Park City Citizens Have Made a Difference With Regard to Mountain Accord

Park City and Snyderville Basin residents… We salute you.

On Monday, the Mountain Accord Executive Committee met to discuss comments they have received over the last few months. One of the outcomes of the meeting, according to local leader and activist Rich Wyman, who attended the session, is that the tunnel between Brighton and Park City has been scrapped from the proposed actions for the NEPA process. According to Mr. Wyman, Park City City Council member Andy Beerman and Summit County Council Member Chris Robinson told the Mountain Accord Executive Committee that their constituents were not in support of a tunnel connection to Park City. The Executive Committee evidently listened to our representatives and will likely remove the tunnel option from the Mountain Accord proposed actions.

In addition, it was stated that the following language would be added to the Mountain Accord Blueprint:

“Mountain Accord decisions are consensus based and do not supersede federal, state, and local jurisdictions’ authority. Local jurisdictions that have consented in the consensus based process shall seek to implement agreed-up scenarios or actions within their jurisdiction through zoning, general plan, and other tools available. Local jurisdictions are not obligated to implement actions with which they are not in agreement.”

This language was likely added because of Roger Armstrong, and other Summit County Council members, who demanded that the citizens of Summit County would not be forced, against our will, into allowing actions decided on by the Mountain Accord representatives.

While we still need to wait for the final language to be added to the next iteration of the Mountain Accord Blueprint, this appears to be a victory for the people of Park City and the Snyderville Basin. It proves that by getting involved, showing up at public meetings (like the Mountain Accord Meeting at the high school), and writing emails, that we can all make a difference. Without the people voicing their concerns, activists like Mr. Wyman raising awareness, and certain elected representatives willing to take a stand, the outcome likely would have been different. The Mountain Accord would probably have submitted a proposal to the government that included a tunnel to Park City and that tunnel probably would have turned into reality.

For at least now, that concern seems to be abated. In the future we may need to fight again to prevent a tunnel to Park City but today we can now concentrate on the good parts of the Mountain Accord — the environmental aspects.

It’s a good day to be part of a democratic republic. It’s a good day to know that your opinion actually counts and makes a difference.

Park City and Basin residents, if I could throw you a party I would.

You done good.

Update: I heard from Rich Wyman with regard to this article. He thought it was important to point out that the train was likely being scrapped from the proposed actions for the NEPA process. While he is optimistic that this is a great step towards ensuring that the train isn’t part of The mountain accord, nothing is definite yet. He said that additional conversations and votes had to happen to make this become a reality. Therefore, I have updated the story to reflect that as best as possible. Thanks to Rich for pointing this out.