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Show B-1 FIND US ON FACEBOOK Follow us for the latest. “Like” us on Facebook at facebook.com/parkrecord for up-to-date news and to join the local conversation SOMETHING SPOOKY IS TAKING ROOT AT SUMMIT COMMUNITY GARDENS OPINION, A-11 COLUMNS, A-10 IS AMERICA READY FOR DEMOCRATIC CONTROL? TERI ORR IS MESMERIZED BY THE SHOOTING STARS 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 Wed/Thurs/Fri, October 28-30, 2020 Serving Summit County since 1880 Vol. 140 | No. 77 $1.00 Aerial system would carry a hefty price tag Enrollment spike didn’t materialize District’s student count normal despite fears of ballooning population City Hall discusses concept of gondolas linking community, but costs would exceed $60 million ALEXANDER CRAMER JAY HAMBURGER The Park Record It’s been a common subject for discussion this summer: rumors of a pandemic-fueled migration filling Park City’s streets, trails and schools with newcomers from the East and West coasts. Locals talk about increasing class sizes in their children’s schools and seeing cars with California license plates prowl up and down Main Street looking for furniture stores and art studios to outfit the new skichalet-turned-COVID-safety-headquarters. In the Park City School District, at least, recently released data shows that what feels to many Parkites like a population surge doesn’t seem to have brought in droves of new students. The district’s Oct. 1 school enrollment data shows there are actually 61 fewer students districtwide compared to 2019, with numbers indicating 4,840 students are enrolled. That includes children from preschool up to senior year of high school and incorporates the number of students who graduated last year and are no longer in the system. The data shows that 137 new students this year entered this year, not counting the youngsters who are enrolling for the first time in kindergarten. “We’re right within that normal sort of standard, pretty much what we predicted,” said Superintendent Jill Gildea at a Board of Education meeting last week. “Certainly not — we didn’t balloon to the size that everybody in the community has been kind of nervous about.” Those numbers are preliminary and still must be verified by state officials, said business administrator Todd Hauber. State school funding is partly tied to the number of students a district serves, but Hauber said the slight decline in the overall student population isn’t a sign for worry. The enrollment number is relatively stable and the area’s property values continue to increase, adding to year-over-year revenues, Hauber has said. “The numbers right now tell me this is no different than any other year,” Hauber said. “Our enrollment is on projection.” The South Summit School District also saw a slight decline, from 1,699 students to 1,636, according to a district spokesperson. The spokesperson supplied statistics that indicated the vast majority of that decline is due to an increase in homeschooling, which jumped from 55 students in 2019 to 104 students this year. A North Summit School District official reported the district held steady in 2020, with 1,011 students compared to 1,012 last year. The story is different, however, at two of the more popular local alternatives to district schools — Park City Day School, an independent private school, and Weilenmann School of Discovery, a public charter school. Park City Day School has seen what its director of enrollment Kerry Bedell calls significant growth, Please see Enrollment, A-2 2 sections • 22 pages Classifieds .............................. B-6 Editorial................................ A-11 Restaurant Guide.................... B-9 Weather .................................. B-2 The Park Record The makings of winter TANZI PROPST/PARK RECORD Park City Mountain Resort has begun snowmaking in preparation of its scheduled Nov. 20 opening. On Monday morning, with temperatures hovering around 0 degrees, snow guns blasted Homerun underneath the Crescent Express lift. Despite the pandemic, PCMR owner Vail Resorts has said the mountain will open terrain in the same fashion as it would in a typical season. Summer started off slow but gained steam, numbers show Chamber/Bureau tells officials occupancy remained light but improved through September ALEXANDER CRAMER The Park Record It’s part of the Park City Chamber/Bureau’s job to anticipate the desires of people from faraway places and entice them to visit — and spend money — in and around Park City. That’s been an especially tall task this year, when only seven months ago the Summit County health director advised tourists to stay away for a short period due to the pandemic. But a lot has changed since mid-March, and last week, Chamber/Bureau officials reported to the Summit County Council some of the lessons they’ve learned from this summer and detailed their plans to attract visitors to the area for the economically crucial winter ski season. “Basically, we went into this summer without a clue as to what we could expect in terms of vis- An aerial transit system linking key destinations within Park City would cost more than $60 million to build and more than $3 million annually to operate and maintain, a study has found, eye-popping figures at a time of economic uncertainty. City Hall released the information early in the week in anticipation of a Park City Council meeting that is scheduled on Thursday. It is some of the most detailed information released by the municipal government about the possibilities of an aerial transit system, a concept that has been discussed for decades but never pursued as cost and other issues became complicated. Mayor Andy Beerman and the Park City Council are scheduled to receive an update, but it is unlikely the elected officials will make major decisions on Thursday. No votes are scheduled. An aerial transit system, involving gondola routes, would be seen as something that could be an important traffic-fighting measure in a community where there have been widespread complaints about backups for years. The City Hall information outlines a consultant’s research into a gondola system linking Old Town, the Park City Mountain Resort base area, the Snow Park area of Deer Valley Resort and the location off the Kearns Boulevard-Bonanza Drive intersection where the municipal government plans to build an arts and culture district. The total capital cost is estimated at nearly $64.2 million. The projected annual cost of operations and maintenance is pegged at nearly $3.6 million. The line between Old Town and Snow Park is the most expensive in capital cost while the line from the arts and culture district location to Old Town is the most expensive to operate and maintain. “In short, while an aerial system is technically possible, the costs are substantial, and the workload to consider this type of undertaking requires additional staff resources. Nonetheless, this is a bold solution that would likely gain traction and utility over time as the planned growth in and around Park City is projected to be considerable,” a City Hall report submitted to the elected officials early in the week says. “Eventually, aerial-connections could be used to mitigate traffic and congestion further, provided they seamlessly integrated with a comprehensive public transportation system to prevent vehicles from ever entering Park City.” There have been a series of concepts over the years, at least since the 1990s, but none have been Please see Occupancy, A-2 Please see Gondola, A-2 PCMR plan criticized Halloween for heroes over business worries Owner of key property at base says timing of work may be harmful JAY HAMBURGER The Park Record An important property owner at the Resort Center at Park City Mountain Resort has outlined broad concerns with a Provo firm’s plans for a major development on the PCMR parking lots, including, crucially, the possibility that work that may be underway as early as March could be devastating for businesses at the base during the upcoming ski season. A firm called Silver Mill LLC submitted two lengthy letters to the Park City Planning Commission and the Park City Planning Department on Oct. 12. They were released by City Hall in anticipation of a Planning Commission meeting scheduled on Wednesday. Silver Mill LLC is one of the key commercial property owners at the Resort Center. The Resort Center has long served as the de facto PCMR base area even though it is under different ownership than PCMR itself. There is concern the PEG Companies development proposal could heavily impact the existing Resort Center on a long-term basis as well as during construction. Ried Schott, the managing principal of Silver Mill LLC, signed both of the letters to the Planning Commission and the Planning Department. In one of the letters, Schott Please see PCMR plan, A-2 TANZI PROPST/PARK RECORD Zach and Kate Decker walk with their children, Wels, 5, and Winsley, 2, dressed as Captain America and Wonder Woman, respectively, down the trail at Willow Creek Park on Saturday as part of Basin Recreation’s Celebrate the Spirits Fun Run. For more photos, see Scene & Heard on page B-5. CORONAVIRUS TRACKER Summit County Utah Known cases: 1,382 Hospitalizations: 65 Deaths: 1 Known cases: 107,228 Hospitalizations: 5,169 Deaths: 578 DATA AS OF OCT. 27 SOURCE: UTAH DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH |