Killing the golden goose

In Wayne County, Utah this week the decision was made to go ahead and put a gravel pit in the county's most desirable residential neighborhood. It is backward economically and an amoral thing to do and I am wondering how such a thing happens.

Double rainbow, and then some, in Wayne County

The gravel pit is on Utah School and Institutional Trust Land Administration (SITLA) land, one of the myriad checkerboard pieces of state land that is scattered geometrically but not politically across the state. SITLA had previously earmarked the parcel of land in Teasdale as best suited to sell for residential use. The land all around the parcel is zoned by Wayne County as residential and agricultural. The property values in the area are high and getting higher and are much greater than any other place within 100 miles. That is because the valley Teasdale and Torrey are situated in boasts of an unparalleled natural beauty. Torrey is the gateway community to Capitol Reef National Park and was considered at one point to be included in the Park given its environmental splendor. Many of the residents in the valley are so called "move-ins" and second home owners, people who are here for the scenery and outdoor recreation. I am one. As such, we pay full property taxes unlike most of our "local" neighbors who take 90% property tax greenbelt exemptions. Because of this, a minority of the property owners in the county pay a majority of the taxes. All the same, we are greatly resented.

I was told a story a couple of years ago about a public Wayne County Commission meeting held to review the county's bi-annual resource utilization plan. Most of  Capitol Reef National Park is in Wayne County and the Park superintendent was invited. The superintendent thumbed through the proposed plan and noticed that the National Park was not mentioned as a county resource. He asked the commissioners about the omission. The commissioners reportedly stared at him, stony faced, before one finally responded, "Son, you can't mine it, you cannot log it, you can't graze it, hell you cannot even get the water out of there. It ain't a resource." The superintendent, dumbfounded, walked out. Rural politicians are known to believe that all conservation is bad and all extraction is good. It is an archaic belief, one that is on the wrong side of history, and one that holds their counties back.

SITLA is about raising money for public schools. As good state residents their policy is to go along with county zoning and leadership wishes. For instance, when the Wayne County Commissioners objected to The Nature Conservancy buying a conservation easement from SITLA on lands within the county, an easement to protect the endangered sage grouse, SITLA relented and did not sell the easement. Never mind the imperiled sage grouse. If Wayne County were to say the Teasdale parcel is zoned residential and that a gravel pit would be absurd there, as it will be, SITLA would agree. That is until recently. When challenged by the Utah County Association, SITLA backed off and no longer pressed for a zoning variance from the county. And even though the county would make more money collecting property taxes from the parcel should SITLA sell it for residential use, the county insists on a gravel pit. Local residents have banded together with petitions, packed the meeting halls, sent in letters, filed lawsuits, and even offered to subsidize the gravel pit contractor to use another site, all to be stonewalled by Wayne County commissioners.

What is going on here? Is it a simple minded ideology that all conservation is bad and all extraction good? That is hard to believe, but it could be. Or are there backroom dealings? The politically connected gravel pit extraction company, Brown Brothers Construction (BBC), is said to want the gravel pit in Teasdale. Residents have noted that there are closer, more appropriate SITLA lands available for gravel that are not in a residential community and that would save Brown Brothers money, but BBC does not budge. It is said that the Utah County Association is Koch brothers supported. My guess is that BBC is just a small fish in an even smaller pond. My bet is that politicians at the level of U.S. Senator Hatch have passed down the word that all resistance to extraction is to be squashed and that SITLA and Wayne County are happily obeying, smiling on the way to the bank with their Koch gratuities in one hand and goose feathers in the other.