As the population of North Summit grows, the recreation opportunities for youth and adults have struggled to keep pace. Residents squeezed through a tax increase in 2019, but it wasn’t until last year that the board raised the tax rate which added about $75,000 to the annual budget.
With the additional money, the district has hired its first full-time director, Jaycie Diston.
“I was born and raised in Summit County,” Diston said. “I grew up in Wanship. Both sides of my family are born and bred here in Summit County. I have three daughters and am married, and I love sports. Softball is probably my favorite. But we are looking forward to bringing some exciting new things to North Summit recreation.”
Diston says the community has generously supported recreation programs through donations and the district plans to apply for grants for funding future needs.
Currently, the district provides youth baseball and softball, basketball and flag football programs. She says they’ll be adding youth soccer and adult dodgeball and kickball tournaments this year.
And once the new Beacon Hill Park project gets finished this fall, they’ll have a multi-purpose field and pickleball courts.
“Currently we're using the North Summit School District's facilities -- their football field, basketball courts, stuff like that. We will continue to use their courts as we don't have our own building yet. But once our multipurpose field is finished, we can use our own fields.”
Dana Jones is the executive director of Basin Recreation. And as a resident of Wanship, she also serves on the North Summit Recreation advisory board. For the future, she expects that there will be better regional communication between all four recreation districts in the county, so facilities don’t have to be duplicated.
“Park City has an ice arena -- that means North Summit doesn't have to build an ice arena and Basin Rec doesn't have to build an ice arena. Basin has the indoor field house… okay, we probably need another indoor field house, but maybe that's something that North Summit can build in the future, so that we don't have to duplicate efforts. So that we are all working together to provide as much recreation as we can, without drawing lines and saying this is mine, and this is yours.”
Residents are invited to attend the North Summit Recreation Advisory board meetings on the 2nd Monday of the month. The meetings are held at the Summit County Courthouse on Coalville’s Main Street and begin at 6:30 p.m. Diston also says they’re also looking to add two new board members.
