Our youngest is 16 and like his peers, he is ultra-focused on getting his license. When my friends and I were on the cusp of driving, the sense of freedom and the allure of the open road dominated our every thought. 

The prospect of driving comes with dreams of your first car. As parents, we strive for safe, reliable and affordable transportation and realize that there is a very good chance the car piloted by an inexperienced young driver will be involved in some sort of accident. 

Anyone who has met our son knows that he fancies himself a cowboy. Apparent immediately because he dresses in jeans, boots, a cowboy shirt, a western belt, a large belt buckle, a knife and a cowboy hat.

Like most teenagers, his idea of a car is not entirely in line with his parents’ priorities and is more an extension of his persona as a cowboy. He is clear — he wants a Dodge 2500HD dually, flatbed, second-gen with a Cummins diesel engine. Every time he sees one driving down the street, he says proudly, “That’s a good-lookin’ truck right there!” and to his credit, he is saving up for one. 

The thing is, we have a perfectly good 2004 Ford Explorer handed down from his sister. I stress that the Explorer is well sorted and runs great, with fresh fluids and a great stereo with Android Auto and Apple Car Play. It even gets decent gas mileage and is easy to drive and care for.

His dream truck will get 11 miles per gallon and with a diesel engine be much more expensive to maintain. He does not care about the ongoing cost of ownership because he is laser-focused on owning a Dodge 2500HD dually, flatbed, second-gen with a Commins diesel engine. If he can’t pay for diesel or maintenance, it will sit in the driveway — lesson learned. 

This is not unlike the persona our county leadership wishes to portray. They are following the public’s desire to preserve open space but rather than a large truck, they want to own big land.

Like my son who has a low-cost option to meet his needs sitting in his driveway, our county leadership seems to be ignoring a more sustainable option. An option that does not include massive ongoing ownership costs or growing the size of government for land management. 

According to their website, Summit Land Conservancy is “the only nonprofit dedicated to saving the open spaces of Park City and the Wasatch Back. We protect and monitor this community’s investment in local open spaces by defending 56 permanent conservation easements and two preserves on 19,124 acres of land.”

You read that correctly, our local nonprofit has been successful in protecting almost 20,000 acres of land and counting. Talk about open space, wow! To Summit County’s credit, they have partnered with Summit Land Conservancy on some projects, but most of the land Summit Land has saved was accomplished with private donations and one-time grants.

You know the cool part? Very few of our tax dollars have been spent on the maintenance and management of this massive amount of open space. Even cooler, Summit Land Conservancy in most cases does not own the land. They own the development rights and hold them in perpetuity in a trust so the land will never be developed — no matter who owns it.  

Our county leaders tell us they are holding the land they purchased and will maintain with our tax dollars as open space, but they have already shown through their actions that “community benefit” may take priority — benefits such as recreational use, events, and affordable housing. 

What happens when the cost of maintaining thousands of acres of open space becomes unsustainable, or when funds from the federal government are rescinded? Unlike our son, the county can’t just park this land in the driveway. The county will simply raise our taxes or find other revenue sources by exploiting the land — the elk can find another place to rut.  

Shouldn’t our leaders be leaning into a successful model where large landowners are encouraged to enter into conservation easements? As with our son, this solution is right there in front of us — sitting in the driveway, with a lower cost of ownership.

But like my cowboy, the county is looking to extend its persona as an “open space advocate” through ownership and big government over what is sustainable and ultimately best for the community.

I want my son to have reliable transportation and I want our community to preserve open space. I would just like to see both done sustainably.

Ari Ioannides, chair of the Summit County Republicans, is a recovering tech entrepreneur, founder of BootUP PD, and serves on local government and nonprofit boards. He offers a conservative perspective on local politics. He can be reached at [email protected]