SALT LAKE CITY — The proposed gondola up Little Cottonwood Canyon moved a step closer towards reality Thursday after the Wasatch Front Regional Council voted to approve a transportation plan that included the proposal.
The gondola was one of over 1,000 items included in the 2023-2050 Regional Transportation Plan that the council approved. Those in favor and against the gondola were in attendance as the council began the meeting with public comment, which was overwhelmingly against the plan.
“We got comments from every state in the country opposing this gondola," said Carl Fisher, Executive Director of Save Our Canyons. "And our elected officials are being told it's illegal to listen to that.”
Supporters of the gondola, including ski resorts, claim it will alleviate traffic issues in the canyon. In fact, officials with Snowbird and Ski Utah were at the meeting to back the gondola.
Representatives from Ski Utah and Snowbird were the only ones speaking out in support of the gondola at Thursday's Wasatch Front Regional Council meeting, claiming it will solve traffic issues.
“The amazing UDOT avalanche and plow team spent the winter battling mother nature so that vehicles could drive up the road, at times putting themselves in great peril," said Dave Fields, General Manager of Snowbird. "Road closures due to avalanches, wet slides and mudslides created historic impacts on the people who recreate and work in Little Cottonwood Canyon.”
Council members told frustrated taxpayers that federally, they are required to include the gondola in the Regional Transportation Plan, or RTP, because UDOT has backed that option as the solution to the transportation problems in the canyon.
“This kind of moves it forward and puts the Wasatch Front Regional Council stamp on it," said Senator Nate Blouin. "And my concern is that that is going to really allow the legislature to look at this as if it's gotten this ‘gold star’ from our planning organizations, and I don't think it's quite had the due diligence that it deserves yet.”
Those opposed to the gondola's construction talk of environmental and cost concerns, which could rise to over $1 billion.
After the public comment period, Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson unsuccessfully motioned to have the gondola removed from the plan due to the widespread opposition at the meeting.
Even after council voted to approve the $26 billion overall plan, the item pertaining to the gondola can still be removed at a later date.
Thursday's vote is not the final step in the gondola's approval process as the Utah Department of Transportation must still complete an environmental impact study. The Utah State Legislature also has to review and fund the project, while the federal government would have to be involved if the project touches Forest Service land.
Approval of this plan does not approve or fund the gondola immediately; the first two phases of the plan include enhanced bussing, tolling, a mobility hub and avalanche snowsheds in Little Cottonwood Canyon.
“I think that's what we're going to see after today, is this feeling that it's a done deal, and I think there's plenty of reasons to not see it that way," said Blouin. "There's plenty of legal barriers. It's still got clear environmental actions and all sorts of other steps to take, so we still need people to show up and exercise their voices”
The Wasatch Front Regional Council coordinates transportation planning and is made up of elected officials from several counties along the Wasatch Front.
