Honorably Served

Emery County paused on Nov. 12 to honor its military veterans as the Emery County Veterans Monument was dedicated in a moving ceremony where local citizens and representatives of federal, state, county and city government came to pay tribute to those veterans who have served the country in conflicts of the past and present. In a short message to the gathered audience perhaps Representative Kay McIff said it best when he told those present: “Show me who you honor and I’ll tell you what kind of people you are.”

Debate Brews Over Acreage Rules in County

Representatives of the Castle Valley Special Service District voiced their objection to a proposed change by the Emery County Planning Commission in regards to acreage requirements for subdivisions in the county in a letter mailed to the commission on Nov. 7.

The planning commission has a public hearing scheduled for Nov. 14 at 7:30 p.m. at the Emery County Courthouse to hear comments regarding the proposed change. Currently the ordinance for property owners requires that they have 10 acres of land in the county to be able to build. The proposed minor subdivision ordinance will allow for an individual lot to be a minor subdivision and allow property owners to build on two acre lots instead of 10 acre lots.

“We have supported the 10 acre requirement in the past,” said Darrel Leamaster, CVSSD manager, in the letter to the planning commission. “It helped control growth and encouraged growth to occur within the cities and towns. Your reduction of the requirement for a lot size of two acres will encourage an expansive growth pattern outside of the city boundaries. We do not believe this is in the best interest of the cities or the other county residents. We envision a ‘donut’ pattern of growth occurring around each city. This ‘donut’ pattern would have the city in the center with the expansive growth all around the boundaries of the city. This new growth would take advantage of all of the city services, but avoid paying any property taxes to the city or special service district. The new residents will want culinary water, sewer, garbage collection, fire and ambulance protection, asphalted and maintained roads, parks and recreational facilities, snow plows, school bus service, etc. They will expect and demand that these services be provided at the expense of the city residents and county taxpayers,” Leamaster continued in the letter.

According to Mack Huntington, planning commission chairman, the proposed changes to county zoning ordinances comes after a long and sometimes exhaustive study of the issue and after numerous verbal and written requests by property owners for changes that would allow them to build on their property in the county.

“You have to have the utilities available before you will be able to get a building permit,” Huntington said. “The cities control the water system, so if they don’t want to grant the water, then they can control that.”

The cities of the county have ordinances in place that prevent them from granting water connections to landowners who are not incorporated into the city, so the planning commission feels that the proposed zoning change should not be a threat to any of the cities.

According to Huntington the area that would be most impacted by the zoning change would be to those living on the north end of the county, where the North Emery Water Users Special Service District has water available that it could provide to landowners building on their land within the county. The water district is reported to be in favor of the zoning change.

According to Leamaster the Castle Valley Special Service District board, which is composed of eight board members representing the eight western communities in the county as well as three which are appointed by the Emery County Commission, believes that property owners wanting to build on smaller lot sizes could have their needs addressed through planned annexations into city boundaries.
“We would suggest that the county make an effort to encourage and unite with the cities to accomplish these changes before adopting these harmful, expansive measures in the subdivision ordinance,” Leamaster said.

For many who want to build a home the problem has been and remains that property owners within the cities are unwilling to sell their land, which leaves little recourse for many but to try and build outside of city limits. Leamaster acknowledged that the availability of property within the cities of the county is a problem and in some cities the subdivision ordinances hurt growth.

“I think some of the subdivision ordinances in the cities are too restrictive. People might be willing to get rid of some of their land in the cities if it wasn’t so restrictive,” Leamaster said.

According to Huntington the county consideration of reducing the acreage requirements in its own zoning ordinance should not have any impact on the cities. The city leadership will remain in the driver’s seat when it comes to issuing water and utility hookups. If the leadership of the cities enforces their own ordinances when it comes to utility connections outside of the cities, then they can say no to outside connections and no building permits will be issued.

The public will have the opportunity to express their opinion on the subject during the Nov. 14 public hearing. After the hearing the planning commission will present their findings to the Emery County Commission for a final decision on the zoning ordinance.

Families Glimpse Memorial Concepts

James L. Davis

Some of the families of the nine miners lost in the Crandall Canyon Mine disaster met for a quiet luncheon at Huntington City Hall on Nov. 7 to get the first look at artists’ conceptions for a Crandall Canyon Mine Memorial.

Four artists presented their interpretation of what they thought the miners’ memorial should be and according to Huntington Mayor Hilary Gordon, each artist had an amazing vision of the memorial.
“I’m glad I don’t have to pick because there would be four memorials,” she said.

The artists that made presentations included Gary Prazen of Price; Karen Templeton Studios of Helper; Eldon Holmes of Huntington; and Elise Lazar of Salt Lake City.

The families visited the site where the monument will be established, which is an area north of the Huntington City cemetery.

Besides the families of the lost miners, Michael Mowers from Governor Jon Huntsman’s office and Sandra Slopa, representing Bob Murray and UtahAmerican Energy were also present during the luncheon and meeting. During the meeting Mayor Gordon said Slopa indicated Murray’s intention of being a contributor to the establishment of the monument, which may also include a separate, smaller monument at the mine site itself.

During the meeting Gordon said the families struggled with their emotions at times.

“They seemed a little nostalgic. This will be something tangible for them. It will be a healing thing. I’ve seen the sadness in them but I’ve also seen that life is continuing. The healing process is starting and it’s been a long time coming,” she said.

The group will meet again on Nov. 30 and the various artists will detail the costs of developing their interpretation of the monument. Gordon said at that point a final design for the monument will be picked and a date for its construction and dedication. While a date of the one year anniversary of the disaster has been discussed, Gordon said it is possible that the monument could be completed and dedicated in time for Memorial Day.

No close races in location elections

Judi Bishop

The Nov. 6 elections have come and gone and Emery county has counted the ballots for local public offices.

There were no close races, a three way tie with three votes each on write ins and the school voucher referendum was voted down by the residents 2,388 against to 659 for. The mayor and council positions follow:

Castle Dale
Council: Kollette Colognie, Brad Giles and Joel Dorsch.
Voucher referendum: 75 for 347 against

Cleveland
Mayor: Chris Parkin
Council: Verla Jensen and Jason Merrell, two year positions, Greg Oliver and Richard Murdoch, four year positions.
Voucher referendum: 38 for 147 against

Clawson
Two write in candidates for city council: Susan Simmons and Gerry Hatch.
Voucher referendum: 26 for 47 against

Elmo
Council: Clark Atwood, and then there was a three way write-in tie, Lori Brady, Caleen Wilcox, and Deana Hansen. With only two council positions open to resolve the tiebreaker the persons voted on will be asked if they are willing to serve, if all three are willing then the decision will be reached by use of a poll.
Voucher referendum: 43 for 120 against

Emery
Mayor: Mistie Christiansen
Council: Gary Jensen and Patrick Sundstrom.
Voucher referendum: 40 for 98 against.

Ferron
Mayor: Gill Conover.
Council: JoAnn Behling, Randy Bloomer and Parke Killpack.
Voucher referendum: 128 for 479 against

Green River
Council: Pat Brady, Keith Brady and Dan Harrison.
Voucher referendum: 73 for 263 against

Huntington
Mayor: Hilary Gordon
Council: Julie Jones, Travis Larsen, Jerry Livingston
Voucher referendum: 153 for 578 against

Orangeville
Council: Courtney Cox, Kevin Reynolds, Jeffery Tuttle.
Voucher referendum: 83 for 309 against