Deer Valley Resort indicated it is not planning to send officials to a City Hall meeting on Thursday intended to address the possibility of creating an aerial transit system.
Mayor Nann Worel and the Park City Council are scheduled to receive preliminary information about a system that would be designed to link the Main Street core and the Snow Park base at Deer Valley. The elected officials are slated to learn about a series of potential alignments for aerial transit.
“Deer Valley is following the City’s aerial transit discussions closely, and we are excited to see what options they bring forward. Although we won’t be attending or providing formal comment at Thursday’s meeting, we’re supportive of the exploration of innovative transportation solutions for our community,” the resort said in a prepared statement requested by The Park Record.
The potential of an aerial route between the Main Street core and Snow Park is notable with significant improvements under discussion at both locations.
Deer Valley is pursuing a major development that would remake Snow Park into a full-service base area. City Hall, meanwhile, is considering a range of improvements on or close to Main Street that would be designed to increase the competitiveness of the shopping, dining and entertainment strip. The two processes are separate, but a better link between Snow Park and Main Street has been seen as a possibility as the concepts for the locations advance.
The group that represents businesses in the Main Street core also said it is not planning to provide a formal comment to elected officials on Thursday. The Historic Park City Alliance said it wants to learn about the feasibility of the options and possibly provide comment about a preference later. The group, though, said it supports the broad concept of new routes for people to travel to Main Street.
The elected officials are scheduled to discuss aerial transit, but a public hearing is not slated. Extensive opportunities for public comment would be anticipated later should leaders pursue a route. Deer Valley and the Historic Park City Alliance would be two of the parties most interested in a formal process later. An aerial transit proposal would also almost certainly draw interest from a swath of the community, including people who live or own properties in the area of any routes.
Aerial transit would be pursued as an ambitious traffic-fighting measure in a community where complaints about backups along the entryways and elsewhere have continued for decades. There have been mentions of the prospects of aerial transit for years, at least since the 1990s, but a system has never advanced amid questions about routes, funding and operational details. The current talks are underway, though, with the possibility of securing transportation-related monies that may be made available as the area prepares for the 2034 Winter Olympics.
The City Council discussion about aerial transit is scheduled to start at 3:40 p.m. at the Marsac Building. It will also be broadcast online on the municipal website, parkcity.org.