Solitude files permit for off-street parking as residents and police warn canyon traffic is blocking emergency access

Solitude President and Chief Operating Officer Amber Broadway told the Town of Brighton on Jan. 14 that the resort filed a conditional use permit with the Municipal Service District to acquire a private parcel for an off‑street parking site intended to reduce roadside parking and roadway hazards.

The resort’s announcement came during public input as several residents pressed the council to intervene on afternoon and midday traffic backups that, they said, have grown since ski areas adopted morning reservation systems. Unified Police Department officers told the council long vehicle queues have already delayed emergency responders.

“Solitude is working to put forward a real time solution to this ongoing public safety matter,” Broadway said, adding the resort is not seeking to expand ski terrain but aims to “eliminate roadside parking and solve for the current vehicles in our canyon.” She listed a series of transportation investments the resort says it has funded, including a paid parking program, a carpool app and subsidized bus access for pass holders.

Why it matters: residents and first responders described repeated incidents in which traffic slowed or stopped for extended periods on Brighton Loop and Big Cottonwood Canyon, creating delays for ambulances, fire crews and snow‑removal vehicles. Council members did not take formal action on the permit at the meeting; residents asked the council to advocate with resort management and state and federal road owners.

What speakers told the council

Philip Mervis, a resident building in Silver Lake Estates, urged the council to “wade into this matter” and said afternoon backups can last 30 to 45 minutes and extend from the Brighton Loop down Canyon Road toward the fire station. “Not only is it a disaster for residents trying to egress their homes, but for first responders, snow plows, and buses who are equally impacted,” Mervis said in written remarks he asked to be read into the record.

Anna Walker of the Unified Police Department reported that in December 2024 UPD was dispatched to 241 calls for service in Brighton, many of them motorist and citizen assists tied to winter driving. Walker said reservation verification and vehicles circling for parking at resort lots have produced miles of slowed traffic and at times prevent ambulances and other emergency vehicles from getting through.

“Even though we’re so close and even though we’re using our lights and our sirens, we cannot get through the traffic because there’s no place for the traffic to move to allow us through,” Walker said.

Amber Broadway outlined steps Solitude says it has taken to reduce vehicle demand and support transit: she said Solitude introduced a managed paid parking program in 2018 and has funded carpool incentives, a Solitude carpool app extended to Brighton, free bus access for ICON pass holders (which Broadway said the resort fully funded from 2018 to 2023), and other employee and shuttle programs. Broadway also told the council Solitude is prepared to provide water and sewer to an off‑street facility and has filed a conditional use permit with the MSD.

Council response and next steps

Council members and staff did not vote on the resort’s permit at the Jan. 14 meeting. Several council members said the issue will be discussed at upcoming road and interagency meetings. Residents requested the council open conversations with resort management, UDOT and the U.S. Forest Service—the agencies residents and the town said hold jurisdiction over canyon roads—and to press for solutions that guarantee a parking space for users who arrive.

No formal town direction or permit approval was recorded at the meeting. Solitude said it will remain engaged with the town and the public as it develops the plan.

Ending: The council did not act on the conditional use permit at the meeting. Residents, Unified Police and the resorts signaled a continuing, multiagency process to address parking, traffic flow and emergency‑access risk in Big Cottonwood Canyon.