Misinformation is circulating this election season, and four former mayors have added to it with their endorsement of Ryan Dickey. Two are only part-time residents and two no longer live in 84060. Their perspective does not reflect the daily experience of those who live here year-round.
The endorsements describe Dickey as a friend of open space, small business, and neighborhoods, but his record shows otherwise. He consistently supports large-scale development, bad deals and rezoning, often in conflict with clear community consensus.
Dickey voted to rezone open space for the Mine Bench project that other City Council members wisely opposed. In his role as liaison to Main Street planning, a process led by Zions Bank, he expressed enthusiasm for a 650-room hotel on Swede Alley that the community and local business owners overwhelmingly object to.
He continues to advocate for a gondola from Snow Park to upper Main Street despite city engineers confirming such a route is not a transit solution. It’s worth noting that Dickey maintains a real estate listing on upper Main, and the Zions consultant pushing Main Street redevelopment marched in the Miner’s Day parade with him.
On EngineHouse, a project led by a political supporter, Dickey regularly told the community we could figure out specifics later while citing “the clock” and pushing to approve what he acknowledged was a complex public-private partnership structure. Despite receiving a land gift and taxpayer subsidy, the project is now well over budget, and the developer is back before council asking for more public money.
Dickey openly supports Deer Valley’s CRA, which will divert millions from schools, water and fire services to accelerate private redevelopment.
His role in the Deer Valley Snow Park deal is most troubling. More than 30 HOAs and 1,000 residents formed a citizen advocacy group to propose a workable alternative to Deer Valley’s base circulation plan. The alternative gave the resort what it wanted while demanding measurable traffic reductions and lasting investment in transit.
Dickey praised the effort in public, then went behind closed doors and struck another lopsided partnership deal with Alterra that gifted them additional parking, bonus density, and $15 million of taxpayer money.
At the same time, he failed to disclose that several of the HOAs he was negotiating against were clients of his own management company, Model HOA. Alterra later adopted much of the PTL plan, but only after Dickey negotiated away the leverage to secure meaningful commitments.
On Clark Ranch, Dickey insists affordable housing was always intended on what is currently open space. COSAC minutes confirm otherwise: preservation was the clear priority, with only light municipal use for recreation ever suggested, other than 10 acres next to the then planned Park City Heights development that would be left to the City Council’s discretion, possibly with structures. Residents raise concerns about soils, slope, water runoff, costs and traffic. Yet Dickey continues to press for rezoning and development on about 12 of the 344 acres designated for open space.
Taken together, the record is clear. Ryan Dickey prioritizes growth and developer interests over open space, fiscal responsibility, and community consensus.
Endorsements can be based on opinion. Dickey’s record is a fact. Park City deserves leadership that listens, respects open space commitments, and plans responsibly for our future.
We deserve a fresh start with a fresh perspective like Jack Rubin’s, not more of the same antiquated way of thinking where the only answer to growth always seems to be more growth.
Chuck Haggerty
Park City