well, in the Monopoly game that is our lives, things are getting interesting. There are several very significant development proposals out there. The bet is which one will actually get built first (or at all). 

The entrants in the Development Derby: the Heber LDS temple; the Snow Park parking lot development; a dark horse, the newly approved art center north of Heber; physical hotel rooms for military personnel at Mayflower; and a long shot entry, the Park City Arts & Culture District. 

Will we see any of them under construction in 2024?

The temple appears to be headed for a referendum on the lighting, height and the generally weird (though very participatory) approval process. It’s an interesting case because they held the ground breaking ceremony months before applying for permits. 

Besides divine intervention, they also have a federal law on their side that Orin Hatch and Ted Kennedy got passed. That more or less gave federal approval to the Boston LDS temple that was both over-height and over-lit under the local ordinance. And Utah being Utah, it doesn’t seem smart to bet against the LDS Church.

The somewhat recently proposed Heber art center now has the land and needs to scrape up $60 million for a building. That seems like a lot to raise in Heber, though it’s not my grandfather’s Heber any more. Look for a generous donation from the LDS Church shortly before construction begins on the Temple. Just sayin’.

The Snow Park development, lacking the federal religious protections of the temple, will continue to grind through the process despite being approved 40 years ago. I suspect that any final action by the Planning Commission will get appealed every way possible and wouldn’t be surprised if that went to a referendum, too. 

The objections are loud but not widespread as best I can tell. While I think the architectural approach is pretty ugly, and hiding Snow Park Lodge behind some glass cube is unforgivable, the basic layout seems to work. It will get approved, probably with some heavy pressure from the Legislature, but not anytime soon.

There are hotels under construction at Mayflower now. In fact, development there is moving at a very rapid pace. The impetus for it all, and the special state financing through MIDA, was to provide low-cost lodging at a ski area for active duty military personnel in need of rest and recreation. It was to replace lodging near Snow Basin, torn down before the 2002 Olympics. A worthy goal. 

Of course, the military families it was supposed to serve have long since retired. Their children are approaching retirement age. Which will we see first, the first wedding in the Heber temple or the first airman sleeping in a discounted hotel room at Mayflower? You can place your bet on DraftKings.

Now entering its seventh year of master-planning, the Park City Arts & Culture District seems like it is ripe for action. Or not. Surely more citizen input is needed before making any hasty decisions. 

Personally, I’ve come to like it the way it is. Anything they build will result in more traffic and more congestion, and we don’t need more of either. Maybe putting an auto wrecking yard there would be ugly enough to slow the overall rate of growth.  ‘ve always thought it was a mistake to yank the abandoned cars out of Old Town 40 years ago. 

Meanwhile, in Morgan County, the development of Wasatch Peaks Resort is stopped dead in its tracks by a court injunction, pending a referendum on the zoning approval. Wasatch Peaks is a super-secretive private ski resort for the richest 1% of the 1%. In other words, a black ops training camp for the Illuminati. 

After years of telling the local peasantry to get out of the way and let the aristocrats play, the developers have now decided to shift gears. Without dropping the litigation, they have launched a charm offensive to win the locals over. There is room enough in Morgan County for everybody, as long as they don’t approach the gates.

So head on over to DraftKings to place your bet on which project gets off the ground in 2024.bI’m pretty sure it won’t be Dakota-Pacific’s proposal at Kimball Junction.

There were so many great stories this year. There was Gwyneth Paltrow’s trial. The Mayflower/Deer Valley shotgun wedding. The state Legislature’s Mafia-like interference in local zoning, and Powder Mountain somehow being ranked the No. 1 ski resort in the country. Park City got a grant to improve bus stops at an average cost of $100,000 each. So much to work with.

But my favorite headline of the year came from the Salt Lake Tribune: “Psychic Who Aided Tim Ballard Says She Never Spoke to Book of Mormon Prophet Nephi.” 

There isn’t room to describe the whole Tim Ballard story, but it lost what little credibility it had with the news that their psychic wasn’t even talking to Nephi. 

On that note, happy new year.

Tom Clyde practiced law in Park City for many years. He lives on a working ranch in Woodland and has been writing this column since 1986.