A Provo firm in 2020 flew balloons marking the height of a proposed development at Park City Mountain Resort. The Park City Planning Commission visited the land that day. There will be turnover in the Park City Planning Department and on the Planning Commission before a decision is made about the proposal at PCMR.
Park Record file photo
Park City in coming weeks will install a new planning director.
And shortly there is expected to be a new roster of the Park City Planning Commission.
An old development matter is awaiting both the incoming planning director and any members of the Planning Commission who are seated in the upcoming round of appointments.
Bruce Erickson, the Park City planning director, has died, the municipal government said on Monday. He had served as a Park City planning commissioner prior to the appointment to the director post and is seen as having had broad influence on growth matters.
Park Record file photo
Bruce Erickson, the planning director at City Hall and a figure who influenced the growth of Park City for decades, has died, the municipal government said, a loss that will reverberate through the municipal ranks as well as the wider community.
A statement from City Hall did not identify a cause of the death. There had been recent indications he was in failing health and he did not have as prominent a role, at least visibly, in Planning Department matters in the final months of 2020 as he had previously.
Tanzi Propst/Park Record
Recycle Utah has selected a local compound pharmacy that creates custom medications for patients, a restaurant and a Montessori school for its annual Green Business Awards.
This year, however, the sustainability nonprofit made a COVID-19 adjustment to the award, which is given to local businesses that have made efforts to cut down their carbon footprints, said Eric Moldenhauer, Recycle Utah’s development and communications director.
“The name has been changed to Green Business Resiliency Award,” Moldenhauer said. “Because 2020 was a year of adaptations, we strove to adapt the award to honor businesses that have persevered through this pandemic with a sincere commitment to our community and our environment. In doing so, we picked three local businesses in Summit County that exemplified their commitment to do so during a difficult year.”
Safety measures needed
I was sad to hear the tragic news of another avalanche death on Dutch Draw recently. It is long overdue for Park City Mountain Resort to require avalanche safety gear (beacon, prove, shovel) for every rider who enters sidecountry terrain through a gate and plans to return to the resort. After decades of evidence, why can’t we admit that the scary sign at the top of 9990 does not work?
Riders with no snow science education see many tracks on runs, see many others crossing the gate, see terrain that does not look all that treacherous, and have a subconscious sense that the close proximity to the resort somehow decreases the danger. This cocktail of psychological cues coupled with a lust for powder turns leads thousands each year to make the wrong decision. While a bit of education would fix this problem, the majority of resort riders have none.
Park City officials are anticipating heavy traffic over a five-week stretch that started on Friday, a sign that City Hall expects solid business over an important period in the ski season.