PARK CITY — Park City Mountain Resort will have to pay a bond of $17.5 million by next Friday in order to continue operating through the upcoming ski season, a judge ruled Friday.

The bond covers the estimated damages looking forward between Sept. 12 of this year and April 30, 2015, including reasonable annual rent for the property and attorney fees. The bond will only stay eviction and will not cover damages previous to the date it is due.

"Everybody's going to know by the end of next week what's going to become of that resort," 3rd District Judge Ryan Harris said. "I'm just as curious as the next guy."

The bond amount will allow the resort to continue operating through the coming ski season, however it doesn't resolve the conditions of a long-term lease agreement. If a solution is not reached by the time the bond expires, Park City Mountain Resort will have to pay an additional $19 million to operate through the 2015-16 ski season, the judge ruled.

Prior to Friday's hearing, Park City Mountain Resort and Talisker Land Holdings both submitted proposed estimates of what they believed was reasonable annual rent for the property. Harris, however, was not satisfied with either estimate, citing flaws in how the two evaluated the "highest and best use" of the property and generic income of similar businesses.

"In this case, this is a very difficult thing to do," Harris said. "For various reasons, this is a very difficult piece of property to put a value on."

Park City Mountain Resort officials declined to comment on whether the bond would be paid by Friday.

John Lund, an attorney representing Talisker, said the landowner will not appeal the judge's decision, even though the bond amount was below what Talisker asked for.

"Talisker believes the uncertainty about the coming season must come to an end, and obviously, PCMR can do that right now by posting the bond in the amount," Lund wrote in a statement. "Any suggestion that PCMR (cannot) post the bond is foolishness because PCMR has generated over tens of millions in profits over the past three years using Talisker's land without a right to do so."

He said now is the time for both parties to "focus on the upcoming season and (make) it the best one possible for everyone in Park City."

Park City Mayor Jack Thomas said he's concerned but optimistic that the community will enjoy the full use of its three ski resorts this winter.

"We're anxiously awaiting the response from PCMR as to what their next step is," Thomas said. "If we were to lose PCMR, that would have a significant negative impact on our community. … It's a major concern to us and yet I'm optimistic that we'll get to a successful season this year."

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Park City Mountain Resort willing to pay 'fair market' lease to Talisker

With the deadline for court-mandated mediation approaching, Park City Mountain Resort officials told city leaders last week that the resort is willing to pay a fair market lease to continue operations through the 2014-15 ski season.

Thomas said the case between Park City Mountain Resort and Talisker has caused "probably the highest anxiety this community has experienced in decades," and community members are eager for a lasting solution.

Park City Mountain Resort has long been at odds with its landlord, which owns the roughly 3,000-acre mountain plot where the resort operates. After the resort failed to renew its lease of the land, Talisker served the resort with an eviction notice last year.

The eviction notice was stayed but upheld by Harris, and court-mandated mediations have continued throughout the summer, with several deadline extensions, in search of mutually agreeable conditions that would allow Park City Mountain Resort to continue operating where it is.

Vail Resorts Inc. has recently begun operating Canyons Resort adjacent to Park City Mountain Resort, which sees Vail's move as a step toward pushing it out of the area.

Park City Mountain Resort has argued that because it owns the resort base, a one-year lease, not including damages or attorney fees, would be worth between $1 million and $6 million. Talisker, however, says Vail is currently paying about $11 million each year for conditional ownership of the disputed property.

A pretrial teleconference hearing was scheduled for Sept. 30 to determine when further trial proceedings will take place, what their duration will be and whether a jury will become involved.

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