With new energy and boosted morale, the City of Moab aims to put a rocky 2016 in the rearview mirror
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DEDICATED TO INNOVATION
With new energy and boosted morale, the City of Moab aims to put a rocky 2016 in the rearview mirror
Written by Sam McLaughlin
Last year was a tumultuous one for the City of Moab.
The city’s public works director resigned in February, claiming that management conditions had become unbearable. The police chief left in September, following internal affairs investigations scrutinizing officers who’d reportedly been drinking with minors at a local party. And at the end of September, the city council fired the city manager, who responded by filing a high-profile lawsuit seeking millions from residents who’d criticized her online.
Now it’s 2017. The warm spring weather is here, the usual waves of visitors are pouring into town, and in the hallways at City Center, the prevailing mood is one of enthusiasm, not anxiety. City officials are looking forward, confident that the year ahead will make the upheavals of the past a distant memory.
“I think things are moving in the right direction,” Mayor Dave Sakrison said. Of the events of 2016, “I can’t get into details, but I think eventually it’s all going to come out in the wash.”
Sakrison has been involved in Moab politics in one capacity or another for three decades. Here is a man who may not have seen it all. But at the very least, he has seen a lot — and he takes the long view. “Looking ahead,” he said, “I’m very optimistic that the future is looking very bright.”
Interim City Manager David Everitt feels the same way: “I think we’re on a great trajectory.”
Everitt came on board last October, shortly after the city council terminated the contract of former city manager Rebecca Davidson. He previously worked as chief operating officer for Salt Lake City, and as chief of staff to the Salt Lake City mayor. Though he initially planned to stay with the city for just a few months, he now intends to remain through January of next year.
Six months into the job, he believes that the city’s government is “stabilizing.”
“There’s new energy here now,” Everitt said. And officials intend to capitalize on it. With the turbulence of the past year receding, there’s a renewed focus on the city’s future. The City of Moab’s General Plan — the comprehensive summation of the city’s policies and goals across every area of its responsibilities — will be critical to moving forward. The last general plan was adopted in 2002.
“It’s old. It is deeply in need of revision,” Everitt said.
The general plan provides the basis for the city’s code. As such, it will determine the future of land use, business, development, and growth in Moab (the code will be revised to implement the plan’s goals).
“Any decisions we’re making (will be) in accordance with that general plan,” City Planner Jeff Reinhart said. “It’ll affect the way that Moab looks and grows in the next 10, 15, 20, 30 years.”
Everitt believes the new plan will provide greater clarity that will keep the city from being embroiled in the sort of prolonged land-use and development debates that have recently dominated city council meetings.
“I think there’ll be a bigger emphasis on affordable housing,” he said, as well as “a stronger vision for where denser housing development will be acceptable in the city.”
City council member Kalen Jones echoed that sentiment.
“Hopefully, it will make our development process easier to participate in and smoother for everyone involved,” Jones said. “One of the benefits of it is that, rather than struggling with hard-to-understand development processes, we can focus on more important work: What is the vision for Moab? What does Moab want to be as it grows up so fast?”
Sakrison calls the general plan “one of the key ingredients” for addressing the challenges posed by Moab’s growth.
“We’re experiencing some growth-related issues right now, one of which is change. Sometimes change is hard for a community or a government,” he said. “We’re going to have change. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. How we manage change is critical.”
For city council member Rani Derasary, one of the most important elements of managing the city’s change will be ensuring that Moab remains a welcoming place for the millions of visitors who pass through town each year, without sacrificing the quality of life of the locals who live in town year-round. One of her main goals for updating the general plan and the city’s code, she said, is making sure that the council is doing “whatever we can do to make life a little bit better for residents, while keeping town friendly to tourists as well.”
“I don’t really like the word balance, but it is that, to a certain degree,” Derasary said. “We are looking at things like, can we do something to reduce some speed limits? Are there things we can do in the code, working with UDOT [Utah Department of Transportation], to keep big semis from spending the night running their generators next to people’s homes?”
“It’s hard,” she added, “because there’s so much that needs to be done.”
Top: Four-term Mayor of Moab, Dave Sakrison outside the city offices in March 2017. [Photo by Murice D. Miller]
Left, and magazine front cover: City of Moab employees gather for a group photo on March 23, 2017.
[Photo by Murice D. Miller]
On the agenda: new personnel
Plans are only as good as those who carry them out, and the city’s government seems to have some the best people for the job.
“Of course there’s a learning curve, getting to know new people,” Sakrison said of recent additions to the administration. “But we’ve got a good staff.
“Our (interim) city manager is doing a bang-up job. He knows the community; he knows the people in the community. He’s just been very helpful. He’s articulate, a good planner, prioritizes issues, and he’s not afraid to get his hands dirty.”
The mayor also has high praise for the man whose
another relatively recent addition to the city’s staff: He was hired at the end of February 2016.
“It’s hard to believe it’s already been a year,” he said.
The city’s existing paths are a solid foundation, Miller said; his intent is to keep those paths in the best condition possible while looking for potential ways to expand.
“I think the trail network we have in town is really great,” he said. Even so, there is room for improvement. Right now, he’s working on renovations to the pedestrian trails off of 100 South and 200 South, and to renew access between Kane Creek Boulevard and Highway 191. The department is also looking for ways to upgrade and expand the Mill Creek Parkway.
“We have our eyes on all kinds of different things,” Miller said. “We’d probably love to do trails along Pack Creek, but that’s in the future.”
department faces the challenge of maintaining and modernizing the city’s infrastructure: Patrick Dean, the new director of Public Works.
“Pat is just amazing,” Sakrison said. “I really appreciate his knowledge. He comes to us pretty well-versed in public works.”
Dean joined the city last November, ending a ninemonth stretch without anyone in the role since former director Jeff Foster resigned. Dean previously worked as the facilities director at Ogden-Weber Applied Technology College, and before that, as the water systems operator and lead draftsman for Weber County.
“Pat’s done a great job at jumping right in,” Everitt said. Without hesitation, Dean ticks off his department’s projects for this year: Park renovations. Road repairs. Repainting.
Water monitoring improvements, storm drain upgrades, and the construction of the city’s new sewage treatment plant.
“All the grading work ... is almost completed out there,” Dean said of progress on the plant. “We’re just finishing up on the outfall line by the river.”
(Completing the treatment plant, and ending the current moratorium on new connections to the city’s sewer system, is one of the highest priorities for city council member Kyle Bailey, who called it “the number one project” for the city.)
Dean said that the current construction schedule should see the plant finished in August 2018. In the meantime, the Public Works Department has no shortage of other work to do.
“We’ve got most of our potholes patched,” Dean said. The road crew is working “aggressively” on sealing cracks in preparation for more extensive chip-and-seal resurfacing later on, and on repainting faded street markings.
In addition to repairing roadways, the city has pedestrian paths to think about. The new general plan, Everitt said, will “probably put a lot of emphasis on mobility, and ensuring that we’re planning for the proper infrastructure we need with regard to streets and trails and pathways.”
Responsibility for the
and
falls
Soon to come are upgrades to the city’s baseball field — fresh dirt, a new equipment shed, a new utility vehicle — and to the Moab Arts and Recreation Center.
Meg Stewart, director of the MARC, said renovations to the building will take place throughout 2017. The lobby is first on the list.
“We’re hoping in the next year that we’ll replace our windows and our doors for better efficiency as well,” Stewart said. Stewart, who joined the city around the same time as Miller, says she been given plenty of support over the past year to make changes.
“We started a lot of new programs, and we’ll be bringing those back,” she said. In May, for Mental Health Awareness Month, the MARC will host a gallery exhibition of artworks related to mental health. The center’s Plein Air Moab painting festival is being expanded to include a street fair, and is being re-named the Red Rock Art Festival.
“That’ll be a really great opportunity for the community to come together around a celebration that’s just a little bit different from other things we’ve got going on in Moab,” Stewart said of the event, which will take place in October.
Another new event will be a dark skies-themed art walk, intended to showcase the rare stargazing potential of this area. And there’s more to come: Stewart says she’s still working to determine how best to spend the remainder of the funds that have been set aside for supporting public art.
“We’ve made a lot happen in a year,” she said.
Police department changes
Though all of the city’s departments have been busy, perhaps none has been as extensively transformed over the past six months as the police department. Since former chief Mike Navarre retired in September, the department has been led by Lieutenant Steve Ross, a member of Moab’s police force since 1989.
Ross has taken big strides toward improved transparency, the mayor said: “I applaud the efforts he’s taken.” Programs aimed at more open communication with the public have “flourished under his leadership.”
The department’s new efforts at community outreach have been widely visible. One of Ross’s first priorities was to appoint a Public Information Officer, and PIO Sergeant Bret Edge has used the police department’s Facebook page to highlight officers’ accomplishments, to notify the public about any targeted enforcement efforts the police plan to participate in and to warn local residents about scams or crimes. The response, Edge said, has been both positive, and reciprocal: Citizens are reaching out to the department through Facebook to provide information.
“I don’t encourage people to report crimes through Facebook, but I think it’s a step in the right direction. People are feeling confident enough in us that they’re reporting things to us via Facebook now,” Edge said.
Other efforts have been directed inward. The department’s hiring guidelines have been made stricter, and the
city’s trails
pathways
to Tif Miller, director of Parks, Recreation, and Trails. Miller is
Top right: Patrick Dean is the new Director of Public Works for the City. [Photo by Murice D. Miller]
Above left, from top: Moab City Council members: Heila Ershadi, Kalen Jones, Kyle Bailey, Rani Derasary, Tawny Knuteson-Boyd.
[Courtesy City of Moab and Moab Sun News]
Right: Interim City Manager David Everitt is widely credited with driving many of the positive changes taking place within the city in 2017.
[Photo by Murice D. Miller]
Top: Interim Police Chief Steve Ross (seen here with Moab City Planner Jeff Reinhart) has dramatically transformed his department’s internal operations in the past year by, among other things, adding extensive training for new officers, and instituting greater levels of openness with the media and the public.
[Photo by Murice D. Miller]
Left: Moab City Recorder Rachel Stenta, left, swore in Moab City Police Department officers Richard Allred and Brent Jones in January. [Photo by Rudy Herndon]
hiring process now includes polygraph testing and psychological testing. At the same time, starting wages for officers have risen. The combination seems to be working: The department hired four new officers in the last six months.
“Raising wages, increasing training — applicants see that we are doing a lot more. That’s more attractive,” Edge said.
The department’s training budget has quadrupled, and offers many more opportunities for all officers to receive additional experience, or certification. Ross said that, so far, officers have been instructed in the interviewing of suspects, evidence handling, Taser instruction, and “crime protection through environmental design.”
“The training’s been a huge morale booster,” Ross said.
“With good training comes good morale.”
Edge agreed: “I’ve been here eleven years, and I’ve never seen morale higher than it is now,” he said. Everybody “is positive, they’re all excited to be here doing police work, and they all do a remarkable job at it.”
Two more big changes remain in the works. The first is the creation of a mission statement for the department, which has never had one.
The second is the hiring of a new chief. Forty-three applicants submitted for the position, Ross said; a company which specializes in recruiting executives for law enforcement will narrow that number to approximately a dozen candidates, and the city’s human resources department will winnow it even further, to six or eight. Final candidates will participate in an all-day interview in Moab before four panels of city officials and residents.
Ross has been pushing his officers to engage with the public in new ways whenever possible. He wants the public to “get to know your officers — not just your chief, not just your sergeants, but your line officers, your street cops.”
Some officers have been eating lunch at the local schools, while others participated in the Halloween Trunk-or-Treat and the Sweet Cravings Bakery’s holiday gift-wrapping.
“We’re trying to do more outreach efforts like that,” Edge said, “where it puts us out in the communities with people, citizens, so we can talk to them and interact with them outside that they-called-for-help mode.”
Going forward, instilling confidence
The police department might be making the biggest strides toward trust and transparency, but Everitt believes those qualities will be vital for government as a whole as the city moves ahead.
“Nationally, we’re seeing this massive sense of distrust in government,” Everitt said. “That certainly manifests itself at the local level, as well.”
One of his hopes is that the city can earn greater confidence from its residents.
“When the community has a strong sense of trust in its local government, it functions best,” he said.
To that end, the city will be hiring a specialist in communications and engagement, and others will focus on “process improvement.”
“The vast majority of the ways people interact with government is around day-to-day stuff” — matters relating to bills, permits, or land use questions, Everitt said. “A lot of times, those processes … are sometimes cumbersome, or slow, or outdated. It’s always hard for city employees to find time to fix the process, as opposed to responding to the inquiry.”
Everitt also plans to hire more administrative support staff, and a renewable energy director to oversee efforts to meet the city’s goals for sustainability. It’s an ambitious plan, but one he believes is necessary to ensure the City of Moab is as responsive to the public as it ought to be.
“The city’s traditionally operated in a very conservative manner in terms of staffing,” he said. “Fiscally, that’s been very healthy. Now it’s time to increase that human capacity so that we’re meeting the public’s expectations.”
Sakrison said that although it’s impossible to be “ahead of the curve” on every issue, he’s confident that Moab is on good footing.
“I think both the county and the city are working a lot more closely than we have in the past,” Sakrison said. “There seems to be a coming-together of different agencies, governmental agencies, as well as communities.”
Sakrison’s term as mayor ends this year. At least so far, he isn’t planning to run for reelection.
“After thirty years in local politics, think it’s time” to retire, he said. “I hope I’m leaving ‘em in good hands.” Between now and then, “There’s a lot to be done.” n
Top left: Executive/administrative assistant Carmella Galley. [Photo by Murice D. Miller]
Top right: Moab Arts & Recreation Center Director Meg Stewart consults with the MARC’s Liz Holland on new paint color for the facility’s lobby in March 2017.
[Photo by Murice D. Miller]
Right: Director of Parks, Recreation and Trails Tif Miller (right), with Sports Director
Justin Marcus, at the Moab baseball fields, where the City will soon be making upgrades. [Photo by Murice D. Miller]
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CASTLE VALLEY SOUTHGATE VILLAGE VISTAS
Moab’s community radio station keeps on rockin’
Written by Sharon Sullivan
While she didn’t necessarily purchase the vehicle “for a song,” a song did have something to do with the truck that the caller ended up buying.
KZMU Community Radio DJ Andy Nettell just happened to have a Toyota truck for sale. And during one of his programs, a listener called in to request the song, “I Want to Buy Your Truck” by Fred Eaglesmith. “I happened to have that album with me. And of course sold the truck to her,” Nettell recalls. “That’s not going to happen anywhere else,” perhaps, but through community radio. The community radio station — not to be confused with commercial, or even public radio — celebrated its 25th anniversary earlier this month with cake and champagne at the Moab Arts and Recreation Center. On display at the center: An exhibit of one man’s collection of the 50 specially-designed T-shirts that were given away over the years at KZMU’s biannual radio-thons. The t-shirts, which belonged to the late Randy Evans, were sized Triple X Large, but Evans, a huge fan of the station, had a soft
spot in his heart for community radio that may have been even bigger. Other residents of this region also hold a special place in their hearts for KZMU: A quilt created from KZMU T-shirts was stitched in honor of the station’s 20th anniversary.
KZMU program director Christy Williams-Dunton and Friday night DJ Carl Rappe were among the “scrappy dreamers” who founded the station at a time when there was no radio in Moab. After the uranium bust of the 1980s, Moab’s sole station, originally known by the call letters KURA (for K-Uranium), had stopped broadcasting. Eventually, the lack of community radio, and what one could mean for the region’s residents, came to the fore. For one thing, “There became an obvious need for a hub of information” for the community, Williams-Dunton recalled. In addition to its broad reach, people missed the local charm and individuality — even the quirkiness — of community public radio. For-profit
stations seemed bland by comparison. “The old commercial sound left a lot to be desired,” Williams-Dunton said. “Moab is a colorful, creative community, and people wanted creative programming.”
Around the same time that Moab residents were starting to miss their lovable old community radio station, a new one was becoming possible — the Federal Communications Commission began distributing more FM licenses in the Rocky Mountain West, opening up the spectrum for FM noncommercial stations. After years of fundraising, KZMU broadcast live for the first time in 1992, from a dilapidated, singlewide trailer that once belonged to another public-service-oriented entity: the National Park Service. An additional round of fundraising three years later, plus a gift of land and pro bono legal work on the station’s behalf, led to a new studio at what is still KZMU’s current address, more than two decades on: 1734 Rocky Road.
Music and more K
ZMU’s music programming is as varied as the 80plus volunteers who work at the station. You’re more likely to hear new and emerging artists than you would on commercial radio, where computers in faraway cities, not an individual’s musicial tastes, dictate what gets played. Here, occasional old favorites share the bandwith with more esoteric fare: “We value diversity,” from classical music “to the gamelan percussion music of Indonesia,” Williams-Dunton says. A DJ who goes by the moniker “Professor Purple,” for example, showcases 1920s yodel and alternative/twang. You can also listen to rock & roll, blues, jazz, folk, bluegrass and recordings by singer-songwriters, as well as news and local public affairs programming.
Nettell, who owns Back of Beyond Books in downtown Moab, programmed a weekly music show for 13 years before scaling back to his current monthly gig showcasing acoustic singer-songwriters. As one might expect from a bibliophile, he also hosts a monthly KZMU “book club” where he invites authors to the studio for on-air interviews, and shares recorded readings that took place at BOB. “It’s pretty fun,” Nettell says.
“It offers an opportunity for folks who can’t or don’t come to the (event at the) store to learn more about books. It furthers the conversation.”
The station reaches out into the community beyond the airwaves, too, at events such as Youth Rock Camp Moab, the annual spring-break camp at Moab Middle School. Spearheaded by volunteer Josie Kovash and Music Director Serah Mead, kids form a band, learn to play a musical instrument on loan from KZMU’s collection, and perform in public at the end of the week. This year’s youth rock performance takes place on Friday, April 14, at 7 p.m. at the Moab Arts and Recreation Center. KZMU also involves kids in its Word of the Day program, founded by former station manager Jeff Flanders, in which fifth and sixth grade students spell and define challenging words that are recorded and played over the air. The project — which offers listeners of all ages an opportunity to improve their vocabulary – is in collaboration with the Helen M. Knight Elementary School and the Moab Charter School.
“KZMU has the longest-running youth radio program in the state,” Williams-Dunton said. Students have learned to write and produce their own radio stories via its award-winning Voices of Youth program. And staff members mentor young people who aspire to be DJs. Volunteer DJs draw on a wide selection of CD’s from the station’s extensive music library — as well as their own music collections — in prepaation for their shows. Paul Smyth, who programs a Big Band jazz show every other Monday, selects music from not only from his own vast collection of CDs, but from music that often gets passed along to him by listeners.
Above, from top: KZMU’s staff: Station Manager Marty Durlin, Accountant Kik Grant, Program Director Christy Williams-Dunton, Engineer Bob Owen; Music Director Serah Mead
Right: Boardmember Terry Carlson, Program Director Christy Williams-Dunton and Station Manager Marty Durlin share a laugh in front of KZMU’s building on Rocky Road in Moab. [Photo by Murice D. Miller]
Bottom: An all-station photo of volunteers, staff and board of trustees, taken in December 2016. [Courtesy photo]
“I have people on the Internet who I’ve met through doing radio who send me music — sometimes obscure music from Europe and around the world,” Smyth says. “Every week music comes in.”
The 77-year old DJ sometimes builds an entire show around a single instrument, like the organ or the trombone, or a legendary jazz musician such as Charles Mingus or Gerry Mulligan. Around Mardi Gras, Smyth played music from New Orleans recommended by his friends in the Big Easy.
“I even did a whole show about a single tune. It was all variations on ‘Take the A-Train,’ by Duke Ellington and his collaborators,” Smyth says. “That particular week, they were opening a subway station in New York City. The A-Train is a way to get to Harlem. So told stories about the music and the musicians.”
Smyth’s audience ranges far and wide. At 90.1 or 106.7 on the FM dial, the station’s coverage extends 400 square miles, to the Colorado state line, near Rabbit Valley on Interstate 70; to the La Sal Mountains and sometimes Monticello; and to Green River. Listeners worldwide tune in as well, via Internet streaming.
KZMU’s co-founder, Carl Rappe, has a Friday night music show called “Blue Plate Special,” where he plays a mixture of rock and roll, jazz, blues, and country. He says he often gets calls from listeners in Botswana, The Netherlands, Australia, Seattle, and California.
Public Affairs
In addition to a wide selection of music (most often programmed in two-hour segments) KZMU provides news and public affairs programming. Williams-Dunton and longtime volunteer Howard Trenholme host “This Week in Moab” Mondays at 5 p.m. and Fridays at noon for an hour of news, arts information and discussion about the local community. National news can be found on “Democracy Now,” an independent, award-winning news program that airs on more than 350 stations in North America –including KZMU — Monday through Friday from 8-9 a.m., and again at 6-7 p.m.
The station also offers a community calendar, public service announcements, and a half-hour program on local cultural events, hosted by the Moab Arts and Recreation Center. KZMU has established relationships with various local nonprofits, such as the Moab Music Festival and the Moab Folk Festival, and helps to promote their events and organizations.
In January, a new show called “Science Moab” was added, hosted by local soil ecologist Kristina Young. The weekly program, which airs Fridays at 11:30 a.m., explores current research being conducted on the Colorado Plateau and beyond. Young interviews scientists about fieldwork conducted locally, shares weekly science news updates, and covers topics such as ecology, geology, chemistry, archaeology, and hydrology.
Radio Drama
When KZMU’s employees allow their passions to guide their programming, the results can be unexpectedly entertaining. Manager Marty Durlin, for example, came to KZMU two years ago with not only a wealth of experience in community radio but also a background in theatre. Accordingly, she added radio theatre to KZMU’s offerings by writing a play, “Downtown Abbey – Season 1,” which was performed by community members performed last year. The musical, a satire of modern-day Moab, features Edward Abbey’s “imaginary fifth cousin twice removed,” a character dubbed “Anti-Ed” who welcomes development at all costs. The production was broadcast live over the airwaves, and later performed at Star Hall. This year, “Downtown Abbey Season 2” was staged at Star Hall in February, and the recorded ver-
sion aired in March. “It’s a big production,” Durlin says. “Last year, we had a three-piece band performing. This year, we have a piano.”
Equally entertaining are the singing commercials between each “Downtown Abbey” episode. Businesses like Red Rock Bakery, Canyon Voices, and The Barkery have gotten into the groove (and are supporting the station) by paying actors to sing ditties about their businesses. “We write and perform them like old-time radio,” Durlin says.
The station manager has also been known to play her accordion live over the airwaves. Local concertina player Miriam Graham joined Durlin for on-air performances during last fall’s radio-thon. The next fund drive is April 28-May 6.
Twice-yearly, on-air fund drives have become more important since the Corporation for Public Broadcasting drastically cut funding for KZMU last year. Small stations, with budgets deemed too tiny to enable them to survive, felt the weight of the axe, Durlin explained. KZMU lost an annual $90,000 — 70 percent of its budget. The station plans to cope with the funding loss by applying for additional grants and seeking more and larger donors.
“We’re reconnoitering; circling the wagons on how to proceed,” Durlin said. “There’s such a need for community radio and local grassroots kind of media.”
Denise Oblak, a longtime listener and supporter
who served as a KZMU board member for several years, agrees. “I really believe in KZMU’s mission to inform, entertain, educate and delight,” Oblak says. “I believe the radio station does all of that. It involves lots of people in the community, even kids. It’s a wonderful creative outlet for DJs. There’s truly something for everyone. It showcases our diversity.”
Durlin says she knew KZMU would be on CPB’s “chopping block” when she took the job. Prior to moving to Moab, Durlin had managed KGNU Community Radio in Boulder, Colorado for 20 years, and later filled in as news director at KVNF Community Radio in Paonia, Colorado. She also served as chair of the Pacifica National Board of Directors and the National Federation of Community Broadcasters.
You might wonder what distinguishes community radio from public radio, given that both are commercial free and depend on community support. “Community radio has more of a distinctive flavor — it directly reflects its community,” Durlin says. “A community radio station uses volunteers from the community for every aspect of its operation, including the board of directors, DJs, and committee members. Ordinary, unpaid volunteers — local citizens — create the programming.”
Durlin oversees a staff of four part-time employees; public radio, on the other hand, typically has a large staff and programmers. All of them are
paid. Fortunately, “Moab is famous for its quality and quantity of volunteers,” Williams-Dunton says. “KZMU has the cream of the crop.”
Despite the loss of federal funding, program director Williams-Dunton is optimistic that the station will continue to thrive. “Moab loves its little radio station,” she says. “It’s expensive to do live radio – that’s why most commercial radio is ‘canned,’ as opposed to being programmed by a live human being who has community ties sitting in the studio.
“The homogenization and automation … that’s not the way we practice radio. Community radio is beautiful. It really is the sound of the community.” n
Small photos, above (from top): KZMU’s Board of Trustees: Susette DeCoster-Weisheit, J. Michele Blackburn and Brian Quigley
Top middle: KZMU’s co-founder, and host of Friday night’s “Blue Plate Special,” Carl Rappe. [Courtesy photo]
Top right: Longtime KZMU supporter Randy Evans. [Courtesy photo]
Bottom: Amelia Van Sickle and Aubrey McAllister as alien teens Galore and Glibblet in Downtown Abbey.
[Courtesy photo]
Small photos, above (from top): KZMU’s Board of Trustees: Terry Carlson, Jason Pronovost and Sasha Reed
Top left: DJ Lady J (Jenn McPherson), host of the DJ Lady J Variety Show, Thursdays from 2 to 4 p.m. [Photo by Murice D. Miller]
Top right: Longtime volunteer Howard Trenholme is host of Wednesday Drive Time (4 to 6p.m. Wednesdays) and also occasional host of This Week in Moab, on Monday afternoons. [Photo by Murice D. Miller]
Left: Melissa Graciosa and Michael Ford “Stoke” Dunton perform in Downtown Abbey. [Photo by Murice D. Miller]
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Moab, where adventure lives...
UNIQUE RETREAT Charming, “not so big” house crafted with green building principles in gorgeous Pack Creek. This 2 bed, 1.5 bath home offers a serene and inviting atmosphere, featuring ecological building methods and a comfortable feel throughout. Workshop, storage shed on 1 acre, surrounded by 23.09 acres of open space. $359,000 #1436947
PERFECT FIT Moab Rim views you will love! This cute 3 bed, 1 bath, 923 SF home offers a great setting, moments from Pipe Dream and an easy walk or bike to all of the amenities of downtown. Great single-level floorplan, huge back yard, covered patio, carport on .22 acre. $239,000 #1435996
HIDDEN GEM Lovely parcel, w/ breathtaking red rock & mountain views! Impeccably maintained 3 bed, 2 bath, 1,512 sf home with bamboo flooring, gorgeous kitchen, covered patio. Superb 2.11 acre irrigated parcel surrounded by mature trees; fenced for horses, 3 car garage, RV parking with electrical hookup. $325,000 #1408272
THE ONE YOU HAVE WAITED FOR Spacious 3 bed, 2 bath, 1,524 sf home has a fabulous location convenient to downtown, and a great .33 acre corner lot. Excellent floorplan and great “bones.” Xeriscaped front yard, large back yard, garage, shed, RV parking. $259,000 #1436937
THE SPACE YOU NEED
Excellent opportunity to capture a spacious home, that can adapt to your life for years to come! 3 bed, 2 bath main level features den and Master Suite; finished basement adds 2 beds, 1 bath, and second family room. 2 car garage, .22 acre corner lot. $279,000 #1431886 PERFECT DESERT SETTING Well-maintained 3 bed, 2 bath, 1,170 sf home on 1.09 acres w/ sweeping red rock and mountain views! Open, bright & move-in ready with private Master Suite. Gorgeous vistas from the porch & covered deck! Perfect rental investment! $219,000 #1405941 MAKE IT YOUR OWN 4 bed, 3 bath, 1,976 sf home on a full acre, with beautiful Rim and mountain views. This home offers a great blank canvas for your vision; add your creative eye and a little elbow grease and craft this home into a fabulous space! 2 car garage, RV parking, room for horses. $215,000 #1436265
PRIVATE RETREAT Great 2 bed, 2 bath, 1,767 sf home off-grid home in a peaceful setting w/ stunning views on 80 private acres NE of Monticello. Artistic detail and an open feel throughout. Solar electric, propane cooking/ hot water, wood stove, cistern, well & septic in place. $289,000 #1386941
BROWN’S HOLE CABIN
Carefully crafted off-grid cabin, south of Moab. Escape to this 1 bed, 1 bath 1,080 sf get-away, a perfect summer weekend retreat. Enjoy the solitude and beauty of nature on the 3.5 acre parcel. Beautiful setting at the foothills of the La Sals. $135,000 #1327933 STELLAR LOCATION This great 4 bed, 3.5 bath, 2,644 sf home offers the perfect location to walk, bike, skip or hop to everything you love about Moab! Formal living room, large family room, two Master Suites, screened porch. Shady, mature trees; .24 acre parcel on a quiet cul de sac. $313,000 #1424757
Moab’s Real Estate Source:
the Colorado border. Acreage parcels from 2.59 to 38+ acres, power & water stubbed to most lots, no restrictive covenants. A dream retreat! Priced From $68,000
DOWNTOWN LUXURY INN W/ DEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL
The Tangren House Luxury Inn, a beautiful Victorian-era home lovingly restored in the Greek Revival style, offers lavish accommodations less than half a block off Main. Beautiful guest spaces, off-street parking, & .50 acre of highly coveted C3 Zoned land! Build out the property to suit - additional rental units, office space, living quarters, more. Truly special vacation lodging investment and development opportunity in the heart of Moab’s downtown walking district! $1,095,000 #1389541
CAPTURE MOAB’S ‘GATEWAY’ RESTAURANT Atomic
Restaurant & Lounge, primely located on the North end of Main Street, in close proximity to Arches National Park, Hotels, RV/Camp Parks, & the downtown core. Exceptional remodel in 2015! Stylish dining area with patio, chic lounge & coveted Private Club License. Fully operational, includes all furniture, fixtures & equipment. One acre Resort Commercial land, well with 37.42 acre feet deeded rights, on-site employee housing, development potential, extraordinary opportunity! $1,650,000 #1436455
Moab, a thriving destination, an exciting home for your business...
LIVE/WORK/LOVE MOAB Income-producing, easily managed selfservice storage business, along with a lovely private 3 bed, 2.5 bath home, all on 4.24 acres just off Hwy 191 with stunning views! “Skyline Storage” offers 74 income-producing units, office with restroom, room for growth or future re-development. The 1,993 sf home features gorgeous light, vaulted ceilings, wonderful living spaces, and simply stunning red rock and mountain views! $986,000 #1412726
MOAB RV PARK Fabulous investment, future potential!
8.75 ac commercial land on Hwy 191 just over County line. 13 site RV park w/ hookups; 1 bed/1 bath cabin; shower house w/ lavatories, laundry, & 4 shower rooms; power, gas, well & septic for 16 units; developable land!
$775,000 #1402023
OLD TOWN BUNGALOW Capture this charming 3 bed, 1 bath, Craftsman style turn-key vacation rental cottage in the
VIEW MASTERS
The White Horse community offers stupendous panoramas, from every direction
Written by Sharon Sullivan
Beneath the night sky, from blankets they’ve spread out on their driveway, Verena and Valentin Meraldi gaze up and point out constellations to their friends huddling next to them. It’s a new moon, and the sky is dark, unmarred by streetlights or other “light pollution.” The vistas from their White Horse home offers the Meraldis, and their neighbors, the perfect perch from which to study the heavens.
Preserving the views was important to the developer of White Horse, Mark Griffith, and his wife and business partner, Beth Logan Griffith. Nestled alongside the cliffs just south of Moab, each home site offers magnificent vistas in every direction. To the north lies property intended for preservation, and to the west, a stunning view of the Moab Rim. Soaring red rock cliffs are just to the east, and to the south, a view of the La Sal Mountains, snow-covered in winter.
Griffith says he left the slope of the White Horse property intact on purpose, to allow for such unobstructed vistas. For that reason, the community is also comprised of single-level homes, which not only conserves everyone’s horizontal views but also expands what they see up and out — toward the sky.
Griffith, a managing partner with White Horse Development Company, attended numerous design retreats in order to learn how best to place and shape these homes for maximum enjoyment. “I wanted the architecture to have a Moab flair to it — something that speaks to Moab and the active lifestyle,” says Griffith. “We’ve had a lot of compliments on the architecture and blending of materials,” including rusted metal, wood, stone and stucco on the exterior of the homes, and rough-hewn timber and large wooden beams inside.
Roofs are made of rusted metal, an attractive, maintenance-free material that will last a long time. Its color blends in with the natural surroundings.
Adding lots of windows to the homes was important to Griffith and Logan; White Horse residents tend to lead active, outdoor-oriented lifestyles and want to enjoy Moab’s wide-open, unparalleled scenery from inside their homes as well as outside. “The true art is the outdoors — the geography of our area,” Griffith says. Plentiful doors offer convenience for gathering gear and exiting quickly (with so much to do so close by, you want to get out as often as possible).
The first White Horse house was constructed in 2009; to date more than half of the 31 home sites on this 36-acre property have been sold. Telluride, Colorado-based architect Ken Alexander offers a variety of floorplans from which to choose; homebuyers are encouraged to meet with the architect to discuss any changes or additions they may want. When they do, one of the things Alexander is likely to focus on will be how best to orient the home to make use of passive solar and make the place as energy-efficient as possible.
Conferring with Alexander was important to Kim and David Boger, who expect to move into their new home in May. “The beautiful thing about the floor plan is, you can tweak it any way you want,” Kim says. “You can customize everything. I love that.”
For example, Kim didn’t want a formal dining room. She and her husband enjoy entertaining; David has cooked for U.S. Presidents, visiting dignitaries and Hollywood celebrities, and also cooks for friends. “We wanted a bar that could accommodate dinner seating,” Kim said. So, the architect helped design one.
Developer Mark Griffith and his wife and business partner, Beth Logan Griffith, in front of a nearly completed White Horse home. [Photo by Murice D. Miller]
Rachel Moody, owner of the Real Estate Company of Moab, and broker for White Horse listings, says she likes the fact that each White Horse home has its own unique style. At the same time, there is enough conformity throughout the neighborhood to ensure high standards, and the knowledge that “there will be something nice next door.”
Griffith anticipated that about half of the homes at White Horse would be used as primary residences, and the remainder would become second homes. Instead, it has turned out, at least three-quarters of the homes will be primary residences. “The community at White Horse is amazing,” Kim says. “The neighbors are engaging and so much fun. I’m excited to be out there — it’s the place to live.”
Griffith and Logan had always envisioned attracting a certain type of individual to White Horse, and they say this has happened. It’s not unusual to find residents gathering under the night sky for barbecues or stargazing, sharing stories of where they’ve hiked or biked that day. “We’re attracting adventure enthusiasts — lovers of the great outdoors. People who passionately embrace life,” Logan says.
(Outdoor enthusiasts themselves, the couple organizes Skinny Tire events, road cycling tours that take place in Moab each spring and fall to raise money for cancer research and survivorship. More than 500 cyclists at the March 2017 event raised roughly $10,000. “Most of that goes toward the infusion treatment room at Moab Regional Hospital” which allows patients to receive care locally instead of having to travel out of town, Logan says.)
Eileen Brodie and her husband both enjoy hiking and fourwheeling, and say they are continuously discovering new trails in the area. They looked at several properties before moving into their White Horse home two years ago. “You’ve got friendly neighbors and beautiful views,” Eileen said. “What’s not to like?”
NEIGHBORHOOD SPECIFICS
The White Horse subdivision is located in the east end of the valley, eight minutes from Moab by car. Its distance from any major thoroughfare affords residents both quiet and a sense of remoteness, developer Mark Griffith says.
To encourage a more spacious feel to the neighborhood and in order to retain wide-open views, perimeter fencing is not permitted (fencing is allowed in order to contain pets, separate children’s play areas, and offer a bit of privacy, such as around a hot tub).
“It’s good to see your neighbor in the distance. By not fencing the property off, you promote friendships. You get to know your neighbor,” Griffith says.
The neighborhood is divided into two cul-desacs, in order to reduce unnecessary traffic. Narrow streets promote slower driving. About 30 percent of the subdivision’s land will remain as open space, to offer a park-like feeling in the center of the community. White Horse is landscaped with a huge variety of desert plants, so that something is blooming in all four seasons. Although some residents grow small patches of grass on their property, you won’t find sprawling lawns in this beautiful (and thirsty) desert terrain. Homes are on half-acre lots, and range in size between 1,700 and 3,000 square feet. An advantage to a single level home is that it “lives larger” because there are no stairways, Griffith says. “For example, our 2,200-square-foot model is more spacious and open and feels bigger” than a two-story home of the same footage. It takes seven to eight months to build a home, once the owner has decided on a plan. Land parcels start at $125,000. Prices for land/ home pagages run from the high $400,000s to the low $700,000s. n
Above: Contractors at work in the White Horse neighborhood in March 2017. [Photos by Murice D. Miller]
Upper right: The interior of a White Horse home. [Courtesy photo] Below: A view toward the snow-capped La Sal mountains from a White Horse lot. [Courtesy photo]
MAR. 31 - APRIL 2
Spring Outerbike
Outerbike expo site outerbike.com 800-845-2453 or 435-259-8732
APR. 8
Art Walk
Galleries throughout town moabartwalk.com 435-259-6272
APR. 8-16
Easter Jeep Safari
Various Trail Locations RR6W.com 435-259-ROCK
APR. 17-23
APR. 29
Amasa Run grassrootsevents.net/amasa-run
MAY 2-5
Bronco Safari Show & Shine
old Spanish Trail Arena pavilion BroncoSafari.com 801-999-8088
MAY 6
SCOTT Enduro Cup presented by Vittoria endurocupmtb.com 801-349-4616
MAY 12-15
50th Anniversary Jeepster Commando Old Spanish Trail Arena jeepster50.com 209-274-2312
Thelma & Louise Half Marathon and Relay Potash Road moabhalfmarathon.com 435-259-4525
JUNE 10
Art Walk
Venues throughout town moabartwalk.com 435-259-6272
FURNITURE
All under one roof, right here in Moab
We Carry: Intermountain Furniture, Broyhill, Lane, Ashley, Liberty, Best, Riverside, Home Elegance, Coaster, Surya, New Classic, Jackson, Catnapper, Fashion Best & more.
(435) 259-1585 • FREE Setup & Delivery in the Moab Area 1004 S. Main St., Moab • 6 Months Same as Cash on approved credit
visiting specialties
Moab is one of the top outdoor recreation destinations in the country – and we are prepared to serve the orthopedic needs of patients’ of all ages and activity levels.
invasive techniques and the latest pain-control methods to get you on your feet as soon as possible.
Dr. Michael Quinn has over 30 years of experience treating both acute and chronic musculoskeletal injuries. Whatever your orthopedic need, Dr. Quinn will get you healthy, pain-free and back to enjoying the activities you love.
MRH is proud to partner with a variety of visiting specialty physicians who bring their expertise to our patients right here in Moab. Current specialties include cardiology, neurology, oncology, plastic surgery, podiatry, and sports medicine. We work hard to expand available specialties to eliminate the need for patients to travel to get the care they need.
