Park City Mountain and Deer Valley Resort are each slated to host competitions during the 2034 Winter Olympics.
And, by then, the base areas at the two resorts where the venues will be located during the Games could be transformed.
The Winter Olympics had been mentioned over the course of the discussions about the prospects of development at the Park City-side base of Park City Mountain and at the Snow Park base at Deer Valley even before the Games were awarded to Salt Lake City last summer.
The status of the two base areas will be even more notable over the next nine-plus years with the Games in February of 2034 looming. There are longstanding development rights attached to the parking lots on the Park City side of Park City Mountain as well as those at the Snow Park base at Deer Valley.
Those two locations will also be critical to the operations of the Park City-area theater of the Games. The lots that are there now provide ample space for Games organizers to design the competition venue, including the construction of a temporary stadium at each resort. There is also space for the construction of what will amount to a small village in support of the venue itself. The organizers of the Winter Olympics in 2002 opted for that sort of setup, occupying much of the space in the parking lots closest to the competition venues.
The Games have been mentioned in the ongoing talks about Snow Park and they were noted in the since-abandoned discussions about a development proposal at Park City Mountain. Deer Valley is pressing ahead with the vision to develop the Snow Park base, while there little has been made public about the future of the Park City Mountain base in the nearly two years since a Provo developer ended its efforts to win an approval for a project on the land.
The Winter Olympics are not a crucial element to the discussions about the Snow Park base, nor were they during the talks about a project at Park City Mountain. But the mere mention of the Games in the two sets of development-related talks illustrates the broad influence the Winter Olympics may have on the civic dialogue in Park City over the next nine years.
In the case of the Snow Park discussions, the Games were noted in an agreement between City Hall and Deer Valley centered on the road network at the base. The documentation describes that a “vibrant and well-planned Snow Park area is of high importance to Park City and will advance preparations for the anticipated return of the Winter Olympics to Park City in just over ten years.”
Deer Valley in October said a project at Snow Park ”will just amplify the 2034 Olympic experience at Deer Valley. With retail and dining options in the new village it will just make for a vibrant base at the base of an Olympic venue.”
The Provo firm, called PEG Companies, meanwhile, raised the possibility of a second Games in the state during its discussions with the Park City Planning Commission about the proposal at the Park City Mountain base.
PEG Companies in 2020 noted the prospects of another Games in a set of prepared written responses to comments made by the public about a range of issues related to the project. One dealt with the possibility of construction beginning on a development and then not reaching completion.
“PEG does not foresee any issues that would prevent this multi-phased project from being completed. It is critical for the community, ski mountain operations and the potential of Utah hosting an upcoming Winter Olympics that a revitalized base area comes to fruition,” said PEG Companies’ written response.
The group that mounted the successful bid for the Winter Olympics — the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games — has been aware for some time of the possibility of development at the resorts. The committee in a prepared statement requested by The Park Record indicated it is “following what is happening with Deer Valley’s proposed development as it will then shape how we eventually plan the ‘games overlay’ with what is built prior to 2034. We are confident in an outcome for our venue partner that serves both everyday needs and an eventual Olympic event.”
The Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games said it “would look to spring, 2030 to know what projects would be completed by spring, 2033 to allow for designing and planning the respective venue’s games overlay plan.”
“We would want to begin construction on any temporary facilities in summer, 2033. In terms of how the … elements of the development might impact the Games, it’s just too early for us to comment,” the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games said.