The Wasatch Back chapter of the Citizens Climate Lobby and the Park City Community Foundation’s Climate Fund organized the panel.
Park City High School senior Bridget Lane and sophomore Sonja Preston moderated, along with KPCW’s Chris Cherniak.
The six candidates aligned on many of the issues. That included wanting to reach goals for reducing waste and carbon emissions.
On the question of conservation, Bill Ciraco suggested the city should change what it does with excess water.
“If we’re going to sell that water, let’s see if we can sell that water so that it’s not used and so that it ends up in the Great Salt Lake, and so it doesn’t incentivize more development downstream from us,” Ciraco said. “The city should reach out to the state and see if there’s a way that we can monetize that water with the state and have it end up in the Great Salt Lake for all of our benefit.”
Incumbent Councilmember Ryan Dickey agreed.
“I think we’re in the wrong place on water, and I’ve been vocal about that on council, and I think I’ve got some support for revisiting that,” Dickey said. “We’ve aggressively raised water rates, and that’s promoted conservation. So we know we can conserve water. The problem is we’re already selling our surplus water, and we’re selling it to Mountain Regional Water so that they can enable more development that requires more water. This is sort of the essence of virtue signaling versus actual conservation.”
When asked about approving taller buildings, this was Bob Sertner’s response.
“Somewhere between three and 10 stories is a logical solution for height and density,” Sertner said. “If we’re going to continue to look at how we get affordable housing built, and particularly in Bonanza, we’re going to have to look at some compromise. I don’t know exactly what that looks like but I do believe, in Bonanza, we can figure it out.”
On reducing carbon emissions, Matt Nagie said he wants to remove car traffic through strategic clustered development. He said he also wants to explore congestion pricing, and learn more about Los Angeles’ plan for a car-free Olympics in 2028.
“That’s going to be a great opportunity for them to be the guinea pigs,” Nagie said. “How the heck are we going to operate a car-free Olympics in Los Angeles of all places in 2028 for a Summer Olympics? I’m cautiously optimistic. I am hopeful. I think that we bring them in and we talk about the 2034 Olympics and that’s going to start the conversation long-term for, ‘Hey, how are we reducing cars here at our major destinations?’”
John Greenfield said he’d like to abolish minimum parking requirements. He endorsed the idea to build a park and ride lot on the Gordo property along state Route 248 to capture cars driving into town, and said he’d like to see the speed limit reduced on state Route 224 at night.
“Jackson does something very similar between Jackson proper and Jackson Hole resort, it lowers to 35 mph at night,” Greenfield said. “They’ve done that in an effort to mitigate vehicle animal collisions, and being immersed in our environment is part of what the experience is living here and visiting here, so that’s important.”
Candidates were asked about finding a new home for Recycle Utah. Ed Parigian, who serves as treasurer for the nonprofit, said recent plans to move to Silver Summit fell through.
“We’re going to get kicked out in two years by the development of Bonanza Village,” Parigian said. “So we need a place, we need some certainty, and we need to know where we’re going to go. Recycle Utah diverts over 3 million pounds of waste every year from the landfill, and that has value. Value in not having to build more landfill space, value in less emissions coming from said landfill. I think Recycle Utah is critical.”
Three candidates will be eliminated in the general election. Mail-in ballots went out this week and must be postmarked by Nov. 20. Election Day is Nov. 21.