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Show Olympic bid: Should Utah go for the gold? Park City got its first real taste of international ski racing last winter when the World Cup alpine tour came to town. The question now confronting local residents is: Should we go for the gold? For the past year a 22-member committee has been supervising a feasibility study to see whether Utah could handle the Winter Olympics in 1992 or 1996. That group, which includes Park City Councilman Bill Coleman, has concluded that Utah could in fact host the Olympics. What that committee could not determine, Coleman said, is whether the people of Utah want the Olympics. To help answer that question, the University of Utah is conducting an opinion poll using a random sample of local residents. And a series of public hearings is being held in areas which would be affected by the Olympics. Today, May 9, the residents of Park City will get their turn to watch a 20-minute slide presentation presenta-tion summarizing the feasibility study and to express their opinions on a possible Olympic bid. Coleman said the U.S. Olympic Committee has been asked to consider Utah as a site for the 1992 games. But he emphasized that this move can be reversed depending on the sentiments expressed in the hearings, surveys and in public referenda which may be held in November. He said the International Olympic Committee won't choose a site for the 1992 games until next summer. Since the 1988 winter games are being held in Calgary, most observers, including Coleman, don't expect the 1992 games to go to a North American city. However, he said it is crucial for Utah to express interest now to be a serious candidate for the 1996 Winter Olympics. "Our biggest competition (within the United States) is coming from Reno and Anchorage," Anchor-age," he said. Coleman said , the feasibility study included environmental assessments on the possible impact on water quality in Big and Little Cottonwood canyons as well as estimates of the potential harm to eagle nesting areas. In the Park City area, he said, the study looked primarily at the facilities available. International rules do not allow Olympic cross-country events to be held at altitudes over 5,904 feet, Coleman said, putting the Park City-Snyderville area out of the running. "But they could hold all the alpine events here, or they could end up holding none of them here," he said. The Park City area is also being considered for a ski jump and for a bobsledluge run, Coleman said. What the committee want to know, Coleman said, is how much of an impact local residents would be willing to tolerate. "There would be an impact, no question," he said. "It would affect the resident who drives to work in Salt Lake... He would have to deal with the controls on the traffic..." Today's public hearing is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. in the city council chambers in the Marsac Municipal Building. Local residents are encouraged to attend. |
