Park City, UT
Home MenuPark City Leaders Announce Plan to Move Forward With Purchasing Bonanza Flat
CONTACT:
Linda Jager
Community Engagement Manager
Park City Municipal Corporation
435.901.2311
linda.jager@parkcity.org
Park City Leaders Announce Plan to Move Forward With Purchasing Bonanza Flat
Funds are still needed, but Park City won't turn its back on Bonanza Flat
PARK CITY, UT (June 12, 2017)—Citing the promise made to Park City voters when the $25 million bond passed and the outstanding work of the nonprofit coalition and agency partners, Park City leaders announced today their plan to move forward with purchasing the 1350-acre Bonanza Flat property for $38 million. The City plans to close on the property Thursday, June 15. Park City Municipal will host a press conference and community celebration on Friday, June 16, from 3:00 to 4:00 pm at the Bob Wells Plaza (located at the base of the City Hall steps on Swede Alley).
What started out as a $13-million funding gap has been whittled down to approximately $500,000. In a five-month, all-out fundraising campaign, artists, local businesses, and recreationalists on the Wasatch Back and Front have pitched in to play a part in preserving Bonanza Flat. Early on, a single-night event at Montage Deer Valley netted over $1.1 million in donations. “We have always been committed to saving this tremendous landscape,” said Park City Mayor Jack Thomas. “We want the community to rest assured that we will step up to the plate and purchase the land, but we are reliant on all of the commitments made to-date to truly get this across the finish-line.”
One factor that helped turn the tide on the final dollars needed was the sale of the $25 million bond itself. Due to Park City’s exceptional bond rating, the City was poised in the market to get the best value for their bond. The result is that Park City has an additional $2.7 million to add to the $25 million already approved by voters. The City is reserving $700,000 of the bond premium in contingency to cover closing costs and anticipated trailhead enhancements. “We need to be good stewards of the land,” said Councilman Andy Beerman. “We know that the public loves this land, and, because of that, we want to make sure we are able to manage its use in a sustainable manner.”
The City stressed the importance of pledges made to the nonprofit coalition as well as the recent commitment from Salt Lake County. “We still need those,” said Beerman. On June 6, Salt Lake County Council voted 5-2 to provide a critical $1.5 million, but this commitment hangs in the balance pending the County’s final budget hearing on June 20.
The nonprofit coalition spearheaded by Utah Open Lands has raised over $2.5 million. “We still have outstanding pledges and grant requests, as donors have wanted to wait until they really knew this was going to happen before giving,” said Wendy Fisher, Utah Open Lands Executive Director. “We can safely say this is really going to happen. Now is the time to cut those last-minute checks.”
Just in the past week, Kodiak Cakes has held breakfasts, partnered with the Park City Trails Series, Skullcandy, Traeger and other local business and pledged $10,000. Locally owned clothing company Kuhl committed $25,000. Park City’s Leadership 23 class challenged Leadership Class alumni and held an online auction that raised over $25,000. From an anonymous donor who pledged over $300,000 at the start of the campaign to a personal $25,000 challenge grant made by the Park City Mayor and City Council, dollar-by-dollar, day-by-day, the $13 million gap has dwindled. “With this outpouring of support, Council and I felt that we needed to let everyone know we will make this happen,” said Thomas.
Deer Valley Resorts and Vail’s Epic Promise stepped in midway through the campaign with a $30,000 challenge grant. That was matched in a 48-hour period through the Summit Land Conservancy. Rock and Reilly’s teamed up with Professional Snowboarder Andrew Muse, holding an auction to raise $16,000, which was matched by an anonymous donation to Utah Open Lands. Friends of Alta led off with a board-member challenge of $35,000, which was matched within weeks. Wasatch Back Country Alliance used proceeds from a canyon shuttle day to add to an impressive total of funds raised by their group. Mountain Trails Foundation and KPCW used an on-air pledge drive to double their financial support, and the Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club had individual members in Wasatch County challenging each other to get into the giving spirit for the land they love. One of the earliest fundraising efforts was by artist and local resident Bridgette Meinhold, who donated her artwork to raise $22,000 in a single evening.
From High West Distillery to a birthday party at the State Room that requested donations instead of birthday presents, the five-month campaign to raise funds for Bonanza Flat has been called historic and miraculous. “In 27 years of raising funds to save treasured landscapes, I have never seen 11 different nonprofits, three counties, three cities, numerous business and countless individuals come together, coming close to closing a $13 million need,” said Fisher. Fisher noted that this all began with the citizens of Park City stepping up to do the heavy lifting by passing the $25 million bond last November. “Without the leadership of the Park City Mayor, City Council and the residents of Park City, Bonanza Flat would already be lost,” said Fisher. The 11-member nonprofit coalition includes Save Our Canyons, The Wasatch Back Country Alliance, Friends of Alta, The Nature Conservancy, Mountain Trails Foundation, Summit Land Conservancy, Wasatch Mountain Club, Winter Wildlands Alliance, Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club, Trails Utah and Utah Open Lands.
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About Park City Municipal Corporation
Park City Municipal Corporation is the government seat for Park City, Utah. A former silver-mining town, Park City is now home to two world-class ski resorts and was the mountain host for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Winter Games. The town of 7,500 also hosts many special events, including the Sundance Film Festival and the Kimball Arts Festival. For more information, please visit www.parkcity.orgDepartments » Sustainability » For Homes
Cleaning Supplies
When looking for natural and non-toxic cleaning products, avoid anything with synthetic ingredients or fragrances, petrochemicals, VOCs, chlorine bleach, phthalates, formaldehydes and more. You should always read the labels of any product, and if a product does not have a label with ingredients then it almost surely has harmful chemicals inside. Look out for words like Caution, Warning, Notice and Danger, which could signal a potential harmful chemical. Learn more about healthy cleaning products here.
When purchasing natural cleaning products make sure they bottle includes a list of ingredients. You should be able to pronounce the names of all of them and should know exactly what each one is. The best kind of natural cleaning product you can buy should be made with simple ingredients that you could find in the store and make yourself.
Exposure to these toxins indoors can cause eye, nose, and throat irritation; headaches; loss of coordination; nausea; and damage to liver, kidney, and central nervous systems. And we certainly don't want ourselves, our family or our pets to come in contact with these toxins or experience any of these health problems. Children and pets are especially at risk because they experience a higher dose of toxins, not to mention their immune systems are still developing and not able to shed toxins from the bodies as quickly as adults.
There are three categories into which most of the hazardous ingredients in household cleaning products fall are:
1. Carcinogens – Carcinogens cause cancer and/or promote cancer’s growth.
2. Endocrine disruptors – Endocrine disruptors mimic human hormones, confusing the body with false signals. Exposure to endocrine disruptors can lead to numerous health concerns including reproductive, developmental, growth and behavior problems. Endocrine disruptors have been linked to reduced fertility, premature puberty, miscarriage, menstrual problems, challenged immune systems, abnormal prostate size, ADHD, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and certain cancers.
3. Neurotoxins – Neurotoxins alter neurons, affecting brain activity, causing a range of problems from headaches to loss of intellect.
Here are some startling facts about the chemicals found in cleaning products.
- 17,000: the number of petrochemicals available for home use, only 30 percent of which have been tested for exposure to human health and the environment.
- 63: the number of synthetic chemical products found in the average American home, translating to roughly 10 gallons of harmful chemicals.
- 100: the number of times higher that indoor air pollution levels can be above outdoor air pollution levels, according to US EPA estimates.
- 275: the number of active ingredients in antimicrobials that the EPA classifies as pesticides because they are designed to kill microbes.
- 5 billion: the number of pounds of chemicals that the institutional cleaning industry uses each year.
- 23: the average gallons of chemicals (that's 87 liters) that a janitor uses each year, 25 percent of which are hazardous.
- White Vinegar
- Baking Soda
- Borax
- Hydrogen Peroxide (3% concentration)
- Club Soda (plain)
- Lemon Juice
- Liquid Castile Soap
- Corn Meal
- Olive Oil or Walnut Oil
- Toothpaste
- Pure Essential Oils - like lavender, lavender, peppermint, eucalyptus, lemongrass, and tea tree oils
With all of these ingredients you can make your own natural and non-toxic cleaning supplies, which cost a lot less as well.
- All-Purpose Cleaners: This cleaner can be used for just about every surface in your home, from kitchen counters and appliances to bathroom surfaces and walls.
- Carpet Cleaner: To clean and disinfect your carpet, blend 1/2 cup baking soda, 1 cup borax, and 1 cup cornmeal. Sprinkle mixture over rug and rub with a cloth. Let rest for several hours or overnight, then vacuum. An even simpler way to clean your carpet is to sprinkly plain baking soda on your carpet, let rest for an hour and then vacuum up. You can also add dry lavender buds to the baking soda for an extra fresh smell.
- Hard Floor Cleaner: This solution can be used for all hard floors (except when directed by the manufacturer to avoid even mild detergents): Combine 1/4 liquid castile soap, up to 1/2 cup white vinegar or lemon juice, and 2 gallons of warm water in a large plastic bucket. Use with a mop or sponge.
- Glass Cleaner: To make your windows shine, you can simply use club soda in a spray bottle. Add 1 tsp. of lemon juice to increase your window cleaner’s degreasing power. Leftover newspaper works very well to reduce streaks
- Bathroom Surface Cleaners: You can use the all-purpose cleaners recommended above or, for even simpler bathroom cleaning, use baking soda or borax as a scouring powder. For a softer scrub, combine 1/2 cup baking soda with enough liquid soap to achieve a frosting-like consistency. You may want to add 5-10 drops of an essential oil for fragrance. Club soda works wonders on plumbing fixtures.
- Toilet Cleaner: Sprinkle baking soda or borax, or pour white vinegar into the toilet, and let sit for a few minutes. Scrub with a good toilet brush.
- Oven Cleaner: Cover the oven floor with baking soda, spray with water until very damp, and let set overnight. Spray with water every few hours before you go to bed to keep damp. In the morning, clean out the baking soda, and the stuck-on gunk will be loosened and ready to scrub off.
- Drain Cleaner: Put two tablespoons of baking soda into/over the drain of your sink or tub. Then pour one cup of vinegar on the baking soda. This will begin to fizz a lot and is completely normal. Wait a few minutes, and then pour a kettle of boiling water over the soda/vinegar residue.
- Mold Remover: Combe 1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide or white vinegar with 1 cup water. Spray on mold and do not rinse. You can also treat mold with a spray mixture of 2 tsp. tea tree oil and 2 cups water.
- Wood Polish: To polish wood furniture, dab olive oil or walnut oil onto a soft cloth and rub.
- Silver Polish: Just put some toothpaste on an old toothbrush or wet cloth and go to town. When you’re done polishing, rinse the item well in warm water and then dry with a soft cloth.