Font Resize
Kimball Junction » Park City is a state of mind.
Until you try to run for mayor or the City Council, that is.
Predictably, it happened again this year. Some residents of Snyderville Basin, who live in unincorporated Summit County, dropped by City Hall to declare their candidacy for November's election.
City Recorder Cindy LoPiccolo delivered the shocking news: Sorry, you don't live in Park City and you can't run for office.
It's not a big problem, and certainly isn't new, either, LoPiccolo said.
"In general, there is confusion by residents in [Western Summit County's] Snyderville Basin," she said, "because they have Park City addresses."
That's part of the mix-up, said Sally Elliott, who sits on the new Summit County Council but has lived within Park City limits since 1986.
"Once upon a time, the only post office in Park City was on Main Street and the ZIP Code was 84060," she said.
However, about 25 years ago the Postal Service opened an office near Kimball Junction -- ZIP Code 84098.
"But they called that Park City, too," Elliott said. "People in Snyderville Basin have a Park City postal address, so they think they live in Park City."
During that same period, an outlet mall then called "The Factory Stores at Park City" opened at Kimball Junction. (The mall is now called The Tanger Outlet.)
That caused late Park City Mayor Jack Green to cringe. "They are trading on our name," he lamented at the time.
But there was no going back, said Roy Atencio, who lived in west Summit County's Jeremy Ranch development for eight years before moving to Heber City.
"Once you come over Parleys Summit, it's Park City to most people," Atencio said. "Why would you tell people you live in Pine Brook or Snyderville when you can tell them you live in Park City? It's a pride thing."
There was talk in the 1980s among politicos about annexing Kimball Junction into Park City.
And there was a push in the late '80s to incorporate Snyderville Basin into a municipality to be called Snyderville, recalled Park City Mayor Dana Williams. It failed because residents in the unincorporated county wanted to keep the Park City moniker.
"I actually think we are one big community," Williams said. "It doesn't bother me, except when people [outside city limits] call to complain about the snowplows."
Dennis Hough, who lives near Kimball Junction and works at a Tanger Outlet shop, knows where the Park City limits are, even though one of his colleagues was convinced the mall is in Park City.
When asked if the Tanger commercial center was within Park City limits, the man, who refused to give his name, said, "Last time I checked."
"It's a convenience thing," Hough said. "Kimball Junction just is not a [community] label."
Eighteen-year-old Brooke Strong grew up in Highland Estates, just outside Park City. She attended Park City High School, within the city limits.
Now Strong works at Park City Coffee Roasters at Kimball Junction, outside the city limits.
But the way she sees it, all of western Summit County is one town and it's called Park City.
"It really is all Park City," Strong said. "I think it's bogus that you have to live within city limits to run for City Council."
