The Park City election this year is the first since the 2034 Winter Olympics were awarded to the state.
And the mayoral and Park City Council candidates at a recent election forum addressed the early preparations for the Games, providing a range of comments about the status of the City Hall work toward 2034 and their plans should they win on Election Day. The winners will be sworn into office in early January, a little over eight years before the start of the Games in 2034. The four-year terms on the ballot in 2025 will cover a period when City Hall will make major decisions related to the Games.
There have been questions about the amount of progress City Hall has made since the Winter Olympics were awarded in the summer of 2024. The Park City area will be crucial to the Games, with Park City Mountain, Deer Valley Resort and the Utah Olympic Park tapped as competition venues. The area will also have a large role in the transportation, security and celebration plans.
The two mayoral candidates — City Councilor Ryan Dickey and businessman Jack Rubin — during the recent forum at the Park City Library spoke about the Games, with Dickey saying the municipal government is moving forward with the work, and Rubin broadly outlining his ideas for the effort.
Dickey maintained that Park City’s work on the Games has made progress. He noted Park City has more time to plan for the Games of 2034 than it did in the 2002 Winter Olympic era, when the event was awarded less than seven years before opening ceremonies.
“There’s been concern … that we’re behind, and let me reassure you if we go back to that 2002 timeline, we are still two and a half years before those Games were even awarded, much less done anything for, and we started with nothing,” Dickey said.
He said Park City has a role in the organizing committee readying for the Games. He also said there could be an opportunity for Park City to receive assistance with infrastructure as the community prepares for 2034. He said planning is underway for the future of S.R. 248, as an example.
“Not only are we not behind in the Olympics, when you talk to folks in the Olympic committee, the danger is that we actually might go a little too quickly,” Dickey said. “We want to take the time to understand what our community’s visions are for the Olympics.”
Rubin, though, questioned whether Park City profited to the degree it could have during the era of the Games of 2002. He said Park City could tap the knowledge of figures who were involved in the earlier Games.
“There are a number of people still in town, a number of great Park City residents and regional residents, who can help us re-create the magic, not reinvent the wheel,” he said.
Rubin said there is a need for coordination during the planning and that the security blueprints in 2034 will have a greater role than in the earlier Games. Transportation and housing are other issues that will be addressed during the Winter Olympic talks, he said.
“They’ve got to pay dividends before, during and after the Olympics,” he said. “We want to make sure that we just don’t throw a great party.”
The three City Council candidates also provided comments about the Games efforts. Incumbent City Councilors Tana Toly and Jeremy Rubell are seeking reelection, and Diego Zegarra is campaigning for a first term. Highlights included:
• Toly saying Park City is “moving in the right direction” with the mayor having a seat on the organizing committee and with a separate working group that involves area institutions that will be part of the preparations for the Games. She mentioned upcoming decisions about Main Street’s role in 2034.
“We’re beginning to talk about what does Park City want. And one of the first things that we really need to decide is does Main Street want to be a noncompetitive venue. And, if so, that’s going to take a lot of work for us to get ready to do that,” she said.
• Zegarra indicating the Games work might not have advanced as much as it could have.
“I think we are moving in the right direction, and I think we’re just a little bit behind the eight ball,” he said.
Zegarra said he wants the Winter Olympic work to leverage investments in transportation and housing.
“I’m more curious about what happens the day after the Olympics and the Paralympics are over. Did we take advantage of this opportunity and this moment or did we let things happen to our community that we didn’t want?” he said.
• Rubell saying Park City performed well during the Games of 2002 and there are opportunities in 2034 for the community’s youngsters.
“I don’t think that we’re necessarily behind the eight ball,” he said about the work toward 2034.
Rubell said the preparations for the Games of 2034 may provide an opportunity for infrastructure improvements.
“We could use things like fiber upgrades here. We could use power upgrades. We could move that substation out of Bonanza. There’s some exciting stuff coming,” Rubell said.