A longtime Park City activist engaged Mayor Jack Thomas and the Park City Council in what became a tense exchange Thursday about the Mountain Accord, a wide-ranging effort to craft a plan for the Wasatch Mountain region.
Rich Wyman, a Prospector resident who over the years became one of the city’s most prominent development watchdogs, appeared unscheduled at a City Council meeting to provide input. Wyman told the elected officials he is becoming more nervous about the Mountain Accord, mentioning an idea to build a light rail connection between Park City and the Cottonwood Canyons. The idea involves a tunnel.
He contended that Mountain Accord is about economic development rather than protecting the Wasatch Mountains. Wyman pressed the mayor and City Council to take a formal stand against the idea to build a tunnel.
Wyman and City Councilman Tim Henney went back and forth at one point. Henney told Wyman more information needs to be gathered and analyzed prior to a formal stand.
“That would be irresponsible of me to do so,” Henney said in answer to Wyman’s request for a stand.
Henney said there is an opportunity to benefit the community through the Mountain Accord process. He added later that he understands Wyman’s concerns.
The mayor interrupted the two, indicating that Wyman broached the topic during a part of the meeting when the elected officials typically take public input about subjects that are not scheduled to be discussed during the meeting. The City Council rarely engages in lengthy deliberations at that point during meetings.
“I’m going to cut this off,” Thomas said.
City Councilwoman Cindy Matsumoto, meanwhile, said Mountain Accord “will not force a tunnel” on Park City. She wondered about the opinions of other entities involved, though.
It was the second consecutive week that the mayor and City Council received unscheduled input criticizing Mountain Accord from a figure with a development watchdog background. Dana Williams, who served three terms as mayor before retiring from politics in early 2014, last week told the elected officials City Hall should take a stand against the idea of a tunnel connection. Williams said during his comments it appeared that “we drank the Kool-Aid.”
Williams and Wyman in the 1990s were two of the leading figures in a development watchdog called Citizens Allied for Responsible Growth. The group reached a peak during the contentious discussions between City Hall and United Park City Mines that resulted in the Empire Pass development. Williams later won his first term in the mayor’s office. Wyman has sporadically taken high-profile public stands on City Hall issues and was a leader in Park City’s anti-war movement during the presidential administration of George W. Bush.
The appearances by Williams and Wyman could offer a preview of an important round of discussions that the mayor and City Council are expected to hold shortly centered on whether Park City should remain a part of Mountain Accord. Park City Manager Diane Foster said Thursday night that talk is anticipated in late May.
The Mountain Accord involves more than 20 government entities, not-for-profit groups and corporate interests that are grappling with the growth pressures faced by the region. The Mountain Accord stresses topics like the environment, transportation, recreation and the economy.