Eight hundred new workforce or otherwise restricted housing units may not be enough for Park City.
Leaders this week are slated to revisit a goal set in 2016 that called for the production of 800 new units of restricted housing over the course of a decade. As 2026 approaches, City Hall wants to discuss the housing goals with a new set of elected officials from the one that established the 800-unit benchmark.
According to a City Hall report drafted in anticipation of a Park City Council meeting scheduled on Thursday, officials anticipate 693 units will be finished by 2026. An additional 200 units in municipal projects are expected to have been approved or could be being built by 2026, the report says. The officials in office in 2016 based the 800-unit goal on an assessment of housing needs that was drafted that year.
The report indicates “the City appears to be on a path to achieving the 800-unit goal,” but a subsequent assessment and analysis of housing “showed that the percentage of the workforce living within City limits continues to decrease, despite our best efforts.”
“As we approach achieving the 2026, 800-unit goal, we have the opportunity to set a new housing goal to continue to promote a range of affordable, quality housing opportunities within Park City for all economic levels,” the report, drafted by Browne Sebright, the senior housing policy & program development coordinator at City Hall, says, adding, “defining a new housing goal is an important step toward broader housing policy updates.”
The report outlines the progress toward the 800-unit goal, saying 174 units have been developed and another 313 are under construction. There are an additional 206 that have won entitlements. The work since the goal was set represents “remarkable progress,” the report says.
The report also offers a blunt statement regarding the price of housing inside Park City, saying “most of the workforce is simply priced out of ever purchasing a home in Park City.” It says the median price of a house approaches $3.6 million, while the figure is nearly $1.7 million for a condominium, based on data from the third quarter of 2023.
The statement covers a longtime aspect of housing discussions in Park City. The resort-driven real estate market in Park City long ago made it difficult for rank-and-file workers to purchase a place, as wealthy buyers acquired houses and other sorts of units to use as primary residences or vacation properties.
Park City leaders over the decades have seen housing as a priority and there have been a series of developments constructed since the 1990s. Officials see the housing program as something that boosts socioeconomic diversity and reduces commuter traffic.
Mayor Nann Worel and the City Council are not scheduled to make decisions about the housing goals on Thursday, but they could begin to signal their intentions. Additional discussions about the goals will likely occur later. A timeline is not clear. The elected officials are slated to take public input about the topic on Thursday.
The meeting is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. at the Marsac Building. It will also be broadcast online. More information is available at: https://parkcityut.portal.civicclerk.com/event/225/overview.