New mayors in Oakley, Francis and Coalville and a tied race for a Kamas City Council seat highlighted the preliminary election results released by the Summit County Clerk’s Office late Tuesday evening.

By Wednesday afternoon, when a large portion of outstanding ballots had been counted, the tie had been broken, but the other results had held.

An unknown number of mail-in ballots with a valid postmark were likely continue to arrive after Wednesday. The vote totals won’t be final until the cities hold official canvasses to certify results, which will be at least one week and no more than two weeks after Election Day.

The margins in most races, however, appear too large to change.

In the Coalville mayoral race, native son Mark Marsh appears to have defeated Lynn Wood, who prominently opposed a controversial large-scale development that shaped local politics. For the City Council, however, a prominent development opponent appears to have won a seat, along with another who has said citizens are concerned about the city’s growth.

In Oakley, Zane Woolstenhulme has what appears to be a comfortable margin over City Councilor Joe Frazier for the mayor’s office.

And in Kamas, two candidates were tied for the second City Council seat after preliminary results were released Tuesday. The margin grew to nine votes by Wednesday, but could still change as the remaining ballots are counted.

New mayor in Oakley

The names vying for mayor in Oakley, Frazier and Woolstenhulme, have been on many ballots over the years.

Current Mayor Wade Woolstenhulme did not seek another term, and after Wednesday’s count, his brother Zane Woolstenhulme led Frazier by 35 votes, 298-263.

Zane Woolstenhulme thanked a core group of supporters for helping his campaign and said he was gratified and humbled to be in a position to win.

“I’m just grateful it turned out how it did,” he said, crediting Frazier for running a good campaign.

Zane Woolstenhulme said he was excited to get to work, but first needed to learn how to do the job.

“My first priorities are to make sure I understand the lay of the land and the role of the mayor in the city government, and exactly what are my responsibilities, and once I know what all of that is, then I need to sit down and make a plan for next steps,” he said.

He indicated a new well to bolster the city’s water supply would likely be under construction as he takes office in January and that other aspects of the city’s water infrastructure likely need improvement.

“One of the things I want to do is put together some sort of capital improvement plan to inform discussions and decisions going forward to try to stay ahead of the curve, if you will, so that we’re not always playing catch-up,” he said.

In the City Council race, incumbents Kelly Kimber and Steve Wilmoth received the most votes, with 408 and 266, respectively. The next-highest challenger, Clayton Page, had 207 votes, while Marissa Dillman had 189.

Tight race for Kamas City Council

Kamas Mayor Matt McCormick won another term in office after running unopposed.

The City Council race, however, was closely contested.

David W. Darcey was the highest vote-getter, with 330 votes. Jessica Allen Bateman was the next highest, with 239, and right behind her was Kandilee Sauter, with 230.

Bateman and Sauter had been tied at 201 votes when initial results were released Tuesday evening.

For a candidate to request a recount, the final margin would have to be within 0.25% of the total votes cast in the race, according to County Clerk Eve Furse. That would be two votes.

Natalie Souza finished fourth, with 148 votes in Wednesday’s count.

Uncontested races in Francis

Francis Mayor Byron Ames decided not to seek another term and will be succeeded by current Planning Commissioner Jan Brussel, who ran unopposed.

The City Council races were also uncontested. Incumbent Shana Fryer sought another term, but incumbent Trilby Cox did not. That seat will be filled by Clayton Querry.

Leadership change in Coalville

Nearly a dozen candidates sought elected office in Coalville this year after a development proposal involving a second-home golf community spurred intense community debate.

The mayoral race pitted Lynn Wood, a prominent opponent of the plan, against Mark Marsh, a Coalville native who formerly ran a small business in the area.

As of Wednesday evening’s results, Marsh held a 48-vote lead, with 273 votes to Wood’s 225.

Marsh, who has also served on the State Board of Education and North Summit Board of Education, said his background as a longtime Coalville resident likely helped his candidacy.

“I was happy to see that people in my community still trust me and understand that I served them for other years in other capacities,” he said. “It came in good for me so I was happy with the results, absolutely.”

He said the city should take steps to protect local businesses and Main Street as growth comes to the area.

Marsh said one of the first things he would do as mayor is to convene a community focus group to set priorities for elected officials, something he’s pursued on other boards he’s led.

He would ask city councilors to invite 10 or so people each and eventually convene a group of 60 or 70 residents to talk about their highest priorities, which he said would serve as “marching orders” for city officials.

Among those city officials will be two new faces, as no incumbent city councilor was on the ballot. Louise Willoughby was the top vote-getter, with 293 votes, followed by Steven B. Richins with 259. The next closest challenger is Stefanie Bowen, with 218 votes, followed by Christopher Horne with 185.

Though the results appear unlikely to change, Richins should know better than most that preliminary vote totals are not final. He was in sixth place in the August primary after initial results were released but surged ahead as additional votes were counted to take the fourth and final spot on the fall ballot. He now appears poised to become a city councilor, a post he previously held for 16 years.

Willoughby was a prominent opponent of the development proposal that engendered so much debate, while Richins has said people weren’t satisfied with the direction of the city’s growth.

No contest in Henefer

Henefer canceled its election after three people filed to fill three seats.

Mayor Kay Richins will serve another term, as will City Councilor Detton Fawcett. Casey Ovard is replacing Matthew Shill on the council after Shill opted not to run again.

Familiar faces in Hideout

Though Hideout isn’t in Summit County, it has tried to annex land in the county, a move that has roiled local politics.

Mayor Phil Rubin, after filing for reelection with a half-hour to spare before the deadline, won another term following his opponent’s late withdrawal.

Chris Baier and Ralph Severini, both incumbent councilors, were elected to four-year terms, while fellow incumbents Bob Nadelberg and Carol Haselton were elected to two-year terms.

Incumbent leads in Fire District race

Incumbent Craig Fry leads Tyler Lewis by 92 votes, 1,002-910, in the South Summit Fire District commissioner race.

The post 3 new mayors will take office on Summit County’s East Side appeared first on Park Record.

When the clock strikes 12:01 Friday morning, Park City’s annual fundraising blitz will have officially begun.

Live PC Give PC has raised more than $16 million since it started 11 years ago. This year, officials from the Park City Community Foundation, which organizes the event, are hoping to garner 6,500 individual donations — a number that would equal more than 75% of Park City’s year-round population.

The featured nonprofits run the gamut from local entertainment venues to historical societies to sports teams.

Here’s a spotlight on three diverse nonprofits that aim, in their unique ways, to support the greater Park City community.

Wasatch Backcountry Rescue

Since the late 1970s, Wasatch Backcountry Rescue has been rescuing people in Utah’s mountains, said Andy Van Houten, the president and CEO of the group.

“75% to 80% (of callers) are either lost or (in) a medical situation we can assist with. That’s kind of right in our wheelhouse,” Van Houten said. “We’re all professional patrollers at each resort.”

The teams are called out when accidents happen beyond resort boundaries and patrollers respond as volunteers with various search and rescue teams. The team’s first focus is on avalanche rescues, he said.

“We do a lot between Big and Little Cottonwood canyons and outside Brighton,” he said, adding that teams have branched out to respond during the summer, as well.

Another large component of Wasatch Backcountry Rescue’s work is its avalanche education, which Van Houten said includes visiting schools to talk about backcountry safety. He said the group often partners with the Utah Avalanche Center.

The group also trains avalanche rescue dogs — a popular partner when it comes to school lessons.

Van Houten said 90% of the group’s avalanche dogs are Labrador retrievers, typically bred to be about 45 to 50 pounds. The smaller size helps the dogs and their handlers move around on chairlifts and helicopters as necessary.

“They have a great temperament for it,” Van Houten said.

He said donations from Live PC Give PC would help expand training programs.

“With the huge increase in numbers of backcountry skiers the last few years, we’re seemingly busier and busier and busier each year,” he said. “We rely on donations for training and to get new equipment.”

Little Bellas

Hilary Greene leads the ride program for the Park City chapter of Little Bellas, a Vermont-based nonprofit that encourages girls to ride mountain bikes. Greene said the organization’s mission is simple.

“It’s mentoring on mountain bikes,” she said.

The program, now entering its sixth year, is open to girls aged 7 to 15. It offers the opportunity to ride with peers and young-adult mentors in a non-competitive environment.

“This past year was so much fun,” Greene said. “We had a girl who had never mountain biked before. She just got out there, she was so confident because, you know, you have to sometimes remind them to use their brakes, ‘Let’s take it slow, learn a little bit.’ She’d be ending up in the bushes upside down on her bike. … She tried every single time. The excitement on her face is the best part of teaching Little Bellas.”

Donations go to supporting a “gear up” program to connect students with equipment, regardless of their economic status, and to pay for things like trail permits and scholarships.

Greene said the program is “all about having fun” and encouraging girls.

“We try to concentrate on confidence, trust and relationships with other girls — not only mountain biking. We do snack time, really conscious about eating snack with the girls and making sure they’re comfortable with their body image,” Greene said. “… I think that we provide a really important environment and the girls feel comfortable because we’re out there having fun and we’re all doing something we love.”

Immigrant Legal Services

Salt Lake City-based Immigrant Legal Services employs a small staff of Spanish-speaking attorneys and paralegals that help clients navigate the byzantine world of U.S. immigration law.

Executive Director Gina Crezee said one staff attorney has about 150 cases in process, and explained that the nonprofit provides services on a “low-bono/pro-bono” basis.

“Attorneys are going to help you — start you at the beginning, do the consultancy to see if you have a case, work through and help you in an appropriate manner, do your paperwork, do everything you need to do to send it off for the best success,” she said.

Crezee said the firm only focuses on immigration cases and that some clients have “horrific” stories about the violence they have fled.

But sometimes the protections of the law do not extend to a certain case, no matter the threats the client may face at home.

“Some of our previous attorneys who aren’t with us anymore carried over 300 cases,” Crezee said. “The trick is, after you see all of these heartbreaking stories, to not take it home, to figure out how to be mentally OK with that.”

Crezee said donations go to paying legal fees to keep costs low for clients. She said large corporations might pay tens of thousands of dollars to sponsor an employee’s visa, but clients who come to Immigrant Legal Services cannot afford that.

She indicated the organization, founded in 2016, is careful with donations.

“We’re a little different than other organizations. We don’t have endowments,” she said. “We’re new and we watch every dollar and spend it appropriately so we can put it towards more, better representation and help for the people that come in and meet with us.”

The post Looking for donation ideas ahead of Live PC Give PC this Friday? appeared first on Park Record.

It’s shaping up to be a busy stretch for COVID-19 vaccine providers as federal approval appears imminent for children aged 5 to 11 to receive shots, and booster doses are now available for everyone 65 or older, in addition to other groups.

The Summit County Health Department is preparing to start delivering vaccines to younger children in a 12-hour clinic planned Monday at Park City Hospital, and to continue that effort throughout the week at its three Health Department offices, one each in North Summit, South Summit and at Quinn’s Junction. Already, about 1,000 families have pre-registered their children, according to Health Director Phil Bondurant.

Pre-registrations can be made at vacc.me/511. There is also a vaccine hotline, which can be reached at 435-243-5320.

Nursing Director Derek Moss said the county would send out a link to schedule appointments as soon as the vaccine is approved. The scheduling portal would also be available on the Health Department’s website and via the county’s social media channels.

“We know some of these mothers and children and fathers feel this desire to really get vaccinated as soon as they can,” Moss said, adding that the county has made youth vaccinations its priority next week, rather than booster shots.

As of Tuesday morning, federal officials had not yet approved COVID-19 vaccines for children aged 5 to 11, though Bondurant said that child-size doses — 1/3 of the adult dose of the vaccine manufactured by Pfizer — were already en route to the county.

He and Moss said the county has the capacity to deliver in a week the 2,500 to 3,000 shots expected to be required.

It takes five weeks for the two-shot course of COVID-19 vaccine to reach peak efficacy, meaning children who receive the shot on Nov. 8 will have some protection for Thanksgiving and will be considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving their second dose, which could be as soon as Dec. 13, in time for the winter holidays.

Moss said the goal is to deliver 800 doses on Monday if vaccine supply and federal approval occur as expected. The Health Department is also planning clinics at its offices from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, according to the department’s website.

Officials are planning another large-scale vaccination effort on Nov. 30 for second doses.

Lori Weston, the CEO of Park City Hospital, said officials there are planning another youth vaccine push on Nov. 12.

Bondurant said he expected the Health Department to deliver the majority of shots for younger children but private partners are also setting up programs, as they are for booster shots.

Everyone 65 or older is approved to receive a booster shot, as are those with some preexisting medical conditions or jobs that require interaction with the public in enclosed settings, like teaching school.

Federal officials have approved mixing and matching vaccines, and Moss said Summit County has vaccines manufactured by all three companies — Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.

Booster shots are also available at local pharmacies, including Walmart, Smith’s Food and Drug and Walgreens.

The post Summit County prepares to vaccinate children aged 5-11 appeared first on Park Record.

Summit County voters overwhelmingly supported the county’s proposal to borrow $50 million to preserve open space, according to preliminary election results. It is the largest ever total for a bond of its kind in the Park City area.

Though the results have not been finalized, the margin is sizable, with 8,381 votes for the bond and 3,848 against.

Officials have said the money will be spent to protect land on the East Side of the county from development and have targeted the Kamas Valley and Weber River corridor.

Summit County Council Chair Glenn Wright said the bond gives the county the opportunity to preserve land and supports residents’ desire to control growth.

“In terms of the importance, the growth, especially on the East Side of the county, what we’re going to see especially over the next 10 or 20 years is going to be incredible,” he said. “And there’s just some really critical, sensitive lands over on the East Side of the county: the meadows in Kamas, the banks of the Weber River, all the tributaries. We are the protectors of the watershed for the entire Wasatch Front.”

Cheryl Fox, who leads the Summit Land Conservancy, said she was “thrilled” with the result.

“We already have landowners lined up hoping to do something if this bond passed,” Fox said. “I think it’ll keep the Summit Land Conservancy busy.”

The conservancy is a nonprofit that works to preserve land from development, and is anticipated to be a key partner in future deals. The nonprofit often uses a legal arrangement called a conservation easement, in which a landowner is compensated for their land’s future development rights, which are then extinguished.

County officials have said the money from the bond will be used to preserve open space by working with landowners willing to create conservation easements or by purchasing land outright. They have also spoken of the importance of leveraging bond funds with money from other state and federal sources.

Wednesday’s results show a sizable majority of those who voted support conserving land. The results may change as late-arriving ballots trickle in through the mail. They will be counted if they are postmarked on or before Nov. 1, the day before Election Day.

Wright called the turnout impressive, pointing out that residents in unincorporated Summit County did not have municipal elections to bring them to the polls.

The measure is the largest such approval in the county’s history, rivaled in size locally only by the $48 million open space bond Park City voters approved in 2018. That money was mostly used to purchase the property involved in the Treasure land deal.

Unlike in that election, when voters had a clear choice between land conservation and a development above Old Town, Summit County officials have not identified specific projects they would pursue, though they have identified the Kamas Meadow as a key target for preservation.

The patchwork of privately held grassland runs northward from Francis through South Summit and contains what officials have called vital wetlands. It is the subject of increasing development pressure, including a recently unveiled proposal to build 1,600 homes on a portion of that land.

Voters have given the county the ability to bond for up to $50 million, but it is not certain the amount will be that high. Officials have said low interest rates might make the timing advantageous to borrow money.

Officials have estimated the tax impact on a $715,000 primary residence at $40 annually, and $73 per year on a business or secondary residence of the same value.

While open space bonds have historically been supported by Summit County voters, this was the first time East Side voters have weighed in. In 2014, Snyderville Basin residents voted to spend $25 million on recreation and open space, the previous highest level from a county entity.

Wright said preserving the Kamas Meadow was a shared priority between Summit County and the three South Summit cities.

“If l could look into my crystal ball and look out 10 years into the future and we have essentially bought up all of the development rights in the meadows along the banks of Weber River, and along with some critical areas in the West Side of the county, then it will have been a success,” he said. “$50 million sounds like a lot of money, but it can go fast.”

The post County $50M open space bond passes with 2-to-1 margin appeared first on Park Record.

All students and faculty members at Parley’s Park Elementary School are required to wear masks after the school passed a threshold for COVID-19 cases over the weekend.

A Summit County public health order mandates masks in elementary, middle and junior high schools if more than 2% of a school’s population is diagnosed with COVID-19 over a two-week span.

This is the first time a mandate has been implemented since the order was issued at the start of the school year. Officials have said the order is designed to stop an outbreak before it takes hold in a school.

On Sunday, the number of official cases passed the threshold, according to the Park City School District, and all Parley’s Park students, staff and visitors were required to wear masks starting Monday morning.

The mandate will be in place until Nov. 14, when the number of cases will be reevaluated. If fewer than 2% of the school’s population is diagnosed with COVID-19 in that two-week span, the requirement will be lifted.

Parley’s Park has a population of 594 people, which means that 12 cases surpasses the 2% threshold.

As of Monday, the school’s total had fallen to 11 cases. The school with the next highest percentage of its population diagnosed with COVID-19 was McPolin Elementary School, at just under 1%.

The state requires a “test to stay” program if any school the size of Summit County’s schools has 30 active cases over a two-week period. Officials have said one motivation for the mask order is to avoid having to implement the testing program, which they indicated is burdensome.

Park City Superintendent Jill Gildea asked parents to continue to keep children home if they are sick.

“COVID is still with us, and we’re seeing an uptick in cases of students and school-aged families,” she said.

The threshold initially appeared to be met last Thursday, according to data published by the district, but that was later reversed.

Officials indicated the data published last week included cases that did not fit the county’s definition for a confirmed case of COVID-19. The county requires a lab-confirmed test result and for the infected person to have attended school within 48 hours of testing positive.

The false alarm last Thursday prompted community members to question why the numbers were changed. A website that automatically publishes health metrics daily at 6 p.m. showed three new cases at Parley’s Park that day, bringing the total to 13 over a two-week stretch. When the numbers were later changed, the same number of new cases was reported, but the total had fallen to 11.

Health Director Phil Bondurant said at a Board of Health meeting Monday that officials examined the data when the threshold was hit to ensure it was properly calculated. He said school metrics, which are uploaded directly to the database by officials at individual schools, can include informal diagnoses.

“On the school district side, they had a different mechanism for determining cases. They were identifying cases that were called in from parents, saying that ‘We had a positive test,’ or ‘My kid was exposed and now is sick,'” Bondurant said. “And by case definition for the legal component of the order, we cannot include those because that’s not the case definition of a positive from the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and the Utah Department of Health.”

Gildea said the district would make changes to how it reports cases that are published in the public-facing data dashboard.

“We are appreciative of the careful monitoring and data review provided by (the Summit County Health Department) and UDOH,” Gildea said.

The post Masks are required at Parley’s Park Elementary School after COVID threshold hit appeared first on Park Record.

A former Park City driving instructor who taught thousands of local teens pleaded no contest on Monday to charges stemming from accusations that he inappropriately touched a student during a driving lesson last spring.

Dan Paul Hunter entered into a plea in abeyance in 3rd District Court to two counts of class A misdemeanor sexual battery. The charges could be dismissed if he complies with the conditions set by the court, which include having no one-on-one contact with minors for two years and the payment of restitution not to exceed $2,000.

Officials indicated the restitution, which has totaled $720 to date, was to help pay for counseling for the teen who accused Hunter of touching her inappropriately.

The plea deal also requires Hunter to comply with any treatment recommended by a psychosexual evaluation.

Hunter’s attorney, Jarom Bangerter, said the case was a difficult one for both the defense and prosecution in that there was no physical evidence and no other witnesses.

“It’s a he-said, she-said case, and those are difficult to prove,” he said. “… We’re excited about this deal because it’s going to result in dismissal, an absolute dismissal.”

The incident occurred during a driving lesson in April, according to court documents. A girl, then 17, received a one-on-one driving lesson from Hunter in the hills above Deer Valley Resort. She alleged that Hunter touched her inappropriately three times during the lesson.

She told authorities he kept his arm between her legs longer than necessary as he was adjusting the steering wheel and that he touched her breasts with his forearm twice as he was indicating for her to turn left.

The girl also alleged Hunter made comments that made her uncomfortable, including about a previous boyfriend.

Bangerter has argued in court filings that Hunter’s long track record of teaching Park City-area young drivers shows that he does not have a history of abusing students.

The requirement that he not have one-on-one contact with minors was changed during the hearing from a requirement that he not have “unsupervised” contact with minors. That appears to allow him to continue teaching group driving lessons, though Bangerter said he will not be doing so.

“He is no longer employed as a driving instructor, and he won’t be,” Bangerter said.

Without the plea deal, Hunter faced up to three years in jail if convicted of the charges. The deal also included the dismissal of a third charge with prejudice, meaning it cannot be brought again.

The post Former Park City driving instructor pleads no contest to sexual battery appeared first on Park Record.

A dozen maps — that’s the fruit of the labor of the Utah Independent Redistricting Commission that spent months crisscrossing the state to receive public input in an attempt to create political boundaries that represent like-minded communities rather than the interests of incumbent politicians.

Whether any of those maps becomes law remains to be seen.

The independent commission is a compromise resulting from a voter-initiated effort to avoid partisan gerrymandering in the state. It recommends maps to the Legislature, but, ultimately, elected officials are empowered to select political boundaries as they see fit.

The commission is scheduled to present its maps — three possibilities each for the Utah Senate, House and State Board of Education districts, as well as for the U.S. Congress — to the Legislative Redistricting Committee on Monday.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. at the Utah State Capitol. Officials expect there will be an opportunity for members of the public to comment on the proposed maps.

The last time political maps were redrawn was following the 2010 U.S. Census, when Summit County was split into three Utah House districts and two Senate districts. Democrats claim those boundaries dilute the voice of their voters, while Republicans say it leads to a diversity of opinions being heard.

One thing isn’t debatable: No person who represents Summit County on the state level lives in Summit County.

Michael Smith, the chair of the Summit County Republican Party, said members of the group’s leadership have submitted maps to state officials that resemble the current boundaries.

“We’re very comfortable about the way the situation sits right now,” he said. “We’ve had numerous meetings with legislators even though (the county is) sliced up like a piece of chocolate pie.”

Katy Owens, the chair of the Summit County Democratic Party, said it might make sense to split the county into two Utah House districts, but three is too many.

“House District 53 has everywhere from Rich County to the Colorado border,” Owens said of the district that covers much of eastern Summit County as well as a portion of the Snyderville Basin. “Our Park City voice is very much diluted in that case.”

Summit County reliably votes for Democratic candidates, drawing on overwhelming support from the population centers in the Snyderville Basin and Park City. The East Side, however, is more politically conservative.

Of the five representatives the county has at the Statehouse, four are Republicans, with the lone Democrat being Rep. Brian King, of Salt Lake City, whose district stretches to include the Pinebrook and Summit Park neighborhoods.

Park City and the majority of the Snyderville Basin are in much larger, rural districts that have Republican representatives.

The maps for Utah House districts released by the Utah Independent Redistricting Commission vary in how they divide the county, with one splitting it into three districts once again, another into two and a third keeping it largely intact.

Owens said she would support a map that keeps the greater Park City area united in one House district while the East Side of the county is included with other rural areas.

Smith said he would reserve judgment until the final maps are presented. He added that he supported the mission of the independent commission.

Owens said it was important the Legislature adopt at least one of the maps produced by the commission, saying the work should be respected.

“I think these maps are more fair and balanced than maps drawn by the Legislature,” she said. “Not just symbolically, I think they result in fairer maps. If you let incumbents in the Legislature draw the maps as you see fit, then you have other political considerations. They want to see their districts remain intact so they can win again.”

Katie Wright leads Better Boundaries, the organization that pushed for the independent commission to be created. She said she was impressed by the hard work, diligence and transparency the commission demonstrated.

“I would be incredibly disappointed (if none of the maps were adopted),” she said. “I think that in a representative democracy, it’s really critical that districts are drawn putting communities and people first so they have the opportunity to elect someone who understands their concerns.”

The commission’s work was scrutinized recently, especially the maps for U.S. congressional districts, after the surprise retirement from the independent commission of former U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, a Republican who represented Summit County in Congress for nearly two decades.

Bishop reportedly took issue with the maps not including both rural and urban areas in each congressional district. The three maps forwarded by the independent commission create a Salt Lake City-based district. Utah’s congressional delegation is entirely Republican, and the commission’s maps each create a district that has a roughly 55% to 45% Democratic advantage, according to an analysis from the Princeton Gerrymandering Project.

Summit County’s population centers are included in the Salt Lake district in two of the proposed maps, while in another it is included with virtually the entire eastern and southern half of the state in a very rural district.

The Princeton analysis gives each of the proposed congressional districts an “A” rating on a partisan fairness scale.

The post Proposed redistricting maps split Summit County in multiple ways appeared first on Park Record.

The Rock Cliff Recreation Area is on the far eastern side of Jordanelle State Park, a place that is abundant with wildlife and, soon, a reopened Nature Center that will provide riverfront access and educational opportunities.

The Nature Center, which was hit with flooding in 2018, is celebrating a reopening from 10 a.m. to noon Tuesday, Nov. 2, at 2500 S.R. 32.

The Wasatch Mountain Institute has worked with Utah State Parks, the Utah Office of Outdoor Recreation and the Rocky Mountain Power Blue Sky Program to secure funding to repair and reopen facilities, add solar power to offset about 90% of the center’s electricity demand and revitalize the trailhead and boardwalk areas, according to a prepared statement.

“Wasatch Mountain Institute’s mission (is) connecting children, families, and communities to the wonder, education, and recreational value of Utah’s Wasatch Mountains,” the statement read.

Families are invited to attend the ceremony and explore “a riparian oasis nestled in the eastern arm of the Jordanelle Reservoir where deer, owls, migrating ducks, and spawning Kokanee Salmon are abundant.”

The post Rock Cliff Nature Center celebrates reopening appeared first on Park Record.

Kamas is considering a development proposal the mayor estimates could quadruple the city’s size, and nearly half of the elected officials who will likely decide the issue will be elected Nov. 2.

Developers have proposed building 1,600 homes west of the city on land in unincorporated Summit County they would like the city to annex into its borders. Discussions are set to continue two weeks after Election Day.

There are five seats on the City Council and current Councilors Garry Walker and Allen McNeil will not be on the ballot. Voters will choose between Jessica Allen Bateman, David W. Darcey, Natalie Ruth Souza and Kandilee Sauter to fill those two seats.

The Park Record contacted each to gauge their reaction to the development proposal.

Jessica Allen Bateman

Bateman called the development a “work-through with potential,” and indicated the suggested number of homes is likely a starting point in negotiations.

“I don’t foresee anyone approving 1,600 residences, because that, as it’s been said before, almost quadruples Kamas City,” she said.

She pointed to the High Star Ranch annexation as a successfully negotiated project that clustered development in lower elevations.

“I think it’s key to keep the Kamas Meadows open and to minimize building on the mountain ridges and the mountainsides,” she said.

Bateman supported the idea of Kamas annexing the land so it could control how it would be developed, and said she wanted the view of the S.R. 248 entry corridor protected.

“I think it’s better to have the land and work through the issues that would come up with it than to not have the land,” she said.

She said it was natural for the developer to explore different ways to accomplish the project, including annexing into different cities or incorporating as a new jurisdiction. She expressed doubt the development could incorporate as its own town and said the developer should not pit different jurisdictions against one another.

Bateman also said that water and wetland protection would be key issues.

“I think the Kamas City Council is on the right path in wanting to meet with them and wanting to discuss and work with them,” she said.

David W. Darcey

Darcey indicated the size of the proposed development was too much for the area.

“I don’t feel that, right now, off the cuff, that 1,600 homes are sustainable in this valley,” he said.

He said the project poses significant risk for the city in its potential impacts to the water and sewer systems, as well as the additional work for the police and public works departments.

Darcey said if elected he would put in the effort to see whether the land would be a good fit to be annexed into the city, adding that Kamas would probably be the logical jurisdiction for the development to occur.

He said his priority is to preserve the open space on the Kamas Meadow and the appearance of the entryway into the Kamas Valley.

“The last thing I want to see is when you come over the hill into the valley, ‘Oh, this looks like any other industrial corridor, this looks like nothing special,'” he said, citing as an example the U.S. 40 entry into Heber, which is lined with strip malls.

He said Kamas would likely deal with pressure from many developers, comparing the city to Park City’s position 30 or 40 years ago. He said governments — including cities, counties and the state — should work together to find the best solutions for the entire Kamas Valley.

Natalie Ruth Souza

Souza compared this annexation proposal to the High Star project, lauding the community benefits that project provided, including a well, infrastructure and a spot for a fire station.

“According to the general plan, annexation only works if there’s a significant benefit to the community,” she said, adding that result was achieved after years of negotiation with the High Star developers.

Souza expressed concern about the impact the development would have on the area’s schools and the city’s municipal infrastructure.

“Sewer’s fine now, water’s fine now, but is that the limit?” she said.

She said an expansion of the sewer system is likely going to be necessary, but changes to technology and regulations might make it extremely expensive if a project of this size is built.

She said annexing the land so the city controls how it is developed would have benefits, like making sure the roads are built to city standards and connect where officials prefer, but would come with significant maintenance costs.

As for her preferred vision for the S.R. 248 entryway, Souza said a first priority is protecting the aquifer and water running through the Kamas Meadows and then shaping any potential development around that.

She indicated the council should have a data-driven discussion about the costs and benefits the development could bring.

“Do we want a part of that? I don’t know the answer,” she said. “Depends what benefits they bring into the city.”

Kandilee Sauter

Sauter said she preferred not to offer her opinion about the proposed development, indicating she was still studying the proposal.

“I can’t comment on that yet because I haven’t done my research enough on it,” she said.

The post Here’s what Kamas City Council candidates think of a proposed 1,600 home development appeared first on Park Record.

The proposal to build a new neighborhood at Kimball Junction has received renewed attention in recent weeks as critics have inundated the Summit County Council with hundreds of emails and launched a petition opposing the plan.

Opponents decry the impacts a large-scale residential development would bring to an already congested area and claim the project has little upside.

Proponents, including some members of the County Council, see the project as a path to fixing traffic issues plaguing the area.

The developer, Dakota Pacific Real Estate, wants to build 1,100 homes, a hotel, office buildings and commercial space at the southwest corner of Kimball Junction. That would require changing a 2008 contract that limits what can be built there to mostly tech-related office buildings.

In an informal straw poll at a County Council meeting this summer, four of the five councilors supported the plan in concept, with Roger Armstrong dissenting.

A subcommittee of county councilors and county staffers have met with the developer behind closed doors since the project was last discussed publicly in August. It reemerged Wednesday night as the council and county officials discussed for more than two hours the contents of the plan and how to move forward.

No vote was taken and a public hearing that was scheduled for Nov. 17 has been postponed. Officials indicated they would once again seek public input when negotiations with the developer have produced a finished concept.

Despite objections from the crowd — roughly 10 people attended in person and 64 watched online, according to a county official — the council did not allow the public to speak about the proposal.

“It’s shut up or leave,” County Council Chair Glenn Wright said at one point after crowd members engaged in a back-and-forth with officials and shouted comments.

The council has wide latitude to accept or reject the plan. If they decline the application, the previous development agreement that restricts the use of the land would remain in place.

Traffic concerns have played a central role in negotiations, with solutions complicated by their reliance on the Utah Department of Transportation, which neither the county nor the developer can compel to act.

Earlier this year, officials identified a preferred fix for Kimball Junction: a costly UDOT proposal to bury a stretch of S.R. 224 and create dedicated lanes to connect the roadway to Interstate 80. It would separate the local traffic moving around Kimball Junction — about half of the current trips in the area — from commuters and ski traffic heading to and from the interstate.

A multi-million dollar environmental assessment for that project was included in state legislation this year, apparently at the behest of Dakota Pacific. But the total project is expected to cost well into the hundreds of millions of dollars, and is not included in UDOT funding plans for the next decade.

The county would aim to use the increased tax revenue generated by the Dakota Pacific project in addition to other funding sources — including up to $14 million in a voluntary assessment the developer has agreed to — as well as the developer’s political clout, to advance the UDOT project faster than it otherwise would proceed.

Armstrong on Wednesday asked whether the project approval could be contingent on securing funding or UDOT constructing the traffic fixes.

The CEO of Dakota Pacific Real Estate, Marc Stanworth, said infrastructure costs make it financially impossible to phase the project that way.

“We can’t justify putting in tens of millions of dollars in horizontal infrastructure and not know whether or not we have a project to build behind it,” he said.

There was little debate about the proposed first phase of the project, an 85,000-square-foot medical office building. That appears to be allowed under the current development agreement, though no formal approval has been granted.

The second phase, however, was less settled. Dakota Pacific is proposing 535 market-rate units and 229 affordable units, something County Councilor Chris Robinson referred to as 2/3 of the entire project.

Councilors questioned allowing a project of that scale without a guarantee for the transportation projects.

“I believe in hope, but it’s not a great strategy,” Robinson said. “But we have concrete strategy that allows us to solve the transportation problems, that is one of the big remedies or community benefits of this project. If that is ephemeral, if that is ethereal, nonexistent, a wish, a hope, then we have failed.”

Wright also gave two conditions for his support: that no units be allowed to serve as nightly rentals and that the buildings be constructed as all-electric so they can be powered by renewable energy.

Dakota Pacific appeared amenable to those changes.

Robinson summed up the decision the council faces.

“If the status quo is preferred, which is to leave this as a slow-track tech park and leave to chance when UDOT gets around to doing something to fix the traffic, and not address the affordable housing elements in here — that’s one choice,” he said. “The other choice is to use this as a catalyst to change the Kimball Junction neighborhood, to add affordable housing and to really fix — with UDOT’s help and with some federal help and with the developer’s help through these different mechanisms — the transportation and the transit.”

When the Tech Center agreement was negotiated in the mid 2000s, it was thought it would help diversify the local economy and keep development off the hillsides near the Utah Olympic Park. Only three projects have since been built there, other than support infrastructure: a contractually mandated affordable housing complex, the Liberty Peak Apartments; the Skullcandy headquarters and the Park City Visitor’s Center.

Detractors of the proposed project have focused on the traffic the project will create, as well as the impact of adding possibly 3,000 new residents to an already congested area. Some also question the abandonment of a chief goal of the previous agreement — diversifying the local economy. And some see the slow buildout of the Tech Center as good in itself, keeping the land relatively free of development.

Proponents of the plan, including to some degree four of the five county councilors, see the project as a cataly st for fixing the traffic problems at Kimball Junction, an improvement compared to the already approved office park and a step toward establishing a neighborhood feel at Kimball Junction.

The post Tech Center development debate comes into focus appeared first on Park Record.