Christie Babalis grew up in the Salt Lake Valley near the base of Parley’s Canyon, often sneaking away in her parents’ car to make the 15-minute drive to Park City, where she would shirk her teenage responsibilities in favor of a hike or ski run. Now, more than 30 years later, Babalis is hop ing to add to her responsibilities by running for the District 4 seat on the Summit County Council, with a focus on conservation to protect the natural environment she fell in love with as a child. Her love of the outdoors sparked an early passion for politics, and Babalis was a fervent reader of Edward Abbey, an environmental essayist, by the time she graduated from high school. She described herself as “obsessed” with learning about water conservation, the Colorado River and sustainability, which led her to advocate for environmental issues in front of state lawmakers when she was still a student in high school. Babalis’ friends and family encouraged her to become an attorney because of her passion for policy issues and ability to succinctly argue her position, and Babalis listened. She obtained a master’s degree in public administration before enrolling in the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah. Law school opened another door for Babalis, too, who started working as a clerk for the Park City Attorney’s Office in the 1990s. The job allowed her to move permanently to the Wasatch Back, where she has lived for the past three decades. Babalis, a Democrat, has been involved in the local Snyderville Basin community for years, serving on boards for Recycle Utah, Park City Ski and Snowboard and the Image Reborn Foundation. But this year, Babalis is angling for another type of community involvement — a run for the District 4 seat on the Summit County Council. “This is the next thing that I’d like to try to do to be of service to this community because it’s my community, and I care about all of these things,” Babalis said. “There are people who I’ve known for so long, my friends and my coworkers. It’s my home and the place where I raised my kids.” County Attorney Margaret Olson encouraged Babalis to run in addition to county councilors Tonja Hanson and Chris Robinson, whom Babalis would replace if she were to win. “They felt like my experience with negotiating complicated problems, bringing parties together who don’t always see eye-to-eye, my business background and my governance background meant I had the right skills to run,” Babalis said. “There are so many big issues facing us, and they’re complicated issues that require real leadership, and I’ve been an executive leader for a long time.” Babalis said she views growth and development as the most pressing issue for Summit County, with much of the pressure centered in the heart of her district because it includes Kimball Junction. “There’s a constant balance here, and we have to get it right because we’re going to continue to grow,” she said. “We’re going to need to develop, and it’s a balance between that need and the parts of this community … that draw people here, keep people here and why we want to be here.” She advocated for long-term planning at the county level, saying it’s important for officials to consider the implications a project will have for the area in the next 25 years, not only the immediate future. She also said the County Council should make an effort to communicate directly with residents when there are big proposals, pointing to deliberations over Altus Park City, formerly known as the Dakota Pacific project, and the tension it caused between the County Council and residents who were struggling to understand the process. “I don’t think the community understood how big it was and how bad it could potentially become until it was too late,” Babalis said. “A lot of folks in the county would say that what we ended up with has a lot of great community benefits, but I don’t know that we ended up with enough community benefits for what we had to give up. Even still, the transparency was lacking, in my opinion.” Babalis said the County Council needs to establish good relationships with state lawmakers before the general session starts, allowing councilors and the Legislature to collaborate and communicate about Wasatch Back issues instead of only interacting in times of tension, especially because any state mandates would automatically overrule local decisions. However, Babalis said she favors redevelopment and open space conservation instead of new development projects. Kimball Junction in particular has a lot of redevelopment opportunities that she said could transform the area from a “massive parking lot” into a community center where people live, dine, shop and socialize. “There’s already infrastructure, so we don’t have to spend a ton of money on roads,” she said. “We can take what we’ve already built and make it better. Every time we’re looking at a new development, we have to also factor in affordable housing.” Babalis said the true price of affordable housing in Summit County needs to be part of the broader discussion among officials, too. Most developers suggest prices around 80% area median income, or AMI, when they propose affordable housing units, but a studio apartment at 80% AMI in Summit County would be between $2,360 and $2,950, which is actually higher than the $1,700 market rate value, according to the Summit County Housing Authority. “That AMI percentage isn’t always the right calculation, so we need to look at who needs to live here? Who are these units for? Who do we need to find housing for and what can they afford?” Babalis said. “Then we need to actually build that and not ask people to try to figure out what they’re going to give up to be able to live in this community.” Information on Babalis and her campaign is available at votebabalis.com. She will face John Kucera, a financial analyst and former Snyderville Basin planning commissioner, in the Democratic primary on June 23. Residents voting by mail or using a dropbox must make sure their ballot is received by 8 p.m. on June 23 for their vote to count due to recent changes in state law. The post Christie Babalis focuses on open space, affordability in run for Summit County Council appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less