Grand County Commission meeting report 2021-05-04

Packet is here: https://www.grandcountyutah.net/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_05042021-1337

YouTube is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcyKbsodmkk

Notable agenda items include:

A. Presentation on water rights and conditions in Grand County (Marc Stilson, Division of Water Rights Regional Engineer- Southeastern Region). This was an informative presentation and good summary of the Utah Division of Water Rights point of view. If you don’t know much about water issues in Grand County and like to absorb information via your ears rather than your eyes, this is one place to start (YouTube 4:50).

F. Adopting Resolution establishing Grand County’s participation as an Anchor Community in the Community Renewable Energy Program and authorizing the Interlocal Agreement between participating public entities. Grand County is joining other counties and cities in Utah (including Castle Valley and Moab City) to work toward 100% renewal electric power by 2030. It’s a complicated program, with many opt-in/opt-out steps along the way.

H. Public lands vision statement. The GCC approved some general goals to guide it as it weighs in on various public lands issues. There was some last-minute editing (at the suggestion of County Attorney Christina Sloan) to add cultural resources and more emphasis on quiet. The statement can be viewed here.

J. Approving joint Letter of Support with the City of Moab for implementation of a timed entry system at Arches National Park. Grand County joined Moab City in reiterating its support for a timed entry system. The NPS is proposing further study of this issue, but it’s already been studied quite a bit and it’s not clear why the NPS regional office is dragging its feet.

Q. Discussion on expanding, redeveloping or changing of overnight accommodations uses. County staff asked for guidance on how to handle requests from existing OAs (hotels/condos/campgrounds) to remodel or expand. Expansions are currently not permitted by the Grand County land use code, but the code is a bit ambiguous on redevelopments which do not increase the number of rooms/units/spots. If remodels/redevelopments are allowed, must the new construction fully comply with the same requirements that new OA projects are required satisfy, or is partial compliance enough? The sense of the commission seemed to be (1) expansions should only be allowed if the commission votes to approve (just like new OA projects), and no approvals of expansions should be expected in the short term; and (2) redevelopments which do not increase the number of units should be allowed with partial compliance (exact details to be worked out later).