General Plan Comprehensive Update
The comprehensive update to the General Plan is an opportunity to identify what we want to preserve and how we will evolve, grow, and develop in the coming decade and beyond, especially as we navigate regional development, consider the balance between visitors and residents, evaluate affordability and livability, and explore transportation solutions.
Please scroll below to learn about where we are in the process, existing trends, and the results of the statistically valid survey regarding values and challenges, growth and development, environment and sustainability, and transportation.
We would like to hear from you. Please share your thoughts by completing this online questionnaire on potential land use and transportation scenarios that best reflect the community vision. The questionnaire will be open through March 24, 2025.
Process Update
The General Plan update is progressing through five phases and we are in Phase 3. Phases 1 and 2 focused on analyzing existing conditions and gathering community feedback, which will continue during Phase 3. Phases 4 and 5 will concentrate on finalizing the plan. The goal is to have the final document ready for adoption by the summer.
In Engagement Window 1, we engaged the community through several neighborhood meetings and a statistically valid survey. We also held five Advisory Board meetings, a Technical Committee meeting, a General Plan Advisory Group meeting, and one-on-one City Council interviews. Neighborhood-specific open houses have been ongoing since December, providing community members an opportunity to share insights specific to their neighborhoods.
We are currently in Engagement Window 2, which will feature a community open house March 4, 2025 at Miner's Hospital at City Park from 5:00 - 8:00 p.m. Engagement Window 3 will focus on plan sharing.
Existing Trends Update
As part of the existing conditions analysis, we have examined key drivers and trends affecting the community. The top of this section illustrates changes in Park City's geography and population over time. Over the next five years, population growth is expected to increase by approximately 1% under current trends. According to projections from the Mountainland Association of Governments, Park City’s full-time population is anticipated to grow by only 202 residents (2%) between 2030 and 2050. However, pipeline developments could lead to a higher growth rate if they proceed.
Park City experiences a significant daytime population increase of approximately 81% due to incoming workers, compared to a 14% increase for the County. This highlights that more individuals commute into Park City for work than those who commute out. The city’s daytime population consists of 80.55% commuters and 19.45% residents.
Employment projections indicate that by 2050, Park City is expected to have approximately 27,158 employees—an increase of about 6,000 compared to 2020. This growth is expected to impact traffic and commuting patterns significantly, especially if additional workforce housing is not developed within the city.
Demographic trends suggest that Park City has an aging population, with a high percentage of empty nesters and senior households. While Summit County’s median age has decreased, Park City’s largest age group has shifted from the 25–29 age range in 2010 to the 60–64 age range today.
From a housing perspective, median home prices have continued to rise, and there has been a shift in the ratio of homeowners to renters. Of the 8,585 housing units in Park City, only 33% are occupied, compared to 52% for the County. This leaves 67% of Park City's housing units vacant, with 77% of these (4,438 units) designated for seasonal, recreational, or occasional use—accounting for more than half of the city’s overall housing stock.
In 2021, Park City had 651 affordable deed-restricted units, with 69% designated as rentals and 31% as owner-occupied. To support its workforce and middle-class residents, the city needs to develop an additional 800–1,000 units over the next five years.
Survey Summary
Methodology: Survey invitations were sent via email and text message to a sample from the City’s residential utilities list which was supplemented with residents sampled from the publicly available Utah registered voter file to ensure we heard from Park City residents. Responses were collected from November 14 - 27, 2024. Responses were weighted to reflect the demographic composition of the city as a whole and were geocoded into City neighborhoods. The survey received 453 responses.
Takeaways:
Park City residents are split on the direction of the City. They see the City as a small town and enjoy the natural setting and the activities that it provides.
A sense of community is important to residents, followed by preservation efforts and a focus on the environment.
The biggest challenge in the eyes of the residents is traffic and congestion. The main issue they would like the City to focus on in the future is transportation services followed by redeveloping properties and local businesses.
Within the focus of transportation services, the residents prefer a focus on streets that have better walkability and transit services for workers and skiers. Residents experience the greatest impact from traffic for accessing events, accessing recreation, and accessing local businesses.
Preserving nature is a point of emphasis for Park City residents. The top priorities for them in the coming years are trail development, preservation of open spaces, and wildfire mitigation.
How Did We Get Here?
From the silver mining days initiated in the 1860s to the thriving Main Street district that followed, to the mining decline and 1950s ghost town status, to the ski town era of the 1960s that led to two world-class resorts, the 2002 Winter Olympics, and the return of the Winter Olympics in 2034, Parkites have envisioned and shaped the future of our mountain town nestled in the Wasatch Mountains.
Park City’s 2014 General Plan was completed after a 2009 community visioning process that established the project’s mission: Keep Park City Park City. Four values shaped the goals and strategies of the 2014 General Plan: Small Town, Sense of Community, Natural Setting, and Historic Character.
Over the past decade, the City has implemented many of the 2014 General Plan recommendations, including established goals to increase protected open space through purchases of properties slated for development like the 1,534 Bonanza Flat acreage along the City’s southern boundary and the 125 acres of Treasure Hill. The City also annexed nearly 1,200 acres in the Southeast Quinn’s Junction area, zoning the property Recreation Open Space within the Sensitive Land Overlay.
While the City worked to create an open space buffer to preserve sensitive lands, protect mountain vistas, and enhance the quality of life and visitor experience along its perimeter, both the Park City Mountain Resort and Deer Valley Resort applied to develop their base area parking lots, proposing to infill long-vested density. Park City is reaching buildout. But perhaps most impactful is the anticipated growth within Summit County and Wasatch County—Utah's fastest growing county between 2010 and 2020—and the City’s proximity to the ever-expanding Wasatch Front just a short 35 minutes away from the Salt Lake International Airport, presenting regional challenges and opportunities requiring proactive planning and bold action.
The update to the General Plan will begin from the results of Vision 2020, the City's latest community visioning project that calls for embracing bold action as we look ahead and focuses on five pillars, including environmental leadership; art, culture, and local economy; sustainable tourism; transportation innovation; and affordability and equity.
