Snyderville Basin resident Christie Babalis is a political newcomer with a long resume from working in the ski industry and serving on local nonprofit boards.
The attorney was born and raised in Salt Lake City and has lived in the Park City area for more than two decades.
Babalis is currently corporate legal counsel for Pacific Group Resorts, which owns or majority owns six North American ski areas, including Jay Peak in Vermont. She got her start working for owners of The Canyons.
“It's an interesting combination, because I have both worked and seen the pressures from a ski resort perspective, and I lived and raised a family here, so I've seen the pressures from a community perspective,” Babalis said. “Things have changed a lot since I've lived here in the early 2000s.”
Summit County Councilmember Chris Robinson, who currently holds the District 4 seat Babalis is seeking, announced Dec. 17 that he would run for reelection.
Babalis said she’s running out of a desire to serve the community. She’s running as a Democrat.
Her campaign announcement Friday says she offers a “solutions-driven vision” for the future, “focused on growth mitigation, traffic improvements and preserving open space.”
She said she’s for smart, not unfettered growth, especially with the Olympics around the corner. She sees it as an opportunity to fix failing infrastructure, especially in the state Route 224 corridor.
“I feel that pressure every day of that traffic trying to go from town towards Kimball Junction, and that is going to get worse. It's almost unsustainable right now, in my opinion,” she said. “I think it has diminished quality of life in Park City, just the traffic.”
More than that, it’s a safety issue for people on the roads and nearby wildlife. Babalis said she wants to help humans coexist with the wild landscape that drew them here.
She currently serves on the board of Park City Ski & Snowboard, and is a former board member at Recycle Utah and the Image Reborn Foundation, which serves women with breast cancer.
In her professional life, Babalis has been in-house counsel at American Skiing Company, the Talisker Corporation, engineering software companies and online customer experience and supply chain companies.
Candidates can file to run for Summit County office from 8 a.m. Jan. 2 until 5 p.m. Jan. 8.
