The deadline for organizations to apply for their piece of the Recreation, Arts and Parks (RAP) Tax pie is Sept. 28 at 5 p.m.
RAP Tax cultural grants are available to non-profit groups that advance the preservation of history, natural history, horticultural display, botanical research, art, music, theater and dance.
Religious organizations, private or public schools, individuals and start-up organizations do not qualify for RAP Tax grants. To qualify, groups must have at least three years of non-profit status.
The application and details about how to apply are available at the Web site www.summitcounty.org. Contact county administrator Anita Lewis at 615-3220 for more information.
It costs lots to live in the county
Qualifying to purchase the average home in western Summit County means a household may need to earn in excess of $500,000 per year, housing experts in Park City say.
“We are very concerned,” Mountainlands Community Housing Trust Executive Director Scott Loomis said. “Our workforce cannot afford to live here.”
The goal of Mountainlands is to help construct affordable housing in Summit and Wasatch counties.
“A lot has changed in the last three years in our market,” Loomis recently told members of the Snyderville Basin Planning Commission. “In this period of time, the prices have raised almost 250 percent.”
No longer can a homebuyer find a house for $300,000 in Park City or the Snyderville Basin, Loomis lamented.
“They just don’t exist,” he said. “Now, you can’t buy a (building) lot for that much money.”
So-called essential workers, including police officers and teachers in Snyderville, need affordable places to live, Loomis said.
But filling the demand for affordable housing in Summit County means building about 600 units, he added.
Judge signs order in Brickey case
Because Summit County Attorney David Brickey lived in the county when he was sworn into office this year, Brickey should be allowed to keep his job. A police officer in Park City complained about Brickey to the Office of the Utah Attorney General resulting in a probe of Brickey by the state.
Second District Court Judge Thomas Kay in Davis County dismissed a lawsuit filed by Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff that claimed Brickey wasn’t qualified to hold his elected county office because he had moved out of his jurisdiction. On Aug. 31, Kay signed an order granting a motion for summary judgment filed by Brickey.
Before Brickey was appointed by the Summit County Commission to complete the term of former Summit County Attorney Bob Adkins, Brickey sold his home near Jeremy Ranch and moved to Salt Lake City about two years ago.
Commissioners knew Brickey, who was a prosecutor at the time, did not live in Summit County and advised him to move back to the county when he was appointed.
But, because he spent most of last year with his wife and children in Salt Lake, Brickey wasn’t a resident of Summit County and was not eligible to campaign for political office when he ran unopposed last year, Shurtleff argued.
Brickey shouldn’t be removed from office, however, because he began renting a home for his family in Ranch Place before he was sworn into office on Jan. 3, the judge ruled.
New code enforcement judge
Those who violate the zoning rules in Summit County may now be issued civil citations and ordered to appear at a hearing. Development code violations are currently handled as criminal offenses and can result in offenders being charged with class B misdemeanors.
“This process can be cumbersome, time consuming and has not consistently resulted in satisfactory resolution of the zoning violations,” according to Leslie Rushton, a Summit County code enforcement officer. “Summit County commissioners along with the planning commission have expressed frustration with the current enforcement efforts and processes.”
The new program means those who violate the code must either pay a fine and comply with the code or request a hearing before an administrative law judge.
“This judge would determine if the citation given did or did not merit a fine and compliance,” Rushton states.