The character and design of the Snyderville Basin for the next 25 years will be determined by the decisions today’s Summit County officials are making for the undeveloped parcels on the west side of the County. Those decisions will “define us for the future” and are “really, really important,” according to Summit County Community Development Director Pat Putt.

The Summit County Council held the first work session about Phase 2 of the Snyderville Basin General Plan this week. The General Plan serves as a guiding document for future development and growth by specifically addressing land use and zoning, sustainability, transportation and recreation.

The mission of the General Plan is “to preserve natural open space and vistas, prevent suburban sprawl, and promote our mountain resort community,” according to the document.

The General Plan is an attempt to preserve the amenities that are deemed as important to residents of the Basin, such as:

  • Large tracts of contiguous open space
  • Recreation
  • Interconnected trail systems
  • Wildlife preservation
  • Density in town and resort centers
  • Sensitive lands protections
  • Water conservation
  • Affordable housing
  • Mass transit
  • Traffic and transportation management
  • Natural resource preservation
  • Local economy protection and enhancement

“Part of what we are facing is what we haven’t built yet,” Putt told the County Council Wednesday. “The key is where those remaining lands are located and those really important undeveloped lands are along the primary corridors that everyone in the Basin experiences every day: U.S. 40, I-80, and along Old Ranch Road.

“Everything people experience in the Snyderville Basin is through those corridors, which is why this is so important,” he said.

County Council members spent nearly an hour discussing the document and making suggestions to staff about the concepts surrounding the 16 neighborhoods in the Snyderville Basin.

County staff says the purpose behind the amendments to Phase 2 is to link the different neighborhoods in the Basin in a way that reduces residents’ reliance on cars as the primary modes of transportation.

But after the work session, County Council member Chris Robinson said he wanted the language to be more reflective of current conditions, especially concerning traffic.

“The transportation component doesn’t represent or convey the real urgency of what the current problem is in the Basin,” Robinson said. “My impression was it read much like it did a year or so ago when I last saw it and I think a lot has changed. We need to really focus on transportation and getting people out of cars.”

Robinson acknowledged the time and work that has been put into drafting the document, but said “the devil is in the details.” He said it takes “time and energy to think through the ramifications” of these long-term documents.

“I think we should go the extra mile to make sure the public has the chance to weigh in,” Robinson said. “And once we’ve had the public weigh in, then it’s a matter of us rolling our sleeves up and reading it carefully and pondering its intent and thinking through what it really means. We don’t’ want to rush it, but we want to be responsive to what we hear from the public to be able to act on it.”

County staff will continue to review and edit the document in the coming weeks. At least two more work sessions will be held before a draft of the document goes to the public for comment, Robinson said.

Putt said the purpose of these conversations is to update a dated document that hasn’t been reworked since early 2000.

“We want to bring our code up to the 21st century in terms of smart growth tools,” he said. “During our fairly lengthy discussion processes with the community, we’ve tested the water with some pushing-the-edge ideas. They may not be new ideas, but they are big leaps when it comes to actually codifying them and moving forward.”

Kathy Becker, a Fox Point at Redstone resident, said there is “no question that we need an updated plan,” but echoed Robinson when she said “the devil is in the details.”

“They present that case very well and there is a lot in the plan that makes sense, but we lack a lot of details,” Becker said. “They are saying they are intentionally keeping a lot of the details out of the plan and that is one way to write a plan that isn’t’ really reassuring to everyone.

“It is hard to say how you feel about it because it lacks a lot of details,” Becker said. “I think we need to launch forward here in getting master plans underway for neighborhoods because right now they are so general.

But Becker said at this stage, she isn’t sure what value public input will hold. She said the comments and suggestions the residents have made are not in the draft.

“Not a single point that anyone referenced in previous hearings has been incorporated into the plan,” Becker said. “Now I think they are on the right track, but at what point will there be room for neighborhood involvement?”

To view the staff report containing a draft of Phase 2 of the Snyderville Basin General Plan, go to http://summitcounty.org/DocumentCenter/View/1746