November & December 2021
Recap of Ivins City Council Activities

Happy Holidays!  

Here’s the Nov and Dec update for Ivins, I’m combining this update because so much happened at the Dec 2^nd City Council meeting relative to Kayenta.  I’ll start with the issue that is front and center for Kayenta residents, the proposed Dry Wash Reservoir.

Dry Wash Reservoir – 

The possibility of a reservoir for recycled irrigation water in the Dry Wash was first discussed in April and 8 months later, it’s moved from a possibility to highly probable.  I met with Chuck Gillette in an attempt to encourage WCWCD (Washington County Water Conservancy District) to pursue other locations. They did consider other locations, but the issue is that there are two locations with the necessary environmental assessments in place for the construction of a reservoir – Dry Wash and Graveyard Wash in Santa Clara. The environmental assessments were done in 2004 when WCWCD was looking for suitable locations for reservoirs on the west side of Washington County.   An environmental assessment can take years to complete but is only valid for 20 years. After looking at a few other potential locations with Terry and Lance, the WCWCD wasn’t willing to undergo another environmental assessment given the urgency of our water situation. I’ve been told that St George filed paperwork to start the process of a reservoir in the Graveyard location a few months ago thereby essentially eliminating it as an option for WCWCD.

Terry and Lance have been talking with the WCWCD to negotiate terms for the exchange of the land and on Dec 2^nd, they came to an agreement for a 1900 acre-ft reservoir that will hold approximately 619 million gallons of water.  For comparison, Ivins Reservoir holds approx. 500-acre ft of water.  The agreed-upon reservoir is 1200 a/f  surface area but by digging down, the reservoir will be deep enough to hold 1900 a/f of water.  This is important for a few reasons, there will be less evaporation because less surface area is exposed, hopefully, less dust because the water pool is deeper, and less land will be disturbed resulting in less impact to the existing Pickleball trail network.  The upper Pickleball trails will be unaffected by the reservoir, but the lower trails will all be underwater.  The Kayenta trails group is looking into developing a connector trail to link the upper trails with the Old 91 crossing to the Anasazi trail.

IMPORTANT – Ivins will be holding neighborhood meetings in mid-January at City Hall and one of the topics of discussion will be details associated with the Dry Wash reservoir including recreation.  The current thinking is that pubic access will be via a parking lot off 91 and the only permitted activities will be fishing from the shoreline and hiking or possibility mountain biking on a trail that will be built around part of the reservoir.  No boats will be permitted including kayaks or standup paddleboards.  Please attend the meeting and weigh in with your opinion of what if any recreation should be allowed.  I’ll keep you updated on the date/time once the meetings are scheduled.

Lastly, there is some irony in flooding land in Kayenta to water lawns in other neighborhoods in Ivins, Santa Clara, and St George.  But, I think it’s important to remember that culinary water is currently being used for irrigation.  We desperately need a secondary water source and the Dry Wash reservoir will hold recycled water from the St George treatment plant for irrigation purposes.  This will result in the conservation of culinary water for indoor use only.  It’s a significant step for our greater community.

Here’s a map of the proposed Dry Wash reservoir, the blue line is the high watermark:

Water Conservation Ordinances – 

A water summit was held on Nov 9^th for all cities in the WCWCD to discuss adoption of the same water conservation ordinances by all municipalities.  I attended the summit and I’m encouraged by the acknowledgment that we all need to enact significant water conservation restrictions for both residential and commercial development.  Sample ordinances are being developed now and should be ready for consideration by the various cities in January.  Ivins is ready to act on the ordinances as soon as we receive them from the WCWCD.  Here’s what will be considered and please note, this is just for new development.  However, as a next step, I feel it’s critical we implement measures to conserve water for existing residents as well.

Land Dispute – 

Ivins has been brought into a land dispute between Terry Marten and another landowner on parcels along Kwavasa.  The dispute involves issues around the construction of Kwavasa and access to the road and a planned detention basin.  Because of pending litigation, I’m not able to share more information.  I’m hopeful this issue can be resolved without the City being sued.  At the Dec 2^nd meeting, Council voted to move forward with the planned acquisition of the detention basin.

Zoning Change Request – 7 acres corner of 200 W and Hwy 91

I wrote about this issue in detail in my Oct update, it involves a parcel of land across from the Shadow Canyon development on 200 W.  The owners of the parcel wanted a zoning change to build a development of homes and multi-family townhomes.  After much discussion, the Council voted to deny the request and instead, changed the zoning to match what is in Shadow Canyon meaning single-family homes, no multi-family. 

Planning Commission and Arts Commission – New Members

David Robinson was appointed to the Planning Commission to replace Bryan Pack and Jennifer Plecki replaced Phil Moulton on the Ivins Arts Commission.  Congrats to Dave and Jennifer, we appreciate their willingness to serve Ivins.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday – 

Sue