This was Nagie’s second attempt at securing a seat on the Snyderville commission.
He had also applied unsuccessfully to the Park City Planning Commission in June 2023 before making an unsuccessful run at city council.
At his interview with councilmembers on March 20, Nagie said his primary role on the commission would be to competently and consistently apply the Basin’s development code.
“I'm not going to be sitting on this commission with the understanding that like, ‘Oh, now I finally get to make the changes I want,’” he said. “Especially with some of the, shall we say, drama that's occurred in the Snyderville Basin, I think it's really important that this council has people on the commission that understand that the rules are here for a reason—that this is an administrative piece.”
The planning commission can draft changes to the development code, but those changes have to be ratified by the county council.
Nagie, who has a civil engineering degree from the University of Utah, worked as a private consultant for the Utah Department of Transportation after graduating.
Part of the job, he said , was to interpret the UDOT manual of instruction and propose projects in line with that code. UDOT officials would then counter with their own interpretation of the manual.
Nagie said applying development code to projects is similar.
“And that's where those conversations really got interesting, and that's where I think an engineer builds up a lot of judgment over the years, trying to balance all of that,” he told the council. “I acknowledge that, on the commission, I'd be on kind of the other side of the table.”
The Old Town resident grew up in Jeremy Ranch, so he said he’s intimately familiar with the Basin. Since becoming a physics teacher, he’s also returned to UDOT not as a consultant but as a snowplow driver.
Nagie replaces John Kucera, who did not apply for a third term. At the March 27 vote, the council also reappointed Commissioner Tyann Mooney to a second term.
On the Eastern Summit County Planning Commission, commissioners Alex Peterson and Don Sargent were also reappointed March 27. Both pairs of appointments were unanimous.
Per Community Development Director Pat Putt: the commission’s appointments become effective at its next scheduled meeting.
