October 2025 Ivins City Council Updates

Mike Scott, Council Member

Red Mountain Resort: What’s Next For Ivins?

At the September 4th City Council meeting, Black Desert Resort presented a proposed development agreement for the Red Mountain Resort property. The concept is to redevelop the existing resort on 56.5 acres with up to 500 “visitor lodging” units managed as part of a destination resort, plus an unspecified amount of related commercial space. About 30% of the land would be preserved as open space.

I have concerns about the draft agreement, from vague definitions and missing phasing/timing to open-space delivery and infrastructure capacity. Raising these concerns is not about opposing the project; it’s about making sure the agreement is strong, balanced, and protective of Ivins residents. Once we sign a development agreement, the City is locked into those terms, so it’s essential that we get it right up front. (Continue reading at https://www.mikescott4ivins.com/?p=5650

At a Fork in the Road: Choosing Ivins’ Future Together

On August 14th, the City Council voted to approve an $860,000 property tax increase. This is the first increase in the Ivins portion of property taxes in 15 years. For an average Ivins home, valued at $743,247, this increase is roughly $10 a month.

Since that meeting, some residents have filed a referendum petition, which, if it qualifies, will place the tax increase on the November 4th ballot for voters to approve or reject. That means our budget is up in the air until then.

The question before us isn’t simply, “Do I want a tax increase?” No one answers yes to that without more context. The real question is, “What’s at stake?” In other words: what kind of city do we want Ivins to be?

Baseball legend Yogi Berra once joked, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” In November, Ivins faces just such a fork with two prongs. One path keeps us a lean but well-functioning city — not extravagant, but able to carry out the priorities in our General Plan and provide the high quality of services our residents expect and deserve, which go beyond the bare minimum in most cities. The other path avoids any increase now, but accepts a declining level and/or quality of services, deferred maintenance, and the risk of bigger costs later.

But we do need to answer some questions. Are We Spending Recklessly? Why not delay expenses? Why not cut expenses? For my take on these questions, please see https://www.mikescott4ivins.com/?p=5645

Going Out of Town?

Ballots for the November 4th City Council election will be mailed in mid-October. There are two city council positions open (Lance Anderson’s and mine). If you will be out of town, please get an absentee ballot sent to wherever you will be. Please do this today to be sure you get your ballot.

If you are out of town and have forwarded your mail, your ballot will NOT be forwarded. The only way you can receive your ballot at a different address is to update your mailing address.

How to receive ballots at your out-of-town address: Update your mailing address at https://secure.utah.gov/voterreg/index.html. You can enter start and end dates in the online form.

“Trail to Tranquility” Event

The City is holding a “Trail to Tranquility” event on October 18th to celebrate the multi-use trail that is now open on Hwy 91 to Fire Lake Park. It will be from 8-10am and start at Unity Park (with pancakes).

The route will go from the park to Kwavasa and then to Hwy 91 for a ribbon cutting and then to Fire Lake Park. Residents will be encouraged to bike, walk, or run the route. And then it continues back to Unity Park. Black Desert Resort is providing a van to shuttle participants back to Unity Park from Fire Lake Park for those who don’t want to do the round trip on foot.

Civic Virtue In This Year’s Election

It’s election time again, so here’s information from an article I wrote two years ago about how to think about the candidates running for City Council then. It still applies today. It dealt with the issue of individual rights (often stated as private property rights) and community rights.

Individual rights are hugely important and need to be protected. But they don’t exist in a vacuum. So, how city council candidates deal with this is a useful litmus test for this year’s election.

When I took the Utah League of Cities & Towns (ULCT) training for newly elected city council members four years ago they specifically discussed individual rights versus community rights using a presentation from the University of Kansas School of Public Affairs. They said this is one of the “polarities” that city councils need to address appropriately.

The presentation stressed that these polarities “are sets of opposites which can’t function well independently. Because the two sides of a polarity are interdependent, you cannot choose one as a “solution” and neglect the other. The object of polarity management is to get the best of both opposites while avoiding the limits of each.”

We all feel strongly about our individual rights. And we should. But we have to balance how we exercise these rights with our obligation to other people, our neighbors, the community. So too, the city council needs to balance the city’s duty to individuals with its duty to the community. That’s not easy.

Some city council members and candidates will say that Ivins is not a HOA, so we shouldn’t impose regulations on residents like HOAs do. I have heard some of them say that. That’s because they are focusing on the individual rather than the community. But HOAs aren’t the only ones in the regulation business. Just one document, our Ivins City Code, has hundreds of pages of regulations. It exists to create a balance between Individual rights and community rights.

I believe regulations are appropriate if they are created for a reasonable purpose. As an example, I believe that our design guidelines have helped Ivins develop its own unique character by prioritizing the views of our spectacular desert environment over the views of buildings. For me, that’s a reasonable purpose. That is, as long as we don’t get carried away with design guidelines that are too restrictive. Again, finding that balance isn’t easy.

We live in Ivins because we have chosen to live in a community. We have chosen to rely on others in the community for lots of stuff we need, enjoy, and value. There’s give and take in that bargain. But, despite the regulations that come with it, being part of a community gives us greater opportunities and freedoms.

I believe the success of a community, its cohesiveness, comes from acting with civic virtue, a dedication to the common welfare of our community. Without civic virtue and a concern for the common good, a community cannot function in a fair, prudent, and wise manner and becomes divided.

All the candidates running for city council are good people who want to do the right things for the community. But I believe prioritizing individual rights over community rights is the wrong approach for this job.

So, it’s important to look at how the candidates in this year’s city council race view the polarities of individual rights and community rights, not just on one issue, but on any issue.

More City Information

I try to keep these articles relatively concise. Not doing too well at that. It’s frustrating because there’s so much to discuss. So, please email me at Mike@MikeScott4Ivins.com for more information about these and other Ivins issues. Also, please tell me what issues in Ivins matter to you. Visit my website at www.MikeScott4Ivins.com for regular updates and now you can also add your comments to my articles.