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Show Deer Valley asks for bus service by Christopher Smart Citing hefty contributions to the city in taxes, impact fees and payroll dollars, Deer Valley representatives asked the city council for better public transportation and tourist services at last Thursday's budget work session. Deer Valley Resort's Execut'e Vice President John Miiller told the council a mass transit route to Deer Valley's Silver Lake should be included in city bus routes. Miiller said Deer Valley dollars make up a substantial part of the city's Capital Improvements Budget as well as annual Operating Budget. Deer Valley Resort, Deer Valley Lodging and Stein Eriksen Lodge accounted for $41,777 of the city's business license fees, Miiller said. They contributed $93,555 to the municipality's Resort Cities Sales Tax, as well as $134,000 in regular sales tax during the past fiscal year, he said. Miiller said in 1984 Deer Valley accounted for $535,000 in developer impact fees and contributed another $468,000 to the city in property ' taxes. Miiller said the combined payroll of Deer Valley Resort, Deer Valley Lodging and Stein's was $5.4 million, shared by 445 Park City residents, 188 Salt Lakers and 198 commuters from Heber. Considering those figures, Miiller told the council public transportation should be routed through Silver Lake. If that requires the reconstruction reconstruc-tion of Royal Street this summer then it should be done in time for the next winter season, he said. Gregory Schirf, representing the homeowner's associations at Enclave, En-clave, Sterlingwood and little Bell, all Silver Lake condominium projects, pro-jects, asked the council why public transportation has not yet been provided to Silver Lake. Schirf said the homeowners were "miffed and disappointed" that no bus service is offered in their area when they pay "more than their fair share" of taxes. Councilman Bob Wells told Schirf that presently there is not enough resident capacity at Silver Lake to make mass transit there reasonable. Next year, when the capacity reaches 1,100, a bus route may be warranted, he said. There are other snags which could keep Silver Lake from getting public transportation by next season. Royal Street, the major access route to Silver Lake, is in poor repair and may not be safe enough for heavy buses. Transportation Director Kae Draper and Public Works Director Jerry Gibbs are studying the roadway to determine if buses can safely travel the route. If the council decides to undertake the expensive restructuring of Royal Street, it will have to axe other areas already slated for funding from this year's Capital Improvements Budget. Bud-get. Another obstacle is that federal matching funds for new buses aren't available until October. That doesn't give city officials enough time to order and receive new buses, a process which takes about six months, before ski season. It the council wanted to serve Silver Lake with Park City bus t service next session it would have to do so without federal matching funds. Draper and Gibbs maintain Silver Lake must be serviced by four wheel-drive buses which are more expensive than the coaches now used. Early purchase of the buses could mean the city council would have to eliminate other projects now outlined in the budget. Other discussions included a tourist information center. Miiller told the council the greeting center for Park City is the gas station at the edge of town. Getting lost trying to find your way around Park City is "a hell of a way to start a vacation," Miiller told the council. Citing a $100,000 city contribution to the Chamber Bureau for promotion last year, Miiller said, "if visitors have to walk through the mud and don't know where they are going, what good does it do to invite them here in the first place?" Construction of an information center is planned for 1987, said City Manager Arlene Loble. |