This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The powers that be in Park City can't come to terms, and that means the resort town's center may be losing an important component.
The battle over Park City Mountain Resort? No. This is about the Kimball Art Center, which has told the city it is looking for a new location after city planners rejected its design for an expansion.
Why can't these folks get along?
In its 38 years of existence, Kimball Art Center has established itself as an essential asset in Park City. Its location at the bottom of historic Main Street — in what was the old Eley Garage — has been an ideal spot to bring the visual arts to both city residents and tourists. The Kimball eventually came to oversee the city's annual Arts Festival, for which it also is perfectly located.
Park City's planning department rejected the museum's design for a 15,000-square-foot expansion because it didn't fit the historic character of "Old Town" Park City.
Historic preservation is always a balancing act. In Park City's case, suffice to say Main Street only vaguely resembles what it looked like even 50 years ago, when the ski resort opened, let alone 100 years ago in its mining heyday. Preservation efforts are worthwhile, but don't think for a second those muckers would recognize the street as it is now.
Kimball's expansion is indeed a large departure from the Old Town aesthetic, but this is not just another restaurant or hotel. This is a cornerstone of Park City's 21st Century sophistication. It should be allowed to stretch.
For its part, Kimball's leadership shouldn't be so quick to ditch the exposure of Main Street, and it should have done more to meet the city's concerns. The Danish architect, who was selected in a design contest, came up with two designs that did not meet Park City's Old Town standards.
The first design, more than 75 feet tall, was rejected as a bad fit. The second design, still an imposing triangular-shaped structure rising 46 feet, doesn't say "Old Town," but it does offer some of the drama that makes art museums such unique architectural opportunities. (No one would have said Frank Lloyd Wright's spiraling Guggenheim Museum fits Manhattan's Upper East Side, but it's a landmark now.)
In the end, this is looking a lot like the legal fight over the ski resort: an inability to compromise means the entire town loses.
Both Kimball and Park City should find a way to grow this important community asset in its perfect location. Otherwise, the place really does look like Ego City.