Summit County is working with Kamas, Francis, Oakley and the Utah Department of Transportation to create a holistic vision for the S.R. 32 corridor. While there are no definitive plans yet, the cities and county held an open house on Monday to receive feedback from residents about improvements or changes to the highway.“We have to serve a lot of different users, a lot of different needs, and we want to make sure that we’re preserving the safety, the comfort and the efficiency of the route, as well as building the community within that in the context of the corridor so that people will want to live there and shop there and recreate there,” explained Carl Miller, Summit County’s transportation planning director.The county is also updating general plans for the Snyderville Basin and the East Side, which in parallel with the S.R. 32 Corridor and City Centers Plan should help Summit County create a cohesive vision, Miller said.“We really can make sure that the land uses around State Route 32 are harmonious and really serve it, rather than being disconnected and setting ourselves up for failure five, 10, 20 years down the road,” he said. “We’re really trying to take a long-range approach and say, ‘How can we avoid some of the problems that are faced when cities are served with a highway that runs through it?’”The three municipalities involved in the project are hoping to answer the same question.Stephanie Woolstenhulme, Oakley’s city planner, said the public comment process aims to tie together future and current development in a way that works for Oakley while also maintaining a cohesion with other cities in Summit County.“You look at communities that have beautiful byways, and they’re very symbiotic in their relationship with each other, and I would hope that State Road 32 could be that for the Wasatch Back,” she said.Woolstenhulme said safety has been the biggest concern for Oakley residents so far, especially because the city has “some nuances,” like bends and uphill grading, that make it more complicated than other routes along S.R. 32.“As for the economic development, we hear from all sides, people that are looking forward to some growth and some economic development and people who don’t want to see any growth,” Woolstenhulme said. “I think people are catching the vision that we could do it smart and we could do it well and just ensuring that we do that, and we do it with the public being part of the process.”Now is the best time for community members to get involved in the process, before cities receive applications and implement new codes, according to Woolstenhulme. She encouraged residents to reach out with ideas and comments sooner rather than later.Credit: Clayton Steward/Park Record“I think the rural character of the valley is what drew us all here to begin with, so I’d like to maintain that. I’d hate to see that go,” said Victoria Smith, an Oakley resident who attended the open house. “I understand that there’s concern from a lot of people about new folks coming in for second homes and whatnot, and that’s not necessarily a problem as long as they’re not trying to change the character.”Francis officials also want to build and develop a city center around S.R. 32, although most of the corridor is currently residential. Adding commercial development would help increase the city’s tax base and add services like restaurants and retail stores for residents, said Francis City Planner Katie Henneuse.“We allow mixed-use development, which means you can have retail, restaurants, commercial uses on the ground floor, and then apartments, residential housing on second and third stories,” she said. “We would like for that city center to be walkable and to have it be pedestrian friendly, but we have two state roads going through it. That gets to be really tricky. How do we accomplish this walkable city center, but also UDOT needs to move traffic through there, so what are the best practices for that?”Kamas already has an established city center, which makes it a little different than Oakley or Francis. Still, the city hopes to use S.R. 32 as a starting point to bolster commercial development, preserve historic buildings and mitigate parking needs.“We really just want to come up with a cohesive plan that both unites the cities in Kamas Valley and also lends itself to the individuality of each city as well,” explained Kamas City planner Amanda Curtis.Although it’s early in the process, Curtis said it’s obvious the community cares about the project based on the turnout at the open house and the engagement the city has received so far.“The website’s gotten a ton of traffic and comments already, so hopefully we can keep that momentum going,” she said.Credit: Clayton Steward/Park RecordMiller said this process won’t necessarily lead to new infrastructure immediately. Instead, the project aims to create a plan that will allow the county and cities to receive funding for needed expenses.“We’re not going to change the corridor at this point,” he said. “We’re really looking at a plan that will help us work with UDOT to get funding for capital expenses, like infrastructure or even policies, that will help us to serve the needs of the community,” he said. “This will be the first of three workshops, and then we’ll wrap up this plan with a final report and some strategies and policies by this summer. We’ll present something to our elected officials, as well as UDOT, to really give us a way forward and an approach to strategically holding hands and moving this project forward for additional funding and necessary steps that we need to take at that point.”Community members who weren’t able to attend the open house are still able to provide feedback online by visiting summitcounty.info/sr32survey.The post Cities, county ask for community feedback on S.R. 32 appeared first on Park Record.