The Park City land given to the Air Force by Hansen's legislation was not at the Gamble Oaks property that had been opposed by neighbors (and which had troublesome issues with mining claims), but was instead at another site called Red Maple.

It is about 26 acres at an entrance to town on state Route 248 (which travels into the city from U.S. 40) at an area that locals call "the narrows." A sign welcoming visitors to Park City sits next to that hillside property.

Red Maple is the gateway to an area in Round Valley where Park City has purchased extensive acreage to protect as open space. Red Maple itself was — before it was transferred to the Air Force — under long-term lease to the city, also for protection as open space.

Candy Erickson, a Park City councilwoman and the city's legislative liaison, said in 20 years, people may see that open space as Park City's own Central Park. "They'll thank us," she said.

Federal supremacy

But the Air Force is threatening that "Central Park" of open space with plans for a big hotel there, aided by an unusual power. As a federal agency, it is not bound by local zoning laws because of "federal supremacy." That is a legal term meaning a local government cannot tell the federal government what to do — especially on its own land.

So even though Park City and Summit County had adopted master plans and zoning codes calling for maintaining Red Maple as open space, it has no legal power to block construction of a lodge there if the Air Force wants it.

Erickson said, "I understand the Air Force would desperately like to build a recreation facility, and the Air Force needs that. But to put it right by this huge amount of open space our taxpayers just paid for? It's probably the last place we'd really like to see it."

Park City officials thought early on that they had tripped into an opportunity that might make the Air Force happy — and keep Red Maple as open space. But expanding plans by the Air Force for a bigger and world-class resort would nix that.

A bed-and-breakfast inn called the Imperial Hotel went bankrupt. The city explored buying it, hoping to trade it for Red Maple. The Air Force would have a hotel, and the city would have open space.

The 11-room Imperial is in the heart of Park City and near resorts and is a bit larger than the old Hillhaus Lodge. The city figured it was an even trade for the Red Maple property on the far outskirts of town, far from resorts and along a narrow road that is sometimes already congested even without construction of a new hotel there.