MOVING FORWARD MORGAN COUNTY GENERAL PLAN Appendix A December 21, 2010 A-1 GENERAL PLAN CROYDON AND LOST CREEK GENERAL PLAN COMMITTEE MEMBERS Ron Crouch, Chairman Les Adams Hyrum Foster Wood Peterson Reed Wilde Steve Pentz Margaret Hopkin Paul Toone John Toone Matt Thomson INTRODUCTION The Morgan County Planning Commission is in the process of developing a new General Plan for Morgan County. As a result, the above committee members were assigned and approved by the Morgan County Planning Commission and Morgan County Commission to develop General Plan recommendations for the Lost Creek and Croydon areas. The group represents a large number of private landowners in the area. The purpose of the General Planning Committee is to establish a long range plan for the future growth and development of the Lost Creek and Croydon areas. In order to complete this plan in an acceptable manner, the committee will attempt to address the future needs of the study area for twenty to twenty-five years into the future. Many members of the committee have lived in the area in excess of twenty-five years and have seen the changes that have occurred during the time they have lived in the area. With this experience, we will try to identify future problems and needs and try to maintain the quality of life we have enjoyed in the past. The items we will address in this study will be recreation, water, sewer, parks, zoning, transportation, wildlife, and other items. TOPOGRAPHY The topography of the area is generally mountainous. There are some flat areas in the bottom of the valleys that are used for farming. The area also contains some gently sloping areas and benches before the steeper slopes. Most of the area is suitable for farming, grazing, ranching and recreational use. The soils in the area vary greatly. Some areas contain gravel deposits, solid rock formations, conglomerates, clays and soils suitable for farm ground. The gravel deposits are located in the alluvial areas at the mouth of the canyons. The availability of 1 limestone at Devils Slide attracted the cement companies years ago. The farm ground varies from very productive to marginal. Generally, the farm ground in the Croydon area is fertile, while many of the soils in the bottom of the valleys contain gravel layers. The Weber River runs the length of Morgan County. Lost Creek is a major tributary to this stream. Water runs year round in Lost Creek. The other major tributaries to Lost Creek are Pine, Cedar, Guilder, Hell, Trail and Francis Canyons. There are several other canyons that feed Lost Creek, but they generally run for a few weeks during the spring of the year. There have been low to moderate earthquakes in the area in the past. There is currently a project in the planning stages to upgrade Lost Creek Reservoir to present day earthquake standards. The repairs or improvements should begin during the summer of 1997. In recent history there has not been a major earthquake in the area, although the potential of one exists. The topography of the area is generally mountainous and is generally suited for farming, ranching, and recreational use. With Lost Creek Reservoir, most of the farms have adequate water to raise crops. The threat of an earthquake or natural disaster is always a possibility but the odds are insignificant. RECREATION Recreation has had a tremendous impact on the area in the past. As the Wasatch Front area continues to grow, we anticipate that there will continue to be increased pressure in this area for recreation. The recreational impact is mainly in the areas of hunting, fishing, and camping. Hunting has always been a popular form of recreation in this area. In the past deer hunting was popular and in the last several years this has become one of the most popular Elk hunting areas in the West. Although hunting relates to recreation, we will discuss the related issues in the Wildlife section of this report. With the resurfacing of the Lost Creek Road, there has been a substantial increase in the number of vehicles that visit Lost Creek Reservoir. This creates an impact on the local residents as well as all of the taxpayers of the county. Roads, Law Enforcement, Ambulance Service, Fire and other services are provided by the taxpayers of Morgan County. The majority of these costs are not offset by the users of the facility who mainly come from other counties in the state to use the facility. Health issues, public safety, vandalism, property damage, and other social and economic impacts are difficult to measure. The bureau of Reclamation recently completed a study of the area. They recognize the problems associated with the reservoir and have addressed some of them with limitations on recreational uses and number of visitors. However, they have not addressed several other issues that we consider critical now and in the future. These 2 issues relate to the health and safety of the residents. The main issues are safety due to increased traffic volumes and water quality due to the number of visitors and insufficient facilities. A copy of the Bureau of Reclamation Report on Lost Creek Reservoir is available for review at the Morgan County Courthouse. Additional information is available from Weber Basin Water Conservancy District. As a Committee, we have identified the following issues that relate to recreation and recommend that these issues be incorporated into the new General Plan for Morgan County. First, we strongly recommend that the Lost Creek Reservoir Resource Management Plan be followed. Particular attention needs to be paid to Chapter 4 Plan Implementation (see attached copy). A considerable amount of time, effort and money was spent on the development of this plan and it should be used as a tool for future management of the Park and Reservoir. The General Plan Committee is very concerned about the impact of Lost Creek State Park. It appears that the Reservoir and State Park were constructed without giving much thought to the impacts that the facility would have on local residents. We are landowners and residents of the area and feel we have a vested right, or voice, in regulating the use of the facility. Growth and development of the private property owners in the area is controlled by the Planning Commission; yet there is little control on the facilities owned and controlled by the Federal and State Government. We realize that the facility is established and should be used by the public. However, due to the sensitive environment of the area, the use of the facility should be a “quality experience”. Strictly limited use is recommended. High user fees should be assessed for the “quality experience”. Campgrounds and sanitation facilities must be constructed. Daily use must be controlled. Winter use should be discontinued since the road is not kept open to the reservoir and sanitation facilities are not maintained. In order to maintain and control use of the facility, a full-time park ranger is required. If funding is unavailable for the Governmental agencies to control their facilities, then it is the recommendation of this group that the facility be closed until such time that they are financially able to control and maintain their facility in a responsible manner. The second item is Public Safety. Lost Creek is a single access roadway. It is evident from the terrain that this will probably always be a single access road. Other problems associated with the road are insufficient widths, shoulder drop-offs, no paint striping, sharp curves, farm equipment use, lack of guardrail, delineators, signs and other items that affect the safety of the traveling public. If the road is going to accommodate the increased volumes of traffic in the future, improvements need to be made to the road. If there continues to be an issue of public safety, then activity at the reservoir needs to be curtailed. 3 The next item is water quality. Water and water quality are critical issues to the study group. It is a natural resource that needs to be protected today and in the future. Due to the impact of the Reservoir and the increased activity in the area, we feel that the quality of the water in this area is threatened. We recommend that the State of Utah and Bureau of Reclamation be notified of the impact they have on water quality and take corrective action to protect this natural resource. WILDLIFE The Lost Creek and Croydon areas have an abundance of wildlife. Elk, deer, cougars, eagles, bobcats, badgers, chuckars, wild turkeys, and other forms of wildlife can be found in the area. Hunting has always been popular in the area. With the increased popularity of hunting and demand for a quality hunt, the traditional hunting experience has changed. There has been a shift in the trend from a traditional hunting camp with landowner permission to a guided hunt with a professional outfitter. This has shifted the role of the landowner from granting permission to hunt on his property to leasing large tracts of land to outfitters who manage the hunting. WATER Water and water quality are primary concerns of the current residents in the community. Currently the culinary water needs of the residents in the Croydon and Lost Creek area are serviced by the Croydon water system, wells and springs. The original residents in the area developed springs or shallow wells for their water needs. Some of these original water systems are still in service today. These water systems service one or two residences at each location. As new homes were built, several wells were drilled to provide culinary water.