The terraced expanse of blacktop below Deer Valley’s Snow Park Lodge is heading towards a major transformation into something called, what else? Deer Valley Snow Park Village. One-thousand-two-hundred-and-50 (and no cents) parking spaces are slated for development into Snow Park Village, which is approved for 210 rental units comprising 420,000 square feet, and some 41,000 feet of total commercial space. The plans will also include a garage intended to make up for the displaced parking spaces.
The development of the Snow Park parking lots been on the table since the 1970s, but it has resurfaced publicly as part of the conversations surrounding parking at Deer Valley during ski season. Last winter’s generous snowfall led to a huge number of overall skier days at Deer Valley. Due to high skier volume, the resort was forced to use overflow parking nearly 30 times, which required the resort to meet with the Park City Planning Commission to discuss planning options. Steve Issowits, Deer Valley’s Director of Resort Planning and Real Estate presented a short-term solution, featuring a new one-acre paved lot and a long-term solution, comprised of infrastructure work for utilities and a garage to replace Snow Park lots when the area is developed.
Few details about the area’s ultimate development are currently available, but Deer Valley is hoping to submit plans for the utilities and garage in late 2019 or early 2020. Construction is not expected to begin until 2022, and plans for the broader development will follow.
The transformation of Deer Valley’s base area follows a major effort to develop the parking lots at the base of Park City Mountain as well as the construction of an entirely new ski resort adjacent to Deer Valley at Mayflower Mountain Resort. All three of the developments have been decades in the making, and their coinciding timelines appear to be developers’ efforts to capitalize on a consistent era of growth in Park City and Summit County.
The scale of the projects is stirring anxiety among some locals who feel the area won’t be able to handle the influx of visitors and workers such development will bring. The City’s reluctance to accept UDOT’s proposed infrastructure enhancements on 248 certainly won’t help. Park City’s roadways and parking lots are already choked during peak season, and the status quo will ultimately collapse as pressure builds. Hopefully the new developments coincide with a comprehensive transit master plan forward thinking enough to realistically meet the needs of Park City’s future. The drum beat of development marches on, and no amount of nostalgia will save us.
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