ST. GEORGE — After hearing from residents and developers, the Virgin Town Council voted down a plan Tuesday night to pause new development for up to six months.
The council decided against the temporary zoning ordinance despite revisions on the proposal previously discussed in a special council meeting on Jan. 5.
The mayor said the ordinance would allow the town to form a clearer picture from the Washington County Water Conservancy District about how many connections are already in the pipeline from approved developments.
“The whole point of the moratorium was to find out where we are with water connections,” Mayor Jean Kruse said. “If we don’t do a moratorium, then people are walking in the door every day, and every single day, the number changes.”
But a developer, Chuck Matsler, said his most significant concern with the proposed moratorium was that it would have cost a lot of families a lot of money.
“If you don’t make your living off of development or land sales, you don’t really have any skin in the game,” Matsler said.
The mayor also read a letter from resident John Ely, who supported a pause on development.
“Until we can ensure this town has adequate water, available water hookups and electricity, there should be no expansion of current projects and no additional developments,” Ely’s letter stated. “Once we have a handle on this very urgent and challenging issue, there needs to be a procedure to allocate each new water hookup, so we make progress responsibly.”
The town’s attorney Heath Snow said he has been in discussions with the Washington County Water Conservancy District, which wants the municipality to join it as part of its pooling agreement.
Jared Westhoff, Zion Weeping Buffalo co-owner, said his company has invested a significant amount of money in his property and was against the proposed moratorium.
Virgin has grown in size recently, and according to the draft ordinance, approved water connections may be approaching or have passed limits to its water resources. Also, the town is affected by the statewide “catastrophic drought, making provision of drinking water to new development problematic.”
According to the Utah Division of Natural Resources website, Washington County is one of the nation’s fastest-growing regions. It projects the county’s population will increase by up to 200% by 2060.
Also, Washington County attracts more than 6 million annual visitors and thousands of seasonal residents. These factors increase Washington County’s water demand, according to the website.
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