Yesterday we wrote that we will lose GREAT Park City teachers unless the Park City School District revamps their new enrollment policy to ensure that teachers’ kids can attend the same school where they teach. These GREAT teachers will go somewhere else in Utah to educate other children — not our children.

I am a supporter of public transportation. In the past five years, I can count on two fingers how often I have driven to a Park City ski resort. I take the bus. It’s the same when I head to Main Street. There is no reason to drive and pay to park when you can take the Spiro 101 or Electric 10.

Yet, there is a problem with High Valley Transit.

For those who don’t know what High Valley Transit is, Summit County had a breakup with the Park City bus system earlier this year. Summit County formed its own bus system and added the ability to book a ride via a Toyota minivan to many places in the Basin. They call the minivan portion High Valley Micro Transit.

It’s great. For no money, Uber High Valley Transit will pick you up and take you where you want to go. Want to be picked up and taken to your friend’s house in Glenwild? High Valley Micro Transit! Want to go from your house to Kimball Junction for dinner? High Valley Micro Transit! Want a ride back from a bar to your house at 12:30 AM? High Valley Micro Transit!

You get all the benefits of public transport without having to ride a bus and get to ride in your own private minivan.

As one Park City High School student coined it, it is FRUBER. Free Uber.

That’s the problem. You and I, as Summit County taxpayers, are subsidizing an Uber/Lyft style transportation system for individuals. Instead of the rider paying $30 for a ride, we the taxpayer are paying for them. It’s not right.

According to a KPCW, “the driver will either drop you off at your destination or at the nearest bus stop, whichever is closest and most convenient based on how many requests the driver has at that time.”

That’s not my experience nor that of people I have spoken with.

The High Valley Transit App allows a person to book a ride from anywhere within the Basin to almost anywhere else in the Basin. From my experience, It rarely directs a user to the bus. It provides free Uber. Then officials claim that as a success because it sounds good. They have thousands of riders who are delivered directly from point A to B without paying a dime. No crap. Summit County is providing free Uber.

A few weeks ago I was headed to the Indigo Girls concert at DV. I booked the ride from Jeremy Ranch to the KJ Transit Center. I already felt bad because I should have booked it to the Jeremy Ranch Park and Ride because that is the closest transit location where a bus could pick me up. However, upon picking me up, the driver offered to take me directly to Main Street. He said he couldn’t take me all the way to Deer Valley but he could take me lower Main Street. I said I wanted to embrace the spirit of the micro-transit and said to continue to the KJ transit hub.

Since then I have spoken with people who tell me that all their friends tip the High Valley Drivers to take them wherever they want to go around Park City.

This can’t be how this was designed to be operated. I don’t beleive Caroline Rodriguez, Regional Transportation Planning Director for Summit County, had this in mind for the High Valley Transit District when they started this. From a local perspective, I have tried many times to book a ride and it is unavailable. Officials attribute this to overwhelming usage. However, I wonder if everyone WAS REQUIRED TO BE DROPPED OFF AT THE CLOSEST BUS STOP, instead of driving 30 minutes across the Basin, would there be a ride for me to the bus station? Probably.

From my perspective,

There was a time where taxes around Park City were low. That’s no longer the case. Personally, my home’s property taxes have more than doubled in ten years. I know people across Summit County are feeling the same thing. It’s getting out of control.

Yes, I get that there is inflation. inflation should be at 1-2% per year over that period.

Yet, I don’t feel like I am getting any more services than I did a decade ago. I received a Jeremy Ranch roundabout which seems more dangerous each time I drive through it. Yes, it does seem to help Eastbound traffic at the off-ramp at 5 PM, but that’s about it. Otherwise, every interaction with it and the Quarry village roundabout causes me stress.

There is High Valley micro-transit, which is basically free-Uber via minivan. You and I subsidize that. In a perfect world, High Valley Transit would take people to the closest bus stop, but in our incarnation, they take you where you want to go and gladly accept the tip to get you there. It actually increases traffic on our roads.

Summit County has its own bus system. We paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to have our own transportation system. It’s led to a worse solution for people in Silver Springs. They’ll directly experience that come this winter.

My property values have gone up, but if I’m not selling my house, my increased home value doesn’t mean much to me.

However, the extra property tax bill does.

On top of that, The Park City School District voted to put a $79 million dollar bond on the ballot. If your house has a taxable value of $945K, it will cost you an extra $100 a year in taxes. By the way, they want about double that and will likely finance the additional portion in another way. So, now you are paying another $200 a year — or more because your house is likely valued at twice that amount. That payment goes on for 20+ years.

Summit County also wants an additional $50 million for open space purchases. That’s likely about $90 per year per $1 million residences. That will be on the ballot in November and will also go on for 20+ years.

Our friends in Francis may have to endure a 31% property tax increase to fix roads. It’s about $100 a year in additional taxes for an average house.

I’m sure we are all for more open space. I’m sure many of us are for better schools. I’m sure most are for repairing our roads before they fall apart.

Yet, at some point, in totality, it becomes too much.

It’s not enough to say, “Trust me, give me $80 million because we had mutliple commitees looking at schools.” Likewise, the community has always been for open space. Yet, at some point the collective bill becomes too much.

I think we are nearing that point.

Bad things will happen because individually everyone thinks their cause is pure. However, collectively it becomes too much.

For those new to Park City, you may not know that we used to have a K-Mart. It stood where TJ Maxx, World Market, and Michaels now live. When it went away, Kimball Junction was a wasteland. That is until a redevelopment made it into the walkable, beautiful development it is today. Long-time readers will know that I say that in jest.

Yet, we are at the forefront of seeing the second coming of suburban blight to the Basin. If you haven’t been following the Snyderville Basin Planning Commission, Harmon’s Grocery wants to become “the anchor tenant” at our local outlet mall. I’d never heard of an outlet mall actually having one of those. That tells you something about the state of the Tanger outlets.

Oh, sorry, they are no longer known as the Tanger Outlets but something called Outlets Park City. I love that their home page shows a picture of Main St and not the acres of concrete at the Outlets Park City. But I digress.

The Snyderville Basin Planning Commission is deciding if, and how, Harmon’s can become the featured tenant of the outlet mall. While I am often critical, I am not critical of the job the Snyderville Basin Planning Commission has done recently. They have to thread the law, with what makes sense for our community, with what is under their purview. It can’t be easy. So, whether they think it’s a good idea or not, Harmon’s is likely coming to an Outlet Mall near you.

Is that a good thing for our community?

No. We have too many grocery stores. We have a Walmart, Kroger (Smiths), The Market, Whole Foods, Fresh Market Park City, and Fresh Market Pinebrook. There is also the concept of another supermarket around Hideout. As Ryan Dickey of the Snyderville Basin Planning Commission said, “To the extent, we benefit this retail project with a successful Harmons, we’ll probably lose one of the others.” He qualified that this opinion doesn’t impact their decision-making about whether to approve the location. I completely agree on this taking down a supermarket and guess which one that will be?

Walmart isn’t closing. Whole Foods isn’t going anywhere. Smith’s is too entrenched and successful. The Market has a different market. Fresh Market in Park City also has a different market. The impact of a Harmon’s will be on the Fresh Market in Pinebrook.

Fresh Market in Pinebrook has always had one thing going for it. It has specialty items. The community seems to forgo the fear of high prices because of the specialty items and the fact it is easy to shop … since no one is there.

It is easy to imagine that Fresh Market Pinebrook will fade into nothingness with the introduction of Harmons down the street. That’s unfortunate because I like Fresh Market’s proximity to Jeremy Ranch. I like many of the people that work there. I like their selection of foods. It will be sad when it goes.

So, what will the shell of the building become? Perhaps we will get a seasonal Spirit Halloween store like they have in the empty supermarkets that dot the Salt Lake Valley. You may wish that a Trader Joe’s or Sprouts would come in. However, you don’t fix an overcrowded grocery store market with more grocery stores. Also, the space is too big. Trader Joe’s, if they ever arrive here will likely be in a space that is similar to World Market. And no, Costco won’t go in there. Neither will Target. There aren’t enough people here.

Longer-term it wrecks the plans that the Summit County Planning Department has for Jeremy Ranch. Jeremy Ranch was supposed to be a micro-hub for development. Residents were supposed to go about their day without ever driving a car. Without Fresh Market, it makes even less sense. I’m not sure it even made sense in the first place.

Long-time readers will know that I am a cynic with Park City School district spending. The previous PC Schools spending initiatives have been tainted by poor processes and statements from would-be architects that “you’ll never get funding for expansion unless you include sports.” That, may be true in Draper but are we trying to find the right solutions or are we doing what is popular? It leaves a bad taste in your mouth. I don’t trust it.

So, that is my bias.

Everyone has a bias.

In your election ballot you received from Summit County, you’ll be asked whether you want to allow the Park City School District to issue a $79 million bond. It becomes more complicated because the school district wants to spend $50 million more dollars on other projects, through a different tax mechanisam, and want to finance that separately. It’s frankly a little weird.

The problem that the Park City School District continually creates is weirdness. If the district wants to spend $129 million, then they should bond for it. Instead, they make a bond for $79 million, indicate they need $50 million more dollars, talk about $2 million coming from a secret donor, and then declare bake sales can be used for the other $50 million.

Holy crap.

But let’s take a step back. Let’s discuss the fundamental issues being addressed by the bond and the bake sale $50 million in tax increases. Here is what the $129 million Bond + is promising:

• 9th grade moves into the high school.
• Ecker becomes an 6/7/8 school.
• Preschool is available in all elementary schools.

That will cost a home owner who’s home is valued at $950K about $100 a year. Your house is probably valued more than that by Summit County, so let’s call it $200 a year. Over 21 years of the bond, you are committing to paying $4,000. Oh, and that’s the $79 million portion. The $50 million will cost even more.

That said let’s take a farther step back. Back during the 2015 Park City School District bond process, I attended almost every meeting by the bond committee. That was a shit show. The school district was being driven by outside forces that didn’t have our best interests in mind. On a positive note, I don’t feel that here. I think that all-things-Park-City-Education are pushing the bond but it’s not for financial gain.

Yet, we are also in a different place. Personally, my property taxes have doubled in the last 10 years. If they double again, for me, it will almost be unsustainable. I believe that fact is lost on Summit County and the school district.

I had a reader email the Park Rag and ask if it was possible to recall Summit County Council members who vote for “giving the Tech Park to Dakota Pacific.” The question refers to an upcoming vote that the County Council will have on allowing a local real-estate developer to build on the land beneath UOP. Currently, people believe the County Council will vote 4-1 in favor of allowing Dakota Pacific to build a medical center, hotel, office space, and 1,100 units of housing on the land.

While I didn’t ask where the reader came up with the idea, I assume it is based on recent events in California.

Unfortunately, Utah is one of 11 states that don’t allow elected representatives to face a recall election to decide if they should keep their position. So, the answer to the reader is “no, that is not an option.”

The real answer is that elections matter and they have consequences. The only thing that can be done is to challenge those who voted against this in the next election. That could be in the primary. That could be in the general election.

For instance, many people who are against Dakota Pacific had a choice in the 2020 election between Malena Stevens and Canice Harte in the Democrat primary for County Council. If you are against Dakota and you voted for Ms. Stevens, you probably chose poorly.

Canice Harte is stridently against this development. With him, on the Council, It would have been 3-2 in favor of the development. One of those people that appears to be in favor is Chris Robinson, who initially recused himself from discussions because he took gifts from Dakota Pacific (that’s laudable that he did that). Since then, he seems back in the fray (not so laudable). It is likely, if it was 2-2 without him, that he would have stayed out of the final vote. Thus, if you voted for Mr. Harte, there would be no Dakota Pacific.

Now, there probably will be.

All of that is the past and includes some conjecture. However, there is the future. If you hate this development, and the County Council enables it, you have to carefully examine your choices. My hope is that over the next four years, everyone voting for this horrible development will face opposition in the Democratic primary. Then I hope that Republicans can muster people to challenge those who make it through.

The Dakota Pacific development is a life-changing development. It’s on the scale of the Treasure Hill development in Park City.