Park City planners to review Bonanza redevelopment site, code changes

The southwest corner of Kearns Boulevard and Bonanza Drive has become one of Park City’s most consequential pieces of land: five acres bought for about $19 million in 2017, now under review for a redevelopment that could bring housing, open space and lasting changes to traffic and neighborhood character. Park City planners walked the site at 4 p.m. and then took up the project in Council Chambers at 5:30 p.m., putting the Bonanza parcel back at the center of a debate over what belongs on one of the city’s most visible corners.

The commission did not just examine Bonanza as a single project. Its agenda also included public hearings on three proposed Land Management Code amendments, with the option to forward recommendations to City Council. That combination matters because it ties a parcel-specific proposal to citywide rules that could influence density, design standards and development expectations elsewhere in Park City. Public comments were accepted by email before the meeting, keeping the process open as the city moved deeper into a phase that can shape a site long before any building permit is issued.

Bonanza has been in the city’s planning pipeline for years. Park City says the Bonanza Park Small Area Plan was adopted on July 11, 2024, and the site moved into the land-use application phase on March 19, 2026, after Council approved preliminary plans in a 4-1 vote. The city originally imagined an arts-and-culture district anchored by the Kimball Art Center and the Sundance Institute, but that first concept was expected to top $100 million and was reset.

The current concept is more grounded in housing and public space. One version calls for 10 buildings and 106 residential units, with homes aimed at residents earning 40% to 80% of area median income. Roughly 70% of the five-acre site would remain open space, a sign that the project is trying to balance density with breathing room on a tight urban parcel.

The five-acre city-owned site is only part of the larger Bonanza Park effort. The rezoning work covers about 70 acres between Park Avenue, Kearns Boulevard, Bonanza Drive and Deer Valley Drive, and community engagement has been extensive, with more than 1,500 participants overall, over 700 survey responses in phase one, about 250 in phase two and a site tour that drew roughly 50 people. The city says it adopted its first housing policies in 1993, now has 674 affordable deed-restricted units and needs about 1,100 more over the next seven years for workforce and middle-class residents. That pressure explains why critics are focused on traffic, safety, evacuation and emergency access at the Kearns-Bonanza intersection, and why supporters see Bonanza as a rare chance to turn public land into a central neighborhood with housing, open space and a more walkable street grid.