Letter to the Editor: Proposed Hurricane development is opposite of why many move to Washington County
OPINION — I am not normally one to write letters to the editor, but I can barely contain myself after reading the article published in St. George News on Jan. 8 titled “Hurricane City to take public comment on proposed $3 billion ‘Disney-style’ development”
Read most recent coverage: Hurricane residents: Old West town development doesn’t fit general plan, damages small-town lifestyle
I’ve lived in the area now for 20 years. We all move to Washington County for different reasons I suppose. My wife and I moved here for a number of reasons: There was a relatively low cost of living, we loved the deep blue skies, the lack of traffic congestion, the relatively low crime and the vastness and variety of the wide, open lands.
I do not oppose growth; I don’t want to keep others from enjoying what we discovered 20 years ago. On the other hand, it seems antithetical to me that our local representatives, our city and county planners, capitalize on the very same assets that have been attracting people to the area and, whether motivated by either a lack of foresight or greed (or maybe both), they seem determined to turn Washington County into another Vegas, Salt Lake or Denver.
What is wrong with some degree of moderation?
I can’t imagine whatever vision they (our leaders) have for the area will end up bringing happiness to the majority of its citizens. It seems designed to make developers richer and to satisfy the purses of restaurant and shop owners. With a hotel on every corner, a new development (complete with private lakes and more golf courses than makes sense for a desert) the future seems destined.
Our elected officials are not likely to stop until affordable housing is nonexistent, taxes are prohibitively high, the trails are all paved and those beautiful blue skies, resplendent against the Navajo sandstone, are nothing more than distant memories. It doesn’t seem there is any reason to hope for any slow down in the development plans until there is not a drop of water left in Lake Powell.
I wish someone could explain how, in the long term, living in a polluted, crime ridden, unaffordable, congested community is an attractive vision. If we wanted that vision, we could have stayed in Vegas, Salt Lake, California or any of the myriad of other trashed communities we fled to come here for a little bit of paradise.
Submitted by TOM MCKEE, St. George.
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