Park City councilor says she was confronted over Bonanza Park plan

A Park City councilor said she was physically confronted while speaking with residents at a municipal open house about Bonanza Park, a sign that the fight over one of the city’s most watched redevelopment sites has grown more intense as the proposal moves forward.

The confrontation came as Park City was already facing sharp public reaction to its plans for the five-acre city-owned parcel at Bonanza Drive and Kearns Boulevard. The site sits inside the larger 200-acre Bonanza Park neighborhood, bounded by Park Avenue, Kearns Boulevard and Deer Valley Drive, where questions about housing, open space and neighborhood character have become central to the city’s future.

Park City has spent years trying to reset the discussion. The City Council unanimously approved a new small-area plan for the broader Bonanza Park area on July 12, 2024 after gathering input from more than 1,500 residents through meetings and online surveys. That plan kept a 35-foot height limit in place, with the possibility of reaching 45 feet if a developer provides community benefits such as underground parking, affordable housing or open space.

The city’s five-acre site was purchased in 2017 for $19 million and was first promoted as an arts and culture district with the Kimball Art Center and Sundance Institute as anchor tenants. That concept later expanded to include housing, parking and a transit center, but it stalled after projected costs climbed above $100 million. In February 2025, city officials said they would bring back a more specific proposal, cap the city’s funding commitment at $30 million and pursue a minimum 60-year ground lease for $1 a year in exchange for priorities that included deeply affordable housing, with some units targeted as low as 30% of area median income.

By March 20, 2026, the council had approved preliminary 5-acre plans in a 4-1 vote and sent the proposal to the Planning Commission. That concept called for 10 buildings, 106 residential units, nearly two acres of open space, affordable housing targeted to 40% to 80% of area median income, almost 20 market-rate units added at council request, plus a coffee shop, restaurant, small amphitheater, playground and arts pavilion.

The dispute has carried extra weight in Park City, a city of about 8,985 people spread across 22.2 square miles and located roughly 32 miles from the Wasatch Front. With growth continuing around Summit and Wasatch counties, Bonanza Park has become more than a land-use fight. It is now a test of whether Park City can keep public participation open and orderly while one of its most consequential redevelopment debates turns increasingly personal.