A Third District Court judge on Wednesday ruled in favor of Deer Valley Resort in a case that centers on the future of the Snow Park base and involves Deer Valley, homeowners associations and the Park City government.
The ruling by Judge Richard Mrazik was for Deer Valley Development Company, which had argued that homeowners associations were unable to establish claims regarding due process. In this sort of case, the homeowners associations are known as petitioners, the municipal government is the respondent and Deer Valley Development Company is an intervening respondent. Deer Valley Development Company entered the proceedings on the municipal government’s side early in the case.
The case stems from a late-2023 decision by Park City leaders regarding Snow Park. The City Council authorized a landmark agreement with Deer Valley about a major development concept on the land where the Snow Park parking lots are located. The concept calls for the municipal government to vacate parts of Deer Valley Drive West and Deer Valley Drive South. That would remove the sections of road from the map of public streets as part of the overall traffic circulation designs for a Snow Park development.
The City Council backed vacating the road sections after negotiations between Park City and Deer Valley, resulting in a public-private partnership addressing transportation and housing.
The homeowners associations claimed there was not good cause for the municipal government to agree to vacate the road sections and Deer Valley did not submit alternative plans without that aspect of the concept, among other claims.
“We’re pleased that the court dismissed the case and ruled that the city’s process was fair, due process requirements were met, and the HOAs were not injured. We appreciate the court’s careful consideration of the matter,” said Clayton Scrivner, the city’s director of communications.
Deer Valley and an attorney representing some of the homeowners associations declined to comment.
The case was also notable with the homeowners association side challenging the involvement of two Park City councilors — Ryan Dickey and Max Doilney — in the vote vacating the road sections since they also represented the municipal government in the talks with Deer Valley. Dickey became the mayor in January, while Doilney did not seek reelection in 2023.
Attorneys for Deer Valley Development Company addressed that topic over the course of the case. One of the filings outlined a contention that the homeowners associations “extrapolate that simply because two council members negotiated the documents, those two City Council members prejudged the issue. At the outset, such thin accusations cannot sustain a claim of constitutional proportions to overcome the well-established presumption against bias. The mere involvement of two City Council members in certain contractual negotiations before the vote on the partial road vacation is not enough to establish actionable prejudgment bias as a matter of law.”