Ensuring that almost 2,200 acres of the 8,000-acre, master-planned Jordanelle Ridge community remain open space in perpetuity has been an ongoing negotiation between developer Mike Bradshaw, Heber City and Wasatch County for the past several months. But the discussion now seems to be making some headway after a standstill since September.

At that time, the Heber City Council approved a conservation easement that would allow the Jordanelle Ridge Homeowners Association to own and maintain the open space, with Heber City and Wasatch County having step-in rights to ensure the terms of the easement were being met.

Critics, including Heber City Mayor Heidi Franco and Summit Land Conservancy CEO Cheryl Fox, argued this was not a true conservation easement because a third-party land trust did not hold it. They added that placing the easement in the HOA’s hands gave it the power to close the open space off from the public if it wished.

The City Council sent the conservation easement to the Wasatch County Council for final approval, but it has instead gone through rounds of revisions in council subcommittees. 

The developer provided a list of conditions on Jan. 6 if it entered into a conservation easement overseen by a land trust, which were then discussed by the city and county councils.

Bradshaw’s conditions include that Wasatch County and/or the Wasatch Open Lands Board pay for all costs associated with establishing the land trust and that Wasatch County and/or a land trust be responsible, including fiscally, for the maintenance, management and care of the trails on the open space.

While Summit Land Conservancy is currently only acting as an advisor on the easement, Fox shared the nonprofit’s annual budget is north of $30 million and that it was “prepared to put our fundraising efforts (toward helping) with this project.” 

The developer also insists that Jordanelle Ridge retain the right to install “any and all necessary infrastructure for development,” such as water tanks, storm flow basins, underground utility transmission lines and access roads, with only the approval of Heber City, not the county or land trust.

That point raised some eyebrows on the County Council. But Kate Sattelmeier, vice president of conservation and counsel for Summit Land Conservancy, reassured councilors that it was a condition that could be worked with. 

She advised adding a provision to the terms sheet requiring Jordanelle Ridge to notify the land trust of major infrastructure projects in the open space area, which would allow the county or land trust to reroute any affected trails, for example.

“We hold easements over several public recreational places where there’s been significant construction work,” she added. “It takes some flexibility on both sides. It takes some communication on both sides. But I don’t think it should be a barrier.”

County Deputy Attorney Jon Woodard pointed out the term sheet points to the sole purpose of the conservation easement as maintaining access to recreation, a much different intent than what the county had in mind.

“The draft agreement that we’ve been working on says that the purposes of the easement (are) to protect wildlife, habitat, natural vegetation, maintain the scenic quality of the mountainside as undeveloped, natural open space and provide public recreation and public access for enjoyment of the property. So, that all is gone and replaced by ‘recreational purpose,’” he said.

The purpose of the easement was further muddied when City Councilor Aaron Cheatwood asked for a definition of recreational purposes that would hold up in perpetuity. He listed mountain bikes and e-bikes as examples of how recreation has changed over time and pointed to motorcycles as a hypothetical favored outdoor activity of the future.

While Fox clarified that many of Summit Land Conservancy’s conservation easements specify vehicles used on trails must be human-powered, Sattlemeier acknowledged that Cheatwood’s question was difficult to answer.

“One hundred years from now, if nobody’s walking around anymore and everybody’s on motorcycles, maybe then, it’s different,” she said.

“And in that case, you’re saying that there is an opportunity for everybody to come to the table and say, ‘Listen. We’ve all atrophied. Our legs don’t work anymore. We can’t get out of our chairs anymore,’” Cheatwood jested.

Franco, who serves as chair of the Wasatch Open Lands Board, said these kinds of roundabout conversations are typical when negotiating conservation easements. 

“These are the years of discussions that happen to get that easement to where the property owner says, ‘Yes, I’m good with that,’ and the conservation values are protected. Everybody’s on board with what’s in the final document before it’s signed, sealed and delivered,” she said.

While Woodard mentioned that Bradshaw was worried about getting “mired in bureaucracy,” the Jordanelle Ridge conservation easement will take further dialogue.

Although the City Council did not take a vote, all members except Mike Johnston supported going forward in further discussion with the developer and the county. 

Johnston was concerned that the easement could place a fiscal burden on Wasatch County and Heber City that could have been borne by the Jordanelle Ridge HOA. He added that the desire to involve a third-party land trust came down to a lack of trust in elected officials.

“We have two parents, Wasatch County and Heber City, who generally work together,” Johnston said. “And I’m not really sure I want to give my parental rights to a babysitter.”

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The Kamas Valley is, quite literally, one of a kind.

Ranchers, cattle and hikers may not necessarily look down and think about the history of the dirt beneath their feet when enjoying the valley’s open spaces, but beneath the scrub and vegetation is a mixture of soil known as the Kovich Toddspan Loam Series, a nutrient-rich mixture of sand, silt and clay.

As Summit Land Conservancy CEO Cheryl Fox says, if you know anything about soil, you know loam is the best kind.

The Kovich Toddspan Loam Series is especially unique, though, because it’s only found in the Kamas Valley. Fox likens the soil to an endangered species, saying the existence of the loam and the valley’s rare ecosystem is under threat by the looming prospect of development.

The soil isn’t the only distinct aspect of the Kamas Valley, however. The area also boasts two aquifers, which work in tandem to collect and store groundwater. One is a consolidated aquifer, a porous layer of bedrock consisting of sedimentary rocks and sandstone, while the other is unconsolidated — sediment still too young to be considered a rock.

Fox warned new residents will need to drill wells and tap into the aquifers for water if the Kamas Valley continues to be developed. The well water will then travel into the sewers and end up in storm drains or a water treatment plant, not back into the aquifers, draining the natural groundwater storage system faster than it can replenish itself.

Farmers, meanwhile, use “surface water,” or water from nearby streams, to hydrate the land, which in turn recharges the aquifers and helps preserve the grasslands.

For that reason, as well as the general preservation of open spaces along the Wasatch Back, the Summit Land Conservancy is dedicated to safeguarding the Kamas Valley for future generations — and the nonprofit organization established in 2002 has already preserved 300 acres in the Kamas Valley in pursuit of its mission with an additional 1,160 acres of conservation projects funded and underway.

Steven’s Grove

The Summit Land Conservancy doesn’t often purchase pieces of property directly.

Instead, the organization opts to partner with landowners, typically families who have lived and worked the land for generations, to create conservation easements. These legally binding agreements allow individuals to retain ownership of the property and use it for agricultural purposes while ensuring the land will remain an undeveloped, open space in perpetuity.

But with Steven’s Grove, a quarter-mile trail in Oakley along the Weber River, the Summit Land Conservancy took a different approach.

“This is a situation where the land was up for sale, and it would have been developed, but we stepped in and we bought it,” Fox said. “There was a group of residents out here in Oakley who had a vision for a five-mile trail along the Weber River because it runs through town, and they were noticing that down toward Peoa and up toward Weber Canyon, people were buying lots and putting homes on the river. That’s what we’re working to avoid.”

Approximately 20 landowners held properties along the river in 2016, when the Summit Land Conservancy started exploring the option of buying land in the area. The piece that ultimately led to Steven’s Grove, a five-mile public access trail now within the Oakley city limits, was key to making conservation a reality.

“If this piece had been developed, it would have killed the whole vision,” Fox said.

The first time the property went on the market, the nonprofit made an offer, but the realtor never called back. It went under contract with a developer, which then fell through.

The second time the property went on the market, the Summit Land Conservancy tried again.

“This time, the realtor called us back, and they were like, ‘You’re not serious. You’re a nonprofit,’” Fox said. “And it went under contract again to another developer, which fell through. Finally, the third time, we offered a little bit more money, and we got it.”

The nonprofit sold a house on the property, which held pay for a significant portion of the project. Individual donors and the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation helped fund the rest.

“If it weren’t for us, this property would not have been saved,” Fox said. “And now it’s a little park that runs for a quarter-mile along the Weber River.”

The Summit Land Conservancy then handed the property over to the City of Oakley, but with a conservation easement on the land, the city is required to maintain it as a natural park instead of installing recreational facilities.

The organization is also still investigating how to potentially purchase or create conservation easements along the rest of the Weber River in the area to fulfill the original vision for a five-mile trail.

“This is a pretty special spot,” Fox said. “We don’t want things to get overpopulated or anything, but rivers are supposed to meander. They’re supposed to test their boundaries, like toddlers and teenagers. … The river needs to flood this way, and we want it to. That’s good for the aquifer. This ecosystem evolved with that type of flooding, and the soil here is so amazing because the river meanders back and forth. But this is a special place because we did it.”

Marchant Meadows

When Fox would take state legislators on tours of the Kamas Valley years ago to advocate for funding and legal protections for open spaces in Summit County, she would take them to a spot on the side of the road heading toward Marchant Meadows, a 105-acre property that’s almost adjacent to Steven’s Grove.

There, she would let the legislators swoon over the beautiful views of the valley — the tall grasslands framed by the famous Utah mountains and often patrolled by herds of cattle paint a picture that is so deeply Americana, the panorama could be mistaken for a scene from a classic Western showcasing the beauty of the United States and the cowboy way of life.

Then, she’d tell them to kiss it goodbye.

“If you look at a plat map, it’s a jigsaw puzzle of ownership,” Fox said. “That makes it very difficult to save it because somebody owns 40 acres here, 40 acres there and then another 20 acres down there. Someone else might own 200 acres, but it’s similarly fragmented.”

Now, though, Fox doesn’t think it’s impossible to save, mostly because the Summit Land Conservancy was able to convince the Natural Resources Conservation Service to declare the Kamas Valley an area of special concern, which opens the door for further funding opportunities.

“We got a federal grant, which is a regional conservation partnership grant, just for the Kamas Valley. We got $21 million,” Fox said. “We’ve signed that agreement, so that money has passed the test with the current administration. We have two projects that we’re putting applications in for right now for that funding. One is on the East Side here next to Democrat Alley, and the other is for part of the Ure Ranch.”

The Ure Ranch is a large project the Summit Land Conservancy is working on with the County Courthouse. 

Overall, the property has about 834 acres of open space, with approximately 180 of those acres on the side of S.R. 248 closest to the Kamas Valley. Fox said the nonprofit already has funding for the 180 acres, and she’s hoping the federal funding application will be accepted and help pay for the remainder of the property.

“I don’t say anymore that it’s impossible to save this because we have the special designation. We have $21 million, and we have landowners lining up out the door,” Fox said. “We have projects where somebody’s just donating the development rights. That is, in many cases, because they have income and they can offset their income in a significant way by donating development rights. All of our projects involving landowners usually involve some donation, some more than others.”

For example, if the development rights are worth $800,000, then the Summit Land Conservancy might pay $500,000. The $300,000 difference is considered a donation by the landowner, who still makes a $500,000 profit in what Fox joked is a bargain sale.

“We also pay for appraisals, title insurance, surveys, all kinds of things, as well as long-term stewardship,” she added. “We put a little money away, so it’s like a trust fund for the land that allows us to make sure that we have staff or somebody who can go out every year and monitor the property.”

The nonprofit also aims to collaborate with community members who live and work on the agricultural lands throughout the Kamas Valley. Fox said there have been multiple times that the Summit Land Conservancy has “swapped” acreage with farmers to make the organization’s conserved open spaces more contiguous.

In those situations, the farmer then receives an agreed-upon amount of land from the Summit Land Conservancy’s property without development rights, meaning the area can still be used for cattle grazing and ranching without the fear of future construction projects.

As for Marchant Meadows in particular, Fox said she’s especially proud of protecting the property because it includes the Weber River, which flows into the Great Salt Lake.

“When we originally started as an organization, ‘Summit Land Conservancy’ referred to the county,” added Colleen Logan, president of the nonprofit’s board of directors. “Because we’ve saved land now in Morgan and Wasatch and Weber counties, we’ve elevated our meaning to mean the summit of the state where these three major rivers flow: the Weber, the Provo and the Bear.”

Maxo Meadow

The Summit Land Conservancy’s most recent project is Maxo Meadow, a parcel of approximately 61 acres of land near Democrat Alley. The nonprofit drained its own reserves to pay for it.

“We had federal funding for this through another regional conservation partnership program. We’d worked with the family, and it was all good and ready to go, and then we put in the final packet, and they were like, ‘Oh, something’s stuck,’” Fox said. “We tried to sort it out, and we were waiting and waiting and waiting. This landowner is 94 years old. All winter we waited. … Finally, we realized that even if we got it unstuck, then the federal government has to do its due diligence, and it’s going to take us five more months.”

So, instead of risking the deal falling through, Fox went to Logan and the rest of the board and made a special request: Would the board consider taking $510,000 of the organization’s own reserves to close the deal?

The answer was a resounding “yes” in what Fox called a “courageous” decision to drain half of the nonprofit’s savings.

“We were able to go out to just a couple of donors, and I said, ‘Look, we’re doing this, and if you want to help, I need $510,000 by Thursday,’” Fox said. “A couple of them said, ‘I can’t get it to you by Thursday, but I can get it to you by Monday,’ so our reserves are good thanks to a couple of them, but this is why when I say individuals save land, individuals really do save lands. Big donors, little donors, donors of all sizes.”

Fox stressed that donating land to the Summit Land Conservancy is a voluntary process. While the organization occasionally finds a good piece of property it’d like to protect, staff mostly rely on landowners approaching them with proposals. It’s been a successful strategy so far, though, and Fox said the nonprofit has signed letters of intent to protect approximately 25,000 acres across the Wasatch Back.

“The best thing to do is to keep pavement off this ground, and that’s what we did,” she said. “And we did it in a way that works for the family, works for the community and works for us. We’re only successful when we can find a win-win-win situation. If somebody’s losing, we’re not doing it right.”

The partnerships also benefit the local community because purchasing development rights lowers land costs for farmers, Fox explained. For example, if the Summit Land Conservancy purchases development rights for a piece of property, then it’ll be cheaper for a farmer or rancher to buy and use it solely as a pasture because development rights often make up a bulk of the cost.

“By holding the development rights, you truly are protecting the land,” Fox said. “Whoever buys it as pasture land doesn’t get to develop it. They can’t build a house on it. The title is encumbered. … It’s forever and runs with the property, so it applies to the owner and all future landowners. And the best use of this ground is for pasturing because that’s what keeps the aquifer healthy.”

The Summit Land Conservancy remains dedicated to preserving the beauty of the Kamas Valley, but there have been a few hiccups this year because of changes to federal funding made by the Trump administration. Screenings by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, have slowed down some administrative work, for example, but Fox said issues have been fairly minor so far.

In total, the nonprofit has secured funding to preserve approximately 1,160 acres in the Kamas Valley, and Fox and her team aren’t planning on stopping anytime soon.

For more information about the Summit Land Conservancy, including current projects and how to donate, visit wesaveland.org.

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Park City on Wednesday marked the preservation of the Treasure acreage with a ceremony in the shadow of the prized land that served as the culmination of decades of effort to protect the hillside and an opportunity to celebrate one of City Hall’s great conservation successes.

The municipal government in the spring of 2019 acquired the 105 acres overlooking Old Town along the route of the Town Lift in a $64 million conservation deal. The acquisition ended a bitterly contested development dispute that stretched for years before the agreement was reached for City Hall to purchase the land from the Treasure partnership.

Park City in the six years since the acquisition crafted plans for the perpetual protection of Treasure from development. Leaders recently approved the open space protections for the land, a key step, through an instrument known as a conservation easement. Under such an easement, the land remains with City Hall, but the development rights are stripped from the acreage. A third party — the Summit Land Conservancy — will hold and enforce the easement. The approval of the conservation easement is seen as a critical step in the process of protecting the land, leading to the timing of the celebration on Wednesday.

A crowd of people from Old Town and elsewhere in Park City gathered at a trailhead on Lowell Avenue, on the edge of the land, for the ceremony. Park City officials and people who live nearby the land were in attendance. Some at the event were involved in the talks about the Treasure development proposal itself and supported the municipal acquisition that blocked a project.

Mayor Nann Worel, Summit Land Conservancy CEO Cheryl Fox and youngsters cut a ribbon at the trailhead as part of the festivities.

Fox in her remarks to the crowd called Wednesday a “momentous day” and talked about the time, energy and monies that went into the acquisition as she also spoke about the “massive” disruption a development on the land would have caused. Fox described needing to strategize in the effort to sway Park City voters to support a ballot measure that provided most of the monies for the acquisition of Treasure, which was, by a wide margin, the most expensive of City Hall’s conservation deals.

There were also comments during the event about the role played by a group that opposed the Treasure development as well as the one played by Teri Orr, a longtime figure in Park City’s arts community who is credited with assisting in facilitating the discussions between City Hall and the Treasure side that led to the agreement.

There were development rights granted in the mid-1980s, when Park City leaders of that era voted in favor of an overall approval involving the Treasure land and nearby parcels. Other projects that were part of the 1980s-era approval were eventually developed, but the bulk of the rights remained intact and were attached to the hillside, which serves as a scenic backdrop to Old Town.

The Treasure side — initially the Sweeney family and then a partnership involving the family and an investor — spent years in talks with the Park City Planning Commission about a project encompassing upward of 1 million square feet. The developers saw the concept as reflecting the original approval and argued a project would boost businesses in the Main Street core. Opponents argued a development like the one proposed would loom over Old Town and attract lots of traffic to the historic neighborhood.

There was limited progress in the discussions over several rounds of intense talks starting in 2004. City Hall and the Treasure side eventually launched negotiations about a conservation deal. Those talks, also difficult, resulted in the $64 million agreement for City Hall to acquire the land.

Mayor Nann Worel, who was a member of the Park City Council and the Planning Commission prior to winning the community’s top political office, delivered some of the key remarks on Wednesday, calling the protection of Treasure “a milestone for our city because it is celebrating the power of partnerships and the courage to think boldly and creating a legacy of leadership in Park City.”

“Treasure Hill’s story reflects decades, I mean decades, of perseverance, of community action and of visionary leadership,” Worel said.

She talked about the development proposal and the movement against the project.

“And that opposition is what kept the dream of preservation alive for over 30 years,” Worel said.

She recognized four of her predecessors as mayor starting in the early 1990s, city councilors, planning commissioners, City Hall staffers and Orr. Worel also acknowledged the Sweeney family’s “stewardship of this land over decades.”

“Every single person that had a part in saving this land today I thank from the bottom of my heart. Because we wouldn’t be standing here without the hard work and the dedication and the willingness to work together by literally thousands of our residents. And my heartfelt gratitude truly goes out to each and every one,” she said.

The post Park City marks protection of Treasure with celebration in the shadow of hillside appeared first on Park Record.

Leadership Park City, a city program designed to identify and train individuals for leadership roles, creates a legacy project each year that aims for an overall positive impact in Park City and Summit County.

Past projects have included civility, water conservation, local trails and a children’s book about civic responsibility.

This year’s project for Leadership Class 23 will be to support Park City Municipal and the coalition of outdoor and conservation nonprofits working to save Bonanza Flat — sometimes called Bonanza Flats — the approximately 1,350-acre parcel of land located in Wasatch County downhill from Guardsman Pass.

To date, there is $2.8 million left of a $38 million price purchase that needs to be met by June 15.

Local recreational, environmental and conservation nonprofits — including Utah Open Lands, Save Our Canyons, Mountain Trails Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, Summit Land Conservancy, Sierra Club, Wasatch Backcountry Alliance, Friends of Alta and Winter Wildlands Alliance — have formed a coalition to raise funds.

One of the ways the class will help the effort is through an online auction, Class 23 member Sara Jo Dickens said to The Park Record.

“There is so much passion behind this whole effort and it didn’t take much to get everybody stoked to be a part of it,” Dickens said during a joint interview with fellow class member Colleen McGinn. “It’s hard to watch this whole thing happen and not want to participate, so this is the perfect opportunity for us to do something.”

Dickens, who works for Summit Land Conservancy, a nonprofit that preserves open space, said members of Park City Chamber of Commerce approached the nonprofit and said small businesses in Park City wanted to help with the effort to preserve Bonanza Flat.

“The problem was that they couldn’t turn their budgets around fast enough to pull money to donate,” Dickens said. “They did say they had items they could donate if there was a way to monetize them for the cause. So, this is how the idea of the online auction started. We had a lot of small businesses reach out to donate to the auction.”

The auction will run May 12-26 and the public can bid on items by visiting http://www.biddingforgood.com/savebonanzaflat.

Some items include a private chef dinner for eight at Gallery MAR with Savory Kitchen, a two-night stay at The Homestead and a spa day at the Waldorf Astoria.

Other items include a membership to the new Summit/Park City bike share program, an Orange Theory Fitness Package, a Salt Pilates class package worth $100, dinner for two at Tupelo, ski and summer mountain bike passes at Deer Valley, 10-punch yoga pass for Tadasana Yoga Studio, a Zodi portable shower and Renegade hiking boots from LOWA Boots LLC.

Kodiak Cakes will match the 5K race registrations for the Park City Trail Series up to $10,000 for all registrations that come in by June 10. And Flying Aces All Stars, which puts on freestyle jumping shows at Utah Olympic Park during the summer, has donated tickets and a private training session by Ashley Caldwell.

Friends of Alta will donate auction items that include a Nau International gift certificate, two one-day travel certificates to any city on JetBlue and tickets to the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, as well as a 2017 limited edition Sundance Film Festival poster.

“There are other items including camping and climbing gear from Liberty Mountain and Mountainsmith and ski equipment from Scott Sports,” Dickens said.

“Hopefully, since this is an online auction, we can reach people from around the world who have visited Park City or who know about Bonanza Flat through friends,” McGinn said.

“We will even accept donations after the auction starts, because we can post them as New Items,” Dickens said.

While the online auction is a major part of Class 23’s project, there’s more.

“We have Save Bonanza Flat T-shirts that were made by Jameson Harper that are on sale,” McGinn said. “We teamed up with Motherlode Park City, a t-shirt company to do this, and the shirts are available for $25 and half of the proceeds goes to Bonanza Flat.”

Also, Uinta Brewing Company has created a Bonanza Beer.

“One of the guys in our group used to work for the Uinta Brewing Company and he asked them to make a beer,” McGinn said. “The beer will be on tap at Flanagan’s, Boneyard and No Name and some other local taverns.”

Like the T-shirts, most of the proceeds from the beer sales will benefit Bonanza Flat.

If, by chance, the $2.8 million isn’t raised by June 15, donors will have a choice to get refunds or give their money to another open-land project, Dickens said.

“We know our auction alone isn’t going to raise $2.8 million, but it will raise some money and also raise awareness for the overall thing,” Dickens said. “Every piece of the nonprofit coalition is working with other donors. This is a way for Leadership to do something. If we can do anything to raise awareness, we will. To have new energy come in is a great way to add to the efforts.”

Leadership Park City Class 23 will host an online auction at http://www.biddingforgood.com/savebonanzaflat from May 12-26 to help raise money to preserve Bonanza Flat. For information or to donate items, contact Sara Jo Dickens at sarajo@wesaveland.org or Colleen McCinn at mcginn.colleen@gmail.com.

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