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Show B-1 REAL ESTATE GUIDE INSIDE! House hunting in the Park City area? Check out this month’s Real Estate Guide, included in this edition. WITH SUMMER SEASON NIXED, SILLY MARKET DEBUTS A NEW WAY TO SUPPORT VENDORS THE RACE IS ON, A-6 COLUMNS, A-14 COUNTY COUNCIL HOPEFULS SQUARE OFF AMERICANS NOW MUST DIG IN Park Record. The PA R K C I T Y, U TA H | W W W. PA R K R E C O R D . C O M Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, June 13-16, 2020 Serving Summit County since 1880 Vol. 140 | No. 38 $1.00 Pedestrian zone debuts on Sunday Miners stick with it Arts fest draws Main Street change is seen as a step toward economic recovery The elected officials worry about sickness spreading even as the organizers plot a smaller event virus concern from City Hall JAY HAMBURGER The Park Record JAY HAMBURGER Park City on Sunday hopes to take a step, perhaps many steps, toward rebuilding the local economy after the spread of the novel coronavirus wrecked the end of the ski season and the spring. City Hall is slated to largely pedestrianize Main Street as part of a weekly program that launches on Sunday and is scheduled to last until early September. It is an important move that was sought by the Main Street businesses and then endorsed by Park City’s elected officials as part of the wide-ranging efforts to reignite sales on the shopping, dining and entertainment strip as well as the broader business community. The Historic Park City Alliance, the group that represents the interests of businesses on or just off Main Street, and Mayor Andy Beerman and the Park City Council reached an agreement in May to create the pedestrian zone. The sides see a largely pedestrianized Main Street as something that will attract customers in an era of social distancing. They say there will be more space than there is on the Main Street sidewalks and a vehicle-free zone will offer a more inviting atmosphere. “We’re looking forward to it,” said Alison Kuhlow, the executive director of the Historic Park City Alliance and one of the key figures in crafting the plan. “It’s just something different.” The businesses will be allowed to have a presence on the street in front of their places, and there are expected to be sidewalk sales and dining on the asphalt. Kuhlow predicts there will be a “good number” of businesses operating outside on Sunday and anticipates there will be additional outside operations as early as the following Sunday. Kuhlow said she is optimistic for a bump in sales on Sunday, perhaps by 10% overall as compared to Saturday. The closure runs from 11 a.m. until 10 p.m. on Sundays. The closure will be split into two sections, one between the Brew Pub lot and Heber Avenue and the other between Heber Avenue and 9th Street. The two stretches essentially cover most of the Main Street business district. The cross streets of Heber Avenue and 9th Street will remain open to traffic. Swede Alley will also be open to drivers. The pedestrian zone will be marked with signs, barricades and steel posts known as bollards. Free parking will be available on Swede Alley and in the China Bridge garage. Officials want drivers to approach the Main Street core via Deer Valley Drive. There is concern in the Old Town neighborhood surrounding Main Street that the pedestrian zone will force traffic onto streets like Park Avenue. Jenny Diersen, the economic development program manager at City Hall, said signs will be posted directing traffic toward Deer Valley Drive. She said officials hope the people headed to Main Street will respect the neighborhood and noted the resident-only parking restrictions in Old Town The Park Record Please see Pedestrian zone, A-2 2 sections • 26 pages Classifieds .............................. B-5 Editorial................................ A-15 Restaurant Guide.................... B-6 Weather .................................. B-2 TANZI PROPST/PARK RECORD Jake Podmilsak, left, and Kirby Baynes play during a recent Park City High School lacrosse team practice at the Quinn’s Junction Sports Complex. High school teams were allowed to resume practicing this month after the coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of the spring sports season. Ambitious vision emerges for former Oakley School Nonprofit eyes turning the site into a campus where students engage in outdoor learning ALEXANDER CRAMER The Park Record Students wading into the Provo River, collecting water samples and coming back to shore to show their teacher how they’ve done. Groups of fifth-graders lying on mats in the dark, looking into the starry night sky and learning about the constellations, a campfire crackling quietly. A young girl chasing a hopping toad down a path while the leaves turn from green to orange around her. These are some of the scenes a group of education professionals want to make happen in the Wasatch Back, providing experiential science learning to connect students to nature, to their teachers and to themselves. And the Wasatch Mountain Institute sees the former Oakley School as key to their initial plans — the first step in what they hope will be a five-campus endeavor to provide outdoor learning resources to students and adults in Northern Utah. The former Oakley School, which shut its doors in 2017 after 19 years, provided college preparatory eduction and therapy support for students who were transitioning from substance abuse or mental health treatment programs. Wasatch Mountain Institute officials said the building’s nearly turnkey infrastructure, including a kitchen, classrooms and sleeping quarters for more than 100 students, is an ideal first campus for the organization and would require comparatively little investment to get it ready for students. The idea is lofty and will take some serious fundraising to get off the ground. Wasatch Mountain Institute initiator Wayne Turner said the group is looking to raise $7.5 million to purchase the site, renovate it and offset initial operating costs. While they’re “quite a ways away,” and the timing amid the pandemic is imperfect, Turner is optimistic about the program’s chances of success. “I feel more confident than I ever have,” Turner said in a recent interview. Jack Livingood, who owns the site of the former Oakley School along with a partner, said it has been vacant since 2017 and that they’re trying to find the right program for it. “We love the Wasatch Mountain Institute plan, it’s really why we’re interested in them acquiring it,” Livingood said. “I just think it’s awesome — great for kids, great for our communities.” Turner and fellow initiator Jack Shea have decades of experience running the Teton Science School in Jackson, Wyoming, and believe the concept of outdoor learning has a home in Utah. They identify the exploding population of the Wasatch Front alongside the burgeoning Silicon Slopes tech sector and the state’s pride in its beautiful natural landscapes as primary ingredients for success. According to Wasatch Mountain Institute documents, more than half a million school-aged children live within 90 miles of the Wasatch Range. Wasatch Mountain Institute is a nonprofit that hopes to fund itself through tuition and Please see A vision, A-2 Park City leaders on Thursday addressed the Park City Kimball Arts Festival, expressing concerns about holding the event amid the continued spread of the novel coronavirus and leaving the status of the event unclear. Mayor Andy Beerman and the Park City Council met with the leadership of the Kimball Art Center, which organizes the annual summertime event. The festival is one of the largest special events on the Park City calendar and usually draws some of the biggest three-day crowds of the year. It is scheduled from July 31 until Aug. 2. The organizers say they have crafted a plan for the event that takes into account the concerns about the sickness. The arts festival could be held in an environment of social distancing, they say. The Kimball Art Center side told the elected officials it is consulting with Summit County health officials. The Kimball Art Center said the crowd size could range from 700 to 750 at any one time, not counting the artists, organizers, security and others needed to put on the event. The number of artist booths would be reduced from approximately 220 during a typical year to upward of 140 in 2020. Entry would be restricted through timed tickets. The numbers allow for social distancing, the Kimball Art Center side says. Dan Lemaitre, the chairman of the board of directors of the Kimball Art Center, described the plans as a “truncated version” of the festival. He argued the event would help Park City with the economic recovery and said artist sales have been catastrophically impacted by the spread of the sickness. Lemaitre said the safety of the people involved with the event or in attendance would be critical. But some of the elected officials are concerned holding the arts festival could damage the efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus. City Councilor Steve Joyce mentioned a worry about the sickness, indicating he did not want to jeopardize the ski season should the coronavirus spread in the months before. Max Doilney, another city councilor, raised the issue as well but also said holding the arts festival could show Park City is capable of hosting a crowd. He said if City Hall were to take a chance with an event, it could do so with the Kimball Art Center and at the time of year of the arts festival. City Councilor Becca Gerber, though, responded by saying it would be taking a chance with lives. Gerber also said there is risk and pointed toward rising coronavirus numbers. Doilney later acknowledged it is a “risky option” with so many people. The City Council wants to return to the discussions shortly, likely as early as next week. The spread of the coronavirus will be monitored and more talks are expected between City Hall staffers and the Kimball Art Center in the meantime. The elected officials also want to approach the arts festival under the public-health restrictions of the so-called yellow phase of the Gov. Gary Herbert’s response plan even if the community has been moved into the less restrictive green phase. Republicans clash in state Senate primary They hope to succeed Allen Christensen, who is retiring after 8 terms JEFF DEMPSEY The Park Record With the impending departure of Sen. Allen Christensen, Utah’s Senate District 19 will have new representation for the first time in 16 years. Christensen announced in January he would not seek reelection, and two Ogden-area Republicans are vy- ing to take his place in the district, which includes Coalville, Jeremy Ranch and Summit Park: Johnny Ferry, vice president of business development at Honeyville, and John D. Johnson, a professor of data analytics at Utah State University. The primary election is set for June 30, and the winner will face Summit County Democrat Katy Owens in November. Johnson said he was inspired to run after the state Legislature increased sales taxes on groceries and gas, which lawmakers did during a special session in December. Please see Republicans, A-2 COURTESY OF JOHN FERRY AND JOHN D. JOHNSON Republicans John Ferry, left, and John D. Johnson are running to succeed longtime state Sen. Allen Christensen in District 19. CORONAVIRUS TRACKER Summit County Utah Known cases: 444 Hospitalizations: 40; Deaths: 0 Known cases: 13,577 Hospitalizations: 988; Deaths: 139 DATA AS OF JUNE 12, SOURCE: UTAH DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH |