Looking ahead to the new year, Summit County Manager Tom Fsher said one major goal is solidifying the county’s’ vision for transit and road projects.
He said that involves looking even 30 years into the future. And he admitted that vision also might not be quite the same as their partner, Park City.
The County Manager declined to comment on recent statements from Park City Council Member Tim Henney, who said the county was falling short as a transit partner.
Fisher said in his view, the county has some different needs from the city.
“The county has to come up with its own vision. We’re responsible for a lot of different things that may not match exactly what Park City is responsible for. Not only do we have a large resort base within our county, in the west part of the county, but that resort base is also going to have a large affordable-housing workforce-housing piece. We expect workforce housing to be developed further in, say, Kimball Junction, or in the Silver Summit area, or in conjunction with the Jordanelle development that’s happening around MIDA”
He said their vision of transit goes beyond dealing with tourists and resort visitors.
“It gets into the whole idea of what transit dependency means and what—how do we want people to move that are at different income levels and will have different income levels? You mix that in with the senior population that we talk about. Then the choice rider. We want to move more choice riders onto transit instead of using that individual car. So I think we’re looking at it from that broader perspective and really, again, looking out into the future about how do we want to move people.”
Fisher said the state of their discussions with Park City are a result of different perspectives.
“And the county has a much broader aspect. So I think you’re seeing the rub of those things right now. It’s because we’re investing so much in it. And we’re responsible for a lot of investment in, not only transit, but overall transportation and we need to understand how all that’s gonna work together. (Leslie) Do you go-each of you go your own way, or do you need to make it work here? (Fisher) Well, I think in some ways, we have to make some things work together, but that doesn’t mean everything has to work together.”
During the past year in transit, the county established the new park n ride at Ecker Hill. Fisher said they’re also making improvements to the park n ride in Kamas.
And he said a major priority will be finishing up details on the Jeremy Interchange project on Interstate 80