Four new planning commissioners were selected to review and make recommendations on land use, zoning and conditional use decisions across Summit County.
The Summit County Council unanimously appointed Seth Bowen and Bridget Hayes to the Eastern Summit County Planning Commission, along with Heather Peteroy and Eric Sagerman to the Snyderville Basin Planning Commission.
Bowen, a Coalville resident, is a lifelong East Side resident and a North Summit High School graduate.
“I like to see how stuff progresses and be involved in the community instead of just sitting back on a fence, not knowing what’s going on,” he said about his decision to apply for the planning commission seat. “If you’re not involved, it’s like not voting. If you don’t vote, you can’t complain.”
He added he was interested in the position because he likes the “nuts and bolts” of planning commission work, such as analyzing the effect of a subdivision on surrounding homes or the placement of a septic take on a property.
“I think [the Eastern Summit County Planning Commission] has done a good job. It’s represented the people at more of a local level, more in touch, first-name basis, like if you run into someone at the grocery store,” Bowen said. “At the end, you see each other, you go back and forth, you’re friends and you make decisions on a community level instead of an individual level. I think it’s good for the people because the people feel more at ease.”
Bowen’s term will expire in February 2028.
Hayes moved to the Jeremy Ranch area from Chicago in 2011, but she’s lived in Wanship since 2018. She said she wanted to join the planning commission because she loves the life she’s built on the East Side, specifically pointing to the rural landscape and storied culture.
“I want to make sure that those types of things, which are really what America is built upon, are preserved for future generations,” Hayes said. “As the pressure keeps coming, especially on the East Side as the West Side moves over the hill a little bit, I think we need to make sure we balance both the growth and the cultural heritage that we have here.”
Hayes is also a participant in the county’s Community Planning Lab, an 11-week class facilitated by Planning Department staff to teach community members about planning decisions and how local government functions.
“It has been fantastic, and the fact that this community really invests in those resources and tries to teach people the underpinnings of how government works is an experience you don’t get anywhere else,” she said.
Like Bowen, Hayes’s term will expire in February 2028.
Sagerman has lived in the Snyderville Basin for five years, although he’s owned a house in Park City for almost two decades. He’s also a graduate of the Community Planning Lab program, which he said he joined because he wanted to understand the complexities of planning and zoning in Summit County.
“One thing that we know, or I think is inevitable, is that there’s going to be pressure to grow this area, whether from tourism, that’s day trippers as well as proper tourists, as well as people wanting to live here, and you can’t stop that,” Sagerman said. “So the question is, how do you incorporate that into your thinking of what the various areas should look like? And for Greater Snyderville, going into Park City, it’s mostly allocated.”
Sagerman said his philosophy is to look at every proposal from multiple points of view, including how a development will affect traffic, recreation, housing and business.
“If you just look at Kimball Junction, it’s basically a parking lot with stores and restaurants around it, some housing,” he added. “I think that’s not a particularly good use of our space.”
He advocated for public transportation, especially along S.R. 224 and in light of the upcoming Olympic Games.
“This is what we’re going to do and leave a legacy for, frankly, the next generation and for our community,” Sagerman said. “We need to preserve why people come here, either to recreate and/or live, as well as to accommodate for the needs of people living and working here.”
Sagerman’s term will expire in February 2026 because he’s filling a seat that was vacated early, unlike the other new commissioners.
Peteroy became a full-time Summit County resident five years ago when she moved to Utah from the Seattle area. She is a board member for the Kimball Art Center. Her interest in the planning commission stems from her family’s current efforts to build a home in the Basin.
“There’s so much opportunity in Kimball Junction, especially when we think about residents and our responsibility to welcome everyone to the mountains and making sure that that feels good for all,” Peteroy said.
She added that she’s passionate about “inclusive third-spaces,” or places for community members to gather and build relationships for free or at a low cost.
“You don’t have to have a certain bag or a certain income to be there, and also everyone is adding something to that space and everyone has a reason to be in that space,” Peteroy explained. “That’s one of the things I’ve gotten more excited about as I’ve learned more about mixed-use spaces.”
She emphasized the importance of community and thoughtful decision making, as well as collaboration across departments and with Summit County residents.
Peteroy’s term will expire in February 2028.