March 29, 2024 – Historic Union Pacific Rail Trail, Restaurant Tax and RAP Cultural Grants, Rain Barrel Sale & more



TODAY WE COVER…

  • Number of committee appointments
  • Election Updates
  • Rail Trail Corridor Plan
  • Third annual Trails Trash and Tunes

Committee Appointments

During this week’s council meeting, there were a number of appointments to various committees:

  • Congratulations to Stacey Keahon who will serve on the Recreation Arts and Parks Advisory Committee until 2025.
  • Cheers to Don Sargeant and Alex Peterson for their reappointment to the Eastern Summit County Planning commission–their terms expire in 2027. 
  • Tiane Mooney was reappointed and Matt Nagie was appointed for his first term Snyderville Basin Planning Commission. 


Congratulations to everyone. Summit County appreciates your dedication and service.

Legislative Session Highlights

Deputy County Manager, Janna Young, appeared before Council this week to recap the 2024 Utah State Legislature General Session and highlight bills signed by the Governor that impact Summit County residents or require some type of action from the County.

We won’t go in-depth this week, because next week, we’ll have Janna on for a special episode of Summit in Six covering the 2024 General Session in-depth. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, you can browse her presentation at the link in our show notes.

Elections Updates

During the Summit County Democratic nominating convention on Tuesday night, current councilmembers Roger Armstrong and Tonja Hanson won the nominations for council seats “A” and “B”. That leaves candidates Megan McKenna and Thomas Cooke vying for seat “C”. Voters will be able to choose between these two seat “C” candidates during the June 25 primary election.

Keep in mind that a new law is taking effect in May that allows unaffiliated candidates to get on the November ballot by gathering signatures, so there may be write-in candidates. As of right now, the following individuals do not have Republican challengers…Frank Smith is the democratic nominee for sheriff, Greg Wolbach for recorder, Stephanie Poll for assessor and Corie Forsling for treasurer.

The Summit County Republican Nominating Convention is Tuesday, April 2 and will also be held at Ecker Hill Middle School.

Rail Trail Award

Summit County has been selected as a recipient of the 2024 Vernon Deines Award, presented by the American Planning Association (APA), for the county’s Union Pacific Rail Trail Corridor Plan. The Vernon Deines award is presented annually to recognize outstanding individuals and projects for their contribution to planning excellence in small towns and rural communities. 

The Rail Trail Corridor (RTC) Plan envisions a unified land use strategy along its Corridor to encourage coordinated, sustainable planning adjacent to the Trail. The plan is designed to cultivate a strong sense of community and offer opportunities for revitalization and resource protection along the 24-mile Corridor. It considers improvements to trail conditions and connections while simultaneously supporting the diverse needs of community members, trail users, and local businesses.

The Rail Trail Corridor Plan was approved by the Summit County Council on May 24, 2023 and can be found by visiting summitcounty.org/railtrail.

Trails Trash Tunes

Speaking of the Rail Trail—the Summit County Stormwater Coalition and the Summit County Planning Department are presenting the THIRD Annual “Trails, Trash and Tunes” event on Saturday, May 11th from 12pm – 4pm at the Wanship Trailhead located at 1975 Hoytsville Rd. The purpose of the event is to welcome in springtime and celebrate the Earth with some rail trail cleanup, education about stormwater, noxious weeds identification and more!

There will be LIVE music from SLC-favorite Pixie and the Partygrass Boys, presented by Mountaintown Music. There will be food for purchase, a beer garden with light bites and brews for sale by local brewery Offset Bier for the 21+ crowd, a “Kids Corner” for the younger ones thanks to the Summit County Library for activities such as coloring, books and games.

Registration is free and not required to attend, but we would like to know who is coming! You can register online at: summitcounty.info/trailstrashtunes24.