Organized opposition to the proposed Bonanza mixed-use development claims to champion facts, logic and truth. Yet many of their arguments fall short of that standard.
- “The traffic study showed it will add 1,200 cars per day to the area, which our streets could never efficiently support.” — The report actually shows the project adds roughly one net new vehicle per minute during peak hours to an already congested corridor. This incremental volume is well within standard municipal traffic management parameters and is offset by regional commute reductions. To say nothing of future traffic reductions when Recycle Utah’s new location opens next year, followed by Kimball Art Center’s departure.
- “The citizens who paid for this property …” — Local taxpayers did not buy this land. When Park City acquired the 5-acre parcel in 2017, it levied a Municipal Transient Room Tax on hotel visitors to service the debt. Tourists paid for the land, intentionally sparing the local general fund.
- “Spending Transient Room Tax dollars on Bonanza Park means they can’t be spent elsewhere.” — This claim invents a discretionary application of TRT funds that does not exist. TRT revenues are strictly regulated by Utah state law, which prevents municipalities from redirecting TRT funds to general city operations.
- “The city owes residents a complete accounting: what that financing will cost, and how much future city revenue will be committed, and for how long.” — The suggestion that these figures are secret is misleading: Nearly all of the requested figures are matters of public record, published in City Council staff reports, bond disclosures, and formal RFP documents. Also available via GRAMA request.
- “Do you know what the plural of anecdotes is?…Data!” — No, it isn’t. Gathering unverified grievances without statistical controls produces selection bias, not science. Serious city planning relies on empirical traffic models and sales tax records — data showing that central workforce housing reduces regional commuter traffic far better than suburban sprawl.
- “This is a LIHTC-funded project … fundamentally flawed because residents aren’t required to work in Park City.” — This is a classic false choice: rejecting a practical solution because it isn’t 100% perfect. The vast majority of tenants will be local workers. Even if a few commute elsewhere, their travel runs opposite to peak traffic flow.
- “The development violates city code. If the commission grants even a single exception to code … you’ll have to grant similar exceptions for future private developments, and if you don’t you will leave the city vulnerable to litigation” — Incorrect. Utilizing master planned development provisions to grant height flexibility in exchange for community benefits like deed-restricted workforce housing is an explicit, lawful part of Park City’s land management code. Under Utah land use law, planning decisions are strictly site-specific, meaning an exception granted for a high-benefit public project creates no legal precedent for future private developments. If a developer requests a similar code exception without delivering equivalent public value, the Planning Commission retains full legal authority to deny it.
- “It wasn’t until last year … that the city faced real pressure to act.” — This implication that the city is acting hastily ignores nearly a decade of public master
planning. The city purchased the land in 2017 specifically to prevent commercial sprawl, culminating in the Bonanza Park Small Area Plan. - “Despite near-total community opposition, the council continues to push this.” — After a marketing campaign lasting more than a month, petition organizers gathered 1,628 signatures out of 8,684 residents in 84060 — fewer than one in five people. Furthermore, the petition contained duplicate names and addresses, and unverified signatures. Hardly a consensus.
Reasonable minds can disagree on urban development. But the public deserves better than a PR campaign relying on inaccurate legal interpretations, flawed math, and distorted facts.
Andy Miller
Park City