Many Trails
6 years ago | 148 views | 0 0 comments | 3 3 recommendations | email to a friend | print
Murky waters.

It looks like more controversy on water, sewer and zoning issues in Spanish Valley coming up.

We have a developer holding out the carrot of jobs in front of the San Juan County Commission. That's a powerful enticement, no matter where you are.

The developer would like to build a residential treatment center and private school for troubled youth, certainly an acknowledged need. In comes the not-in-my-back-yard factor.

This presents a valid question that should be answered. Is a residential treatment center and private school an appropriate and compatible use of land where most surrounding structures are residential?

While there was opposition at the start when the current Christmas Box House and Children's Justice Center was built (for a very different purpose than that for which it is now being used), it doesn't appear to have created any problems in the residential neighborhood where it is located near downtown Moab. Nevertheless, the question needs to be explored.

And since impacts, both positive and negative, would be far more to Grand County than to San Juan, the Grand County Council and other political entities have got to be players here.

It's a ticklish situation where a county line artificially divides a land mass, including the underlying water sources. County lines can create problems, or fabulous opportunities, depending on standpoint of the developer, or resident, or county official, or water/sewer board, or planning commission involved (or not involved by virtue of that county line). One thing that is clear is that zoning and zoning enforcement at the county line juncture between Grand and San Juan do not match.

We are already years into the problems presented by the Grand/San Juan County line in Spanish Valley, and no closer to solutions. Now comes news of a committee of San Juan residents and the possibility of forming a new water district. Little is known publicly about this new entity at this time, except that a meeting will be held on May 23 among various interested parties. After that we should know more.

Also, the San Juan County Commission will consider expanding the uses allowed in its commerical land use zone to include private schools. That matter will be taken up at the commission meeting next Monday at 11:45 in the San Juan County courthouse in Monticello. I'm sure a number of Spanish Valley residents will be there.

But in the meantime, questions that have been raised about the common aquifer in Spanish Valley, and the safety of a proliferation of septic systems still hang in the air.

–aft–

Now just a note back to Michaelene Pendleton regarding qiviut. Thanks, and yes, I do have some qiviut that I haven't spun yet. I bought a couple of ounces from Nancy Bender, the lady I mentioned last week. And then the late, great Les Rogers also brought me some from an Alaska trip a couple of years before he died. I haven't decided what to make yet, except that it will be knitted lace.

I recently had the opportunity to buy what is widely considered the "Steinway" of spinning wheels (although not the most expensive, interestingly), and am currently working on my second bobbin of yarn that will go into a project for the person who made it possible for me to buy the wheel by taking care of the hand off and shipping from Virginia.
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