Park City Mayor Appoints Former Planning Commission Chair to Fill Vacancy

Mayor Ryan Dickey appointed Adam Strachan, a Park City attorney and former planning commissioner, to fill a midterm vacancy on the city's Planning Commission, returning a decade-long veteran of the panel to a seat he last held in 2018. The appointment, announced Monday, carries Strachan through a term ending July 2028.

Strachan served on the Planning Commission from 2008 to 2018 and chaired it from approximately 2007 to 2017, guiding the body through some of the most contested land-use debates in recent Park City history. His tenure included the Park City Heights and Utah Film Studio applications, the 2014 General Plan update, and the long-running Treasure Hill controversy, which his commission reviewed at length before the city ultimately acquired the land in a conservation deal. Former commission colleague Rory Murphy offered a blunt assessment of that era: Strachan was "the undisputed leader and visionary of that commission, bar none."

Mayor Dickey said in a statement that "Adam has already given a great deal to this community, and I'm grateful..." for his willingness to return. The appointment followed the formal process Park City uses for midterm vacancies, with mayoral selection and eventual council confirmation.

The timing places Strachan back on the commission precisely when a marquee project is entering the pipeline. Brinshore Development's proposed mixed-use redevelopment of the five-acre Bonanza Park site was expected to reach the Planning Commission in April, and Park City Mountain's plan to replace and upgrade existing lifts was already generating community discussion in late March. Both items sit squarely within the commission's jurisdiction, though Strachan's professional background representing ski resorts, including Park City Mountain and Deer Valley, may prompt recusal discussions on resort-related matters. He is a past president of the Association of Ski Defense Attorneys.

Strachan fills the seat vacated by Bill Johnson, who resigned in early February, just nine months after the City Council unanimously reappointed him to a term also running through July 2028. Planning Director Rebecca Ward honored Johnson's service at a commission meeting following his departure. The commission still has two additional open seats: terms held by commissioners Henry Sigg and John Frontero expire in July 2026, and Park City Municipal was accepting applications for those positions through April 8.

The vacancy Strachan fills is not an isolated staffing gap. In mid-March, Park City was working to fill 19 openings across eight boards and commissions. That the Planning Commission, which the Park Record describes as the second most influential body in Park City government behind only the City Council, had three open seats simultaneously underscored the urgency of the appointment.

After leaving the Planning Commission in 2018, Strachan chaired the city's Appeal Panel, where he presided over the review of Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince's proposal to build a home on Treasure Hill above Old Town. The panel upheld the Planning Commission's approval of that project in 2024. Notably, Mayor Dickey, then a City Council member, had voted against Strachan's appointment to that Appeal Panel.

Beyond his planning roles, Strachan has served on the Mountain Trails Foundation board and received Park City Rotary's Mayor Jack Green Volunteer Citizen of the Year Award in 2024. He moved to Park City in the late 1980s, earned a law degree from the University of Utah, and has lived in the Prospector neighborhood with his wife Helen since returning to the city in 2006. His reappointment also carries institutional weight tied to policy continuity: the 2025 General Plan, unanimously adopted by the City Council on September 25, 2025, builds directly on the 2014 update Strachan helped craft, and the commission will be implementing its land-use direction in the months ahead.