July 2006

The Vision Dixie process, fashioned after the Envision Utah process, has been established as a collaborative approach to growth management allowing residents to play a crucial role in planning. We believe this process should be completed prior to the passage of the Washington County Growth & Conservation Act of 2006. Passing the Bill and then engaging in Vision Dixie is like putting the cart before the horse. The Bill was introduced prematurely and did not effectively engage the public in the decision-making process. We need to put the horse back in front of the cart.

If passed by Congress prior to Vision Dixie, the Act sets the stage for lofty plans in Washington County. Vision Dixie would then simply implement this plan. This is a flawed process: the plan should be determined by Washington County citizens through Vision Dixie before a comprehensive Bill is finalized by Congress.

The Bill’s supporters contend that this Bill has taken many years to develop. Although history shows that these land issues have been politically charged for more than forty years, the latest effort has only been in process for two. These two years included only six public meetings, each with limited audiences. Even the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve agreement was a three-year process, but the Bill’s authors want us to believe that a few meetings and one open house are adequate for a far-reaching decision affecting the entire county.

In reference to the Bill, Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert stated, “It is the responsibility of elected officials and residents to be good stewards of the land and that a collaborative effort is important to ensure that.” We agree with this statement. However, selling 24,300 acres of public land and overriding previous land use agreements without a true “collaborative public effort” is not being “good stewards” in our opinion.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed by the Oquirrh Institute, the Utah State Office of Planning and Budget and The Nature Conservancy, among others to develop the Vision Dixie process. Currently, the Vision Dixie process plans thirteen public workshops beginning this fall and continuing into next year to allow for public input. Some areas in Washington County will have only one opportunity for their citizens to attend. Even this plan seems to shortchange the process of community input and, in our opinion, further reveal the weakness of this “public” process.

Before any legislation facilitates such large-scale growth, it is imperative that sound planning and responsible use of resources happen first. The Vision Dixie process has the potential to be a serious, meaningful, and inclusive dialogue about growth and our future. Indeed, passing this Bill before completing the Vision Dixie process would seriously undermine Vision Dixie itself. The bill makes most of the critical decisions. If the bill passed first, the vision part of Vision Dixie will be meaningless.