Escalante Residents Weigh in on Family Dollar Proposal

Courtesy Entrada Institute

Professional writer and photographic artist Guy Tal will be the subject of the Entrada Institute's next "Classic Conversation" on April 6, 2023, at Robbers Roost in Torrey at 7 p.m. stories about Tal.

TORREY - The Entrada Institute’s "Classic Conversations" continue through the spring, with Guy Tal being the featured guest in April. Tal will engage with Don Gomes in a "Classic Conversation" at Robbers Roost, 185 South Main Street, in Torrey, Utah, on Thursday April 6 at 7 p.m. This 1-hour conversation will include a limited live, in-person audience that is encouraged to ask questions and tell

A professional writer and photographic artist, Tal lives in Torrey, Utah, with his wife, Sarah. He is the author of several books; a regular contributor to several publications, such as LensWork and On Landscape; a blogger; and an educator. He says, “I do not consider myself a photographer who creates art,

Tal Cont'd on A3

Together, sponsors will select one artist to live and work in and around Escalante, Utah while serving as an ambassador for the Monument.

“By promoting a deeper connection to the natural, cultural, and historic resources of the Monument, the residency promotes awareness through the arts.” said Artist-in-Residence Coordinator Allysia Angus.

GSENM AiR Cont'd on B3

ESCALANTE - By the time Escalante’s March 21, 2023, city council meeting came to order, it was standing room only. The main item for consideration was a proposed Family Dollar/ Dollar Tree store, applied for by Ryan Lund of Red Root, LLC to be situated on a corner lot on Highway 12 and 300 East. The project had been approved by Escalante’s Planning and Zoning Commission the prior week, and it was the city’s turn to consider the development, which, by the size of the crowd in the city council chambers, clearly had the attention of a sizeable portion of the town. Mr. Lund, other

Around 1947, the Relief Society building— located on the corner of 98 West Center Street in Concerned Citizens Cont'd on B3 Insider citizens, and attorney Barry Huntington, representing Escalante, attended the meeting via Zoom.

During public comment, fourteen individuals came forward, each one raising concerns related

Residents Weigh In Cont'd on A2 to a Family Dollar/Dollar Tree store being located in the town. Following is an abridged transcript of the citizens’ comments:

Catie Clery (owner of Escalante Canyons Outdoor): Several parcels to the east of 300 east are partially RC zone and single-family residential zone. If any of these properties were to be developed commercially, wouldn’t the property owner need to petition to be rezoned in order to be entirely within the residentialcommercial zone, as other property owners of Main Street businesses have done in the past?

Larry Barnes (resident, former planning commission member): In past years when commercial developments were proposed on Main Street, it ended up with hearings, public workshops, inspection of plans, working out problems and zoning issues. This is when the owner petitioned for change. So far all the applicants have been local citizens. I’m suggesting that any development on Main Street recognize these criteria and these needs…all worked to keep traditional character.

Preston Winkleman (resident, licensed contractor): I am not against the growth of our small town. But I am seriously concerned about how we go about setting up the infrastructure to support these commercial possibilities. Like, will they be allowing tractor trailer traffic access up and down residential streets to supply these possible entities. Or do we have traffic plans already in place? What about drainage, lighting, signage, fences, walls. Will there be more than one crosswalk to provide safe access for my children when they come of age to attend school?

Marcie Hoffman (owner, Escalante Mercantile): We are uniquely situated in and surrounded by natural beauty and a rich social and cultural heri- tage. The state of Utah has recognized this by creating in 2012 the Escalante State Historic District. Further recognized in 2013 by creating the Escalante National Historic District. I and other business owners have honored these values by constructing and renovating buildings that follow the guidelines of these outstanding designations. I urge the planning commission and the city council and our mayor to continue in this respect by ensuring that developments along our Main Street continue in this tradition. National, non-resident owned commercial stores violate and pollute all that we respect and work to protect.

Hailey Apperson (owner, Loubird Inn): After living in the area for 10 years I carry a deep admiration for the resourcefulness of these communities. I realize the excitement of the options of getting what we need right when we need it. But I would like you all to stop and think about all those times you had to be resourceful. What was the outcome? For me I can say it always ends up being exceptionally better than anything I could have gotten right on the spot. Every single person in here has helped shape this unique rural town into what it is today. Corporations make us just like everybody else. Why not stand out, instead of fit in?

Ted Levine (owner, Ranch Dog Kitchen): That entire property on Main Street, 300 East, has a serious drainage problem. My property is kitty-corner, downhill. At the present time there is standing water up there now. There’s one little culvert pipe that’s supposed to drain underneath Highway 12. It does not. Any development on that corner, that includes paving a parking lot, and a building—it’s going to shed all of that water…I guarantee you it’s going to be pouring across the highway. Who’s going to bear the cost of redesigning and re-engineering a serious drainage problem?

Mark Austin (Entrada Escalante Lodge A&W Con- tracting):. I see in [this project] including a business that doesn’t honor the legacy and heritage of the community and that will export profit. It will be the only business in town that will be at such a scale, and will compete with existing business in a negative manner. I encourage you all to continue the [historic] flavor of this community and consider adopting future ordinances to protect that.

Mark Saunto (resident):

As a former business owner I recognize that running a business in this town is difficult, because of the sparse population but also business dramatically slows down from October to April. I want to patronize businesses by people that I know. And I like to keep in mind that these folks are our neighbors and valuable members of the community. The unintended consequences of a store of this type targeting our town could be that local businesses that have to compete, experience a significant drop in their revenue, threatening their viability.

Louise Eutropius (resident): I understand that the city is looking at revising the Escalante General Plan which reflects our community values. Do we want to attract business who value our community or do we want businesses that are more interested in lining the pockets of their investors?

Dave Quigley (resident): I would like to submit a GRAMA request related to item 6.2, Red Root, LLC.

Linda Tramantano (resident): Typically proposals for commercial projects on Main Street address the issues of lighting and signage. To my knowledge these concerns were not addressed by the planning commission. In the case coming before you, because of these particular issues, I recommend that the application be sent back to planning commission to be worked on.

Burke Rigby (Nemo’s owner): I suggest—we’re inviting multi-billion dollar corporations—that we ask ourselves what are they bringing to Escalante in re-

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turn, and for what they’re taking out. Because this is a wealth transfer. It’s proven that up to 45% - 60% of dollars spent at local businesses stay in the community. When we shop at multibillion dollar corporations, it’s more like 15% to 20%. So these are things to look at as we develop.

Dan Rice (property owner since 1992): I live currently in New Mexico, which is much less fortunate, economically than the state of Utah. I’ve observed Dollar General and Family Dollar set up and then abandon communities. They have a predatory business model, and I’d hate to see that foisted upon Escalante. I strongly recommend rejecting this type of business proposal and as we develop the general plan, think about how many predatory business models are out there and what type of response this town owes to ourselves and one another.

Bill Smith (resident): I’ve been looking at the town codes today. We have codes in place to deal with traffic, to deal with architecture, but these were not addressed in our zoning meeting and it seems like if you are going to transfer success, that issues like this need to be looked at before proceeding and this is a major impact on the town. This was the end of the public comment period.

Following a brief discussion among the council and with applicant Ryan Lund about some of the expressed issues, such as drainage, noise, signage, the Escalante city council approved the application of a Family Dollar/Dollar Tree store by Red Root, LLC.

A few other items were on the council agenda, namely a request by Escalante’s youth sports for assistance to pay this year’s insurance premium of $1,700 (approved) and a request by the fire department for a coordination search and rescue training with the county sheriff’s office, in particular in in light of recent rains, causing potentially dangerous conditions. —Insider

Open Letter to Mayor Torgersen and Members of the Escalante City Council

My name is Susanne Stadler and I am a resident of Escalante.

Originally I am from Switzerland, so I am an outsider, but I do believe I know a little about the importance of heritage and history. When I was 16 years old, I participated in the celebrations of my town’s 1,100 Year Anniversary. It then had about 3,000 people, including two butcher stores, three bakeries, three dairy farms and a dairy with pigs out back.

Your town is a gem, a rare find in today’s world.

Now you have an outside discount chain store with a predatory reputation knocking on our door. Their business model is built on putting locally owned family stores out of business.

Who exactly are their potential customers? Loa and Panguitch already have a discount store, tourists have all that crap at home and are here for a piece of nostalgia and wild west; they pay anything to walk though Marcie’s Dutch doors to feel like they are in a different world.

I don’t see much increase of sales tax revenue, as the customers will just shift from Griffin's and the hardware store to the discount store.

Your pioneer spirit, your heritage and history is your pot of gold!

If you allow that to change, this place will look like all the other places the tourists come from, while you are making shareholders in Michigan, New York and California even richer. In the meantime, your local family stores will struggle.

Give your city the re- spect and protection it deserves, I suggest you sleep on this and then ask the shareholder-owned company for their business plan and projected sales tax income.

Make sure it will not hurt your own. Let them convince you that this city can't be without their discount chain store, and why you should prefer to send your money to their outside shareholders instead keeping it in town.

My little town in Swit- zerland now has 9,000 people, just one bakery is still in business, but we have four chain stores, including a discount store from Germany. Not a single cow is left, but five-story condos grew on the formerly green pastures.

You can't stop change, but you can direct it to protect your heritage, or it will be gone.

Thank you for your time.

Susanne Stadler, Escalante

Wayne Commission: The yearly independent audit for the fiscal year of 2022 and the budget for the new fiscal year of 2023 for the Central Utah Counseling Center, cyber security, and approval for and public comments regarding the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office move to the Loa Civic Center discussed.

Wayne Commission

Cont'd from A1 audit report. Funding for CUCC starts at the county level, and each county provides 20% of the funding for CUCC. The next level comes from the State of Utah. $8.7 million comes from Medicaid. CUCC has three locations that provide in-care services at three locations within the Six County area. They are located in Nephi, Mt. Pleasant and Richfield. CUCC also has a mobile crisis outreach team (MCOT) who work in tandem with the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office. The mission of the Central Utah Counseling Center is to provide competent and compassionate behavioral healthcare to individuals and the communities in which they are located. After hours emergency on-call number is 877-469-2822.

Cyber Security was presented by Jeff Guymon, who worked for Wayne County for the past 22 years as the IT guy. "Phishing" is the biggest issue faced these days. Phishing is a technique to attempt to acquire sensitive data, such as bank account information, through a fraudulent solicitation in an email or on a website. The perpetrator will masquerade as a legitimate business or reputable or trusted person. If someone opens one of these emails and then opens the attachment, they could be releasing a virus or malware which could encrypt data and make it impossible for the individual, business or government to get back. There is insurance for such attacks available. Guymon suggested that all government employees have training on what to look for and that a computer protocol needs to be established. He also advised that Wayne County might want to consider hiring their own IT person to have on staff.

Commissioner Brian presented the Economic Development Board members. They are Greg Pace, April Torgerson, Darren Sheffer, Noreen Johnson, Jenna Draper and Commissioner Roger Brian. This was accepted and approved.

Other Items of Business: Approval for the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office to be moved to the Loa Civic Center. A large group of mothers attended the meeting with questions about the move. Commissioner Brian gave them two minutes to ask their questions. Alma Hallows was first up, and she wanted information regarding where the groups that meet at the Civic Center—Girl Scouts, 4-H and the quilters—are going to meet if the Center is turned into the Sheriff’s Office. Amber Fullerton was up next and asked if it was possible to move the Health Department and WIC offices to expand the Sheriff’s Office. Others wanted to know why there hasn't been any public input on this matter. Commissioner Brian tabled this for a later date.

• Building Fee Schedule

Commissioner Brian would like to have a

Building Fee Schedule that would show if the activities are for a family function (reunion, birthday, wedding), a business function or for something else. The Civic Center fee right now is $30 for any function, whereas the Wayne County Community Center fees are as follows: Kitchen, ½ day $30, full day $35; Auditorium, ½ day $55, full day $65; and the conference rooms (which are no longer available to the public because the Wayne County Seniors have rekeyed and taken them over) are ½ day $20, full day $30. Com- missioner Brian would also like the Clerk/Auditors Office to take over the scheduling for said buildings. This was also tabled for a later date.

• Appointment letter for Judge Mark McIffy, J.D. was signed, accepted and approved. Vouchers were accepted and approved.

• Closed session

If you would like to listen to this commission meeting or any past commission meetings please visit PMN@Utah.gov.

The Wayne County Commission meets the first and third Monday of every month at the Wayne County Courthouse in Loa.

Guy Tal: In photography I strive to create images that speak to wildness—the quality of being attuned to, and inspired by, the wild. I consider my work to be expressive art, in the sense that its primary purpose is to offer visual metaphors for thoughts and feelings, rather than to document appearances.

Tal,

but a self-expressive artist working in the medium of photography.”

Tal photographs primarily in the Colorado Plateau—a unique highdesert region located in the American Southwest. In his photographs, Tal intends to express emotions and mood rather than to document or commemorate the appearances of places or events. As he explains, “In photography I strive to create images that speak to wildness—the quality of being attuned to, and inspired by, the wild. I consider my work to be expressive art, in the sense that its primary purpose is to offer visual metaphors for thoughts and feelings, rather than to doc- ument appearances.” You may be acquainted with Tal’s photography and the breadth of his professional work, but did you know…

"Classic Conversations" are produced and moderated by Don Gomes, vice president of the Entrada Institute. Gomes’ skill as an interviewer is based on the 25 years that he spent as an award-winning public broadcaster in Utah, Indiana, and Texas.

To register for this program, go to www.entradainstitute.org, click on “Attend an Event,” and fill out the brief form. You will find the latest Utah Department of Health protocols for COVID there. This event will also be livestreamed at Entrada Institute on Facebook. —Entrada Institute