The Spectrum.com

Article published Nov 17, 2006
First hearing on county land bill held; opinion split
By SCOTT DAVID JOHNSON
sjohnson@thespectrum.com

ST. GEORGE - The Senate subcommittee hearing on the Washington County Growth and Conservation Act brought hope to both opponents and supporters of the legislation Thursday.

Sponsored by Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, and Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, the bill sets aside 219,725 acres of wilderness while opening 24,300 acres of federal land for public and private use in Washington County.

But it must be voted out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee to reach the Senate floor. And its first hearing in the Senate came a day after a Washington County group released a petition with 1,700 signatures asking Bennett to delay consideration of the act until after the conclusion of the Vision Dixie public planning process.

Witnesses on both sides of the debate declared success Thursday, after emerging from the subcommittee on Public Lands and Forestry.

"Everybody presented their statements, and we answered any questions that they had," said Washington County Commissioner Alan Gardner, who spoke before the subcommittee. "I feel very good about the hearing, and I guess we'll let Sen. Bennett make the next call. It's going to be in his ballpark now, so I'm very optimistic at this time."

Lin Alder of Citizens for Dixie's Future, a "smart growth" group, said he had a "different perspective."

He quoted a question from Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, asking Gardner to explain the controversy surrounding the bill.

"The fact that the first question from any senator was, 'Tell us about the controversy,' says a lot," he said.

Bennett, introducing the legislation before the committee, called the Land Bill "the only viable solution to the county's current challenges."

"We brought stakeholders together, solicited public comment on the proposal, made revisions based on these comments and now we bring it to the Congress for its consideration," he said.

But Alder said Bennett was "very defensive and sharp" in response to other senators' concerns during the discussion after testimony from both sides.

Alder's group released a petition Wednesday urging Bennett to withdraw the bill.

"Because this is such a huge decision for Washington County, we prefer that the community develop a plan that bubbles up from the citizens, rather than a plan that is imposed top-down by politicians," Alder said.

The year-long Vision Dixie process offers a chance for the public to participate in ways it was not afforded during the drafting of the Land Bill, he said.

"We're all working on the right problem, but the Land Bill is the wrong solution," he said.

The 1,700 signatures on the petition were collected by "mothers and grandmothers," Alder said, all of them members of Women for Smart Growth.

County Commission Chairman Jim Eardley downplayed the significance of the petition and said the county needs both the Land Bill and Vision Dixie to plan effectively.

"The Land Bill deals with federal land issues," he said. "Vision Dixie deals with private land issues."

Eardley said the bill's opponents are largely "self-serving and shortsighted," singling out Alder as a developer.

Alder responded sharply Thursday.

"I hope that the commissioners don't get caught up in personalizing their campaign in favor of the bill because really, their campaign should focus on the merits of the bill," he said. "We're not important. What's important is the future of Washington County."

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