Salt Lake City, UT – The final opportunity for the public to help shape Salt Lake County’s master plan for the canyons surrounding Salt Lake City is rapidly approaching. The Wasatch Canyons Tomorrow process is evaluating a wide range of policies dealing with watershed, recreation, transportation and development in these canyons, which include Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons, home to Utah’s Alta Ski Area, Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort, Brighton Ski Resort and Solitude Mountain Resort. Feedback received throughout this process, open through April 30, will be integral to the future development and preservation of the canyon areas along Utah’s Wasatch Front.nWith the county’s population expected to double within the next 30 years, officials assert that now is the time to revise a decades-old master plan for the canyons.
“Our mountains and canyons are a vibrant and vital part of Utah,” says Ski Utah President Nathan Rafferty. “Beyond the fabulous skiing they offer, Utah’s canyons serve as year-round watershed, wilderness sanctuary and recreation space. The information received through this survey process will enable the county to create the best plan possible for all interested parties.”
A number of proposed changes are on the table to reduce congestion, improve transit options and protect natural resources, including extending the county’s TRAX light rail system to the mouth of the Cottonwoods, providing year-round public bus transportation in the canyons, constructing a mountain rail system ascending Little Cottonwood Canyon to Alta and Snowbird, and improving hiker and climber access within the canyons.
Currently, approximately 20% of land in the Wasatch Canyons is privately owned and regulated by Salt Lake County zoning ordinances, in addition to Salt Lake Valley Health Department and Salt Lake City Public Utilities regulations. Most of that land is zoned into 20-acre home sites. Seventy-three percent of those participating in an initial round of public input surveys conducted late last year indicated a willingness to pay higher fees or taxes to raise more money for purchasing high priority lands for watershed, recreation, habitat or scenic value in the Wasatch Canyons. Proposals currently being explored to fund such purchases include a county-wide conservation bond, a general sales tax, a hotel and restaurant tax allocation, an increased fee on monthly water bills or an increase in local property taxes. Forty-seven percent of respondents indicated that watershed and/or habitat impact was the most important land-use planning factor; 34% of respondents indicated that the number of acres preserved was the most important factor, and 9% of respondents indicated that limiting the number of new homes was the most important factor.
In the last round of public input, 62% of respondents supported a parking fee in Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons, similar to that already in place in Millcreek Canyon and American Fork Canyon, to encourage car-pooling and public transportation use as well as to provide an additional source of funding for maintenance and improvements. Fees currently being examined are $3 per day, $12 per week and $40 per year for both Cottonwood Canyons.
Initial survey results also indicated that residents would like to limit terrain expansion at ski resorts unless crowding impacts the attractiveness of Utah’s ski areas relative to that in other states, even as a Forest Service permit application is pending to extend lift-served skiing and riding at Solitude Mountain Resort into adjacent land in Silver Fork. Survey results, however, also indicated that the public does support the expansion of base facilities to accommodate future growth. An overwhelming majority indicated that they wanted no change to the existing ski area plans within the next 20 years, aside from improved transportation options to and from the resorts.
Some ski area expansion is being proposed even as the Wasatch Canyons Tomorrow process unfolds. Solitude’s permit request to expand resort skiing into Silver Fork Canyon was recently reduced from the 462 additional acres first proposed in May 2009 to 182 by eliminating resort skiing on the western side of Silver Fork, already home to backcountry skiing areas including the popular Meadows Chutes. It would also create a 100-foot buffer zone along the creek to assuage water quality concerns.
“We’re giving up some fantastic skiing,” says Solitude Owner Dave DeSeelhorst, as quoted by the Salt Lake City Tribune. “We recognize the need for divergent recreation opportunities. This plan is well thought-out and will accommodate everyone’s needs.”
Other organizations, however, including the Wasatch Mountain Club and Save Our Canyons remain opposed to the Solitude expansion proposal, even in its reduced form.
“While it is a smaller proposal, a significant amount of public lands are still being affected and will be lost to the public,” Save Our Canyons has published on its website. “We could go on an on why this is still a horrible idea (and plan to)! Bottom line: Solitude feels as if they are giving something up by pitching something that is smaller in size. Fact of the matter is, if you never had something are you really giving anything up. If the Forest Service accepts this proposal, the public loses forever another one of our canyons.”
Solitude already privately holds 167 acres of land in Silver Fork. “This land is immediately adjacent to our current permit and is consistently used by our Resort guests,” Solitude officials wrote in a memorandum to the Forest Service dated April 11. “Within this planning process, we will look to realign the Honeycomb lift and add one new lift within this area. We ask that the Forest Service positively move this request into a NEPA study.”
Utah mountain enthusiasts may voice their opinion regarding the future of the Wasatch Canyons by completing the public survey located at www.wasatchcanyons.slco.org. The survey takes 10 to 15 minutes to complete. The deadline to participate is midnight on Friday, April 30, 2010.