Park City Mountain is opening up its roughly 10-acre Mountain Village base area to public planning, with stakeholder meetings set to begin this winter and a partnership with Avon, Colorado-based developer East West Partners. The process will examine new development on existing surface parking lots and could involve moving resort operations out of the Munchkin property in the Bonanza Park neighborhood.
The resort announced the launch of the planning effort Tuesday, according to the Park Record. Any future work at the base of Park City Mountain will be guided by the principles of Park City Municipal's recently adopted General Plan, per the resort's announcement. Beginning this winter, the resort will host stakeholder meetings and offer in-person and online ways for the public to weigh in before predevelopment meetings with the city get underway.
Vail Resorts, which owns Park City Mountain, described the Mountain Village site as one of the most significant and exciting opportunities in Park City, noting that the mountain connects the resort to Main Street and the businesses downtown. The company pointed to the city's preparations to host the 2034 Olympic Winter Games as a reason to move the planning forward now.
City and Developer Weigh In
Park City Mayor Ryan Dickey said the future of Mountain Village is important to the community, the economy and the guest experience. Deirdra Walsh, vice president and chief operating officer of Park City Mountain, said the resort is excited about creating renewed vibrancy at Mountain Village.
East West Partners was selected for its expertise developing vibrant projects in mountain communities and will help lead the planning process alongside the resort. Bill Fiveash, the firm's managing partner, said the opportunity is especially meaningful because Park City is home for many people at East West Partners.
A Companion Update to the Mountain Plan
Alongside the base area planning, Park City Mountain will update its own Mountain Plan, working with a mountain planning firm to guide the process. That update will reflect resort operations including lifts, trails, snowmaking, guest facilities and other mountain infrastructure, and will detail how guests access the resort and are distributed across the mountain.
The updated plan will also include options for future mountain enhancements and is designed to evolve over time, rather than being a fixed, one-time document. Input on the Mountain Plan update will come through the same in-person meetings, open houses and online engagement planned for this winter.
Past Investment and Longstanding Traffic Concerns
Vail Resorts says it has invested over $200 million in Park City Mountain since 2014, including the Sunrise Gondola, snowmaking upgrades, new beginner ski and ride zones, and restaurant and other infrastructure improvements. Local reporting has long described traffic and parking as persistent concerns in the Mountain Village base area during ski season, per an earlier Park Record report on the area's growth.
Vail Resorts has said its newer parking system at Mountain Village has resulted in less traffic on main roadways and through neighborhoods, according to a company announcement. The same release states that High Valley Transit noted a 20 percent increase in ridership immediately following that parking and transportation transformation.
A 2025 city open house offered a snapshot of the broader Resort Center area, showing a population of 221 and 885 total residential units, with 87.1 percent of those units vacant, 9.6 percent owner-occupied and 3.3 percent renter-occupied, according to the same Park Record report. That same reporting noted that a previous development effort on land including the resort's parking lots was abandoned after a Provo firm opted against the project amid concerns from nearby residents and property owners.
A Regional Comparison in Vail
East West Partners and Vail Resorts have teamed up before: the companies are also partners, alongside the town of Vail, in the West Lionshead redevelopment, as reported by the Vail Daily. That process included three public listening sessions in late 2024 before moving to hearings before Vail's Planning and Environmental Commission, according to separate Vail Daily reporting on the West Lionshead plan.
That outlet reported the West Lionshead area could eventually accommodate about 1,100 additional full-time residents and include a new lift portal to Vail Mountain, after the Vail Town Council voted 6-0 to approve amendments to the Lionshead Redevelopment Master Plan. The final land uses and outcomes for Park City's Mountain Village process remain undetermined, and officials have not released a specific proposal, site layout or construction timeline.
Park City Mountain says it will share updates on planning milestones and community engagement opportunities through its website, and anyone interested can sign up for email updates about the process.
