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Show m 4 MOAB, UTAH vw Volume 108 Number 30 50 Thursday, July 26, 2001 v. moabtimes.com mm WEATHER FORECAST tax hike Water agency approves SITLA deal can't block Opponents Citizens protest seismic work agreement; measure County proposes Thursday Partly Cloudy High 90 Low 61 Sunny High 95 Low 63 c r-- Grand County Council is proposing a 15 percent increase in the property tax. A public hearing on the proposal has been called foi Monday, Aug. 6 in the Council Chambers beginning at 7 p m., to which all concerned citizens have been invited. - Friday- Saturda- y- Sunny High 97 Low 66 Sunday w , -- . Sunny High 98 Low 63 A 'Tv h Preparing for t I i the worst 15 According to a display advertisement, required by Utahs Truth in Taxation law, the increase would amount to 15.7 percent. Based on that increased tax rate, together with projected new grow th and other factors, the county projects its share of local property tax next year will come to $1,256,252. The county took in $1,112,594 last year. Taxes on a home with a value of $100,000 would increase $18 64 under the proposal, on a business of the same value the tax wouldjump by $33 90 passes with split votes i V I I by Franklin Seal staff writer In successive split votes during a water board meeting on Wednesday, July 18, two local entities approved u a controversial impact fee agreement with Utahs School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA). Trust Lands had already signed the financial arrangement But individuals opposed to the deal hoped to block it at the water board meeting They needed a majority of either pre-pai- d A mock disaster Woab's first-ev- con-clua- es er CERT course. A7 River claims two lives board mother and son from Grand Junction drowned in the Colorado River A ment (GWSSA) approved it 8-- 3, during a three- - hour series of meetings in the Grand County Council Cham- Moab area discovenes bers. are the target of scientific studies. The photo above The SITLA agreement will Moab area residents gather outside the field office of the Bureau of Land Management Monday to protest the Veritas Corporation seismic testing proposal. Veritas wants to lay temporary cables and drive 52,000 pound thumper trucks" across the mesa north of Canyonlands National Park. The project would impact parts of Dead Horse Point State Park. Photo by Franklin Seal shows casts of burrows made by the mammalian prey of the predator dinosaurs BLM decision is imminent; public may malic comments B7 Read ail about itl by Franklin Seal staff writer The Bush administrations Look inside for The You'll find weekly events, a TV guide, horoscope, crossword, calendar, real estate listings, classifieds and more. WEATHER HISTORY uly 20 97 72 -J98 64 99 70 -J- - 21 uly uly 22 uly 23 IOC 65 -J- 101 61 -J- 101 60 T 96 74 T July 24 Atlas tailings project gets its first funding: $1.95 million The T imes Business Directory; B7 Dining & Lodging; 63 by Franklin Seal Editorials, Letters: 48,9 Historic Photo: A2 Notices: BS Obituaries: A4 staff writer More than a year and a half ago, news broke of an agreement with the Energy Department that promised to move the Atlas tailings pile aw ay from the banks of the Colorado River. The transfer of the site title from tailings trustee Price.' aterhouseCoopers (PwC) is still on track for September or October, but since last years presidential Region Review: 65 Sports: B1 To subscribe to Independent call subscrtoenmbtimes.com This news-pap- is rt er TA A 3S printed on recycled paper and is recyclable. y On the final day of the public comment period on a project proposed by Veritas Corporation, 30 to 40 Moab area residents gathered in the BLM parking lot. The Veritas plan would have the company use ATVs and helicopters to lay 109 miles of cable and receiver phones across the mesa north of Canyonlands National Park. Then four vibroseis buggy trucks, called thumper trucks would between the lines, stopping every 311 feet to lower pads to zig-za- g the earth and thump. On Monday the protesters stood in the parking lot and listened to impassioned speeches while lofting colorful, signs bearing slogans such as No oil in our parks," BLM hand-painte- d Stewardship?" and Stop the Thumper Trucks." Then they marched into the BLMs conference room and held a impromptu discussion with BLM Assistant Field Manager Bill Stnnger Some of them hoped the protest might convince Stnnger to extend the comment penod. Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance organized the rally with support from the local chapter of the Sierra two-ho- ur Club, Living RiversGlen Canyon Action Network and the National Continued on Page A2 provide Grand Wa-te- r and the district with $330,000 to help fund a culinary water system expansion project m southern Spanish Valley Con- struction of the $4 9 million project is currently about 350-acr- j holde cattle ranch and homestead spreads out southeast near the main intersection in the valley Spanish Trail Road and Spanish Valley Drive. The ranch includes Pack part of cottonwood-lineCreek and backs up almost to the doorstep of the Moab Golf Course Its water wells are some of the largest and purest in the valley. And as has been recently rumored it is all but sold to a developer from Colorado. The deal is set to close Sept. 23. Confirmed by one of the ranch owners and by real estate agents involved in the deal, an earnest money agreement was recently signed that would transfer all but 26 acres of the ranch to a reported and developer from the Vail. Colo , area. Continued on Page A2 d tree-farm- 65 percent complete. Agency directors said they needed the cash infusion soon and that months of delays over the issue have caused other agencies funding the project to extend their rules. The agreement states that Trust Lands will pay the money in two installments: $247,500 when the agreement is signed and delivered to SITLA; the balance when construction is complete. On Thursday morning, July 19, GWSSA Manager Dale Pierson said he expected to receive the first installment within the week. After the second installment, SITLA will receive credit d for $330,000 in impact fees. They will be entitled to use them on any of its parcels within reach of the expanded water system, or, after five years, they can sell them to private developers Trust Lands (and its beneficiaries) and Grand Water each stand to benefit from the agreement. The agency has hundreds of acres of prime real estate in Spanish Valley but much of it lies at elevations too high to be served by the existing culinary water system. Those tracts will likely increase significantly in value after water becomes available when the expansion project is completed And the tracts may be worth even more if SITLA sells them w ith impact fees attached Trust Lands also remains a partner in some of its land deals. The impact fee agreement also helped Grand Water line up funding for the expansion project. The deal was initially announced several years ago, as the water agency first began exploring plans to expand their water system. Having that early commitment from Trust Lands (which at the time was for $500,000) greatly added to the amount of money the agency could show as a local contribution." That m turn helped stimulate federal and state grants and loans to complete the almost $5 million funding package. But concern about the amount of water available in Spanish Valley for future development has prompted a number of water agency board members and a group of Spanish Valley residents to steadfastly oppose the agreement Some valley residents have said they fear when the agency turns its new wells on to full capacity, it will divert water pre-pai- Inside GTheTimes-bdepende- en-erg- policy may be good news for oil and gas companies, but to at least 30 or 40 Moab area residents, the local impacts of that policy are driving them into the streets. . .or at least into the parking lot. A proposal to conduct seismic testing for oil and gas exploration on the approaches to Dead Horse Point State Park and The Island in the Sky District of Canyonlands National Park sparked a protest march Monday at the BLM office building in Moab. Extra1 July most magnificent real estate ings in Spanish Valley, the against. But the district approved the agreement and Grand Water 19 Long considered one of the to vote 3-- 2, 18 staff writer The George White Ranch sits perched at a crossroads, literally and figuratively Agency Tracking history July by Franklin Seal District or (SVWSID) Grand Water and Sewer Service A3 resident to buy White Rauch? Valley Water and Sewer Improve- Sunday while swimming below the Westwater Canyon area Colo, Spanish j ' election, funding for the expensive project has been in limbo. Serious questions still remain about whether Congress and the Bush administration will fund the reclamation effort. And it is still uncertain whether that Continued on Page A2 Utah's 10th college puts down roots in Moab by Cactus Shepherd intern Utahs 10th college, the Utah T-- I Col- lege of Applied Technology, will have a place to call home in Moab. Gov. Mike Leavitt on July 18, signed legislation creating the Utah College of AppLed Technology (UCAT). The bill passed during the special session of the Utah Legislature last month. Starting Sept. 1, the Southeast Applied Technology Education (ATE) offered at the Moab Vocational Center will become one of 10 equal entities within the college. In a press release Governor Leavitt commended legislators, higher education, public education and commun'ty leaders for coming together on the issue of providing more educational options for students. The competency-based- . market-orienteapproach builds what students upon already know and need to know to prosper in the job mar d ket, he said. With the technology education program turning into a college, the general public will become more aware of w hat the Applied Technology Service Regions (ATSR) have offered for the past five years. We'll become more visible by making more noise," said Calvin Hunt, associate director of the Applied Technology Center. The 10th college was created to bnng ATC and ATSR programs, better know n a3 vocational programs, under one governance. When becoming a college, the programs will be similar to what is already offered, but will be expanded as well. In the past, the programs have not been treated as equals to higher education in the state. Due to lack of funding, it has been negligently under-servedirector ofSEATCSR, Miles Nelson said at the Grand County School Board on Pape A2 d, meet-Continu- pre-pai- d Continued on Page A2 |