SAVE KANE CREEK
PROTECT THE RIVER, PRESERVE THE CANYON.
Acres at Stake
Luxury Homes
Sq Ft Commercial Space
CY of Floodplain Fill
Petitions Signed
kane creek development protest
November 17, 2024 | 11AM
A protest against a luxury development along the Colorado River just outside of Moab, Utah will take place on Sunday, November 17th at 11:00am. The protest will take place at BLM railhead on the ledge overlooking the bulldozed part of the development site.
Known as the Kane Creek Development, the project plans call for several hundred luxury vacation homes as well as commercial space, and sits on a large flood plain amidst a national park quality area popular among outdoor recreators from near and far.
Despite a massive community response to the destruction of natural land and the threats that the project poses, the developers have pushed forward, ignoring the concerns of Moab citizens and visitors. They have twice now been able to take advantage of new state legislation perfectly matching the needs of their development, the most recent legislation allowing them to create their own “preliminary municipality” on the site, which let them bypass local laws and safety inspectors. They have also, through various LLCs, contributed over $10,000 to local elections (a large amount in a small rural county). However, community opposition has not waned, and local activists have been able to completely stop construction at the site since May, after the State responded to a complaint about the illegal use of water rights onsite.
This will be a lawful protest and has been planned in communication with county officials, BLM, and the sheriff’s office. Members of the community and Moab visitors are invited to carpool if possible, and meet at the “Kane Creek Recreation Parking” beyond the site. From there, shuttles will take attendees to the rally location which is overlooking the project. Bikers can arrive at the rally site, which is a half mile beyond Moonflower canyon on the left side of the road. For those that want their voices to be heard, there will be opportunities for expressing thoughts in writing as well as in front of the camera. Attendees can bring homemade signs, but sign making materials will be available on site.
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 developers Craig 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.
Newsletter and Protest
Here are some details on our more recent efforts to STOP Kane Creek Development.First, please join us this Sunday, November 17th (meet at 11AM, main event at high noon) for a safe and legal protest of the proposed development. Use your First Amendment rights to tell the reporters why investors should drop this project like a hot potato.We are asking anyone in a car (unless you’re a journalist) to meet at the large parking lot at the end of the paved part of the Kane Creek road (AKA the Jackson parking lot, the one where the road enters Kane Canyon) at 11AM. We will have a shuttle or carpools arranged to get people to the protest site, which is at the ledge overlooking the bulldozed area (the BLM trailhead that allows access to Behind the Rocks). If you’re on a bike or are a journalist or a photographer, you can park at the limited space at the protest site (we’ll have signs). We plan to have hot food and drinks there as well as sign-making supplies and places to write letters etc. A lot of this is to be documented for social media and to provide directly to media outlets, so let’s have fun! We ask everyone to be careful not to damage any property, trespass, or otherwise break the law, since that gets us in trouble. TELL YOUR FRIENDS!  |
| Other Updates: Zoning We have filed a formal request that Grand County take a position on the legal zoning of the parcels proposed for development. The development, as currently proposed but not approved, depends on the developers’ claim, based on a nonbinding County map, that nearly all the property is zoned Highway Commercial. Our extensive research, conducted when the County admitted that the zoning was uncertain, found no legal basis for that claim, and lots of evidence that, at the very least, the floodplain being bulldozed was zoned Range and Grazing. That zone allows only very low-density residential development, not hundreds of luxury homes and a country club. Even more intriguing, the 1992 ordinance that changed part of the property to Commercial was supposed to be for a 10 Acre parcel hosting a small campground, according to County records. There is much confusion as to how those 10 Acres gradually became over 150 Acres of Highway Commercial on the unofficial online County Zoning Map. The Grand County Commission will hear our case on December 3rd. While the zoning is a moot point should the property become a “preliminary municipality” under SB 258, the zoning would be highly relevant should the developers fail to fulfill the SB 258 criteria, as the property would revert to the original zoning. We will let you know what the Commission decides. Water We, along with local organization Living Rivers, have been able to completely halt construction at the development site since May via our challenges to the developers’ water supply. A volunteer spotted that the water well the developers were using was not permitted for use—due to our challenge to the well’s water rights. Construction cannot continue without water, and there is currently no other water source. The developers can develop other water sources, but not without great expense. They are pursuing other avenues to bypass County laws, but water law is state law and cannot be bypassed (and given the sensitivity of water law, we can hope that they don’t have friends in the state legislature willing to rewrite the law for them). We plan to pursue the water issue, and we assume they are doing so as well. SB 258 Because of its complexity and riskiness, the proposed resort community at Kane Creek triggers a LOT of local, state and federal laws. We have been prioritizing our resources on the laws that seem most likely to have an impact on the development–county, state, and federal. County law was becoming a significant hurdle for the developers due partly to local opposition as well their own failure to conform to existing ordinances. In order to sidestep county law (zoning, road upgrades, sewer permitting, building permits, etc.) the developers have a brand new state law, SB 258, which allows them to create a “preliminary municipality” with nearly all the powers of a town or city, but no residents (the developers literally write the town’s laws themselves). This new state law appears to have been tailored for this development (similar to HB 22 in 2022).The law went into effect May 1, and that day, the developers filed to begin the process of becoming a preliminary municipality. We are monitoring and planning to participate in that process. If the developers are able to secure their own “town,” which is likely because the law exactly fits their circumstances, we will carefully monitor their activity and ensure that they are following all laws governing municipalities (financial reporting, open meetings with public comment, transparency, and similar). Regardless of whether their effort to become a town eventually succeeds, they must still follow state and federal laws and must be able to secure significant contributions from the City and County (or pay for things like, just to pick an example, a multi million-dollar expansion of the Kane Creek road themselves, as well as getting federal, state and local permits). We will also continue to ensure their compliance with state law (particularly water rights) and federal environmental protection laws. Fundraising Thank you to everyone who attended our Fisher Creek Brewing Fundraiser in SLC on September 12th! We raised over $7000 at the event. Thank you to Fisher Brewing, the Bands, Artists, and Bike industries for their donations of space, artwork, items, and music! The money is being used to fund our legal fund to challenge the developers’ water rights. If you couldn’t attend, you can always donate to support our litigation fund, which takes up the overwhelming majority of our budget. Donate Volunteer Needs We have ongoing online research projects for anyone who can collect and record needed information. Click below or email us at [email protected] |
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:
- No minimum population (can be zero)
- 3 or fewer landowners and all agree (Kane Creek proposed development has 3)
- Contiguous land area (unless some federal land is needed to connect common interest ares)
- Within 1 county
- At least 50% of land area undeveloped
- At least 0.25 miles from an existing city or town
- Cannot be in 1st or 2nd class counties: Salt Lake, Utah, Davis, Weber, or Washington
- The proposed municipality cannot contain parts of another proposed municipality or annexation area
- Developers must “INTEND”
- When fully developed, residents (undefined re: vacation homes) will be at least 100
- Average population density of at least 7 people per square mile
- 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).
- 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.
I grew up in Moab … This project is appalling and will fill that entire area with residential and commercial development in a flood plain. The road can't handle this type of traffic. A 34% increase in residential housing in Moab but none of this is geared towards the needs of the community. So sad to see these continuing developments that the elected body allow and nothing to fix the problems at hand. This development creates so many more problems than it fixes.
– Jonathan Olschewski, resident
It will congest and pollute the serene and naturally beautiful Colorado river corridor and its tributaries, currently a critical escape for stressed locals and visitors. It will push us further towards a precedent of bulldozing and locking away our greatest assets to build spaces explicitly for wealthy outsiders to park their money. This in a place already grappling with an affordable housing catastrophe is a tragic and enraging and hypocrisy.
– Anonymous, resident
I’ve lived here for 19 years and Kane Creek is one of my favorite places on earth. It’s minutes from town but you can be out of cell range and into canyons quickly. Never once have I gone down that road and wished there was a business park there. This development is totally unnecessary and signals excessive greed in a place that could be deemed a National Park in another state. Also I work for an affordable housing nonprofit. Putting 2000 high end units in a place that is unsuitable for development is so counterproductive to our housing crisis it makes me want to cry.
– Nancy Morlock, resident
I grew up in Grand County and lived there for 43 years. This development would destroy the beauty of that canyon! There's only one way in and out of that canyon! This development is one of the worst things that could happen to Moab!
– Anonymous, previous resident
These developers are taking advantage of outdated zoning and low-capacity local government to do a large-scale project that is extremely inappropriate for that area. Impact to the river corridor will be large, flood potential is high, it will change the character of the river canyon for the worse for many years, and when they inevitably abandon or sell this project because it’s no longer profitable, we will be left with a hulking facility rotting on the banks of the major waterway of the west. Additionally, watching a megaluxury resort get built in one of the quiet places of moab, displacing a few poor people living in interesting dwellings, when many people can’t even find a place to rent, feels ugly and sad. What right do these guys have to f*ck with a town they don’t live in, building something that no one wants to see, while people who contribute positively to the community end up moving because they can’t afford to stay? They are profiting from the natural wealth that the area offers, while degrading it and contributing nothing.
– Sam Neuman, resident
I grew up in Moab and am devastated each time I return home to a new development that continues to encroach upon the wild places that make Moab special…
– Melissa Nielsen, previous resident
I lived in Moab for 10 years from 1996 to 2006 … I sometimes think about moving back to Moab, but what has happened just in the last 5 years is out of control…Many people that I talk to here in Durango, where I now live say, ‘we can't go to Moab anymore, it's just insane what is happening’.
– Candee Pearson, previous resident
After living in big city, the respite and quiet that Moab has provided has done immense wonders on my physical and mental health. Being able to go out and be in pristine nature just miles from my house is so special to me. Another issue I've faced myself and have watched my friends continue to face housing insecurity. Can't afford to buy houses, and can barely afford to rent. Adding a development of this scale and size in this location breaks my heart.
– Leanna Usher, resident
The Kane creek development is a slap in the face and feels like everything that is wrong in our community compiled into one singular development… Bypassing the city and county to create their own service district, ensuring that no local gets to have a say. It’s super messed up.
– Anonymous, resident
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