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Show A-2 Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, December 7-10, 2019 The Park Record The Park Record. Serving Summit County since 1880 The Park Record, Park City’s No. 1 source for local news, opinion and advertising, is available for home delivery in Summit, Wasatch, Salt Lake, Davis and Utah counties. Single copies are also available at 116 locations throughout Park City, Heber City, Summit County and Salt Lake City. SUBSCRIPTION RATES In Summit County (home delivery): $56 per year (includes Sunday editions of The Salt Lake Tribune) Outside Summit County (home delivery available in Wasatch, Salt Lake, Davis, Weber and Utah counties; all other addresses will be mailed via the U.S. Postal Service): $80 per year To subscribe please call 435–649– 9014 or visit www.parkrecord.com and click the Subscribe link in the Reader Tools section of the toolbar at the bottom of the page. To report a missing paper, please call 801–204–6100. Same-day redelivery is possible if you call during the following hours: * Weekdays: 6:30–8 a.m. * Saturday: 7–8 a.m. * Sunday: 7–10:30 a.m. To request a vacation hold or change of address, please call 435–649–9014 or email: circulation@parkrecord.com THE NEWSROOM To contact the newsroom, please call 435–649–9014 or email editor@parkrecord.com For display advertising, please call a sales representative at 435–649– 9014 or email val@parkrecord.com To place a classified ad, please call 435–649–9014 or email classads@parkrecord.com For questions about your bill, please call 435–649–9014 or email accounts@parkrecord.com The Park Record online is available at www.parkrecord.com and contains all of the news and feature stories in the latest edition plus breaking news updates. The Record’s website also hosts interactive entertainment, restaurant and lodging listings and multimedia features. Contents of The Park Record are Copyrighted 2015, Wasatch Mountain News Media Co. All rights reserved. No portion may be reproduced in any form without written consent of the managing editor or publisher. The Park Record (USPS 378-730) (ISSN 0745-9483) is published twice weekly by Wasatch Mountain News Media Co., 1670 Bonanza Drive, Park City, UT 84060. Periodicals postage paid at Salt Lake City, Utah, 84199-9655 and at additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Park Record, P.O. Box 3688, Park City, UT84060. Entered as second-class matter, May 25, 1977, at the Post Office in Park City, Utah, 84060 under the Act of March 3, 1897. Continued from A-1 Resort is ready real-time information on ticketing availability and pricing, lift operations, grooming conditions and other mountain and resort-related information. As for parking? Summers said the Snow Park lots have been resurfaced to allow for additional spots, a measure intended to reduce street parking. The resort last year exceeded the number of days it is allowed by City Hall to use Deer Valley Drive for overflow parking from the Snow Park lots. “In an effort to reduce single-occupancy vehicles and encourage carpooling among staff, we have partnered with Park City Municipal to support the Ride On Park City app,” she said. “We have (also) come up with a new snow removal plan so that we don’t lose a large number of parking spots over the course of the winter due to snow.” Now for the fun stuff: Summers said Deer Valley is introducing a number of enhancements to its snowmaking system and can now boast of an additional four new snow cats in its grooming fleet. “But it’s not just about state-ofthe-art equipment to make our famed corduroy,” she said. “With 25 snow groomers on staff, 14 of which have been part of our crew for more than a decade, we’re able to groom 60-70 Continued from A-1 Gondolas aren’t new with roads and utilities. “It wasn’t a long, drawn-out process,” Leatham said. “I don’t think that would happen now.” That aspect stands in stark contrast to the Park City of 2019, where the machinery of government is sometimes dominated by years-long negotiations and debates over projects that will affect the tourism sector, such as the Treasure Hill purchase. “I don’t think there’d be the problems like with the ore buckets or things like that creating a hazard as they go overhead, but the aesthetics and things like that are important now,” Leatham said. “The routes of those things and where they actually cross town or what, would be a consideration.” Leatham said that modern considerations for individual property rights are also much stronger than in the past, when there was more of an emphasis on collective utility. Is gondola transit feasible? Today, many aerial transit systems including chairlifts, ropeways and Subscription rates are: $56 within Summit county, $80 outside of Summit County, Utah. Subscriptions are transferable: $5 cancellation fee. Phone: 435–649–9014 Fax: 435–649–4942 Email: circulation@parkrecord.com Published every Wednesday and Saturday Direct Importer of the World’s Finest Rugs runs per night when fully open, a total of 170 working hours every single night. “We groom more hours than we are open for skiing.” Off the mountain, one of the more exciting additions this season, Summers said, is the debut of Club 1981, a membership-based lounge located in the Royal Street Plaza building in Silver Lake Village. Membership includes various amenities as well as up to two adult season passes and access to a private lounge. Accounting for the Ikon Pass Last year was the first year for the Ikon Pass, and so Deer Valley was not alone in adjusting to the new product. Summers said in keeping with the resort’s philosophy of limiting the number of skiers on the mountain to 7,500-8,500, the various Ikon Pass options included only five to seven days at Deer Valley, rather than unlimited access. Summers said attendance last year was not greatly affected by the Ikon Pass. “Last season additional visitation was due to the incredible snowfall, which resulted in an increase in usage of all pass products, and the introduction of an additional pass product, the Ikon Pass,” she said. “Our ‘18-‘19 skier visits were up 14% over the previous winter but Ikon Pass visits accounted for just 15% of our day ticket skier visitation.” Summers said Deer Valley will again ask Ikon Pass holders to reserve their visits ahead of time to avoid being subject to a sellout. “No matter what pass a Deer Valley guest chooses to ski here on, they are all our guests and we hope to create the best possible experience for them through great guest service levels and the attention to detail we have been known for,” Summers said. gondolas are manufactured by Doppelmayr Garaventa, an international conglomerate with an office based in Salt Lake City. Leatham has traced the ancestry of those systems back to the manufacturers of those early, ore-carrying tramways. Aerial transit is already in use in many parts of the world, such as an extensive gondola transit system that crisscrosses the hilly terrain of Medellin, Colombia, and a gondola that connects two parts of the city of Telluride, Colorado. Doppelmayr Garaventa announced in September that it had won the contract to supply Mexico City with a transit line as well. So, what’re the odds that this could actually work in Park City? Leatham thinks they’re quite good, though it wouldn’t be a silver bullet to the automobile traffic issues that dominate conversations in lift lines. “Transport and moving of people (with aerial transit) is a great idea, but you still have some of those same problems in parking and transportations at the hubs, the places where those things would start,” he said. “I think it could work.” And they’d also be a lot safer than the rickety buckets of yesteryear. “These things are so advanced now and so technologically improved that ... as far as safety and what they did and what they can do now, it’s night and day to that.” More information on the historical tramway system can be found at the Park City Museum or by contacting its research library. Continued from A-1 Tax decision delayed adding thousands of acres of open space and nearly 100 miles of trails, Hanton has said. That growth is costly to maintain and produces almost no revenue. More than 20 people commented on the proposal over the course of about two hours, and all but three opposed it. The speakers were generally older residents who said they supported what the district does but that the tax hike was too costly. The hike would increase Basin Rec’s operations and management budget by 72%, which was the number sent out to residents. The overall increase to the Basin Rec line item would be lower, though: Roughly half of the district’s tax revenue is used to pay off taxpayer approved bonds, and that number would not change. Including the debt portion of the tax bill, a full-time resident would see a roughly 29% increase in the amount going to Basin Rec if the tax increase were approved. The district is one of the handful of taxing jurisdictions included on a tax bill alongside entities like a school district or municipal government. The total shakes out to a roughly $14.50 increase per $100,000 of taxable value on a primary home. Many commenters advocated finding alternative sources of revenue in some form of user fees, like trailhead parking passes or tags for mountain bikes. One commenter, Tom Steinmetz, said that he takes classes at Basin Rec’s Fieldhouse and uses the trails. He said he understands the position the district is in having not increased taxes in 15 years but opposed the proposal. “I hate raising taxes. We ought to learn to live frugally within our means,” Steinmetz said. “I’m in favor of user fees. ... I’d pay for that.” Members of the council and Basin Rec leadership said user fees are something they’ve considered but that enforcement costs might undo potential gains in revenue. County Councilor Kim Carson said Wednesday night’s public hearing likely accelerated discussions about implementing some sort of fee system. Many comments focused on people from outside Summit County coming up and using the trails for free. Some residents talked about vans full of peo- Continued from A-1 Traffic map altered toward Main Street. The Hillside Avenue change will stop drivers on Main Street from using the tiny road as an outlet. Betsy Wallace, the managing director and chief financial officer of Sundance, addressed the elected officials on Thursday, saying the one-way Park Avenue change will push the traffic to Deer Valley Drive. The traffic flow will be “reliant on one road,” Wallace said. Wallace also said Sundance has sent maps for the festival to the press. The elected officials covered a variety of topics, including City Councilor Nann Worel noting emergency vehicles need to be able to navigate the ple with 10 bikes on the back coming up to mountain bike, while others talked about friends from Salt Lake City hoarding the plastic baggies made available to trail users for pet waste. Resident Carolyn Rose said she’d be willing to see a cutback in services until other revenue sources could be found. “I’m tired of paying for other people to use our trails — not that I don’t think we should share,” Rose said. “I really think we need to start looking at other options for revenue. ... Sometimes I feel like I’m getting taxed to death.” One woman suggested mailing out a parking permit for residents along with property taxes and charging a fee for those who don’t pay taxes in Summit County; one long-time resident, Melvin Flinders, advocated for a sort of “trail sheriff” to enforce the rules. County councilors seemed to indicate support for the tax increase. The County Council acts as the governing body of Basin Rec and is tasked with approving its budget. Each councilor voiced support for the notion of implementing some sort of user fee, though they pointed out enforcement costs would likely significantly reduce the budgetary gains. “Enforcement is a tough issue,” Carson said. “It’s one thing to get $10 a tag, but it won’t pay for itself if it’s not enforced.” Councilor Doug Clyde said that, when he examined the district’s budget, he was struck by the lack of a fund for replacing capital infrastructure like playgrounds, trails and equipment. “We didn’t have a reserve for replacement of fixed assets,” Clyde said. “I come from a capital-intensive business — I know what that number is, I know what it needs to be. You don’t get away for a moment without paying for replacement of gross fixed assets.” The County Council voted unanimously to postpone a decision until Wednesday, Dec. 11, during its public meeting at the County Courthouse in Coalville. Hanton said members of the council met with members of Basin Rec’s board on Thursday to discuss the public input and how to move forward. He said they examined parking fees and ways to regulate commercial usage of the system, like guided snowshoe hikes from third-party vendors, for example. At the meeting on Wednesday, Hanton said he and the district thought they were doing the community a service by holding off on a tax increase, and they realize the financial impact it would have on residents. Though he recognized that not everybody uses Basin Rec’s offerings, he said he believed they are an important community asset and important for residents’ quality of life. changes. Lynn Ware Peek, another city councilor, wondered how someone in Old Town, such as on Woodside Avenue, will drive to their place. Jenny Diersen, the economic development program manager at City Hall, said someone in that scenario would have an access pass and be waved through any checkpoint. The changes to the overall traffic plan for Sundance in 2020 follow mounting complaints about the gridlock that has become commonplace during the event, particularly in Old Town. There have been concerns about parking as well as drivers circling while looking for a place to leave their vehicles. Main Street and Park Avenue descend into bumper-to-bumper traffic at many points during Sundance, and drivers looking for alternatives sometimes move onto residential streets. The 2020 edition of Sundance is scheduled to open on Jan. 23. It is common for City Hall and organizers to make a series of operational alterations to the event each year, but the move involving one-way traffic on Park Avenue is especially notable. “People Banking With People” A t t h e H i s t o r i c Vi l l a T h e a t r e Our Gift Cards Make Giving and Receiving More Fun 3092 So. 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