Wasatch Back to the Future
Art: Bob Commander
In the Summer 2006 edition of this magazine, we explored the future of Summit and Wasatch counties over the next 25 years. We addressed how county, city and other organizational planners are preparing to provide for population growth, energy, transportation and transit needs, as well as considering the importance of trails development. In Part Two, we now take a peek at water issues, the future of housing and employment in Summit County, and open land preservation programs.
Water — Share the Resources:
Park City’s Public Works Director Jerry Gibbs says that since Utah is the second driest state in the nation (after Nevada), a multi-pronged strategy to meet future water demands is required. This includes: Better utilization of existing water through conservation.
“Outside irrigation represents almost 70 percent of the peak daytime demand during the summer,” says Gibbs. “The [Snyderville] Basin does not have adequate raw water storage reservoirs to store the volume of water necessary to meet this demand.”
Water importation projects. Possible importation locations could include Rock-port/Smith-Morehouse, East Canyon and Jordanelle reservoirs as well as other sites. “There are only a few choices, and each has limitations on availability,” says Gibbs. He adds that no one source will meet future water demands.
Water re-use — capturing sewer discharge (grey water) to use for irrigation. “A best-case scenario would include all the [water] utilities in the Basin area working together to help offset emergency needs and to share resources and excess capacities in lines,” says Gibbs. “There has to be a community value and a commitment to water conservation.”
Housing and Employment — One Coin, Two Sides:
The median selling price for a home in the greater Park City area is currently over $1 million, according to the Park City Board of Realtors. That’s great news for those who already have made an investment in real estate. But for a growing family just starting out, or a new teacher or firefighter who has taken employment in the area, trying to purchase a home is, in most cases, a challenge.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) calls housing costs (rent plus basic utilities, and mortgage, tax and insurance payments) affordable when they consume no more than 30 percent of a household’s income. A report prepared by the Summit County Community Development Department states that the 2006 median income for the county is $81,200 (and it’s 25 percent less for those working in the hospitality and leisure industry, which employs the largest segment of workers in western Summit County).
Three times the local median income — $243,600 — doesn’t even come close to the current purchase price of the most basic condo, which, according to Scott Loomis, executive director of Mountainlands Community Housing Trust, runs in the $400,000 to $500,000 range, with basic rentals (two- or three-bedroom units), starting at $1,000 to $1,200 a month. “Two years ago, Park City did a study that showed a deficiency of about 800 affordable units in the greater Park City area,” says Loomis. With property values increasing in eastern Summit County in the 18 percent to 66 percent range, communities such as Oakley, Kamas and other outlying towns are also moving out of financial reach for many Park City-area employees. “Some employees are commuting more than an hour to work here.”
Commuting wage earners see their income further reduced by the cost of transportation, while employers must resign themselves to employees being late due to traffic issues, or employees leaving altogether to work in other areas where wages are more compatible with housing costs. These elements create instability in the work force which results in a reduction of high-quality services.
According to the Governor’s Office of Budget and Planning, the next five years show continued employment growth at a rate of about 15 percent in Summit County, with Park City remaining the employment hub. The leisure and hospitality industry will remain the largest shareholder in the area. While property values continue to rise, wages and salaries are not keeping pace with this economic boom.
According to County Planner Kimber Gabryszak, Summit County’s response to this inequality between median income and median home purchase cost is to assemble a comprehensive Affordable Housing Element for the Snyderville Basin, where most of the new housing units in Summit County are being built, and to modify the development code to clarify affordable housing requirements. County Commissioner Bob Richer adds that attainable housing is and will continue to be intermingled with building projects in the county, most recently at the Bear Hollow, Newpark, Redstone, The Canyons and Aspen Highlands developments, with incentive offers for builders to set aside affordable housing units. Richer says, “Our task is to maintain a community where the people who sustain it have opportunities to live here.”
Don’t Fence Me In! Open Spaces in the Wasatch Back
The frequently photographed “White Barn” defining the entrance corridor to Park City is widely recognized as a crowning achievement in the acquisition and preservation of open space in Summit County. The High Ute Ranch and property in Round Valley is also preserved as open space that frames the greater Park City area. Summit County residents value the inclusion of open spaces within community developments as demonstrated by the passage in Park City of $20 million in open space bonds over the past few years, including a $10 million bond passed in the Snyderville Basin in 2004. “Besides an aesthetic appreciation for open space in the county, there is an economic value as well,” says County Commissioner Bob Richer, who adds that it’s the people who appreciate open space as an enhancement who come to this area, preferring it to more densely populated resort communities.
Since all of the land surrounding the populated areas of Summit County is privately owned, the only way to acquire it is through purchase. Richer credits the City Open Space Advisory Committee [COSAC] and Basin Open Space Advisory Committee [BOSAC] for overseeing the purchase of private properties for preservation. More recently, the county has formed the Eastern Summit County Agricultural Preservation Committee, which has been involved in two conservation easements, one of which includes approximately 1,200 acres along the Weber River, and the second involving about 1,600 acres of land five miles outside the city of Henefer. He also gives credit to county residents who value open space and prove it by continuing to pass bonds that will finance the purchase and preservation of lands.
Several projects are now in the planning stages, and Richer coyly mentions very significant developments in the acquisition of properties for future preservation, the details of which cannot be disclosed as yet since they are still in the negotiating stages. “These are headline-screaming developments,” he suggestively hints. The future awaits us!
Sedona Callahan has been a resident of Summit Counnty for seven years and looks forward to the unfolding future of the Wasatch Back.
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