Municipal staffers are close to completing a study on the feasibility of building a new Park City Senior Center on the parcels making up the Mawhinney parking lot and an adjacent lot.
The municipality still needs to determine how much parking is required on the site for a center and the existing land uses and conduct environmental soils testing and a geotechnical investigation. A final report on the proposed project site, which is in Old Town Park City and off Park Avenue, is anticipated to be completed in April.
The Mawhinney lot is across the street from Park City Library and is mostly used for surface parking, including the overflow from library activities. The lot is in an Historic Residential-Medium Density zoning district.
Below-grade parking will be considered if required to fulfill new parking obligations or shared uses surrounding the site, according to the municipal staff’s latest progress report to the City Council. The soil testing will be done to determine any possible issues that could be encountered during development based on previous uses at the site, including a service station, the report says.
The estimated costs are $21,550 for the geotechnical investigation and $9,100 for the parking study. The city has committed $3.5 million to help build the center.
Discussions about creating a new center have taken place for years. The current Park City Senior Center, 1361 Woodside Ave., has outgrown its 3,200-square-foot space, with membership at about 625 people.
“The senior population is exploding, so there is definitely a need for a bigger senior center to accommodate this explosion,” said Liz Novack, senior center president.
A committee from the center researched at least 30 senior centers in other mountain towns with demographics similar to Park City’s and the data show the silver tsunami is here, Novack said.
The minimum age to be a member of the Park City Senior Center is 60. Most live within Park City limits or Summit County and a handful live in other places in Utah or in other states.
“They come here because they’re visiting family,” Novack said of the out-of-staters. “They become members so they have somewhere they can go to congregate with their peers. And then we have second homeowners who have joined. So it’s a pretty good mix.”
Membership fees are $10 a year. The center is open Monday through Thursday and offers dozens of classes and clinics. Lunches for $4 are provided three days a week.
Operation of the center is supported by the nonprofit Park City Senior Citizens Inc., Park City Municipal, Summit County, volunteers, grants and donations. The center has hired Trason Dixon, who was the recreation program and marketing manager for the Harman Senior Recreation Center in West Valley, as its executive director. Dixon comes on board Monday.
The center committee that is exploring options for a new facility envisions a 10,000- to 15,000-square-foot building with separate spaces for different activities and services.
“When seniors come in to get their blood pressure taken, they’re sitting in the middle of a room with mahjong being played or bridge,” Novack said. “We’d like some space for privacy. We’d like an exercise room, an art room, a conference room, a place for people to meet.”
Other wishes include a room for puzzles and games and a dining room that accommodates 100 people. Novack would like the center to operate at least five days a week.
The center’s board has not taken a position yet on the Mawhinney proposal, Novack said. An advantage of building on that site is the center could continue to operate at its current location during construction, she said. An earlier proposal had called for constructing a new facility at the current site, which would have meant the center would have to find a temporary home.
If the Mawhinney lot is chosen as the site for the new center, construction would begin in winter 2027.
City Council members did not discuss the staff progress report at a Feb. 27 meeting. Two community members suggested that a five-acre site at Bonanza Drive and Kearns Boulevard be considered as a location for the facility.
That site is part of the Bonanza Park Small Area Plan, which City Council approved last year. The plan incentivizes the type of development designed to make the area a more walkable, mixed-use and livable neighborhood.