A former chair of the Snyderville Basin Planning Commission is launching a campaign for one of two Summit County Council seats set to appear on this year’s Election Day ballot.

John Kucera announced his candidacy for the District 4 seat last week, which is currently held by longtime Summit County Councilor Chris Robinson. Robinson, who has served as a councilor for almost 20 years, recently announced he does not plan to run for reelection.

“I believe in public service,” Kucera said about his decision to run. “I think that local governance matters. I know the issues because I’ve lived in Silver Springs for over 10 years, and I know the district very well.”

District 4 encompasses most of the Snyderville Basin. Kucera listed traffic congestion, open space preservation and housing as three of his key priorities if elected, as well as planning for the 2034 Winter Olympic Games.

“I have the public service and professional experience to make a positive difference,” Kucera said. “I understand accounting, budgeting, investment analysis, and I’m used to reading long research reports. I plan on raising my kids in this community and staying here with my family, so all of those reasons contributed to why I’d like to run.”

Kucera served on the Snyderville Basin Planning Commission for six years. He said he became familiar with the inner workings of the Summit County government during his stint, in addition to learning about growth and development.

“I learned a lot during those six years,” Kucera said. “Number one: You can’t undo big mistakes. You get one shot, whether it’s a project asking for exemptions, something that will have a lot of community impacts or traffic impacts and may not offer enough benefits.”

Kucera said he’s also an advocate for affordable housing, as well as senior housing. He said he favored public-private partnerships similar to the project on the Cline-Dahle parcel in Jeremy Ranch, but he pointed out his opposition to the Dakota Pacific Real Estate proposal in Kimball Junction while on the Snyderville Basin Planning Commission.

“It seemed clear to me that it wasn’t responsible growth based on the scale, the impacts to the community and many of the other characteristics,” Kucera said. “It went on to be changed rather substantially by the County Council, and there were a lot of downstream effects.”

In addition to his time as a planning commissioner, Kucera also has decades of experience in real estate financing. He is currently the managing partner of a Utah-based real estate investment partnership, a role in which he oversees all financial aspects of the business, as well as acquisitions, lease negotiations and tenant relationships.

“I lived in New York City for quite some time, and I worked as a financial analyst in fixed income debt markets and in equity investing, which gave me some great insight into working with interesting people,” Kucera said. “I was there during the financial crisis, which was very intense, but I learned a lot.”

Kucera said he hopes to use his financial knowledge to guide decisions on the County Council if elected, noting the historic $100 million budget governing county operations this year. He said the County Council needs to explore “solutions through budgeting,” or using finances as a method of directing initiatives, programming and infrastructure improvements.

“(County Council) has wide oversight with their responsibilities,” Kucera said. “I think it’s easy to say only a couple of things are important, but you really need to make thoughtful decisions on so many things. … I think you can drive change by allocating your resources to get positive impacts.”

Kucera is a Utah native who has lived in the Silver Springs neighborhood for over 10 years with his wife and two school-aged children. He earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Utah, is a chartered financial analyst and participated in the Park City Citizens’ Police Academy and Leadership Park City.

He enjoys skiing, mountain biking, trail running, hot yoga or playing pickleball or tennis.

Information on his campaign is available by visiting john4council.com.