Might try Cottonwood Heights just at the mouth of Cottonwood canyons. I have a buddy that lives in the area and it seems pretty diverse, its really close to the freeway, and just down the road from some major resorts.. There is going to be a big LDS influance anywhere you go but it will be more prominant in Davis County, the outer regions of Salt Lake County (Draper, West and South Jordan) and of course Utah County (hated every second that I lived there, and I'm LDS). Sugarhouse and Holiday are also very nice areas with alot of cultural diversity.

With the large LDS population you will run into some bad eggs who will treat you like you are below them, and won't let there kids hang out with those who are not LDS but for the most part they are just normal people and treat you the same.

If you go the Park City route Parley's Canyon usually isn't a problem since Utah has so much experience with the snow but there will be times when it completely shuts down because of the snow. It all depends on the type of snow we get that year, we had alot of people calling us in ops because they weren't going to make a flight due to Parley's being at a standstill.

 

We have been looking hard at Cottonwood Heights but isnt that part of Sandy? Do you know what school district that would be?
Thanks for the info on Parleys, I would love to be able to make PC work for us.

 

Cottonwood Heights is in the Canyons School district I believe (Canyons School District - General News). I'm pretty sure that it used to be a part of Sandy but it wasn't too many years back that they broke off and became incoperated.

 

Thanks, it looks like Cottonwood Heights would be in the Brighton High schoold district. Do you know anything about that school?

 

I have heard good things about it myself, I'm sure that it has most of the standard problems that high schools have. They have so good and established sports teams and they are pretty high in average student GPA from what I understand.

 

I'll throw in my 2 cents about SLC as my family and I have lived here for 14 years. We have lived in the Draper/South Jordan area the whole time. I have 2 kids ages 9 and 6 and we are not LDS. My wife and I are always evaluating whether or not we should move. But honestly our experience living where we live has been good. I have mormon and non mormon neighbors. Our mormon neighbors are pretty devout but they have always treated us very well and have allowed their kids to play with ours. I think we got lucky though as I've heard stories about that not always being the case. My daughter was in private school up until last year. Her first year in public school went well and she liked it even though the class was much larger than her private school. My son still attends private school. Will we stay where we are at till my kids graduate? Not sure, we'll see as they get older. I'll leave if I feel it's harming my kids but so far they are doing well, have lots of friends both mormon and non mormon, and are generally happy. Of course we still have the teenage years to look forward to. We've talked about Park City over the years but frankly it's not comfortably within our budget and my wife doesn't want me driving parley's canyon every day. Not due to the snow but the Utah drivers. Utah drivers are the WORST, most unsafe drivers you will find anywhere. SLC has been ranked the 6th most dangerous area of the country to drive based on fatalities. And the way some of them drive the canyon is flat out scary. My wife tells people she much more afraid of my commute on the freeway then my flying. Yes they are really that bad. I never planned on living in Utah this long but overall I've liked it. There are pros and cons to living here but that is true no matter where you live.

 

Park City is definitely more expensive than SLC metro area, but you get what you pay for (location). Cottonwood heights was mentioned and most locals would say that you would be closer to the better resorts if you were to live there (Snowbird, Alta etc.).

I can second the crazies in the canyon. Sometimes the most dangerous part of a flying job is getting to the airport. Same goes down here in Puerto Rico.

 

Yes the drivers are horrible. Get a large, heavy, AWD SUV with all the airbags they can stuff into the thing. Preferably day-glo orange paint.

 

Sorry it took a while to acknowledge your posts. I haven't gotten on lately. My wife and I have been doing a lot of research on the area and have talked to a few people. I think we have decided that we want to live in Park City eventually. Our only decision now is whether we live in SLC for a couple of years while my wife works in town and then move up to PC or just move to PC right away and have her deal with the commute during that time. I am very concerned having her do that everyday but she is willing to do it. We have heard that the commute between Cottonwood Heights and the U can be slow as well so I think we would look near the University if we decide to live in SLC temporarily. Anybody familiar with the Avenues? That was one of the recommended neighborhoods for us to look at.

 

Avenues is nice enough, a touch on the eclectic side. It's what passes for downtown hip, but DT SLC just doesn't have enough going for it IMO.

It's kind of a cultural island though, I'm not sure it's a big enough area to have schools that don't have the usual SLC atmosphere.