Russ Watts has owned and operated development company Watts Enterprises in Midway for 25 years. It wasn’t until he and several other contractors in the city performed an internal survey of their subcontractors and builders in 2022 that Watts realized just how many people were commuting in and out of the valley every day. Forty percent of respondents said they commuted because they couldn’t afford Wasatch County’s cost of living.

That survey inspired Watts’ Celebration Workforce Housing community, which aims to build a 142-unit apartment community in Heber City set aside for essential employees, including first responders, hospital staff, city and county employees and teachers.

Watts considers teachers “priority responders.” That’s why he’s prepared to reserve 50 units for Wasatch County School District employees. However, that comes with an ask: that the school district lease some of its property to Watts Development to build 178 parking stalls on. 

The Celebration Workforce Housing community would be located next to Wasatch High School. The project sprang from Watts’ conversations with Addison Hicken, whose family owns a large amount of land near the school.

Hicken had sold property in Heber City to Watts Enterprises before, land on which the developer built 116 condominium units in 2007. Twenty percent of those units were set aside for members of the local workforce and deed-restricted through the Wasatch County Housing Authority, which also covered down payments for the units’ buyers. Some of Hicken’s children bought units on the development, further cementing the relationship between the family and Watts.

As Watts and Hicken discussed affordability in the Heber Valley over a decade later, they came up with an idea for a workforce housing community. In 2022, Hicken donated 8.5 acres near the high school to Watts Enterprise to build just that.

The Celebration Workforce Housing project would build 142 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments on about half of the donated land. Further phases would construct additional housing, the details of which Watts is still working out. Heber City has only approved construction of the first phase at this time.

Half of the units would be priced at market rate. Forty percent would be affordable to those making 65% of the area median income (AMI), which is $109,590 for a family of four in Wasatch County. Ten percent would be affordable to those making 40% AMI, which is $67,440 for a family of four in Wasatch County. 

The community would be deed-restricted through Mountainlands Community Housing Trust.

The project has garnered financial support from the Wasatch Housing Authority, which is investing $750,000.

The Heber City Council has also invested in the project by voting to defer the project’s impact fees — one-time fees on new development — in December. While the agreement still needs to be finalized, Watts requested that about $3.1 million in impact fees be deferred up to 12 years, paid back at a 4% interest rate.

Watts told the Wasatch County School Board on Tuesday that the school district’s participation in a shared parking agreement is also essential for the housing development to work.

Watts has 366 parking stalls planned on his own site, but is looking to install 178 on school district property so he does not have to remove any apartments to accommodate more parking on his land. 

The total 544 parking stalls represents the parking needed for the complete buildout of the Celebration Workforce Housing Community, not just phase one of development.

The parking stalls would be shared by the school district, which would use them during the day, and the Celebration Workforce Housing Community, which would use them in the evening. 

Watts Enterprises would pay for and install the parking spaces, evenly splitting maintenance costs with the school district. Maintenance would include coating, striping and repair as necessary. 

The current school board members had mixed reactions to the proposal. 

School Board President Kim Dickerson wasn’t sure the school district needed additional parking stalls. District Business Administrator Jason Watt said they would most likely be used for events.

Board member Breanne Dedrickson was concerned that an agreement would use “public money to benefit private industry.” Dickerson agreed.

Dedrickson asked what would become of the project if the school board did not enter into the parking agreement.

“We won’t do the project. We’ll just tell the Hicken family, ‘Let’s walk away.’ … The Hickens would sell the property,” Watts said. “You’re a critical component. The city is critical. All the parties are critical. It just doesn’t pencil without (their support).”

The first 142 apartments will cost $43 million. Watts Enterprises anticipates a return on investment of about 6 to 7%.

Board member Brad Ehlert, who lives in a community developed by Watts Enterprises and said he loves it, wasn’t sure school district employees would jump on the opportunity. He said some family members had been offered a similar opportunity in Wasatch County but refused because they wanted to own rather than rent. They ended up moving away to fulfill their dream.

“Whether right or wrong, I think a lot of people believe part of the American Dream is owning a home,” Ehlert said.

However, Weston Broadbent, the district’s Career and Technical Education director, believed school district employees would jump on the opportunity. 

“I could go to any teacher right now that’s renting and say, ‘I have a place next to the high school for 1,500 bucks,’ and they would be all in,’” Broadbent said.

Broadbent, who worked as a real estate agent for two decades, is Watts’ neighbor and was Watts’ first contact in the school district about the project.

Watts will finalize a proposed agreement with school district employees before returning to the school board for a vote.

Watt expects the Celebration Workforce Housing community to break ground in 18 to 24 months.

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The Park City School Board adopted a nearly $248 million budget Tuesday night for the 2025–26 fiscal year, around a 13% total decrease from the 2024–25 budget, as officials considered cost-saving measures to adjust to a trend of declining enrollment.

The budget includes around $118 million in the general fund, which pays for instruction, student support and district administrators; $65 million for capital projects such as the demolition of Treasure Mountain Junior High and the construction of new sports fields; and $5 million to the Park City Education Foundation, the primary funding source for initiatives like the preschool program, Bright Futures and the Innovation Lab.

Most 2025-26 budget expenditures decreased except for the general and self-insurance funds, which increased by $733,106 and $306,340, respectively. The general fund is projected to grow by a few million dollars every year through 2028-29, while the overall budget is expected to decrease after the 2025-26 fiscal year.

The largest cost savings was in the capital overlay fund, which was reduced by almost $38 million. The district is in the complete phase of six construction projects that started in fiscal year 2022.

Four projects are at the elementary schools with classroom additions for the preschool program, and half of the construction was completed for the 2024-25 school year. The other two projects are to add another grade level at Park City High School and Ecker Hill Middle School, given the closure of Treasure Mountain. The projects are being supported by a general obligation bond, lease revenue bond and local dollars, according to the school district.

About 85% of the district’s budget is spent on salaries and benefits.

Business Administrator Randy Upton in May said officials repurposed $4.7 million after cutting 32 part-time and full-time positions. Among the reductions in force was former Chief Operating Officer Mike Tanner, whose position was eliminated. Tanner is estimated to have been compensated around $394,000 annually. He also received a severance payment valued at around $175,000.

The school district will also pull $2.6 million from its savings to cover what was projected to be a budget shortfall amid declining enrollment and staff salaries, and to help preserve its programming without raising taxes.

Board members were adamant they would not raise taxes for a fourth year, instead finding a different way to balance the budget. The district raised taxes in August 2024 by almost 5.5%.

“At the end of the day, we’re not raising taxes,” Upton said Tuesday during the school board meeting. “That doesn’t mean some taxpayers may see an increase, possibly because if their value goes up, they’re going to see an increase. If their value goes down, they’re going to see a decrease. Those things are still in play that we don’t have control over.”

He previously said revenues to the general fund have been a bit stagnant. It was $117 million for 2024-25 and is projected to be about $118 million for 2025-26. Projected expenditures are about the same.

Student enrollment was 4,117 for the 2024-25 school year and is projected to be 4,007 for 2025-26. Enrollment was previously 4,246 for the 2023-24 school year, 4,350 in 2022-23 and 4,592 in 2021-22.

Upton expected the district to save on salaries again next year when more staff positions are eliminated through grade realignment.

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A new year means a fresh start for the newly seated Park City School Board — and a new chance for its members to build better relationships within the community.

Recently named board President Meredith Reed and Vice President Nick Hill acknowledged the challenges surrounding the outgoing board, and said they plan to highlight a collaborative leadership style that prioritizes the students, school district and community.

“It’s a genuinely new start,” Hill said in an interview at The Park Record office Thursday morning. 

Elected in 2022, Reed and Hill are the only incumbents on the five-person board. The three new members, Susan Goldberg, Eileen Gallagher and Kathleen Britton, were sworn in during a special meeting on Wednesday. Then Reed and Hill were nominated as the board’s new leaders.

But that doesn’t mean the pair will hold all of the power. They said the new board’s ideas, concerns and goals for the future of the district are “all very broadly aligned.” Reed and Hill highlighted the need for transparency, effective communication and community engagement to instill confidence in the board.

They described how a successful school board needs to have an open dialogue with its members, the school district and the public. They want to make sure the three new members understand they are valued and that their input is an important part of the process.

“It’s critical to the success of our district,” Reed said. “We’re not running classrooms, but our effectiveness as a board does impact our students.”

Now halfway through their first terms, Reed and Hill have become familiar with the mechanics of how the school board functions, and also an opportunity to see what doesn’t work. The pair said they looked forward to several “quick wins” they could make, but said there would be others that take time.

One major one is the search for a new superintendent to bring stability to the district. The school board is still accepting community feedback for the position, and they encouraged the public to become actively engaged in the process.

Hill acknowledged a “trust deficit” between the school board and the community. He advocated for people to know how, and why, certain decisions are made. All feedback on the superintendent search will be discussed during a public meeting, for example. Hill also wants to amend the board’s meeting format so more students, teachers and parents can participate.

“We have to change that. I think that communication is absolutely critical to how we change that. I talk a lot about changing the paradigm from what is the minimum that we have to make public, to switch it completely and say, ‘What is the minimum we have to keep private?’” Hill said.

The school board leaders said they plan to find the right person for the district following the departure of former Park City School District Superintendent Jill Gildea in September. The Board of Education oversees the hiring and firing of the superintendent and the business administrator and is responsible for holding those leadership positions accountable. Otherwise, members set the policy and budget.

Reed and Hill opposed renewing a two-year employment contract for Gildea, who began in 2018 and was the state’s highest paid superintendent throughout her tenure, instead asking to wait until the new board was seated this year. Three of four candidates for school board seats publicly requested the same, along with an online petition organized by parents that gathered 561 signatures.

Former board members Andrew Caplan, Wendy Crossover and Anne Peters all withdrew their reelection bids last spring and summer, before the vote was taken in August, and chose as a lame duck majority to renew the contract. Gildea subsequently announced her departure, eventually taking a job leading a charter school network in Colorado, and then-Treasure Mountain Junior High Principal Caleb Fine was named interim superintendent in September. 

Fine said then that the school district is in a season of healing, and Reed and Hill on Thursday agreed. They were excited about the opportunity for the school board to “fundamentally revisit” how it works.

While they noted the district’s high academic performance, great educators and amazing class offerings, they also didn’t shy away from addressing challenges. 

Reed and Hill were alarmed by the findings from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights that asserted the school district failed to adequately respond to almost 200 reports of student harassment based on race, ethnicity, disability or gender — and they called for the district to do more than just complete the required action. They wanted to see changes that are embedded in the schools and the broader community.

The new board will also address issues like student enrollment, housing teachers, and how to successfully educate the Park City youth. Reed pointed to new potential for community partnerships through the municipal or county governments as well as nonprofits to create positive opportunities for students, the district and the community.

“The world is our oyster there,” she said.

Reed and Hill expected the board will set the pace for the upcoming year during a retreat next week. There, they’ll discuss their top priorities and goals. 

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