But that formula has grown fuzzy under County Councilman Mark Crockett's proposal to sink millions of open-space dollars into a regional park.

This week, Crockett suggested buying 100 acres for a regional park somewhere in southwestern Salt Lake County by pulling $12 million from the open-space fund and $12 million from the parks till.

This proposal "is something that needs to be sidetracked very quickly," Rita Lund, a member of the county's Open Space Trust Fund Advisory Committee, said Wednesday.

The committee stopped short of condemning the proposal formally, but did select two members to meet with council members in upcoming weeks.

"Our position is to support what the voters said," board member Trudy Hosler said. "I'm holding the line."

But Crockett insists there's no reason to fear. He said he does not plan to siphon dollars away from open-space preservation. Rather, he said, he envisions a regional park that would incorporate both undeveloped open space and parkland.

"I wouldn't want to do anything if it would redirect open-space money into some other use," Crockett said.

Voters approved a $48 million bond in November to preserve open space and purchase land for new parks. The money was split down the middle - $24 million to protect wildlife habitat, corridors along waterways and land for hiking or biking trails; and $24 million for community and regional parks.

After funding the southwestern regional park, Crockett wants the rest of the bond money to be spent across the county "as equitably as possible."

For his part, Keith Sorensen, chairman of the open-space committee, said his group simply wants preservation along the ever-expanding Wasatch Front.

"The open space has got to be preserved because it will be gone," he said. "There's not enough money in the world to buy it all up."

jstettler@sltrib.com