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Show 4 - COOLING TIMES - SEPTEMBER 15, 1996 COMMUNITY INFORMATION As the POA annual meeting and electionfor Board members nears, there still seems to be confw‘ion about the roles of the POA and the Town Council in the community. The following are some of the basic distinctions between the POA and the Town. (In December 1998, just two years from Board of Adjustments, each with 5 members. Ajoint Road Committee is made up of 2 members of the POA Board, a Town Council member and the Road Supervisor, and oversees the communities largest expenditure—road maintenance. now, the POA membership must decide whether the POA is to continue as it is or whether it should be modified or abandoned altogether. The POA will continue as is unless a majority ofproperty owners vote to change or abandon it.) Castle Valley POA AND TOWN CV has two governing bodies: the Castle Valley River Ranchos Property Owners Association (POA) and the Town of Castle Valley. These are legally separate entities. The POA is a non-profit corporation run by an annually elected board of directors. The Town is a municipality run by an elected Town Council. The POA helped create the Town and funded the Town for 10 years, and the two organizations now jointly fund road maintenance (POA— $20,000, Town— $14,000 for ‘96—’ 97). The Property Owners Association was established by the original developers. The primary business and responsibilities of the POA are determined by the POA Castle Valley Town Zoning Ordinance and CV River Ranchos Covenants The two main governing documents in Castle Valley are the original POA Covenants (23 years old, since 1973) and the Zoning Ordinance (adopted after the incorporation of the town in 1985). The main parts of the Covenants that are currently being used relate to the election of the POA Board, the collection of property owners' dues, and other matters such as how many votes are required to dedicate the roads to another government entity or make capital expenditures. Other portions of the Covenants either have not been used in the past 10 years (such as the Architectural Control and , Planning Committee) or have not been enforced consistently (such as the 1200 sq. ft. minimum house size) and may not be enforcable now. The Zoning Ordinance, adopted in 1985 and amended in 1991, is the legal document that controls Covenants (see below) and the By-Laws. The POA collects annual dues from property owners ($85 per lot or ~$34,000 the past several years). Almost all of the dues collected have been spent on road maintenance. Each property owner has one vote per lot. The POA is run by a five member board of directors. All members can vote at the annual meeting held in mid October (this year 10 am, Oct. 26th at the LDS church). Absentee owners can vote through mailed ballots or by proxy. Members may vote for four POA Board Members, all of whom must be property owners. The top vote getter serves a 2-year term; the other four serve 1 year terms. Monthly POA meetings are held on the first Wednesday of the month at 7 pm. at the firehouse one mile past Day Star Academy (formerly Castle Valley Academy). The Town of Castle Valley was created in 1985 to give the CV community more influence about what it would like to become, as well as represent our concerns in Grand County and the federal agencies managing land around CV. The Town of Castle Valley collects no taxes, but brings building, development and land use. Our rural-agricultural— residential zone allows for agriculture and livestock usage, specifies a live acre minimum lot size (only one dwelling per lot), set-back requirements, and lists other permitted and conditional uses. We have no zoning for commercial ’ endeavors, although home and premise occupation permits are available for low impact business activities. The intent of the zone is to maintain the sense of open space that comes from having a population density of no more than one house per five acres, to protect our water supplies, and to continue allowing uses (such as keeping livestock) usually prohibited in communities where lots have become smaller. (The current Town surveys will be used to determine how much more commercial use will be permitted in the Town. The survey 2 yearsago asked about lot size, how many dwellings per lot, etc.) GRAND COUNTY: Another source of confusion involves Grand Co. ordinances. While the Grand Co. Zoning and other ordinances applied before the Town was about $26,000 into the community from Utah State Class “C” road funds (~14,000) and through the State sales tax created, Grand Co. ordinances DO NOT apply now within the Town limits. Castle Valley Drive was dedicated to Grand fund disbursement (~12,000). The Town has received grants and loans for the community (~$45k loan to install drainage culverts, $5k grant for pavillion on community lot, state grant for trees on community lot, and $900 state grant for filing cabinets and archival work. The Town also regulates land development through the zoning ordinance (see below). Other ordinances may be adopted as needed (such as Fire Restriction Ord., Outdoor lighting 0rd). The Town now holds major water rights and leases these rights to members of the community. Building permits, business licenses and conditional use permits are issued by the Town. The Town government consists of a Mayor and four Town Council members. The Mayor and council members serve 4-year terms. Monthly TC meetings are held at 6:30 pm, the 2nd Wednesday of each month at the CV firehouse. The Town also has a Planning Commission and a Co. several years ago and was paved again last week by the County. So there are some over-lapping jurisdictions. CASTLE VALLEY FIRE DISTRICT: Castle Valley also has a fire district that is another legally independent entity. It has its own board of trustees, levies taxes and makes its own decisions. (Updated from the Castle Valley information booklet published in Jan., l994—Jack Campbell) USEFUL CONTACT PERSONS: Building Permits: Karen Nelson, 801-259-8820 Water/well permits: John Groo, 801-259-7950 Road Supervisor: John Blake, 801-259-2341 Mayor Valli Smouse, 801-259-5508 |