Thank you for letting me speak tonight. I live in the mouth of Little Cottonwood and strongly oppose the gondola. It is bad for Sandy, even for residents living far beyond the Canyon mouth. Let me explain just one of the reasons: gondola traffic jams for Sandy commuters.
UDOT excluded S.R.209 and Wasatch between 209 and 210 from its EIS. This eliminates all of Sandy City from their considerations of environmental impacts. But the gondola does have significant impacts on Sandy residents and finances. For example, UDOT proposes a new traffic light on 210 to allow cars on 9400 to enter the gondola base. Traffic will backup directly on 9400 or on both 9400 and Wasatch. Gondola traffic disrupts far more than just skiers. All Sandy commuters heading north to work each morning up Wasatch Boulevard will have to fight gondola parking traffic. UDOT and gondola supporters ignore this impact on Sandy.
This traffic doesn’t just fall on peak ski-days. Developers, including Mr. McCandless, talk of a new ski-village at the gondola base with hotels, restaurants, bars and shops. These commercial enterprises are fueled not just by skiers, but also by tourists coming to the gondola year-round as a major attraction. The gondola will be the largest, longest and most vertical in the world. Sandy taxpayers will help pay for theses tourists and ski-village visitors to park. With the gondola, financial sense dictates that the 80+ acres of open land will be developed as a commercial tourist center. This commercialization will make millions for Mr. McCandless or if not him, then other developers if a gondola is erected. Commercial development will happen if the gondola happens.
Sandy gets no choice and no benefit from the commercialization of the Canyon. Almost all the land falls in the County or Cottonwood Heights. Without a say, Sandy residents will get half of the environmental impact and absorb most of the commuter delays due to gondola traffic. Sandy City will pay for infrastructure improvements for traffic from the south and west, but Sandy will receive almost none of the new commercial tax revenue to pay those costs. New revenue will go to the County and Cottonwood Heights. Sandy gets the impact, the cost, and none of the new revenue. If any municipality should oppose the gondola, Sandy should.
Thank you for letting me speak tonight. I live in the mouth of Little Cottonwood and strongly oppose the gondola. It is bad for Sandy, even for residents living far beyond the Canyon mouth. Let me explain just one of the reasons: gondola traffic jams for Sandy commuters.
UDOT excluded S.R.209 and Wasatch between 209 and 210 from its EIS. This eliminates all of Sandy City from their considerations of environmental impacts. But the gondola does have significant impacts on Sandy residents and finances. For example, UDOT proposes a new traffic light on 210 to allow cars on 9400 to enter the gondola base. Traffic will backup directly on 9400 or on both 9400 and Wasatch. Gondola traffic disrupts far more than just skiers. All Sandy commuters heading north to work each morning up Wasatch Boulevard will have to fight gondola parking traffic. UDOT and gondola supporters ignore this impact on Sandy.
This traffic doesn’t just fall on peak ski-days. Developers, including Mr. McCandless, talk of a new ski-village at the gondola base with hotels, restaurants, bars and shops. These commercial enterprises are fueled not just by skiers, but also by tourists coming to the gondola year-round as a major attraction. The gondola will be the largest, longest and most vertical in the world. Sandy taxpayers will help pay for theses tourists and ski-village visitors to park. With the gondola, financial sense dictates that the 80+ acres of open land will be developed as a commercial tourist center. This commercialization will make millions for Mr. McCandless or if not him, then other developers if a gondola is erected. Commercial development will happen if the gondola happens.
Sandy gets no choice and no benefit from the commercialization of the Canyon. Almost all the land falls in the County or Cottonwood Heights. Without a say, Sandy residents will get half of the environmental impact and absorb most of the commuter delays due to gondola traffic. Sandy City will pay for infrastructure improvements for traffic from the south and west, but Sandy will receive almost none of the new commercial tax revenue to pay those costs. New revenue will go to the County and Cottonwood Heights. Sandy gets the impact, the cost, and none of the new revenue. If any municipality should oppose the gondola, Sandy should.