Gracia Eisman has enjoyed the quiet, bucolic countryside of the Kamas Valley since moving to eastern Summit County 25 years ago. Surrounded by agricultural fields, she’d drive rural roads to connect with neighbors separated by dozens of acres and pristine open space.
The Western landscape has since remained largely uninterrupted by development, but a patchwork of new growth could pose a considerable threat to that horizon without proper planning.
Eisman is not alone in her concerns that development pressure in the Snyderville Basin will boil over onto the East Side. Residents in townships including Wanship, Coalville, Hoytsville, Henefer, Echo, Francis and Oakley cite open space and maintaining the rural character of the community as their top three values and elements they want to see protected in the Our Summit Vision and Strategic Plan.
“It’s good to become involved with how growth happens and how it’s managed,” Eisman said. “We have a responsibility to look at the big picture.”
She’s now serving on an advisory committee tasked with helping county planners update the Eastern Summit County General Plan, the document used to guide and advise important decisions regarding land use, preservation, resource management, transportation and housing made by staff, planning commissioners and the Summit County Council. It’s a strategic, long-range plan envisioning the next 20 to 30 years based on input collected during the visioning process.
The Planning Department on Tuesday organized an open house in Kamas for community members to share their ideas. Open house attendees were asked to provide feedback on how to best align the general plan with the community’s vision and to identify what strategies they’d like to see implemented.
While people seemed to overall agree with most responses collected during the visioning process, a few elements stood out.
Community members emphasized their commitment to maintaining the rural feeling of North and South Summit with a clear desire for improvements promoting community character such as main streets, landscaping, open space or agricultural preservation.
“There are so many things that can happen,” Eisman said. “It’s the future. It’s the county’s future. How does that look? What will we embrace?”
There was also agreement about the need for more single-family and attainable housing in Summit County, too. Most residents said they think county officials should allow for more density in areas near existing infrastructure to balance housing affordability with rural charm with several skewed toward encouraging low-density development. Fewer than 10 people marked that the county should encourage higher density to allow for more housing types.
Single-family homes were the No. 1 most desired affordable housing option in Summit County. There was mixed support for three- to four-unit walk-ups and multi-family rentals with the least interest in condominiums and employee housing.
Open space was another priority. Attendees were asked to select three choices from a sheet to best describe what they see when they think of open space.
The options were land preserved for wildlife that is actively managed but restricted to people; land protected as a working farm such as a livestock pasture; ranch land with agricultural buildings that are significant on the property such as barns; land preserved for passive recreation such as walking or birdwatching with limited structures; land conserved for nonmotorized active recreation such as biking or horseback riding with picnic tables or pavilions; land protected for motorized recreation such as ATVing; or something else.
Responses varied though many people appeared to back the first, second and fourth options.
The public wanted to see additional public transportation options, community gathering places and wildlife corridors or habitat buffers, too.
Attendees signaled new and improved hiking, biking or skiing trails were the most desired recreational amenity. An indoor rec center, sports programming for youth and adults as well as a community garden were also popular. A few people commented that they wanted to see outdoor fields, small parks or kid-specific projects.
About 30 people, mostly county staff and advisory committee members, attended the open house this week. The same number participated in the Coalville event earlier this month.
“I think some people have neglected to look at what’s happening because of fear, but we need to look at the present in order to find a solution,” Eisman said.
County planner Maddy McDonough emphasized the importance of community participation. She’s heard that the public feels overwhelmed by the robust nature of the document. Staff have been working to make the state requirements for a general plan more clear by presenting the information in bite-sized pieces.
A general plan must have a land use element, a transportation and traffic circulation element, a moderate income housing element, a resource management plan and a water use element.
The feedback collected during the open house events as well as an audit of the general plan will be used to create questions for five focus groups. Those selected will meet two to three times over the next 18 months to discuss specific elements of the document and how they relate to the five countywide objectives of managing natural resources, promoting healthy living, preserving unique identities, creating inclusive communities and growing responsibly.
Planners will also work on analyzing the data and creating goals before starting a second round of public engagement in the fall. McDonough expects the draft document to be available for public comment in the spring or summer of 2025. The objective is for the document to be adopted by the County Council next winter.
Staff are also reworking the Snyderville Basin General Plan, but they haven’t announced details for an open house yet. A survey to review either document will be open through July.
Visit summitcounty.org/2475/General-Plans for additional information.