In 2017, the Park City Council decided to create an arts and culture district. Then without a plan in place, they immediately bulldozed beloved businesses, shut down half the town’s gas stations and hired consultants. Eventually, one firm presented renderings involving huge buildings for the chosen anchor tenants Sundance Institute and Kimball Art Center. Park City taxpayers would have been on the hook for more than $100 million for the public portion of this grandiose project. And so in 2021, the community decried these aspirational plans and demanded something more grounded.
Then in a split vote in 2022, the City Council approved a plan to survey the community over the next 10 months to figure out what people actually want on this taxpayer-funded Bonanza Park site. Over the course of this engagement, city staff operated with little accountability. They hired another consulting firm, the MKSK office based in Louisville, Ky., which interestingly happens to be the same town Kimball Art Center’s executive director and Park City Municipal’s then planning director were from, despite pleadings from several informed stakeholders for the city to publicly legitimize its process, MKSK later admitted in various public meetings that their engagement is not scientific in nature. Which begs the question, why were more qualified applicants for this job overlooked?
Toward the end of 2023, the City Council was then told the initial 10-month exercise would wrap up in March/April 2024. This represented a slight delay, but it was too late to do much at that point. Again in another split vote, the council voted to keep funding this consultant’s “work”.
Fast forward to early 2024 when a City Council with two new members finally expressed skepticism and challenged the city’s process. A new majority consisting of councilors Ciraco, Parigian and Rubell aligned to demand further answers and finally hold the City Hall process accountable. They directed staff to identify a timeline for wrapping up this engagement, finalize a plan and start construction.
In a report prepared for the April 4 council meeting, staff said shovels in the ground are unlikely until at least the middle of 2026! That will then be almost 10 years from when the city initially purchased the land.
To add context to this incompetence. Extell Development Co. was able to purchase the land, complete plans and permits and are now well on their way with the buildout of the Mayflower ski resort base village. All in the time our City Council has now owned this land. By 2026 they expect to be operational. And what do we have? A half-assed parking lot and a gravel pit.
The process has been a sham since Day 1 — all show and no accountability, a hand-picked selection committee hiring a consultant curiously from Kentucky, questionable opinion-gathering exercises and with hand-selected advisory groups complaining they are left in the dark and often ignored.
Councilor Rubell stated in that April 4 meeting and was reinforced by Ciraco and Parigian that the current schedule is unacceptable.
The other elected officials seem paralyzed. They avoid decisions whilst continuing to defend the consultants and staffers responsible for this inexcusably flawed process. Parkites are now demanding better. We deserve, as we were promised, leaders who aren’t afraid to demand action, make tough decisions, and hold their staff accountable.
This whole thing may have started as another Beerman balls up. However, it just might turn out to be Worel’s Waterloo.
Andrew Morphett
Park City