Park City Mayor Nann Worel spoke briefly about a safety-related concern regarding the future development prospects of City Hall-owned land located at a busy intersection.
The mayor’s comments on Monday were unexpected and made toward the end of a lengthy Park City Council discussion about 5 acres stretching inward from the southwest corner of the Bonanza Drive and Kearns Boulevard intersection. The municipal government is considering a substantial housing development on the land. The intersection is already among the most clogged locations in Park City and suffers regular backups through much of the year.
Worel’s comments were delivered in the context of the location’s importance to an emergency response involving a natural disaster. The intersection is critical to traffic flow in various directions and would almost certainly be important in some sort of evacuation. The location could be used by drivers from across Park City, depending on the direction of an evacuation.
“I have real concerns about putting a lot of density here from a health and safety standpoint, because this intersection’s already failing,” she said.
Worel continued to address the situation, saying: “Should we have a natural disaster, evacuating this town is going to be very, very difficult. And the more people we add into this very small space, with an already failing intersection, and we’re saying we don’t want a lot of these people to have cars. I’m really worried about how we’re going to evacuate this town if that happens.”
The mayor also mentioned other planned housing developments in the vicinity of the municipal land, totaling more than 300 units.
“From my perspective, I’d really like to see us minimize the number of people that we’re forcing into this small area,” Worel said.
The other elected officials did not respond to the mayor’s comments.
The mayor later clarified in a statement the use of the word “failing” in the description of the intersection, saying the term is a technical grade in transportation engineering used to describe a road with heavy delays at the busiest times rather than one that is “broken or unsafe under normal conditions.”
“I do think it’s important to consider emergency access when we’re engaged in deep discussions about our built environment,” she also said in the statement.
Worel said she remains “a strong proponent of this project and its potential to bring much-needed housing to the 5-acre site. Context matters — especially as we work together to plan for neighborhoods, future growth, and the tradeoffs that come with both.”
Natural disasters and evacuation routes typically are not heavily debated during the City Hall approval process for developments, even with the community being susceptible to certain disasters, particularly wildfires and earthquakes. Wildfire evacuations are especially of note since officials would likely have at least some time to implement emergency plans should there be a threat.
The meeting on Monday continued the long-running talks about the City Hall acreage. Leaders once saw the land as becoming an arts and culture district anchored by the Kimball Art Center and the Utah offices of the Sundance Institute. Neither of those organizations remain involved, however. The talks are instead focused on a housing development.