The Summit County Council has unanimously approved the creation of a public infrastructure district in the Canyons Village area of Park City Mountain, opening the door for a wider variety of funding mechanisms to support future improvements.
Public infrastructure districts are a relatively new financing tool in Utah. They allow developers to voluntarily tax themselves and future property owners within a certain area to obtain bond funding with lower interest rates, similar to a municipal or county government.
The funding is restricted and may only be used for infrastructure improvements, such as transit, recreation and sanitation.
The Canyons Village proposal specifically said the goal is to optimize development by installing additional infrastructure now rather than wait until after revenue has been collected through property sales. However, information on the tax rate was not immediately available, and the development team said it would likely be determined over the summer.
The team also tried to assuage concerns about how the public infrastructure district would affect current homeowners by including details on the tax structure in the proposal. Existing residents won’t be taxed, and most of the new taxes paid as part of the public infrastructure district will come from secondary homebuyers, hotel developers and operators and “sophisticated commercial users,” not full-time Summit County residents.
“As opposed to the municipality imposing an increased tax on all residents, the main users of the infrastructure pay for it,” the proposal said. “Modern mountain resort developments rely on PID and (tax increment financing) to fund large-scale infrastructure efficiently and responsibly. Without similar tools, Canyons Village is at a competitive disadvantage relative to peer resorts.”
The presentation to the County Council listed six other ski areas using public infrastructure districts as a financing tool, including Deer Valley Resort, Sundance Mountain Resort and Snowbasin Resort.
“Infrastructure is funded through district revenues only rather than relying on county resources, which in turn preserves taxpayer dollars,” the proposal said. “PID is a separate governmental entity from the county with no economic and legal liability for the county.”
The Canyons Village development team said the public infrastructure district would be useful to ensure infrastructure is built in a “structured and orderly way” instead of piecemealing projects whenever funding is available.
“Infrastructure must keep pace with increasing visitor volumes, workforce demands and connectivity throughout the broader resort area,” the proposal said. “Significant upgrades are needed to support mobility, access and public services for the upcoming Winter Olympics, all while preserving quality of life for existing residents.”
The development team had a mix of projects it brought to the County Council as examples of how bond funding would be used to benefit the public, most of which focused on parking, road maintenance and transportation. However, the team also mentioned a water tank for fire suppression and snowmaking, as well as “gondola plazas” to upgrade the “transportation experience from resort arrival to departure.”
Canyons Village is also involved in High Valley Transit’s bus rapid transit project, which will have a stop on the property. The development team told the County Council that it had already worked with High Valley Transit to try to fund the transit center, but it ultimately had to back out because of concerns regarding the mix of public and federal funds.
As part of its negotiations with the County Council, the Canyons Village development team offered to take over the transit center project entirely, which means its construction would be funded through private monies or a bond measure provided by Canyons Village.
The County Council was in favor of the proposal, and County Councilor Chris Robinson added a clause outlining Canyons Village’s commitment to spend “up to $1 million” on the transit center in his motion to approve the public infrastructure district.
The County Council voted unanimously to create the public infrastructure district.