Neither the attorneys nor the hearing officer involved in an appeal of lift upgrades at Park City Mountain have name recognition in Park City. The six individuals mounting the appeal are not widely known, either.
But one of the names referenced during a lengthy hearing on Thursday regarding the appeal is recognizable across the community and in international winter-sports circles.
Ted Ligety, an Olympic champion skier who hails from Park City, was mentioned as the parties spent time discussing the potential impact on safety on the slopes should the improvements proceed. His name was an unexpected sidenote to a hearing that otherwise focused on issues like 1990s-era development approvals at Park City Mountain and the resort’s comfortable carrying capacity, which is a metric in the industry measuring the size of crowds that a resort can accommodate.
Ligety is regarded as a hometown hero in Park City who rose to the top echelons of ski racing. He is seen as one of the greatest successes from the community’s storied efforts to groom winter-sports athletes for international-level competitions like the World Cup circuit and the Winter Olympics. Ligety is an ambassador for Deer Valley Resort.
The sides on Thursday spent time discussing affidavits from people regarding safety at the resort, with an attorney representing the Park City municipal government also speaking about testimony addressing the topic.
“Olympic Alpine skier Ted Ligety testified lift replacements make sense to improve safety by alleviating the chokepoints and moving people out of the base area,” said Lara Swensen, the attorney for the municipal government.
The hearing officer, Tim Pack, responded using Ligety’s name.
“This is (meant) to increase safety. That’s the finding. What is the evidence to support that? Is it … the testimony from Ted Ligety? What is it? Should I value his testimony over another person who visits the resort, even though he’s an Olympic athlete?” he said.
Swensen replied, talking about the affidavits. She said the people who submitted the affidavits do not manage a ski resort and “none of them were Olympic athletes.”
“I don’t know if you were unimpressed with Mr. Ligety. That’s fine. I do think an Olympic skier who has spent a lot of time on the mountain brings something to it,” she said.
Ligety in May spoke in favor of the lift improvements at a Park City Planning Commission meeting. He said new lifts would help youth who are training.
“I’ve spent countless hours on a painfully slow triple lift that is Eagle, growing up as a ski racer here. And I really support these upgrades. Alleviating the chokepoints. Getting people out of the base area,” Ligety told the Planning Commission in May.
The appeal centers on a Planning Commission approval of the lift upgrades. Pack said a decision will be made within 15 business days.
Park City Mountain wants to replace the existing Eagle and Eaglet lifts with a six-passenger lift and install an eight-passenger lift as a replacement for the current six-passenger Silverlode Express lift. The efforts have been mired in procedural matters for several years.