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Show LE SU RITE i | : EOS DE TE ata STD POINTBLANK el EL TP ; IT’S ALL IN THE PLANNING By John Kovash As a long-time Moab visitor and hopeful future resident, I took interest in the recent controversy over the Cloudrock proposal. | was prompted to take a first-ever look at the Grand County Master Plan and Land Use Code. What I read is an admirable intent to preserve and improve the lot of the working class and middle class of the Moab region. It has been well documented that the tourist economy creates low-paying, seasonal jobs that lack benefits. You have wisely concluded that merely creating MORE jobs can actually make things worse, and that it’s preferable to see BETTER jobs created. But there is perhaps too much reliance on the concept of attracting new business and industry that will pay higher wages and salaries, in a world where most businesses like to relocate to places with lower wages (and lower taxes and lower rent). It’s a vicious Catch-22 for which there are no easy solutions. It therefore becomes tempting to take the easy way out and transition from a tourist economy to a real estate economy. As a resident of one of many ski resorts that has taken this path, I urge caution. Development can make a few people very wealthy, but it does not create better jobs for the working and middle classes. Worse, the development path involves chewing up the very thing that attracts your visitors, and local governments become hopelessly addicted to real estate transfer taxes. As the pace of development quickens, the workforce is increasingly comprised of commuters from places where wages are even lower, leading to the question: Why are we creating new (low paying) jobs for people who don’t even want to live here? Left to itself, the market will concentrate on creating development that involves the most profit: second homes, trophy homes and trophy businesses for people who need tax write-offs. In the end, you create a community in which only the wealthy and the workaholics are able to survive. If you value diversity among your fellow residents, think of who this leaves out: _ -The elderly, the disabled, single moms ond dads and others on fixed incomes. -Those involved in cultural, educational and artistic pursuits who don"t normally achieve high incomes. -Those who chose to live in Moab primarily because they love the community and its surroundings. -Longtime natives of all stripes who don’t have the wherewithal to cash in on the building boom. One way to work toward a solution is to look at the other side of the coin: How can we reduce the cost of living for the “real people" that we want to see remain in Moab? How can we assure that Moab will be a hospitable place for both employees and small business operators who are the lifeblood of a vital, authentic community? One problem with the Moab Master Plan is that, while intentions and goals are clearly outlined, there is little provision for proactive involvement by government to achieve those goals. In such a vacuum market forces tend to prevail. In piecemeal fashion, government lapses into a passive role of administering, rather than controlling growth. The debate becomes focused on an unending string of proposals by property owners to maximize their investment. Most commonly these proposals involve "PUDs,” which are essentially rezonings or upzonings that are Supposes to produce a public benefit. In the end, you create a community in which only the wealthy and the workaholics are able to survive. If you value diversity ‘among your fellow residents, think of who this leaves out... ‘Cloudrock is especially odious because it involves an owner that is another governmental entity, the State of Utah, that is seeking to profit by any means necessary from Moab’s increasing attraction to traditional resort developers. Worse, the state has a "piece of the action,” which is a recipe for corruption. Furthermore when you look at the long term pattern that has developed concerning concentration of state-owned lands in the region, it is obvious that Cloudrock will be only the first of many battles that threaten to subsume any local intention to master-plan for the benefit of the entire community. I am not suggesting that things are hopeless; rather, I’m positing that a community's power of zoning is the key. Moab can begin to exercise that power by following through with what is an excellent master plan: -For starters, call a halt to all significant rezonings or upzonings until a list of “sensitive lands" can be identified, as required by the master plan. r DAD? WHY DO ORCHARD TERRACE ESTATES CONDOMINIUMS & HOMES Starling at $149,999 Two & Three Only SEVEN units left! P/N ia | AND CONDOMINIUMS, ORCHARD HERE. << CONDOMINIUMS 4 Starting at $149.999 Only Two SEVEN an uni FINANCING AVA Cl — A Re 2 BN } eae ee ORCHARD TERRA THERE USED TO BE AN w FINANCING AVAILABLE) ORCHARD TERRACE? WELL, SON... BEFORE THEY BUILT ALL THESE HOUSES BDRMS. WHAT'S AN ORCHARD? ¢ \s |