Park City leaders on Thursday are scheduled to discuss the possibility of holding what appears will be a wide-ranging community discussion about growth later this year, a broad topic that could become an educational exercise but also expose rifts among Parkites about the city’s future.
Mayor Jack Thomas and the Park City Council in February spoke briefly about the topic during an unscheduled discussion that appeared to be spurred by private expressions of anxiety about growth by Parkites. It was not clear at the time what sort of format the elected officials would pursue.
A City Hall report drafted in anticipation of the meeting on Thursday indicates staffers want the elected officials to lead presentations next month. The presentations would be in front of community organizations or groups that represent individual professions. A community forum would follow. A publication loaded with graphics would be prepared.
“Importantly — but not the focus — all of the presentations and materials will include information on what efforts are underway to mitigate the impacts of growth, as well as how community members can participate,” Ann Ober, a City Hall policy adviser, wrote in the report.
The report recommends that City Hall hire Envision Utah, a Salt Lake City-based organization that dates to the 1990s that focuses on a series of interrelated growth issues, to assist with the upcoming process in Park City. Ober said in the report it would cost $15,000 to hire Envision Utah plus another $1,000 for printing materials.
“The advantage of utilizing Envision Utah is that their organization is built around having these conversations with communities and having a third party present the facts at a large-scale community forum can help focus on the facts and not the presenters,” Ober said in the report.
Ober offers an alternative method that would rely on staffers to draft a presentation that centers on sections of the General Plan, a recently rewritten City Hall document that guides growth inside Park City.
The Thursday meeting is scheduled to start at 4:15 p.m. in the City Council chambers at the Marsac Building. The elected officials are scheduled to address the growth discussion for 30 minutes starting at 5 p.m. A hearing is not scheduled, but the mayor sometimes offers the opportunity for public input anyway.
In an interview, Thomas said he anticipates the City Council will support some sort of community discussion about growth. He said topics that could be covered in the process include development, natural resources such as water and the related issues of traffic and transportation.
“I think they want to take the mystery out of growth,” Thomas said.
He said he hopes the process clarifies “misconceptions about growth.” The exercise could detail projects that have previously secured approvals but remain undeveloped as well provide information about areas that hold development potential even if a project has not yet been approved, Thomas said.
“We’re going to talk about what is growth. What kind of growth do we have?” Thomas said, adding, “What could possibly accelerate growth?”
The talks at City Hall come amid a post-recession boom that has seen major increases in construction activity in Park City, a strong tourism rebound from the depths of the downturn and complaints about traffic that have seemed more pronounced than at other times. They will follow shortly after the completion of the General Plan and as Park City leaders grapple with growth on other fronts, such as City Hall’s involvement in the Mountain Accord process that is considering options for the future of the Wasatch Mountain region.