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Show 2 - DECISIVE TTMES . SEPTEMBER 1993 — State Land Sale—The Wolf at the Door? The Division of State Lands and Forestry has received an application for the purchase of ONE SQUARE MILE (640 acres) of land in Castle Valley. Approximately three-fourths of this land is within the legal boundaries of the Town of Castle Valley. The land Sals each night. (I tried to work out a land exchange between State Lands and the Forest Service several years ago, but lost a split vote before the State Land Board on appeal.) What POTENTIAL IMPACTS WHERE DO WE STAND? Since Castle Valley is an incorporated town, it does have some control Over development within its boundaries (and possible annexation prerogatives over nearby commercial developments.) A town does not have jurisdiction over land owned by the State or Federal governments, as long as the land is not sold into private ownership. Zoning restrictions would apply once the land was sold. The Town has undertaken a study to determine the amount of water available (water budget). We have grounds for protesting sale of such a large block of land pending conclusions from the water study. The Town of Castle Valley encompasses about 4500 acres of land. 2400 acres are in the CVRR subdivi— sion of 446 lots; 2100 acres are State might there be from the development of one square mile of land in Castle Valley? Water Quantity— We do not know how much water there is in the Castle Valley watershed. Water quantity studies are currently being done. Results may not be available for several years. If large scale development occurs will there be enough for Land. Therefore, almost half of the land everyone? in the Town of Castle Valley is owned by the state. These “School Trust Lands” are to be managed and/or sold for the financial benefit of the public school trust fund. The only allowable consid— eration for their sale or management is Water Quality— The more septic systems above us, the greater the chances that our aquifer will be contaminated. The more people above chance of water pollution from other sources like spilled engine oil and Lands is supposed to engage in comprehensive planning efforts when disposing of significant lands. (You may have heard references to the Spanish Valley General Plan for the maximizing the financial gain to the gasoline, fertilizers and pesticides, and State Lands in Spanish Valley.) Given trust. There is no “good neighbor” clause in the school trust mandate that allows any negative impact upon our the other by-products of our current lifestyles. Taxes— Current funding for. community to be considered, unless it public expenses (primarily road doesn’t make any financial difference to the trust proceeds. One way to understand the State Lands situation is to picture a huge development corporation holding millions of acres of land. This develop— ment corporation is bound by no ethical consideration, only the goal of making as much money as possible. (State Lands, our developer, has been trying maintenance) comes from POA dues. POA dues cannot be collected for any that there are over eight square miles (5500 acres) of State Land in Castle Valley, we should expect substantial planning efforts before any major blocks of the land is liquidated. (But State Lands refused to begin a planning process for the Castle Valley block several years ago when there were several other State Land sales.) Since to sell land inside Arches National Park for private commercial development like fast food franchises and curio the land were sold. Traffic— More people leaving the valley late for work and trying to make up time driving the River Road too fast. stretches from the ends of Shafer, Miller, and Pope Lanes, past the CV fire station, and across the paved Loop Road to include both the small canyons leading up to the base of Castle Rock. shops for the past five years.) This is no remote, hypothetical threat here in Castle Valley. Last month, State Lands completed the sale of 160 acres of land in upper Castle Valley for $307,000. This land was steep, rocky, and hard to develop. We now face the prospect of seeing sodium vapor house lights halfway up the La us in our watershed, the greater the development outside the CVRR subdivision. Any substantial new development is apt to force us to finally confront the dreaded “T” word. Fire Station— The Castle Valley Fire Station is on leased State Land within this square mile. The fire station property lease might not be renewed if Unknowns— When land is put up for sale, uses might then be made of it that could be much more harmful to us than the simple housing developments we usually envisage. An airport? Major Planning Stipulations: State State Lands has refused to do any planning, the Castle Valley Planning Commission has been undertaking that task (when they’ve had time) during the past year. The time may be here when we should take action on that planning. Public comments (and competing applications) will be accepted by the Division of State Lands and Forestry, 89 East Center Street, Moab, UT 84532, until October 15, 1993. How about letting them know your thoughts and feelings on this issue? —Jack Campbell, Town Council hotel or destination resort? Anything that might turn a profit for a commercial developer. FOR SALE: New passive—solar home, SW stucco design, 2 bedrooms and 2 baths. Lots of ceramic tile and custom cabinets. 244 Miller Lane. JANIE TUFT - SALES AGENT P.O. Box 1121 - Moab UT 84532 Res. 801-259-8360 - Leave Message Pmaazm 47 E. CENTER STREET MOAB. UT 84532 801-259-2650 and Planning Commission |
