SAVE KANE CREEK

PROTECT THE RIVER, PRESERVE THE CANYON.

Acres at Stake

Luxury Homes

Sq Ft Commercial Space

CY of Floodplain Fill

Petitions Signed

Environmental impact has already begun, but we can still stop it.

Kane Creek Preservation and Development LLC is in the process of leveling and back-filling in 180 acres of riparian area in the King’s Bottom floodplain. Located two miles from Moab along Kane Creek Road, this site was formerly a rustic campground and open space along the Colorado river.

The developerCraig Weston, Trent Arnold, and Tom Gottleib have taken advantage of a loop hole in Moab’s zoning and have used back door politicking to initiate plans to construct 500+ luxury homes in addition to commercial and industrial areas.

This area is a National Park worthy scenic landscape and important habitat for migrating birds and resident wildlife. It is a gateway to residents’ and visitors’ favorite trails, canyons, and cliffs as well as noteworthy archeological sites.

3 MILLION PEOPLE FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD VISIT MOAB PER YEAR

A massive luxury resort does not belong in the national park level scenery that draws people to Moab.

CLIMBERS HIKERS  BIKERS  OFF-ROADERS  BASE JUMPERS  OHV  RIVER RUNNERS  ARTISTS  BIRDERS  PHOTOGRAPHERS  ARCHEOLOGISTS

visitors & locals for preservation

Kane Creek + the Colorado River is beloved by adventure seekers of all forms of recreation.

World Class Wall Street Rock Climbing

Moonflower & Hunter Canyon Hiking Trails

Pritchett Canyon 4x4 Jeep Safari & OHV Trail

Amasa Back, Captain Ahab Mountain Biking Trails

Hurrah Pass, Chicken Corners OHV Trails

Unified Community Opposition

Community opposition to this project is strong, as it threatens the scenic landscape, wildlife habitat, and cherished recreational areas that define our local identity and attract visitors to Moab.

National Park Quality Landscape

In any place less spectacular than Moab, the land around the proposed development would qualify for national park status. In addition to scenic beauty, it hosts numerous ancient indigenous sites and critical habitat for more than one endangered species and borders a Wilderness Study Area.

Building on Riparian Floodplain

In order to build this, the developers are piling between 4-12 vertical feet of sand and gravel on the Colorado River floodplain. This ground is where they plan to put hundreds of luxury homes, condos, country club, and private sewer infrastructure.

Errors + Omissions in Permitting

While we haven’t yet had the chance to prove this in court, our research has uncovered what we believe to be multiple skipped or inadequate steps in the various permitting processes. Local law and government appear unprepared for a development of this size in a place this much on the edge.

Interference with Local Government

The developers and their allies in state government have more than once interceded in local political or government affairs to change laws and fund candidates that would be more likely to allow this development.

Exclusive Luxury Resort

The developers pay a lot of lip service to affordable housing, but their own documents describe this as “an exclusive residential estate,” “resort style,” and “highly amenitized,” containing “private luxury stores,” $1.5 million duplex, 5,000 sq ft custom homes, and 90% vacation homes.

THE FLOOD RISK IS CLEAR WITH THE UNPREDICTABILITY OF MORE EXTREME WEATHER

The Parcel, underwater.

The developers plan to build a luxury complex on the banks of the Colorado River, in the floodplain.

Luxury Resort + Commercial Retail Space

The developers’ vision is to build a luxury resort and propose over 580 dwelling units but claim they could legally build over 2000 in the scenic Colorado River corridor, which could increase the total number of residential units in the county by 37%. The area was zoned for campgrounds and the parcel is divided into 11 phases.

By-passed County Government

Recent legislative changes introduced at the state level, specifically House Bill 22, have added complexity and unease to the situation. The changes in the bill, introduced by Sen. Curt Bramble(R), were clearly aimed at this specific development and forced the formation of a new, all-developer board (previously comprised of locally elected Grand County Commissioners). This change raises concerns about transparency and the community’s role in decision-making of this massive project.

Colorado River Floodplain

KCPD needs to move 680,000 cubic yards of fill to bring the flood plain up to the FEMA guidelines. This is 50,000 dump truck loads at full capacity, and at an aggressive schedule will take 18 months to get to grade. The fill is being scraped from the property on the upper side of the road- a beautiful area just under the fins. The finish grade will be 1ft above the current road. The County Engineer said that the scale magnitude of this project (typically up to 1000 cubic yards) far exceeded the structure they are used to dealing with at the county.

Sewage Treatment Plant

There are also plans to build on 70,000 square feet of commercially zoned land (1.25 football fields) in the area. Speculations vary from a swanky glamping resort for Airstream-type trailers, to an up-scale strip-mall. Perhaps most concerning is the sewage treatment plant necessary for the new neighborhood that will be built next to the river.

Current Status:

Habitat Destruction

 

Grading & Filling

Grading and filling of the floodplain by Salt Lake Excavation has begun following approval of the sewage treatment facility. We can STOP this. Please consider donating to help cover our legal fees.

Who We Are

Kane Creek Development Watch is a group of dedicated citizens committed to preserving the unique beauty and ecological integrity of the Colorado River corridor near Moab, Utah. Our mission is to safeguard this vital area from a development that poses significant socio-economic and environmental threats to our vibrant local community. Our goal is to secure the land back from the developers and ensure its protection for future generations.

This project is a net loss to the community.

We are sending a unified message to the developers and commissioners: this project is a net loss to the community. It will take more than it gives through the impacts to our recreation areas, our scenic landscape, our housing supply, our roads and community services, local small business economy and our overall quality of life in Grand County.

Breaking News! SB 258

SB 258

SB 258 – “Preliminary Municipalities” 

A new Utah law, effective May 1, and seemingly tailored (yet again) for the Kane Springs Development,  allows developers who own unincorporated land to create a “preliminary municipality” on vacant land, appointing a mayor and town council to pass all land use laws with the same powers as the elected government of an ordinary town.  

Though the ramifications of this bill spread far outside Moab, this would allow the developers of the proposed, controversial luxury resort at Kane Creek, who were just denied a sewage treatment plant permit, to completely bypass county law, while also forcing the county and Moab City governments to pay for things like road expansion. 

The law, sponsored by State Senator Curtis Bramble, allows up to three “preliminary municipalities” per year to bypass County land use controls by incorporating and passing their own laws governing development, so long as they meet a few simple criteria—which are mostly there to ensure that the developers actually build a municipality there.  

The law was introduced March 19th, less than two weeks for the end of Utah’s legislative session. It was subject to less than four minutes of Senate hearings with no witnesses and one question, and less than ten minutes of House hearings with no witnesses and one questioner. It received no media coverage.  

In the hearings and in subsequent talks with Utah residents, both State Sen. Bramble and House Rep. Dunning, the bill’s sponsors, have emphasized that the bill is “about affordable housing.” However, SB 258 requires only that developers “intend,” at the initial application phase, to make 10% of the units onsite affordable housing. The concept appears nowhere else in the bill and is thus completely nonbinding.  

Though the law exempts Utah’s larger counties for unexplained reasons, it applies to the more real counties in the state. It is most likely to affect two counties that have tangled with the state or developers on where and how developers can build—Summit County (Park City) and Grand County (Moab).  

A similar bill in 2023, HB 359, which appeared to be tailored to assist an unpopular development in Summit County, was repealed in a special session. Moab citizen group Kane Creek Development Watch calls upon the Utah Legislature, especially those legislators who appear to have voted for this bill without paying attention to its contents, to repeal SB 258 as a fundamental contradiction to the idea of democratic government—allowing 3 or fewer landowners to write their own laws, overriding those passed by the democratically elected County government.   

SB 258’s sponsor, State Sen. Bramble, is a Provo Republican who has twice previously sponsored legislation that overturned a law or government action in Moab or Grand County. The last time, in 2023, was to help the Kane Creek developers control their sewer plant oversight board. It dissolved the County’s board and allowed the developers to create their own. Bramble admitted to the Moab newspaper that the law was targeted at Grand County. 

What is this law? 

Facts: 

  • New Utah law, SB 258, went in effect May 1st, 2024 
  • Allows a developer to create a “preliminary municipality” on his private property so long as he intends to develop it to at least 100 residents within 6 years 
  • A “preliminary municipality” has all the powers of a city or town, including all land use, zoning, and utility authority, except taxation and eminent domain 
  • This allows developers to completely bypass County laws and build what they want 
  • The City Council and Mayor and (called the Board and Board Chair in most of the new law) are appointed by the landowners (except one member of 4 Council may be appointed by the County) 
  • Only three proposed preliminary municipalities may apply per year 
  • Complete requirements for approval to make this new town: 
  1. No minimum population (can be zero) 
  2. 3 or fewer landowners and all agree (Kane Creek proposed development has 3) 
  3. Contiguous land area (unless some federal land is needed to connect common interest ares) 
  4. Within 1 county 
  5. At least 50% of land area undeveloped 
  6. At least 0.25 miles from an existing city or town 
  7. Cannot be in 1st or 2nd class counties: Salt Lake, Utah, Davis, Weber, or Washington 
  8. The proposed municipality cannot contain parts of another proposed municipality or annexation area 
  9. Developers must “INTEND”
    1. When fully developed, residents (undefined re: vacation homes) will be at least 100 
    2. Average population density of at least 7 people per square mile 
    3. 10% of total housing is affordable (note: affordable housing appears ONLY as an “intent” in the initial application. The affordable housing “requirement” is not binding as it appears nowhere else in this law).  
  10. A state assessment of the development plan must conclude that, once developed, it is likely to generate enough tax revenue to cover its municipal expenses 
  • The public and other government agencies have an opportunity to review and comment on the proposal, but the review process has no ability to change anything. The sole requirements are the ones above. 
  • As soon as the population of the preliminary municipality reaches 100 people, that it must transition to an ordinary town and hold elections. It must do this within six years, or it is dissolved, and the control, duties, and infrastructure revert to the county. 
  • Early in the process, developers are required to post a bond, a cash deposit, or a letter of credit showing that they can pay for the completion of the infrastructure in their plan. They are gradually refunded this money as they build infrastructure. If they fail to complete within the time period, the remainder of the money stays with the municipality. However, the municipality would be run by the board and board chair that the developers appointed. The legislation does not specify how a letter of credit might ensure that money to complete infrastructure strays available in the event of bankruptcy or dissolution of the development company.

Click here for Kane Creek Development Watch’s Annotated PDF of the Bill

Click here for more specifics on the Bill and transcripts of the Hearings: 

Front Page Article of the Salt Lake Tribune

Moab residents and visitors alike are in an uproar because as you are reading this, Trent Arnold, Tom Gottleib, and Craig Weston are having a National Park quality landscape scraped and filled to make room for luxury homes for the Uber Rich. The area is rich in Archeological resources, and is the gateway to Moab’s most beloved trails. This has to STOP. View the article here.

From our community, we are voicing our concerns and united in the goal of true preservation to save Kane Creek.

Share your concerns with the developers.

Help amplify your voice in the fight to save Kane Creek from being irrevocably changed forever, please respectfully express yourself and share your connection to this special place:

Kane Creek Development Watch

Get In Touch

[email protected]

About Us

News

Information

Get Involved

Donate