in Trails
Summit County should charge non-residents for trails use
We have been dancing around the issues for years. Summit County residents fund our trails through property taxes. Most trails are managed through Basin Rec.
Tonight, I sat through a painful Snyderville Basin Planning Commission discussion about whether Basin Rec should be able to add parking stalls near Pheasant Lane near Creekside on the north-side of I-80.
Basin Rec argued that the users of the parking spaces used our trails and therefore, we needed additional parking because there weren’t enough. People against the effort argued that the people who wanted parking don’t live here.
Somehow, our esteemed Planning Commissioners voted for adding parking stalls, even though they acknowledged 80% of the people using them were from Salt Lake.
What Basin Rec doesn’t realize, but they will on the next bond vote, is that if I can’t park at a trailhead I paid for, then they will not get money the next time. My trail dollars do not fund Salt Lake citizens. They fund Summit County.
It’s that simple.
It’s time for enforcement at our trailheads. The people who live in Summit County already support them through tax dollars. If you don’t live here, you should support their maintenance.
It’s no different from a campsite. You camp, you enjoy, you pay. It’s not much money , but you support the area you are impacting.
We need to grow up and make adult decisions.
Parkrag
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Comments
6 Comments
Outsiders come here and spend money, giving revenue to local businesses.
Hi Lance-
I think that’s the argument, but I don’t think the shopping/dining is commensurate with the amount of trail use by bikers from the valley on a Saturday Morning.
Sorry, we lost a couple of comments yesterday, The site crashed and I had t restore from a backup before the posts. I don’t have a record of them, so sorry about that.
I’m a resident and actually would be perfectly happy to pay for an annual trail pass if it helps maintain and expand the trail network up here!
I just wish we spent the money we do have (like the $64M for that farm) on acquisitions that expand the trail network vs. maintain views for a select number of households.
Like buying the ranch on the dirt road behind Jeremy… I wonder if it’s ever been for sale / you could put a hundred miles of trails there.
Bitner ranch coming up for sale would be an amazing opportunity. But IMO it will never happen.
Hey, my comment never made it yesterday but – out of town *skiers* spend a ton of money (to ski on private land). Out of town mountain bikers spend basically none, to ride on *mostly* public land. So asking for some kind of monetary contribution isn’t out of line.
The issues are:
1) it’s hard to enforce without spending more money than you collect
2) it can cause knock-on problems (people driving into neighborhoods to park)
I have lived places that have tried a pay-to-park system for non-residents and those 2 problems killed them pretty quickly.
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