Grand County Commission Meeting Preview 2020-10-06

Dear Grand County Residents,

County Commission meetings for next Tuesday October 6, 2020 will begin at 2PM with a workshop to discuss the Forest Service Plan Revision followed by regular County Commission meeting at 4PM, and finally a meeting of the Municipal Building Authority to continue progress in developing/building a new Emergency Medical Services facility. The agenda and packet for the workshop and regular commission meeting is here. The agenda and packet for the Municipal Building Authority meeting is here.

Join the meeting by following the instructions below (instructions are also listed at the beginning of the agenda):

Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84436989906?pwd=NEZYUzJ2RWJqZXpHMHJUSEd6dG1MQT09

Phone dial: (669) 900 – 6833    Meeting ID: 844 3698 9906 #     Password (if needed): 871662

OR: Watch on YouTube; search for: “Grand County Utah Government”

2PM – Manti-LaSal National Forest Draft Plan Workshop

Note: The 290 page packet with supporting documents for the workshop and the regular meeting can be accessed here.

Packet materials for this item, which include the current Manti-La Sal National Forest Management Draft Plan, begin on page 4.

4 PM – Regular County Commission Meeting

Citizens to be Heard. This takes place at the beginning of the meeting and again at approximately 6pm. Citizens may be heard on any topic whether or not it is on the Agenda. See instructions above to call and speak on an issue.

Item E – National Park Service Southeast Utah Group Update (Patricia Trap, Superintendent, National Park Service Southeast Utah Group). No associated document in the packet.

Item H – Presentation on Grand County’s Form of Government (FOG) (Christina Sloan, County Attorney). History, 1992 Plan, 2020 FOG Amendment, Propositions 10,16, and 17 and outcome scenarios.

Item L, p.238 – Approving the Chair’s signature on a letter to the Bureau of Land Management’s Moab Field Office regarding the Seven County Infrastructures Coalition’s failure to provide evidence of financial resources to pay for the construction and maintenance of the Eastern Utah Regional Connection (Commissioner McGann).

Item N, p.250 – Discussion and possible action modifying the Rally on the Rocks event stipulations (Commissioner Wells).

Item P, p.263 – Ratifying the Chair’s signature on Grand County’s response to the Bureau of Land Management’s “Adjacent Right-of-Way Holder Notification” for the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition (SCIC) proposal to pave 35 miles through the Book Cliffs to connect Seep Ridge Road in Uintah County with I-70 in Grand County letter to the BLM regarding impacts to Grand County rights-of-way on its roads (Commissioner McGann).

Item Q, p.266 – Approving the Commission sign-on to a letter to the Senate and House of Representatives supporting a Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) Gateway Community Dividend (Chris Baird, Commission Administrator). 

Item R, p.270 – Approving the Chair’s signature on Memorandum of Understanding between Grand County and the BLM as a Cooperating Agency for Development of the Environmental Assessment for the December 2020 Competitive Oil and Gas Lease Sale Parcels in Grand County, Utah (Commissioner Clapper).

Item T, p. 280 – Public Hearing to solicit comment on DiscoPlex Subdivision High-Density Housing Overlay District 5 (HDHO-5) application located at 2600 Desert Road (Mila Dunbar-Irwin, Planning and Zoning Director). This involves a one half acre lot with a proposal to divide it into two lots.

Sometime after 5pm: Municipal Building Authority (MBA) Meeting

The agenda and supporting documents for the (MBA) meeting is here.

A sub-lease agreement needs to be negotiated and signed by both the MBA and EMS so that progress can continue on the new EMS facility.

Other Updates and Looking Ahead

Manti-LaSal National Forest Draft Plan. At the last commission meeting, this item was discussed and resulted in scheduling the above workshop so that input could be considered from various stakeholder entities.

Willow Springs Proposed Campground Overnight Accommodations Overlay. This item was brought back to the table for a second vote. It concerns land near the Highway 191/313 Interchange (the area included in the Small Area Plan proposal discussions). During this meeting, the item was postponed.

Seven County Infrastructure Coalition (SCIC) proposal to pave 35 miles through the Book Cliffs to connect Seep Ridge Road in Uintah County with I-70 in Grand County. In its latest iteration, the ‘Book Cliffs Highway’ is being proposed by the SCIC as an Eastern Utah Connection Road. The name keeps changing but at the end of the day, it’s still a road that Grand County doesn’t want, being proposed by other counties, to be built entirely in Grand County at great expense to taxpayers across the state. The project has received a $3.2 million appropriation from the legislature and millions in Community Impact Board Funding. At last week’s meeting the Commission voted 5 to 2 to send a letter to the BLM delineating objections.

Small Area Plan (Hwy 313/US 191). Work on this continues and there is still time to give your input to the Planning Commission and the County Commission on this continuing discussion. The goal is to have the final proposal going to public hearing and being voted on by both the PC and the Commission by the beginning of December 2020. Public input is being requested. Here is the link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SAP313

COVID-19 Case Counts.

• According to the Southeast Utah Health District, Grand County has had 2 cases since the update of 17 days ago for a total of 59 (2 hospitalizations; 0 current) and 57 recovered, and 1 death. There have been no cases reported in Grand School District. 
• Statewide (Utah Coronavirus Update), there are 75,157 cases (increase of 16,719); 3,916 hospitalizations (up 578); and 474 deaths (up 38) as of today, October 2, 2020. On a somewhat troubling note, Utah’s 7 day rolling average of new cases per day seems to be well over 1,000 and the 7-day rolling average of percent positive rate in relation to tests administered is right at 14%.

Election. Please make sure your voter registration is up-to-date by clicking on this link: https://secure.utah.gov/voterreg/index.html

• Voting. The County Clerk’s page has all sorts of helpful information regarding this year’s election including important dates and how to vote. According to the webpage, ballots will be mailed from the printer on October 13^th. Check it out!
• Candidate Forum. The League of Women Voters is holding the annual candidate forum this Monday, October 5^that 6pm. Here is a link to their page which will give you a link to KZMU, the medium on which the Forum will be held. Tune in and learn about the local and state candidates. Hear how they address the issues.

Arches Recreation Hot Spot Funding – The Hotspot Committee asks for public input at meetings on Oct. 7 and Oct. 14. The Arches Hotspot Regional Coordinating Committee will hold a public meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 7 at 6 p.m. and an open house on Wednesday, Oct. 14 at 6 p.m. to hear comments from residents about specific projects the committee is considering for possible Recreational Hotspot funding from the Utah Transportation Commission. Committee members will present information about three potential projects, which may be submitted to the Utah Transportation Committee in consideration for Utah Recreational Hotspot funding.

• The Oct. 7 meeting will be held electronically. Residents who wish to provide input at the meeting may do so by joining the meeting electronically by Zoom or by phone. ­Written comments may also be submitted. To join by Zoom: http://bit.ly/HotspotProjectsPublicComments or by phone: 669-900-9128; Meeting ID: 867 7784 5576; Password: 535126. To submit written comments: https://forms.gle/32Dj26Nn38iL5PcX8 
• The Oct. 14 meeting will be an in-person open house at the Moonstone Gallery located adjacent to Moab City Hall, 217 E. Center Street. At this meeting, displays and information will be available for public consideration and committee members will be on-hand to answer questions and take input.
• An overview of the funding and committee work is here, including a brief history of where this potential funding comes from, projects that are under consideration, and information on how to get involved and give your input. Basically, three projects are under consideration. Hopefully the funding package will include a combination of all three: 1) Downtown dispersed parking; 2) Spanish Valley Multi-use Pathway; 3) Limited Shuttle/transit system.
• Please take the survey
• For more info contact Lisa J. Church at 435-260-7027, or email lchurch@moabcity.org

Finally, the ongoing Form of Government process. You’ve no doubt read that a hearing was held on Tuesday asking Judge Torgerson to rule on whether the County Commission could take the steps that we did in amending our optional plan for government. Please forgive any legal language mistakes that I may unwittingly commit but basically, the Judge ruled that the Commission has the legislative authority to amend the optional plan, we did so legally, and the two additional questions regarding number of commissioners, and composition of the districts/at large are good to go on the November ballot. I won’t get into the legal issues (the Judge has ruled and his ruling is available for all to read) but here is where we are at:

• County Commission’s amendments to the plan of government have brought Grand County into compliance with State Statute by:
  • Removing nonpartisan elections
  • Removing recall elections
  • Removing term limits
  • Clarifying that GC has always operated under the statutory definition of a commission
• As such, we are no longer living with the threat of defaulting to a 3-person commission.
• Approximately 5,500 voters now have a say in how they want things to run in GC. This is in addition to the roughly 300 citizens that the Form of Government Study Committee worked so diligently to engage. I was one of those 300, and I believe all GC voters should have the option to weigh in as well.
• It is worth repeating that while I am not an attorney and have no legal background, I have read the briefs (for both sides), cross referenced them with the cited code/statute, and I firmly stand behind the way I voted. I’m proud to have been instrumental in taking a bad option off of the table and giving ALL Grand County Voters a chance to weigh in.

That’s all I have for now! I apologize that it is so lengthy! Thanks so much for your comments, questions, and input!

Jaylyn Hawks, Grand County Commission, District 3